3 Ways the Kansas City Chiefs are similar to (or different from!) businesses

The Kansas City Chiefs NFL football team is struggling. This past Sunday, the Chiefs were not good, to put it kindly. They contributed to their loss to the Titans as much as the Titans did.

Three things are coming out this week that strike me as similar to our workplaces...

🔴 First, Coach Andy Reid said the flight home from Sunday's game was quiet, but it was not quiet because the players were sulking. It was quiet because they were on their tablets studying the game, according to the Kansas City Star. They were looking for their errors so they get better.

Is that what your team does at work? Dissect mistakes to be sure it gets better? Many business teams want to get past mistakes quickly or cover them. They certainly do not want to talk about them or share lessons learned openly. It would be a useful practice to include an "After Action Review"--like the military does.

Hopefully the Chiefs recognize the physical and mental errors from last week and do better Monday night.

🔴 Second, people are talking about how off-field events may be impacting the team mentally more than anticipated. The same can be true for your work team, right?

Off-work things like families, fitness, mental health, education, home care, hobbies, church, neighbors, and more (a pandemic!) affect your people too. How are you helping ensure they are in great shape?

🔴 Third, it is very clear that everyone on the team needs to contribute to win. One person cannot carry a team, a la Patrick Mahomes. Offense and defense are important. And so are the coaches. Poor play calling leads to errors and losses.

Same is true in your work, right? The revenue-generating team might be creative work, manufacturing, product design, construction of a building, or wealth generation. That team can only do so much though. They need people who know what the competition is doing, and they need people to make sales possible. Teams need wise strategies, just like the Chiefs need wise plays called.

Real leaders recognize the roles all team members play. And, they step up to alter all areas when needed.

Let's see what the Chiefs do Monday night against the Giants. Hopefully we can learn from how they handle victory.