Drafting Your Fantasy Federal Team

Like fantasy football, achieving federal goals in your organization starts with a draft. The success of your mission depends on hiring the right employees, creating an intentional strategy, and knowing when to trade. A weak team will lower productivity and end an otherwise promising fiscal season. But, how do you build a team that will put points on the board? These four fantasy football lessons will guide your organization to an elite dream team:

Training and Research – Drafting a team takes strategy and is not as easy as it looks. Even with hundreds of Sunday night football games under your belt, every season should start with asking questions and gathering research. First and foremost, get some serious coaching from your competition. What successful organization doesn’t look to mentors, other business models, and varying sector best practices to improve? Absorb as much data as possible about your environment. Now analyze. How does your team compare? Who are you competing against? Will your receivers be playing in cold, outdoor stadiums in December? A little training and research will help develop your strategy, target valuable players, and mitigate team injuries.

Identify Potential Partnerships – You wouldn’t think something as competitive as fantasy football would require collaboration, but it is actually an essential element. It is the well-balanced team that can compensate for individual players’ weaknesses that are the most successful. Last year someone in my league thought a talented running back could succeed alone. They were wrong. Too often in my work I’ve seen teams rely too heavily on their future Hall of Famer. Even top caliber players need great partners, so it is important to draft them, too. What is Drew Brees without Jimmy Graham? Bench individuals behind your star who are just as, if not smarter, than your best performer. With no contingency plan, you could be left scrambling to cover your losses, just as my friend scrambled to find a viable running back. Create a cohesive team and do not bank on one person to hold up your organization.

Know Your Sleepers – Fantasy owners spend much of the offseason predicting the most undervalued players for the upcoming season. The same should apply to federal hiring. Everyone in your sector is targeting “top” players, meaning they’ll be snatched up quickly in the draft. To ensure the best talent possible ends up on your roster, you need a winning strategy to keep you ahead of your competition. The key is to know the future leaders (or sleepers). Select the players who will develop into top performers and don’t rely too heavily on stats. Look for individuals who play multiple positions, have an innate ability to read the competition, and get along with your existing team.

Recalculating – Knowing who is on the way out is just as important as spotting a future valuable employee. The federal government tends to play in a keeper league, holding onto players from one season to the next. When it comes down to it, you need players on your fantasy team that are going to score. It’s as simple as that. You can’t win a game without scoring points. We’ve all had investments that look great on paper, but for some unknown reason go wrong. Stay on top of your team each week to see who is performing and who needs to be benched; otherwise you could risk missing out on some big points.

The strategies and complexities in fantasy football don’t come close those experienced in the government sector. The stakes are much higher; nevertheless, the lessons are applicable and you may be surprised what a learning experience it can be. Know of any other fantasy football tips applicable to the government? Or think you have what it takes to be in my league? I’d love to hear from you below in the comments.