With the super bowl of 2024 now in the rear-view mirror, I can’t help but use that as the perfect metaphor for team alignment, motivation and success.
I don’t know any other sport, where you have different “teams” on the field at any one time, where the overall result is made up of all their efforts combined. I’m not talking about sporting games/teams with a bench of players, etc… all team sports have a bench.
The Chiefs beating the 49ers in overtime, clearly demonstrated this. The offense did their part, the defense teams did their part, and the special teams did theirs, and most of us know what happened there. The kicker on the 49ers missed the extra point in regular time, which in a standard game, is like a walk in the park for him, but as we all know, in the super bowl, there was a little more pressure on the team.
If he would have kicked it, that would have been the game and 49ers would have won. But instead, he missed, and the game went to extra time where the chiefs got the touch down and won.
Do you think out of the 3 "teams" within the 49ers, the offense, the defense and the special team, the offensive and defensive teams got a bonus? They lost right? So why would one team get a bonus when the overall team lost?
They didn’t!
The 49ers are ONE team. Not 3!
But in over 99% of companies out there, rewards/bonus programs are not company first. They are department and, in some cases, individual first.
If the company doesn’t hit its goal(s) that defines winning, why should one of the departments get a bonus?
Yes I know the classic response. If one department hits their goals, and another one doesn’t, why should the successful department miss out?
Well that all depends on the culture you’re creating.
You might not know it, but if that’s your rewards program, which is very likely, you’ve created a competitive culture. Department V department. Which is fine if that’s what you want, however your company will never truly reach your potential.
But if you truly want a single team mindset, one where everyone steps up and supports everyone else, no matter the role, department, situation, etc I suggest you reconsider your rewards program.
Do you want ONE team winning (ie the Company) or rewarding each department/team winning when that means the overall company loses?
Align everyone together or face the consequences.
Align everyone together and achieve your potential.
The root cause of people not performing or not being held accountable, could be several things and I’m not here stating that the rewards is the root cause of all a company’s cultural problems, however no matter what you do in other areas to try and solve for this, if rewards aren’t aligned supporting the culture you’re trying to create, you’ll always have substandard results.
Sports has a lot of lessons for us in life, just watch it a little NFL and see for yourselves.