It may go to the wee hours, but it will always take a team
Mark Crouser
By Mark Crouser, CMA
I watch a lot of baseball. Through the summer, watching grown men chase childhood dreams is practically a daily event at my house. In fact, I’ve got a game on right now – Royals 1, Red Sox 1, bottom of the 8th from Fenway Park in Boston.
On its face, baseball is a simple game, the basics understood even by those who have only watched a few innings – hit the ball, run the bases, play your position. When you do those things well, you win. But fielding a team where each player does so at a consistently high-level, that’s the stuff of myth.
You could say the same about managing public relations programs – the goals can be clearly defined, with a myriad of strategic and tactical elements that were learned in PR101 available at our discretion. But developing and executing on a plan to get there, all the while calling upon the right big hitters, specialists, utility players and fireball pitchers, that’s the challenge. And here you stand, lineup card waiting to be filled out. And it will take no less than the best effort from the entire team to succeed.
It’s past one in the morning now, the game having gone into extra innings, with the Royals threatening to start the 11th. The once raucous crowd has thinned, with youngsters long fast asleep on the shoulders of the hearty few.
There are a lot of lessons to be learned from baseball – applicable in life and business. Baseball managers carry the quiet responsibility of implementing strategy. From the top steps of their dugouts, each manager makes in-game adjustments, their coaches signaling to batters and fielders after each pitch, amending to the ever-fluid situation.
It’s then up to each player to execute on the field, whether taking a pitch for a better read on the pitcher, laying down a sacrifice bunt, or beating out a tag. Nearly each member of both teams has contributed to this point, with only a few pitchers and hitters left on the bench in case the game pushes deeper into the morning.
The same goes for working within our own teams. We have to plan for success and put ourselves in a position to attain it, with each team member being accountable for executing on their own roles. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t. But a good manager lets his team execute on the plan in place, altering course only when necessary.
The clock on the outfield wall ticks to 1:45 Tuesday morning, with the game still tied 1-1 at the end of the 13th. A rookie reliever has narrowly avoided countless disasters, holding the Red Sox scoreless the last two innings. The giant neon Citgo sign over top of the park’s ‘Green Monster’ in left field glows like a Christmas tree. The beaming lights of this hundred year old park illuminate the freshly-mowed grass, keeping it nearly “daylight” green.
So whether on or off the field, what is it that makes some teams magical? To me, the difference is management. In baseball, it’s the job of a select few. For most of the rest of the world, we can each take on the responsibility for playing that role, managing teams, programs, projects and budgets and put each of our teammates in a place to succeed. The deft decision-making, creative thinking and day-to-day guidance involved each take the touch of a skillful “skipper.”
To start the 14th, a Royals rookie wunderkind doubles and a tough-as-nails veteran singles, advancing the runner to third. Up comes a utility player who was with the AAA club in Omaha a week ago – and now he’s called on in the clutch and delivers. Both he and a rookie after him come up big, each driving in a run, giving the Royals a 3-1 lead. The Red Sox are soon sent packing by our icy closing pitcher, the Royals celebrating an early morning win.
Whether on the field or off, it always takes a team.
