Build an ecosystem, not a process
We’re at a Premier League football match—the top division of soccer in England, with a global audience of 4 billion—and it’s the start of a new season.
The result of this first game is a surprise. Arsenal—a legendary Premier League team—is facing Brentford, a newly promoted team that has not played in the Premier League in more than 60 years. Brentford’s entire team probably cost less than one of Arsenal’s strikers, who cost about $80 million each.
So how did Brentford end up beating Arsenal 2-0 in this game?
In a post-match interview, the Brentford manager Thomas Frank gave insight into his framework for building a team to perform competitively even without the best resources in the world.
His growth model was :
Hard work
Performance
Togetherness
and finally, Attitude
Listening to him, I realized this four-part growth model was an interconnected ecosystem to get players’ mindsets right for each game.
Hard work is the baseline; when every member of the team works hard they build the performance of the team. As the performance improves, players feel they are making something special, which leads to togetherness. This togetherness builds an attitude of confidence but also humility knowing that if they don’t work hard (the start of the cycle) that performance and togetherness will suddenly evaporate.
This model spurs players to continue to work hard and feed the growth cycle.
Even beyond sport, the chance of having the best team in any industry is slim. To get great work you need a team with the right attitude, that mixture of confidence and humility. But as a leader, you can’t start there, because attitude is an experience gained over time, not a skill that can be learned.
That’s why I think starting with hard work is important. But what do I mean by hard work?
Turn up for meetings on time
Make a plan for the week’s work
Prepare for work sessions
Make good agendas for productive meetings
Take good actionable notes when you have meetings and work sessions
Share progress at the end of the day/week so everyone knows what is happening
None of the tasks above are “hard” to do but they are the first steps to building a healthy “hard-working” culture. You don’t need a team of superstars to do these tasks. But if you start doing these tasks consistently the performance of your team will improve over time and so the growth cycle will begin.
Over time and as your team evolves, established members of the team will be there to help new teammates become part of the cycle. This consistency will give people on your team the confidence and humility to create great new products and services, and most importantly to keep growing.
After 8 out of 38 games of the premier league season, Brentford is 9th out of 20 teams. That in footballing terms is a minor miracle.
