I wanted to write about how the Golden Knights’ utilized the deadline to motivate their team and block their opposition. Maybe their deadline actions can serve as lessons for you in your professional life, as well.
With the Golden Knights having a fantastic regular season, the pressure was on General Manager George McPhee to add to their current roster, without disrupting the success. This relates to a decision many small and medium business owners face, when the team is performing at a high level add an experienced employee to help propel the business to the next level. This decisions could positively impact your business but negatively affect your current employees. Employee Motivation is by far one of the most difficult concepts for business leaders to grasp and much of the difficulty lies in what motivates one employee can demotivate another. The Golden Knights’ are in an interesting scenario where their “employees” (the players) are invested in the success of their company (the on-ice team). Therefore, most of the players would love to see a new star player arrive and help the team. In many businesses, employees aren’t as invested in the company’s performance as they are in their own performance and the arrival of a new star employee may lead to demotivation. This employee could be seen as a threat to their current jobs, someone blocking their career progression or a person that their boss will prefer over them. A simple example is the addition of an experienced salesperson and the perception from current sales employees that it may reduce their share of the pie.
Decision makers of a hockey team, need to evaluate the same factors when it comes to an acquisition, if a new player arrives, current players may receive less ice-time or less opportunities to play in attractive situations such as on the power play. Business leaders need to balance the needs of the company with the motivation factors of their current employees.
The Golden Knights were rumoured to have attempted to acquire a true superstar at the deadline, however they fell short. The two moves they completed were interesting in regards to their asset management and their knowledge of the competition. The Golden Knights acquired two forwards to add to their depth while utilizing the assets they had at their disposal that other teams coveted. For the first, they traded 3 draft picks from their large supply to acquire a talented forward (Tomas Tatar) from Detroit and the second, well, it took some creativity.
The Ottawa Senators were set to trade Derick Brassard but needed a third team to help make it work because of salary cap concerns. McPhee and his staff interjected themselves into the trade, offering to take on some of the salary in exchange for a draft pick and forward Ryan Reaves. Some panned the move but it was a way to acquire a depth forward while giving up only money and cap space, since the cap space can’t be carried to the next season, this was an expiring asset. More importantly, it seems that Vegas’ interest in becoming a third party in the deal was also to block one of their competitors from acquiring Brassard. That competitor ended up being their Conference Final opponent…the Winnipeg Jets. As a final stake in the heart, Reaves scored what became the series clinching goal that allowed the Golden Knights to best the Jets.
In business, it is dually important to understand your internal resources, the market conditions and your competition’s mindset. The Golden Knights staff acquired a large number of draft picks during the expansion draft process and kept some of their cap space. Both of these assets were coveted by teams at the NHL Trade Deadline and by accumulating these they were able to acquire two assets to help their team succeed and block one of their competitors. It seems that they had an understanding of what these acquisitions would mean to their employees’ motivation, as the two trades seem to have had a positive impact their results. What can you learn from this?
Do you understand what motivates each of your employees/coworkers?
Do you understand what motivates your clients?
Are you growing your team and ensuring you have the resources needed to succeed?
Are you managing your assets properly?
What do you know about your competition?
In my day-to-day, it is important to understand the employment landscape in Ottawa to ensure that our clients understand the best ways to acquire and retain the top talent? This means that I constantly have to understand what motivates employees, the market factors and what their competitors are offering as work conditions and perks.
Dan Julien's Musings 