I joined a new hockey league that is a bit closer to my house. Our team is pretty good, and I had a pretty good game the other night. It made me think about two management philosophies that I believe in rather strongly. If you will pardon the use of sports as a framework for a management metaphor or two...

I hire and reward team players.

Someone I know once said: "I won't hire someone who doesn't play a team sport." There is a lot of wisdom in this. You don't have to play a team sport in order to be in my organization, but you do have to be a team player to be in my organization. In other words: if your idea of your role in the organization is just to get ahead, not take care of others, and look out only for yourself... well, you won't be very successful. There are people who do jobs in my organization that only they understand. They are the equivalent of goalies. Only they can do the job, they are critical to our success, and the team has to coalesce around them. That doesn't mean they are more or less important to the org than any other player, but it does mean that they are part of the team and we, as team members, have to play our parts so they can be successful.

As people grow in their jobs, I give them "chia pets". A chia pet is a metaphor for someone or something they have to keep alive. In other words, I make them responsible for the success of another individual. It is a way of teaching them that the organization is better off if everyone can contribute, and that their individual success is tied to how well they can train, mentor, coach and teach a more junior person.

Play your game at the right level.

The new hockey team I play on is a better fit for me than some of my previous teams have been. Frankly I am a much better hockey player now and in my first game I had a break-away goal, lots of good passes, some really decent defensive moves - it was, all in all, a pretty good game. However, it made me think about when I first started playing hockey.

When I first started playing hockey I wobbled and wandered all over the place. I played with my buddies from my MBA team, and we had a great time. However, one was a natural athlete, one was born with a hockey stick in his hand (and is/was Canadian), and the other is a world class runner. So, I was chasing these guys. I really had no business being on the same team with them, they were at least a league ahead of me. I would have been more successful if I had played at the novice level. The team would have been more successful as well.

Don't get me wrong, we had a lot of fun, and I wish we still played together. But, honestly, my game was nowhere near as good as theirs. And it does/did matter. As a member of a team, you are expected to carry your share of the load. You have an obligation to play your game at the right level and do your part. If you can't, you let the team down. I always felt that keenly. What I lacked in skill I made up for (in some part) by being a hard-working player. However, hard work isn't always enough. You also have to have the skills at the right level.  Now I have the skills at the right level, and, I could / should be playing in their league.

This also holds true in the professional portions of your life, especially as a manager. As a manager, you are a part of the team and you have an obligation to be on your game. Like in hockey, if you can't pick up the break-away goal or stop the attacking wing from the biscuit slap at the blue line, you let the team down. As leaders, if we don't play at the right level at the right time, we hurt our organizations.

I am a much better hockey player now. I understand my role and I do my job. I enjoyed playing hockey with my buddies, but I was pretending then. Now, I contribute to the team. You have to play at the right level. You have to be stretched, but you must always be competitive. If you play a D league game in a B league, you aren't be stretched, you are being a lousy team member.

If you mess up in hockey, you lose a game. If you mess up as a manager, you lose a team.