Farm Teams

A high school football team near where I live recently finished their regular season with a perfect record.

I am writing about this team not because of their noteworthy record, but because of what the long term coach has said all season in articles and interviews.  The coach consistently credits the players on the field.  You never hear about this coach crediting his preparation or play-calling.  Many of the players and community members credit the coach and his leadership of the team but the coach, in every interview, credits the players.

The coach also frequently mentions the lower levels.  The freshman and sophomore teams, the middle school and junior tackle teams that a lot of the current players grew up in.  In fact it is rare, the last couple of weeks, to read a story about this team without reading that the juniors and seniors on the team did not have a single win as freshmen.

A good farm team or feeder system is an almost indispensable ingredient of success in football or most sports.  But is just as valuable in business.

In the trades, an apprentice system has helped newcomers to learn the skills necessary to master their trade for centuries.  In office work, interns and trainees often fulfil a somewhat similar role.

But, unlike the local football coach, it doesn't seem as if most businesses appreciate the value in investing resources in those just starting out.  I don't think most businesses appreciate the lessons and value an early winless season can have if you have a system that focuses the players on the fundamentals and on what's important in the long run.

No high school team is judged by the record of their freshman team, just as no organization is judged by the number of sales that their trainees make.  That is probably why so many businesses, and sports teams, fail to invest time, energy and resources on those farm teams.

In an era when companies are looking from quarterly to quarterly earnings report and "what have you done for me lately" philosophies, it takes vision and leadership to make an investment in a farm team that won't pay off for maybe four years!