Great Teams Have Great Benches

“Great teams have great depth.” John C. Maxwell

Leaders tend to focus on their top performers, their starter players. And for good reason! It’s important to focus 80% of your time on the top 20% of performers to maximize your team’s results.

You see this often in larger companies and businesses. They conduct training on increasing performance and larger leadership ideas with their top people and their leadership team, while the bench players of the team get training on compliance issues.

But what if one of your top performers leaves the team? Do you have a plan to replace them?

If you don’t focus on your bench players and develop them, you could find yourself hurting.

Here are a few thoughts to consider…

• Who steps up in times of need and fills in during short term projects?
• Who stays after and goes over and above their job duties?
• Who seems the most curious about what happens in and with the team?
• Who volunteers to do extra work and/or learn something new to help the team?

These are the bench players you want to develop! Maybe you are that bench player. What do you do?

• Outshine the rest- always bring your best but never compete with another, only yourself
• Be Ready- keep learning and growing and know what the team is doing so you can jump in
• Work Ethic- develop this; don’t work yourself to death, maintain proper life harmony
• Serve- your only job is to make the TEAM look good, do this and you will be blessed!

If you’re a team leader and you don’t have a plan to develop your bench players, might I suggest a couple of things? First, contact us and we can help you put a development plan into place. Second, if you have limitations on this at the current moment, let us know, we can help you find the resources. Finally, we have a virtual leadership development group that works with young leaders to raise their skills, develop their character, and turn them into servant leaders. If you’re interested in plugging in your bench players, let us know!

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