Doing Your Job
by Miki Saxon
Do you really need to hire stars?
Can a manager build a winning team with other teams’ castoffs?
Before you say no take a look at the Phoenix Suns.
“By making feature artists out of other teams’ backups, Ryan McDonough, the Suns’ first-year general manager, has created a group that performs in perfect harmony.”
He also avoids all the ego and drama that comes with hiring so-called stars.
McDonough understands that before anyone can perform they need the opportunity to do so.
“Just because somebody hasn’t done something doesn’t mean they can’t do it. It might just mean they need an opportunity.”
If you listen to the media and a plethora of managers you will hear abut a talent shortage.
They will moan that amidst the enormous number of job-seekers there is not one shred of the talent that they need.
Managers forget that that “proven talent” happened under a specific set of circumstances in a specific culture and with a specific management style—change one or more of those and there is no guarantee of the same performance.
They also forget building a winning team is a key ingredient of the job for which they were hired and are paid the big bucks.
They also will never have the pleasure and personal ego trip of hearing a team member say something like this.
“I kind of always knew I had this in me,” Miles Plumlee said, “but I never guessed I’d be where I’m at already.”
Flickr image credit: Arya Ziai
