How Long Does It Take To Build A Team?

No one can say for sure. But what I do know is that it is not a task that you can check off and say it is done. That's why it's usually referred to as team "building". Let me give you an example for the sports world and the next entry will begin to look at how it applies to the work world.

I am a huge Indiana University basketball fan. The men's basketball program began to spiral from when Bob Knight (no matter what you view of Coach Knight is the problems started then) left IU and the completely collapsed during the2007-08 basketball season. Now regardless of what happened and why, Coach Tom Crean walked in as head coach for IU on April 1, 2008 with the following situation:

1.  The school was facing the possibility of severe NCAA sanctions based on the previous year's actives. The sanctions could include loss of amount of scholarships (Which for those that don't know D1 schools, those that you might see in the NCAA tourney, are allowed to give out 13 scholarships. These scholarships are what helps the school attract talented players to their programs. There are hundreds to maybe thousands of other schools that have very good sports programs but are not allowed to give this amount of scholarships for basketball.) to possibly not being able to play in any post season tourneys for a set period of time.
2. Crean came in with worse than a dysfunctional team  he virtually had no team (freshman phenom Eric Gordon opted to leave early for the NBA, DJ White graduated and was drafted, two players (including Jordan Crawford) transferred and three others were kicked off the team). As a result, Crean was left with a roster with only two returning players, only one of whom was on scholarship (the two players combined for 30 points in the previous season).
3. Coach started the 2008-09 season with one senior, five true freshmen, six walk-ons, Having one walk- is an oddity in many college basketball programs. So to have six in a highly regarded program like IU is unheard of.
4. The Coach and his team had very little knowledge of the players. He didn't know what their strengths were and what would be the best way to use them in the team.
5. Normally during recruiting Coaches are looking for players to help either fill a needed role or to provide skills that the team is lacking. Coach Crean didn't have a core team so any recruiting he was able to do was mainly to get talented players.
6. IU basketball fans are fierce. They not only follow their teams everywhere but they expect them to win. So not winning was not an option for the fans. So no pressure there right.

So needless to say the first season was really hard to watch for a fan but very interesting for me. I watched with great interest, admiration, and pride in how hard the team worked. No they didn't win the championship, actually they had the worse record in the school's history (6-25, 1-17conference). What I admired most was the guts and commitment the team showed for their team, their coach, and their school. The team came every night to play.

The next year was better but still not the caliber that the IU faithful expect (10-21, 4-14 conference). This year started with high expectations and hopes. The team started off fairly strong and they have had some strong showings yet they are 12-15, 3-11 conference at the writing of this entry.(including 2 wins against nationally ranked teams) But when you have fans that are expecting 20+ wins and a trip to the tourney it is a tough road. That is not going to happen this year.

Yet there are people who believe that maybe Crean needs to go. They believe that it is taking too long to get a winning team. How long should it take to build a championship team? Especially when you have nothing to start with.

I don't know about a NCAA championship team, but I do know that developing a work team takes a long time. So how do you build your teams? How long did it take? Next entry we'll start talking about how to build your team.