How the Lessons of “March Madness” Can Positively Impact Your Business

Las Vegas, NV, March 18, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Sixty-four teams, four finalists and one champion.

That’s the “formula” for success in the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament.

Amid all the drama of last-minute finishes and late-game heroics, the teams that are most successful in the annual tournament are those that tend to be fundamentally sound – and built within an established culture of success.

For business owners, the challenge of a credit crunch, lower than expected economic growth and higher than expected layoffs continue to make entrepreneurship more challenging and risky than ever.

However, developing sound business fundamentals and a positive and performance-oriented company culture can go far in making sure any business can survive and maintain profitability – regardless of the overall economy.

“The goal of ActionCOACH is to equip business owners with the fundamental skills and knowledge they need to survive and thrive in any economy,” ActionCOACH Director of Marketing Nathan Smith said. “Just like a championship basketball team needs to be fundamentally sound on both offense and defense, a good business needs to have the fundamentals in place to grow – even in adverse economic conditions.”

While many business owners have closed their doors, Smith said a recession is one of the best times to grow a business.

“First, everything is less expensive, and many customers are looking for other options in terms of price and quality,” he said. “That said, to capture those opportunities, a company needs to know its numbers and have a variety of performance-based systems in place – including those focused on actual product or service delivery and customer service.”

More generally, good fundamentals of business ownership revolve around generating consistent cashflow by identifying and exploiting a market niche; leveraging skills through people, systems, marketing and money, and developing a team that can work the fundamentals even if an owner isn’t physically in the business.

“The greatest value of coaching – in both business and sports – is to make sure the players are being held accountable within the culture to good fundamentals,” Smith said. “Once those fundamentals are in place, the culture needs to ensure activities that produce the best results are done by default.”

In this year’s NCAA tournament, perennial powerhouses Duke, University of Connecticut and North Carolina are all in the hunt for a championship. Despite differences in geography and student demographics, each shares a long tradition of winning – based on player character, leadership ability and accountability to the team.

“The teams that succeed year in and year out all have something in common, and that is a culture of performance and accountability,” Smith said. “It starts with each university and is embodied by each school’s coach. Players will only respond when they see their leaders accountable to the same culture. The same holds true in business. If the owner doesn’t establish a positive company culture, the employees will – by default – establish a culture of their own.
“And that may or may not be positive for the business.”

While this year’s tournament winner remains to be seen, history suggests that sound fundamentals and a positive, winning team culture will combine to deliver a national championship.

“Business owners can adopt these types of successful strategies for their businesses, and benefit themselves by being held accountable,” Smith said. “That’s the role of a great Business Coach, and why ActionCOACH has proven so successful in its category.”

ActionCOACH is the world’s number one business coaching and executive coaching firm, with more than 1,000 offices in 26 countries. To learn more, go to actioncoach.com/bus_health02.php.

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