What your business can learn from the Spurs

Last Wednesday night I had the good fortune to be invited to opening night by Stephen Geri of Diversified Employee Benefit Services. Generally, I am more of a football guy, but the opportunity to attend opening night was very enticing. The opportunity to sit on row 8 on opening night made it a no brainer.

I’ve been to Spurs games in the past, but have always sat far above the bat’s flight zone. The first thing you notice when you sit at floor level is the sheer size of the players. Those are some big guys. I’m glad I don’t have to feed them. The second thing you notice is the dance team. Gracious! Those are some ultra-attractive young ladies. Viva SA!

Once you waded through these obvious points, the thing that really caught my attention was the teamwork displayed by the home team.

I am constantly reminding and reinforcing the concept of teamwork with our staff. Today’s young professionals tend to be more about “me” than “us”. Whenever possible, I try to hire staff that participated in team athletics in high school. They understand “team”. Unfortunately, you can’t always find individuals with such a background. So, you have to teach them the concept of teamwork and the benefits thereof.

To this end, I have lectured. I have cajoled. I have instituted role playing. In short, I have tried everything within my power to emphasize the importance of “team”. Getting individuals that have never experienced the high of being on a team just don’t understand the incredible high that comes from team success and team recognition.

Businesses, no matter what their product line, have higher success rates when everyone is pulling in the same direction. Petty office politics and self promotion seldom lead to anything good. The more success that the organization enjoys, the more rewards there are for all the participants.

This brings me back to the Spurs. Wednesday night there was a complete singleness in purpose for the players. On the court, there were no raised voices. They played with a quiet determined presence of mind. The goal was to defeat the Hornets - which they accomplished. Good play was saluted and reinforced while bad play was ignored. Laziness was not tolerated. The goal was team success.

Maybe the solution to my problem is to simply push the pulpit aside and just take the staff to row 8 of a Spurs game. After all, seeing is believing.

--Steve Cook is the Managing Principal for Cook & Associates, a full-service accounting firm with offices in San Antonio and San Marcos, TX.