As I sat and watched the little league practice on Sunday morning, I was again drawn to the wisdom in the behavior of children and the lessons it holds for small businesses. This was the second practice for the tournament team my 10 year-old is playing on – so while the kids know each other from community and past teams, this only their second time together as a team.
After two hours of practice, the coaches had to go in for a meeting and the kids stayed out in the field. They weren’t given any instruction about what to do while the coaches were gone. They were just told to stay off the pitcher’s mound, since it had been raining and was muddy.
So for the first 10 minutes, they played catch in the outfield, but then their competitive instincts kicked in and a couple of kids appointed themselves as captains. Another told everyone to line up, and then they picked teams and started playing a game with 2 mini-teams, modified rules and a tennis ball instead of a baseball. I sat there just simply amazed that this group of twelve 10-year olds could get themselves that organized, that quickly.
Now you as a businessperson probably have met a number of people in your community either socially or through networking events at a chamber or Rotary or such. There are probably other businesses that you have been on same team with – a shared customer, an in-common zoning issue or something similar. What if your business and those other businesses could effectively organize a team as quickly as those kids did? Could you be more competitive against other companies? Could you help each other grow through referrals, joint marketing or partnered offerings? I bet with a little creativity and some trust thrown in, you could.
In the end, the kids weren’t trying to create a team with permanence. They were just trying to have fun when it was slow. If it’s slow for you, see if you can turn it around make your business and your partnering fun – and profitable – at the same time.
Have you had success with this before – please leave me a note and tell me your story.
