Building a Winner

Let me start by saying I know that this topic has been covered countless times which would make it logical to ask what I can add that is unique or differentiating.  Even given that premise, I'm going to still try my hand at adding something to the discussion.  Building a winning team sounds so obvious, I mean who wants to build a losing team right?  But to be able to put together the right team that has chemistry, talent and drive to succeed it isn't easy.  The difference between a winning and losing team is a scarily fine line.

The other evening I was watching a documentary produced by NFL Films on the success of the San Francisco 49'ers under Eddie DeBartolo's ownership.  The documentary focused mostly on interviews with former players and coaches who tried to explain why he was so successful in building a winning organization.  There seemed to me to be two components to his success - creation of a tight-knit family friendly organization and instilling an intense desire to win.

Let's start first with his obsession to instill a winning mindset throughout his organization.  I'll lead off with a DeBartolo quote that I think perfectly sums up the type of individuals you don't want to be on your team:

Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser.

In building those successful teams, he searched for people who just had it in their DNA a desire and passion to win.  That's not to say that those teams didn't experience failure and that even in some degree losing helped build successful teams in the future.  But he didn't want anyone around the team that didn't absolutely detest losing.  He also said that when you've brought someone on board that doesn't fit into the culture admit you've made a mistake and be prepared to address the situation by cutting that person from the team.  Admitting failure and getting rid of that individual is critically important to building a winning organization.

One might envision based on how driven he was to win that his organization was not family friendly or that there might be tension or animosity amongst employees.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It was apparent watching the documentary that DeBartelo compensated for his brutally tough passion for winning by truly caring about everyone in his organization.  He made it a point to know every employee personally - from the head coach down to the cook in the team kitchen.  He knew their names, the names of their children, ages of their children, everything about them.  He somehow found time out of his day to make these connections with everyone - he realized that a family atmosphere within his organization was a key component to building a winner.

I think two precepts of DeBartolo's success in building a winning team are important.  Surround yourself with individuals that have the same desire you do for producing something truly special.  While they don't all have to be type-A's, it is important to find those that don't want to be on a losing team.  At the same time it's important to never forget once you have this type of an organization established how special of a situation it is and focus on making it a family by personally getting to know all of your employees and the portion of their lives that occurs outside the office.