Pre-season football is in full swing, which brings with it a whole host of great television, sports reporting and, of course, fantasy football leagues. Fantasy football has come a long way from the early days of office pools gathered on 8-1/2 x 11 sheets of paper. While those certainly still exist, now serious fantasy football fans can go to dedicated sites like the one on ESPN to draft their fantasy team while pitting their football talents against others around the world.
What started as a fun game at the office is now reported to be in excess of a $1 billion industry. What is it about fantasy football that has so many enthralled? In addition to being aligned with one of the greatest sports around, it’s the possibility, the idea, the thought that perhaps you can pick the best fantasy team. Of course, winning a pot of money doesn’t hurt either.
What if we take the concept a step further and consider what it would be like to build your own fantasy management team? Who would be on it? Visionaries like Bill Gates, major money gurus like Warren Buffet, or what about a sleeper recruit like Jayne Williams, award-winning CFO of KPOST Company?
Building Fantasy Management Teams
Thinking about fantasy football makes you wonder what it would be like if you could pick your own fantasy management team. Since the inception of KPOST, the executive team has worked tirelessly to build an amazing team, and just like those major league recruiters, they worked diligently to find and retain the best talent. Unlike fantasy football, however, their focus has always been to put together a strategy based on longevity and integrity.
Coaches and owners are tasked with determining the strategy for their teams. It is the same with strong executive teams. Part of setting the strategy is to ensure longevity. For example, much like any good coach, the KPOST team believes in providing a safe environment. Ensuring every project is managed safely and the team members return home each night not only creates a long-term strategy, but gives KPOST an advantage over other contractors. They can mobilize and de-mobilize quickly, cleanly and safely and get the job done well.
Coaching the Team
At KPOST, we align our internal hierarchy just like a real football team: Offense, Defense and Special Teams.
Offense is the revenue generating part of the team consisting of sales, estimating and marketing the brand. Defense is the operations or field team consisting of Project Management Superintendents, Foreman, Mechanics, Labor, Facilities, Fleet and Safety Management. Special Teams consists of Accounting, HR, Purchasing, Payroll & IT.
The players on the field are only half the story; the coaching staff is the other half. The players win by successfully executing their tasks, but it is the coaches that lay out the strategy which prepares the team for success. Owner Keith Post is much like ‘Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys’ as Keith’s active in the “player personnel and offensive side of the business.” Head Coach Steve Little runs the day to day business and manages the KPost “Team Brand.”
Although Jayne Williams is in charge of the Special Teams she likes to say “I’m also the Concessions Manager and Strength Coach” since she keeps the money flowing and the players safe and strong to play another day. Brent McFarlin is the Defensive Coordinator managing over 265 players and 100+ pieces of equipment and regularly comments “you know you WIN Super Bowls with a great defense”. Kelly Lea, a third generation former contractor, is our Offensive Coordinator who painstakingly leads the KPost team to annual record breaking revenue years including an estimated $40 million in 2013.
Playing the Game
In fantasy football, once you have recruited your top talent and a few sleepers, it’s time to pit your skills against other teams and see who wins. In real life, playing the game requires more skills and frankly, a lot more coaching.
For every KPOST project, the team comes together to create a game plan that ensures integrity of work, ethical behavior, and most importantly, safety for the team, the equipment and materials and the client. Every project, much like every play in a game, is exercised with precision. All scenarios are thought out in advance to create solid plans and back-up plans.
From special teams to offense and defense, each coach brings his talent to create the best overall team. Again, KPOST has a similar philosophy in that they have expert supervisors. Whether it’s a project manager, job supervisor, or executive, each member of the team contributes 100% to ensure safe implementations and completions of projects.
It’s obvious when a team has a good foundation and team structure, like Tony Dungy who led his team to both win a Super Bowl but also kept it classy. KPOST strives to add value to customers by first keeping their own house in order. The leadership coaches and creates a strong culture that empowers SAFETY, QUALITY & VALUE first, ensuring that every team member gets home and is ready and excited to start another day. It’s the KPOST way.
