by Tony Malanowski

Some days, it feels like only Magic—whether the modern-day prestidigitations of top-line Vegas acts or the ancient Magick of legendary Fakirs from far-off climes—can help us take our business to the next level. We want to expand our client base, increase our productivity, and raise our company profile, but we lack the resources and/or the experience to make those dreams a reality. Try as we might, we never seem to progress past the talking stage. We find ourselves stalled in an unending vicious cycle of finger-pointing and can’t see how we can get out of it. 

But, taking a step back, we might be able to comprehend the bigger picture, and we can see exactly from which spot that giant monkey wrench is being thrown into our company’s gears. So, it might be time to rethink your approach, rework the strategy of how you are laying siege to your problem, and reassign the members of the Magical Team that will help you supernaturally beguile your objective.

1. Making Magic Happen – Assembling Your Team

Pulling your team together is the first step in securing what you want to be a cohesive and smooth-running group that will provide real community effort to pull in the same direction and give the spirit and self-sacrifice that will offer up everyone’s toil for the greater good of the Team! (OK, maybe that’s too much to ask for—even with a healthy dose of Magick!). But, seriously, you need to consider your options concerning the people and resources available to you and create a real producing entity within your company that will be unique to the job at hand. If you are a larger company, you could check with your Office Manager or Human Resources Department to see who might be obtainable to join your new group. You might just be able to approach the requisite number of individuals yourself and see if they might be up for a special interdepartmental spellcasting. Either way, you need to have the main talents covered to ensure success. Look at the specific needs for the project and plug in each of your new sorcerers where they would be the most beneficial. Do you need someone who is an expert at graphics? Someone who can research past performances and arrange the information in a fresh and meaningful way? Is there someone who shows leadership potential but hasn’t had a chance to shine and will bring youthful enthusiasm and a willingness to experiment? Each job has its own treacherous mountains to scale, and you must make sure you have the perfect sherpas in place to get you over those humps! This may require a little fudging at first, but the Magic of your Team should quickly make itself known as the pieces are assembled!

2. Creating a Description, an Outline, and a List of Goals

Once your team of budding Wizards is gathered, you need to explain the lofty objective you are planning to cast your spell over. The best way to communicate what you need them to do is to generate a Description of what you expect them to achieve. Is it a higher sales realization for the next month? Do you want to capture a specific client from another company? Are you trying to break your new product into a fairly stable marketplace?

Whatever the desired outcome, there should be a Description that will explain what you want the Team to achieve and why it is that you want them to achieve it. This Description can be as detailed as you want it to be, providing the eventual end result is apparent to all, and allows a certain amount of latitude in the approach. After all, you want your individual Sorcerers and Sorceresses to have the opportunity to use their talents to the best effect).

Next, you will want to create an Outline, which will present a more specific step-by-step approach and let everyone understand the plan of attack. Usually, people on your Team will more easily understand an approach if they have a 40,000-foot view of their place in the overall scheme of things.

Lastly, generate a List of Goals with a timetable for when these Goals should be expected to be attained. Be realistic—don’t overextend either your expectations or your possibilities.

I remember a project I was working on recently, where we suddenly had a new project manager brought over from another facility after two groups in the company merged. That manager had no idea of the workflow of our job, but, undaunted, he drew up a schedule for meeting certain goals and expected everyone to jump on board. The goals were certainly achievable as an end result; it was the manner in which he front-loaded the schedule of deliverables in the first few weeks (not accounting for upcoming holidays!) that caused an immediate series of cardiac arrests among the team. I asked if I could have a go at rejiggering the schedule to create a gentler ramping up at the start of delivery and then tap dance around the holidays. The manager agreed; the reworked schedule was quickly adopted with a lighter workload at the start and sufficient easing around the holidays. The team was actually able to get ahead of that final schedule, and we wrapped the project two days early with no loss of quality (yet plenty of profit to our team’s sense of invulnerability!). That was a true sense of the Magic that you want your Team to attain and project with confidence!

3. Establishing a Unique Personality For Your Team to Master Deadlines

We’ve all watched our favorite sports teams go through their various ups and downs over the years. Sometimes a new player will come on board, bringing a new work ethic that helps inspire the team to greatness. I remember when the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Kirk Gibson in 1988 and saw the changes immediately. Gibson brought a no-nonsense attitude and angrily criticized the team – which had finished in fourth place the year before – for not being professional after a newcomer prank had been played on him during Spring training. Gibson pushed his teammates to deliver on their potential, and their playing improved on all levels—leading them to win the World Series that year with two huge plays by Gibson himself sealing the deal. Gibson ended up not only helping his team win the World Championship, but his individual effort was acknowledged when he was voted The National League’s Most Valuable Player for 1988.

Can one individual make that much of a difference? Yes, in many cases one person can be the final ingredient needed to finish the Magic Potion, but those kinds of players (and employees) are few and far between. A better idea would be to cultivate that same kind of winning attitude in the way your Team views itself and how that unique vision relates to the job at hand. A winning approach to any job, no matter how imposing, will make the difference if all your Team members are working from the same playbook.

I’ll return to the example I had before about dealing with the new manager from a different facility and redoing his originally flawed delivery schedule into something that would fit our Team’s personality. That manager didn’t mean to gum up the works, and, in his own mind, he was probably pulling from his past experience to beat the looming deadline. All that was needed were some tweaks on his calendar dates (where everyone got to enjoy the holiday), and a good injection of Magic Potion into the attitude of our Team of Wizards that would make Dumbledore himself proud.  

They were reminded how far they had already come in a short span of time and how many impossible goals they managed to pull off. They were met with individually and lauded for their particular talents and how those talents were instrumental to the Team’s overall success. They were reminded that a door was always open to them if they encountered specific problems or had ideas on how to improve the workflow. The more they surpassed their delivery dates and smoothed out the process, the more they exhibited a “can’t fail/won’t fail” attitude. Was that approach all that was needed? Perhaps, but it possibly helped more that a certain project manager (who shall remain nameless in this instance!) saw the 40,000-foot view and knew that keeping everyone cool under pressure would create that winning personality. It may have helped that when those team members came into that certain project manager’s office, they saw on his wall a framed, autographed picture of Kirk Gibson hitting a home run in that 1988 World Series. Magic? Well…you don’t have to be Merlin to consider the possibility! 

4. Repetitious Wizardry—Keeping the Magic Plates Spinning

Now that your Team Personality is established, and all your Magical Pieces are in place, you might find yourself in for a good stretch of success attacking your next several projects. Perhaps you might have to replace a Team Member or two during your run or maybe new Team Members will need to be added on with certain explicit skills. But now, you will find your Team’s Personality propelling you forward with a mind of its own (and we’re not talking Artificial Intelligence here!). Your Team may achieve superstar status in your company (and even in your industry), and the satisfaction that comes with doing the impossible will heighten your Team’s self-respect and help them to strive for more successes over daunting undertakings well into the future.

It may not be rocket science, but it just might be…well, you know!