Team Chemistry: Purpose & Roles
by Bryan Bielecki
Team chemistry is normally something we associate with sports. How many books do you see in the business section talking about improving the chemistry of your team? While it’s often overlooked, its significance can’t be ignored.
How many sports teams have you seen overachieve? Chances are they had great team chemistry. How many have you seen underachieve? Chances are they didn’t. We often hear about teams with minuscule payrolls outperforming those with the highest payrolls? It happens every year and who normally gets the credit or the blame? It’s the head coach, who typically gets rewarded with Coach of the Year honors or a ticket out of town.
So naturally you’re asking, “How does this apply to me?” You may know where I’m going with this by now. Yes, think of yourself as the head coach. Just like the guy or gal who is responsible for wins and losses of their teams, you are responsible for the results of your team.
I don’t know that there’s a single formula we can apply to creating great team chemistry. From my experience coaching youth basketball teams to my experience coaching teams in my professional life, I can point to some fundamental aspects that are consistent among both. You’ll probably be surprised how many core leadership principles apply as well. In this post, I plan to discuss how purpose (mission/vision) and roles affect great team chemistry. In a few subsequent posts, I will also discuss the following:
- Purpose (Mission/Vision)
- Roles
- Open Communication
- Clones vs. Diversity
- Relationships and Fun
If you would like to read about all of the aspects together, here’s PDF of the full article.
1. Purpose (Mission/Vision)
We’ve all probably labored over mission statements, vision statements, and whatever else to convey to our employees what we want to achieve. Unfortunately, they have a tendency to be way too wordy and don’t typically resonate with the employees as they’re intended.
I labored over this very concept seven years ago when I was starting to build my professional life team. I did a ton of research on the internet and wrote out a bunch of fancy paragraphs, trying to blend values with a mission and so forth. At the end of the day, I couldn’t come up with anything that had a chance to stick. Everything was way too long, too much to remember, and would probably be read once…up on a screen during a Power Point presentation.
I settled on something simple. I thought of it more as a purpose, a reason to get out of bed every day. I wanted to create “the most highly regarded employer in the golf course maintenance industry.” I figured if everyone in the golf industry wanted to come and work at Billy Casper Golf, I’d have my “pick of the litter” of the best professionals the industry had to offer. I knew that even if I had the best systems and processes, it would mean little if I had the wrong people trying to execute.
I know you might be thinking our purpose is a little open-ended and might sound more like a vision than anything else. I mean, who doesn’t want to be the best? Or, “be the best” at what? I actually think the fact that it’s vague has been somewhat of an advantage and for whatever reason it’s worked.
2. Roles
People want more out of their professional lives than just bringing home a paycheck. I would imagine that those of us who jump out of bed every morning and look forward to going to work are doing so for more than just an honest day’s pay. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself why you do it? I suspect it’s a calling to a higher purpose, one that you’re passionate about doing your part to fulfill.
I’ve always maintained that responsibility is a better way to keep employees engaged than just about anything else. As a means to make everyone on the team feel like they’re contributing more on a global basis rather than just a regional one, I’ve assigned each of them a responsibility that contributes to the overall success of the team. We call it czar work. They essentially become the masters of a domain or the resident experts of a specific initiative. For example, we have someone responsible for spearheading our professional development and education. Another is responsible for safety, and so on.
From a team chemistry perspective, the additional responsibility builds trust amongst the team. It allows for conversations to occur between team members that wouldn’t ordinarily occur without me being the conduit. Most of all, I think it shows an elevated amount of trust from me to them and illustrates that their boss doesn’t need to be the expert in all facets of our business.
Next week
Next week, we’ll address the importance of open communication in creating great team chemistry.
Bryan Bielecki, GCSAA – Vice President, Agronomy, Billy Casper Golf
Bryan directs BCG’s agronomic programs, overseeing golf course maintenance nationwide. He began with BCG in 1999 as an Assistant Superintendent before being promoted to Superintendent, Regional Director of Agronomy, and now Vice President of Agronomy. Bryan is a member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and a graduate of the University of Maryland’s Institute of Applied Agriculture.