Comments on: Lessons in Teamwork from the Soccer field

By: Mike Onofrio

Mike Onofrio — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 02:58:22 +0000

Ronaldo as usual trying to steal the show. Great article. Good correlations between team play on the pitch and in business.

By: Giampiero

Giampiero — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 14:03:44 +0000

Hey Mirvise, thanks for reading and commenting!

You took the words out of my mouth as I am planning to write another post about exactly that in the next little while! I agree with you 100%, and playing with all these different types of people and getting to know their personalities helps you understand how they have developed their skill sets differently from yours (i.e Balotelli is great at scoring goals because he has an unbelievable level of confidence and belief that he can do anything and beat anyone one on one).

By: Giampiero

Giampiero — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 13:59:13 +0000

Hey Sean, thanks for taking the time to comment!

I agree, all comments need to be positive and constructive. Yelling at someone saying “what the hell are you doing!” doesn’t help on the field or in the office and hurts morale. Having said that, I have found (both on the field and in the office) that people take constructive criticism as a form of insult and that isn’t appropriate behaviour as well. Whether it be the office or on the pitch, leave your personal emotions out of it and understand that your team mates want you to be the best you can be, and if that means pointing out things you can do to help out more, so be it…you can laugh about it afterwards over a beer!

By: Giampiero

Giampiero — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 13:51:12 +0000

Thanks for reading Puchee Linho!

By: Mirv

Mirv — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 20:01:29 +0000

Great post Giampiero. We also didn’t make the playoffs this year :P, but like yourself, I have always admired the parallels between the team on the pitch and in the office. An important lesson I have learned from soccer(football) on building great teams is the value of diversity. In soccer, you have goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, wingers, and strikers, all of whom are proficient in a specific set of skills, and similarly, a good team in the office requires individuals of different experience levels, and different skills (designers, business people, developers, engineers, manufacturing, etc). To achieve amazing feats together, you need a concoction of diverse skills, thoughts, and experience levels, and this holds true whether you are a start-up or a large established business

By: Sean Dann

Sean Dann — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 19:59:46 +0000

Great Article Giampiero! I also think that constant praise and encouragement amongst teammates goes a hell of a long way in any team sport. We are all human and all make mistakes on and off the playing fields. A true teammate will realize that error is inevitable, and move on from said mistake immediately, so as not to affect moral for the remainder of the game. Knowing your team will have your back despite making an error during play is critical, and words of encouragement and positive talk go a very long way in my opinion. Good read!

By: Puchee Linho

Puchee Linho — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 19:27:06 +0000

Fantastic Article!