Category Archives: Thinking Aloud

I hope everyone had an enjoyable long weekend.  One of the enjoyable things I did was to play in a scramble, which is a team-based golf tournament.  In fact, this format was a step-out scramble in which everyone hits a tee shot and then whomever hit the tee shot the team selects to use can’t hit the next shot.  Everyone putts once the ball is on the green, but if the approach misses the green, the person whose approach shot you’re using still can’t hit.

It’s a interesting format that forces the team to make tough choices from time to time.  Do you pass up using the best (longest, most accurate) shot because you need the player who hit it to hit the next shot as well?  If one ball is close to the pin but not on the green, do you pass up one player chipping or do you take the longer shot where all four can putt?

Of course, there are a few business points here.  First, this format demonstrates once again that a solid team can achieve things than no individual member of that team can.  We finished three under par – none of us has ever shot anything close to that on our own.  Second, different team members bring different skills to a task.  We had a person on out team who could not hit a ball more than 125 yards but was deadly accurate putting, where she saved us more than once.  She contributed as much as the gorilla who drove the ball 270 yards but kept missing greens with approaches (ahem…).  Third, and most important, the team has to learn to function without key members from time to time.  The unique thing about this format is the immediate loss of someone who has just made a key contribution – best drive?  Sit down!

The decision-making process was fascinating and the reason I think we did pretty well was that each member of the team performed well when the pressure was on.  We didn’t rely on our best player to hit great shots all the time and bail out the team.  In fact, we were able to the the “A” player try to hit shots that were low percentage because we already had put a ball in play in a good position.  To me, that equates with having some solid operations generating the cash flow that permits a business to try new things that are risky but potentially more rewarding that what the firm is doing currently.  It is, in my opinion, the only way ventures keep moving forward and shooting good scores.

Does your company rely on the “A” players too often?  Is everyone contributing?  Can the better players take time off or do something else for a while and will the team still perform?  Have you been able to try some risky shots while knowing you were safe even if they didn’t work out?

We tied for fourth. missing third by a shot, out of 20+ teams.  Not bad, and a great way to end a long weekend.  Back to work!