What Comes First ?

What comes first ... the system, then the team or team and build a system around them. This perplexing question was running around my head as I watched the recent Euros 2016. Portugal won.

France and Belgium had a team of individuals, but no consistent system of play. Portugal, Germany and Italy had a system of play and picked players to play their system. Spain had a winning system for the past ten years, but the current players couldn't play their winning system. Portugal stuck to their not so pretty system and won the tournament.

Now from a business point of view, do you put a system in place first or recruit the best minds and see what evolves. For me, it probably a mixture of both with a sprinkling of flexibility thrown in.

Finding a system that works is a matter of trial and error. Recruiting the right people to work the system is also a matter of trial and error.

Over time if you have a successful system that works, your competitors will copy it and try to recruit some of your team to replicate and implement it.

This is when the mixture of system first and team first comes into play. If you recruited a team just to suit your system, there is a good chance they will not be able to respond when challenges occur. But if you have one or two team members who have the skill and awareness to recognise and adapt to challenges, you will be able to adapt, adjust and continue to thrive.

What do you believe comes first, system or team. Let me know in the comments below.

Colin Myles 
Author

P.S.
Trust is built one consistent act after another" C.Myles

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