Quality Start

Possibly the most important player on a baseball team is the pitcher. The pitcher stands on the island (pitcher mound) throwing baseballs toward homeplate hoping to out smart the batter and get him/her out. There are three pitchers in baseball, starter, relief and closer. A closer is a relief pitcher but a specialist and within the area of relief pitching there are long relief and set-up.

How does this relate to leadership? As a leader you have to organize a group of people for a project. You need the best people for the project and people who can play specific roles. The pitcher on your team is an important player in that project. You need someone who is a good pitch person, someone who can deliver the information clearly and concisely. Someone who can give you a quality start to the project, or fill in if someone leaves the project. Maybe you need someone who can close the sale.

Let's look specifically at each pitching role and compare it with what you need on your project team.

v  Starting pitcher - The good starting pitcher is someone who can give you some innings over the course of the season and who can give you quality starts day in and day out.

o   Your project starting pitcher is your ace of the project. They will log the hours to get the project completed and they will give you quality work day in and day out.

v  Relief pitcher – A good relief pitcher is one who can give it all they got for 1 or 2 innings to stop or prevent more runs from occurring.

o   Your project relief pitcher is someone who may spend a short time on the project but is able to prevent problems from occurring and is able to give it all they have during their time on the project.

v  Closer – A good closer is a pitcher who can shut the other team down for the last inning thus preserving the win. They usually have great stuff and they work well under pressure.

o   Your project closer is that person who works well under pressure and is able to close out the project for a win. You need to capture that win in your project you need the closer to preserve the win.

What type of pitcher so you want on your project team? Maybe you need one of each. You are the leader you decide how you want this project game played.
 
Start putting your project team together by getting a quality pitcher.