Lessons Learned

FIT

• Branding. Stewart understands branding. Everything she does in public promotes her brand as high quality. Matchstick created an event that was aligned with their product image. Primarius's event was not tied into branding and was embarrassing.
   

• The big, simple idea. Matchstick understood Stewart's instructions to create an event that was innovative. Their team chose an uncomplicated strategy using Tide to Go Joe. The idea was closely tied to the product (he was dressed to resemble the stain stick), and the whole idea of the product is to knock out stains. Great ideas do not have to be complex. They just need to be effective and easy to understand.
   

• High-performing team. Matchstick has gelled as a high-performing team. They have moved beyond the team stages of forming and storming -- where conflict and differences are worked out -- and are now in a performance phase. They support, encourage and inspire each other. They're focused, work collaboratively, capitalize on each other's strengths and communicate clearly.
   

• Having fun. Matchstick has fun as a team. Their spirit is infectious and contributed to the enthusiasm of their audience at the event. The team members clearly enjoyed themselves in their character roles. Ryan in particular as the caped crusader displayed great gusto and fun in his role. Also, what a great sport! Not every man would willingly appear in an orange, skintight spandex costume.
   

• Interactive event. Matchstick passed out sample stain removal pens at their event to demonstrate the product. Their entire event engaged the consumers and tied into the product. They led the audience in cheers and used actors dressed as common household stains (ketchup, wine and coffee) that related well to the product and consumer.
   

• Brainstorming to encourage innovative ideas. Effective brainstorming encourages crazy ideas. Ryan's initial wild ideas led to the boxing ring battle. Often it can be the innovative "crazy" ideas that are the most successful. This was in contrast to Primarius's silent approach to brainstorming, which failed to generate a good idea. Here are a few simple rules to help your team generate a great idea during brainstorming:

  • Allow enough time.

  • Aim for quantity not quality.

  • Write down all ideas.

  • Brainstorm at the beginning of meetings when people are fresh.

  • Encourage wild ideas.

  • Do not use this time to censor, judge or evaluate ideas.

UNFIT

• Lack of leadership. Sarah completely blew it as a project manager. She was completely ineffective at creating a vision and strategy for her team. Followers require direction and a plan. Sarah offered neither. She could not even lead her team to develop an idea -- a major red flag. Leaders need to have the skills to facilitate creative thinking for their teams. Sarah's reliance on long, silent brainstorming sessions as her sole resource for idea generation was pretty pathetic. The challenges facing business leaders today -- global competition, technological changes and high customer expectations -- require creative leadership responses and skills. Being able to direct a team to results is a core fundamental leadership requirement.
   

• Activity without results. Primarius was active throughout the task but produced poor results. This has been called the "drowning man syndrome." If a drowning man does not have the skills to swim, even though he expels a tremendous amount of energy flailing in the water, the result is still a drowning. During the task, Jim noted his team was doing a "whole lot of nothing." Carrie, for example, spent all her time poring over spreadsheets running the "financials." Accounting was hardly critical in this task. She was generating activity, not results.
   

• No creativity. The candidates who remain on Primarius should be concerned. Stewart began this series saying she was looking for someone with "big ideas." Primarius failed to come up any idea for their task. I wouldn't count on the winner coming from this team.
   

• Focus on a theme. Sarah and Carrie failed miserably at managing the creative process for Primarius. They allowed time to be wasted and never pushed their team to a conclusion on a central theme. Even when their teammates suggested a theme, Sarah and Carrie rejected it out of hand.
  
  The bottom line? Time is precious. It's important not to wallow in indecision, but to move ahead. Sarah and Carrie spent a lot of time planning, but they couldn't execute their plan in an effective and efficient way.
   

Handicapping the Survivors: