March Madness

I’m not a huge basketball fan. With the recent March Madness coverage appearing on what seemed like every television channel for weeks on end, I found myself complaining that there was too much basketball coverage. Then the Wisconsin Badgers (University of Wisconsin) kept advancing through their bracket, eventually making it to the Final Four, and “Badger Fever” kicked in. If you live in Wisconsin, it’s almost impossible to avoid being drawn in to a great sports event. Grab a beer and a brat, and hang on for the ride!

As I observed the Badgers advance through their bracket and watched some very talented competitors, I couldn’t help but notice the extremely tight and focused teamwork that these teams exhibited at this level. It was obvious that it took much more than individual talent to compete — it took a serious, almost fanatic commitment to teamwork. It was as if each member of the team was really a part of a larger organism. Everyone moved in a very coordinated fashion. Each team member knew where they belonged and what task they should be performing. There was no confusion about who was responsible for what task.

There is no one at this level who has not “earned” their position. They either contribute to the team in a big way, or they are on the bench (or off the team altogether). You can be certain that no one is playing because the coach owed them a favor, or because they have always been there, or just because!

Then I began to think about what it takes to put together a winning team in business. Sometimes businesses don’t take the same focused approach to building a team, and in particular, a management team. Some companies seem to grow in an unfocused and uncoordinated way, and people end up on the management team because they have been there the longest, or because someone “liked” them. To make things worse, many of the positions of the management team are ill defined, or not defined at all. Plus, the team itself has a poor idea what needs to be done to compete. Leadership has not defined a team strategy.

Several months ago, I was discussing a similar topic with a good friend and client who was hired recently to restructure and grow his company. He recommended a book called Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Doneby Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. The book is an excellent playbook for companies that are interested in building the right team and developing and executing on a strategy.

One of the most important chapters is Chapter 5: Having the Right People in the Right Place.It discusses defining the role of each of your key players and making sure that there is a good reason for them to be there. As my friend told me, “Either they are with me or they are against me.” The book is an excellent guide for anyone in management and I highly encourage you to pick it up.

On the same topic, D.O.M. columnist Dr. Shari Frisinger writes about handling people who are a part of your team effectively and recognizing who is working with you and who is working against you. Part two of her Workplace Collaboration segment, Behaviors Affecting Safety,is on page 24 of this issue. Frisinger talks about several aspects of dealing with personnel and how to recognize if people are with you or against you. For example, she discusses “passive-aggressive” people, who say to your face they will help, then turn around and do nothing, or work against you and sabotage your efforts. 

On another topic, this issue is our second annual “International Focus” for D.O.M.magazine. We address several international issues (such as regulatory compliance) that impact maintenance organizations in North America. Although D.O.M.was initially launched to be distributed in North America, we are getting more subscription requests from individuals around the world. After all, management itself is an international topic — and with D.O.M.being the No. 1 maintenance management magazine, we are in a great position to help international maintenance organizations.

Fortunately, we have made it easy to read D.O.M.around the world. We are now available on the Web from our home page (www.dommagazine.com), iTunes and Amazon, and from your handheld Apple, Android or Kindle devices.

We are proud to say that D.O.M.magazine is now being read in 35 countries and growing.

Thanks for reading D.O.M.magazine.