Quick - Send in the 'B' Team

Last week there was a fantastic story in the world of sports, and one that most people, even the most ardent sports fans in the US probably missed.

USA defeats Turkey to capture World Basketball Championship.KD

I am not talking about the HR Capitalist, I know he was on top of the story.

Take a look at some of the not-so-thinly veiled references to this collection of American players as the ‘second team’, ‘junior varsity’, or ‘guys who know their roles’.  

Sure, this team lacked the star power and ability from more widely known performers like LeBron (who could not be bothered to take his talent to Turkey), Dwayne Wade, and Kobe Bryant.  For the record, the recovering from injury Bryant gets a pass from me as he carried that Laker team to the NBA title this past spring.

Heading in to the World Championship tournament there was a palpable air of concern from USA Basketball officials and fans that this ‘B’ Team would not be able to win the tournament, to re-confirm (at least temporarily), US dominance of international basketball, and perhaps most importantly, to secure the automatic qualification to the next Olympic competition in 2012.  One of the classic dilemmas the US has faced in International tournaments is the reluctance of many star NBA players to commit to the national team, that normally has to play in qualifying and World Championship tournaments in the summer, the ‘vacation’ season for the NBA.  Guys like Kobe have dragged themselves through 100 games or more from October - June, asking them to commit to two weeks playing in a rickety gym in Serbia in August is not that easy a sell.

For this, and other reasons (primarily the LeBron free agent circus), the USA built a new team for the World Championships, consisting primarily of younger and emerging NBA stars, with a few more experienced, veteran players sprinkled in to the mix. But clearly, this team was perceived as not the USA’s ‘best’ team, just the best one that the country could manage.  While chock-full of talented players (and admittedly one ‘A’ player, the remarkable Kevin Durant), this group was certainly not assured a gold medal, the days of the US just trotting out any 5 NBA players and expecting to win on the International stage are long passed.  Plus, this tournament was to be played in Turkey, giving the hard-working, chain-smoking, flopping Turks a significant home court advantage.

This team then, had several built-in excuses should they have failed to win.  They were after all, the ‘B’ team. They were mostly young, and had little experience in major international competition. No one was really paying attention back in the US.  The finals of the World Championship took place the first Sunday of the new NFL season. But with the inspiring play of Durant, the Lakers Lamar Odom, and contributions from many of the younger players, the US team won the tournament in impressive fashion. Based on this performance, Durant certainly, and some of the others potentially will crack the ‘A’ team roster for the 2012 Olympics.

What does this all mean to the rest of us, and the real world of work?  

Maybe nothing.

But it could be a reminder that developing depth of talent sometimes requires sending in the ‘B’ team.

Even in important, high pressure, and high stakes environments.

Truth is, people know even if they don’t want to admit it, when they are on the ‘B’ team. In basketball the only way to make it to the ‘A’ team is to play your way in, you can’t do it just in practice, or in low stakes contests.  Want to see if any of your ‘B’ players have what it takes?  Then you just might have to put them in the game. 

Real Excitement

This past Saturday as part of the trulondon Unconference event, Keith Potts and Felix Wetzel graciously hosted several of the conference attendees as their guests at an English Premier League match,  Portsmouth vs. Stoke City. Keith Potts and Steve at the match

Here is the connection between the HR and Recruiting event and the match:  Keith is one of the founders and Felix is a Director of a company called Jobsite, the largest job board in the UK and a sponsor of trulondon as well as the shirt sponsor of Portsmouth Football Club. 

If you are not terribly familiar with shirt sponsorship, I took a quick run at describing the idea here.

But the real point of the post is not simply to thank Keith and Felix for the tremendous experience, which I assuredly do, but rather to talk for a moment about the passion and excitement that we observed from both the Portsmouth supporters as well as the many Portsmouth FC staff that we encountered on our visit. 

From the start of the game to the final whistle, the majority of the Portsmouth fans sang, chanted, and banged on drums to support and exhort their team. This singing and chanting was entirely organic, and required no artificial prompting from the Public Address announcer.  There were no 'Let's Make some Noise' displays on the giant videoboard.  There were no heavy metal or hip-hop tunes blared to try are create a lively or fun atmosphere.  And there was not a hint of a 'kiss-cam'. Bottom line: there was no fake excitement.

And in total, it was by far the best sporting event I have ever attended. 

This match, and I suspect many matches in the league, substitute spectacle for authenticity, replace contrived enthusiasm with genuine passion, and connect with supporters, club employees, and the community at large in a way that at least to me was unique and remarkable.

I understand that sports, especially major-league, big time sports have little to do with how the overwhelming majority of organizations operate.  But there are, I think,  some interesting lessons and potentially some insights that can be learned from sports and in particular how teams exist and interact in a complex environment of internal and external stakeholders.

Community

The football club, and the other organizations that are part of its support network are to a large extent deeply intertwined in the local community. Match days are significant events, some sponsors like Jobsite are also significantly vested in the community, and in many ways the club, the experience, and the network help to define and shape the area.  For organizations, striving to find ways to become more vested in their locak communities can often yield extremely positive results.

Passion

Passion for a sports team is often deep, unwavering, and endures over the years.  For organizations, engendering that same kind of passion can prove difficult if not impossible.  But the passion for your products and services, your employee value proposition, and your brand are what could sustain you when times get hard, and external economics play against your.  Teams in the English league can get 'relegated' for poor performance (send down to a lower tier and status league), but the support and passion of the fans tends to remain.  The most successful organizations can find a way to generate this passion across its constituencies for the long term.

Togetherness

After the game (which sadly for Portsmouth was a 2-1 defeat) the various employees from the Director of Operations to the cooks, waiters, and bar staff at the club were all noticeably and understandably saddened and dissapointed. But in their seemingly collective pain, I really got the sense that they were still 'together' and really bound by their shared mission, desire, and hopes for the the future. While without exception every employee that I encountered at the Club did their jobs with skill and efficiency, they were also mindful of the bigger picture.  And they were seemingly invested heavily in that picture.  Do your job and support the overall goals and objectives of the organization at the same time.

The interesting thing is that attention to and care of these areas can in some ways overcome some poor results on the field (and even off the field).  Portsmouth is at the bottom of the league standings and is even in danger of the UK equivalent of bankruptcy.  And while the immediate future looks a bit harsh, I have every confidence based on the people we met, and the support and passion we witnessed that the club will make it through.

Thanks so much once again to Keith and Felix and to all the great people at Portsmouth FC.