Here we sit in March, exactly one month after the conclusion of the 2020 Synapse Summit. The post-event hoopla has finally wound down and the team is able to catch their collective breaths. The event had over 7300 people over 2 days, an astonishing accomplishment showing how far this community has come. In the days and weeks following the event, we get a lot of questions but there is a variation on one that I always particularly love to answer.
“How big is your team to be able to pull off such a feat?”
When I can turn around and say that we have a team of 5 full time employees, plus very few added contractors, jaws drop. I can visualize their thoughts as if I can read their mind. There are question marks. There are expletives. There are praises.
To me, in the worlds of the late, great Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler, this is all about “the team, the team, the team!”. The real question isn’t about the size of the team, it is about the quality. Any business, new or old, needs to build a strong core team. So, what does one look for in building a team? There are many schools of thought, long books, and habits on team building. The following are a few things that I look for in finding the right member of the team:
- The right attitude – ensuring they want to do the job to better the organization, and not just tell others what to do
- A mission based approach – knowing that they are working for something bigger than themselves
- Adherence to core values – the right people in the right seats will act the right way for the business
- Big picture thinking – being able to see 2 steps ahead as well as 2 months ahead
- Growth potential – will the person continue to look to improve
You may notice, one thing you will not see there is a well-written C.V. or a solid skillset. The skills can be interchangeable. When a football coach builds a team, the coach can either find players to fit his or her system or adjust the system to fit the skilled players. As a team builder, there are instances of both; but I prefer the latter. By building a team around a solid group of quality individuals with the right attitude and potential to grow, it sets an organization up for unlimited potential. This is how magic can happen, like having a miniscule team of 5 full time employees host a game-changing event for the state of Florida, three years in a row.
To the Synapse team of full time employees, contractors, and volunteers, such as Lauren Prager, Brett Maternowski, Kyley Hagan, Monica Angel, Wes Lehman, Daniel Cura, Kimberly Wander, Shannon Pastizzo, Tricia Barnes, Jenny Daniels, Abbey Jones, Bob Dixon, Ankit Kothari, Chuck Martin, Richard Munassi, Gabe Higgins, Rosa Shores, Dan Heckman, John Miles, Lorri Daland, Suzanne Ricci, Raegan Smith, Matt Wheeler, Rachael Bunn, Shane Needham, Lisa Dwyer, Paul Harris, Roland Allen, Cesar Hernandez, Andy Hafer, Marc Blumenthal, and many others – Thank you for all that you do. You all exemplify these values and it is an honor to work beside you, helping to shape the future of innovation across Florida. The simple reason that we can tell stories loud and proud that innovation lives here is simple:
The Team! The Team! The Team!
