Trade Deadlines Lead to Better Teams

As shotmakers, we love to use real time sports drama as a way to learn more about our operations.  This week we wanted to take a look at the Trade Deadlines in the MLB.  

The trade deadline plays a crucial role in baseball as it creates a sense of urgency for teams to make trades and shape their rosters for the rest of the season. It also gives players and fans a clear point in the season when significant player movement may occur, leading to exciting moments and heightened anticipation for potential trades. The deadline has become a key event in the baseball calendar, with teams making strategic moves to strengthen their positions for the playoff race or to plan for the future.

This week, with the 2023 trade deadlines creating drama among many of our favorite MLB teams, we found that there are two very important lessons we can learn from the trade deadlines as they relate to our own business:

1. Deadlines are important: In so many cases, there are members of our team that we ‘hope’ improve, but who potentially wouldn’t make our final roster.  And yet, we let these issues linger, hoping they will go away and ignoring the many ways this team member is actually hurting our business and our bottom line. 

While it may sound silly, we believe there is power in approaching your team like a sports franchise.  There are only so many dollars in your labor budget, and we want to make sure we are building a team that works financially as well as performs every day.  

But in order to do this, we need to be evaluating our team with a sense of urgency.  In short, we need our own trade deadline.  By reviewing our team regularly, and setting deadlines for improved performance, we will build a better stronger team moving forward. 

Challenge:  Create a 30-day action plan for your ‘bottom 3’ team members.  This action plan should include: 

1. Identify Performance Issues
2. Set Clear Expectations
3. Schedule a Meeting
4. Provide Constructive Feedback
5. Collaboratively Set Goals: Work together with the team member to set improvement goals and deadline for follow up meeting to review results
6. Monitor Progress
7. Document Everything

Remember, the goal of the action plan is to help the team member succeed, grow, and become a valuable contributor to the team. But we believe a set deadline for showing progress and improvement is a critical part of building a well performing team moving forward.

1. Blending outside talent with our existing roster: The decision to bring on an outside leader to help strengthen our team is one that has many risks as well as potential benefits if done correctly.  But just as we see in the MLB, there are many layers to this issue that need to be planned out in order to generate the best result.  Here are a few steps to consider when bringing on your next high-level employee: 

1. Define Leadership Requirements:
2. Set Clear Expectations: 
3. Facilitate Team Introduction: 
4. Build Relationships:
5. Encourage Open Communication: 
6. Clarify Roles and Responsibilities: 
7. Support Professional Development: 
8. Address Any Resistance:
9. Monitor Team Dynamics: 
10. Celebrate Successes: 

Building a team with an outside leader can be a transformative process that brings fresh perspectives and new ideas. By following these steps and fostering a positive and collaborative environment, you can set the stage for a successful and cohesive team with the potential for long-term growth and success.

Just like the MLB, this can be a great time to review our roster, set clear deadlines and expectations, and ensure that our existing team is blending with any of our new ‘trades’. 

Being a shotmaker requires us to focus on the future, realizing that each day we have new opportunities to WIN the day and our future.  

Interested in learning more about our shotmaker approach? Click here to schedule your free 30 min roster review with our very own shotmaker - Scott Fisher