New Orleans Saints: Inadequate Synergy
By Dean Mullen
Watching the 2017 playoffs reminds all of Who Dat Nation what’s missing. It’s the simple lack of any evidence of synergy.
"Synergy is the creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts- Ray French, Charlotte, Rayner, Gary Rees, Sally Rumbles- Organizational Behavior (2008)"
In other words, there is no “I” in team. There is something to say about the teams left in the playoffs as of Sunday night. Each one has its own specialty and character. There are teams that been there before, and some newer teams that have one similar character. That is synergy.
To demonstrate an example, this example may help to make it clearer. Synergy in sports teams is:
"“Synergy is the sum of the team being more than the total sum of its individual parts and the unique situation where the best individual performance on the team, does not outperform the team’s performance”"
So how does this relate to the NFL and the New Orleans Saints? It’s quite simple. Bo Hanson provides insight in a little more depth in that article that was linked above. For the Saints though, in order to reach their maximize potential, the team must play as one. Not one quarterback and one receiver or a kicker and a long snapper.
Specifically, every single person involved within the organization must feel totally committed and involved to accomplish the set goals. Individual performances that are highlighted on a daily or weekly basis can be detrimental to a team’s goal. For instance, years ago when the New England Patriots were announced before coming on the field in their first Super Bowl run, the announcer said just that. “Here are the New England Patriots.”
In most cases, teams usually announce the starters at the beginning of the Super Bowl, but the Patriots decided that the entire team would be announced. Their model of success has spoken for itself many times over.
The Saints have tried to win by overvaluing incorrectly by the way, individual performance over team goals. It shows. Fans can see it. The lack of synergy is evident. The Saints will be at it again in free agency and the NFL Draft in April. New players will be brought in. The fact is though, without a complete commitment to synergistic instruction, the Saints will continue to produce great players. However, the team as a whole will not get to another Super Bowl focusing on players.
Sure this man wasn’t a football coach, but his knowledge epitomized synergistic winning.