Baseball and Management

by Bryon D Beilman

I am a Boston RedSox Fan! I didn't grow up in Boston and have not been known to be a hard core sports fan, however I do enjoy watching the game and what happens in and around the game of baseball. Watching the team this year, I have noticed two things that relates to managing people and creating teams that can do great things. This blog was in edit mode for almost 2 months ago, so perhaps if I had published it then, it would have seen a little more visionary than right now, when the RedSox are in the Post season and one series away from making it into the World Series.

Early in the season, they brought up a 2nd Baseman, Dustin Pedroia from the minors instead of playing Alex Cora. When he first came on, he was pretty good, but was not hitting as well as Cora had in the past. The Coach, Terry Francona was asked about it in an interview and he said something to the affect of "The Scouts say he can hit, we have seen him hit, we are sticking with him as we believe in his abilities". Some time after that, Pedroia found his rhythm, has a solid .317 average, is a defensive phenom and is likely to be the AL Rookie of the Year. The quote from Terry is not exact, as I saw it on television, but I was happy to see that the management team invested alot of time in him in the minors, believed that bringing him up was the right thing to do and when questioned about their decision, stuck by it and by their player.

Finding the right employees is critical to any company's success. The criteria or interview techniques you use to find the right employees are important and once you decide to bring them on to your organization; it is only the beginning. Like the Redsox, you should spend time developing, managing and believing in your new employees so that they all can become rookies of the year and perhaps golden glove candidates. One reason that Dustin has done well is because of his talent, but perhaps more importantly is his attitude and work ethic.

In the high tech industry there are numerous talented people, there are people with great attitudes, and those who are passionate and hard working. Finding someone who is all of those things can be challenging if not impossible. Attitude and work ethic , in my mind are more important than talent as technology can be learned. The IT industry changes so quickly that you have to continually learn or you can no longer give your customers the best solutions. The ability to learn and the sincere desire to know that technology and apply it is critical.

As the Redsox head into the post season with a very strong team, the other thing that is apparent is the depth they have to handle injuries and other unexpected events. Having a strong team that can cover for each other is also important in the business world. Most businesses don't have the luxury of having farm teams of players all working to improve until they get their shot at the big leagues. We can, though as managers, keep our employees cross trained, be conscious of the business and engaged so that the business can continue in the event of a temporary (or long term) loss of an employee.

If you put it all together, using some of the techniques of the RedSox (and other Sports Organizations), you can create a culture of choosing, managing and cross training your employees so that your business can succeed.