Death by Bullpen

As many of you know, I’m a huge baseball fan. Since I was a kid I have really only truly loved two teams: The Chicago Cubs and more recently, the Tampa Bay Rays. (I can already hear many of you with your shouts of, “No man can love two teams, Matt…” All I can say is that they are in two different leagues and the chances of both teams ever making it to the World Series in the same year is, well, shall we agree, NON-EXISTANT!)

Anyway… As the season comes to a close, my Cubbies have found a way to let their 102^nd straight year slip away, and as for my beloved Rays, it would appear that a theme I know all too well from my childhood Cubs teams has crept up on them, namely: Death by Bullpen.

The Starting Pitching for the Rays this year has been pretty good. In fact, it was the lion’s share of their starting rotation that got them to the World Series a year ago. Some new, young faces have stepped up as starters and that has been great to see. However, the problem with the Rays pitching this year is not with their starters, it’s with their Relievers. Too often, what the starters get going, the bullpen can’t finish.

Now before all the non-baseball leaders begin to check out, I’ll give you the Leadership Challenge:

If the Bench of our Organization can’t sustain what our

Starting Leaders can begin, we’re in trouble!

1.  Starting Lineup Leaders can only take us so far.

In the game of baseball, you play 9 innings or 27 outs. If your starting pitching can get you 21 of those outs, you’re doing well, but the game’s not over until the last 6 outs are recorded. Leading in business, non-profit or ministry is the same way. The project or goal isn’t achieved until you get all 27 outs. We can’t record a “Win” for our team until we finish the project 100%.

Rare is the organization who has a Starter who can go all 27 outs for them consistently. In fact, if the growth strategy of an organization is dependent on their starter doing that over and over, their setting themselves up for disappointment and defeat. I would go so far as to say that God hasn’t designed leaders to do that. We need a strong, vibrant bullpen to carry our organizations through to achieving their goals.

What about us? Are we consistently looking to our “Super-Starters” to carry us on their shoulders? If so, then we’ve got some work to do.

2.  We must Develop our Bullpen.

Moses got into trouble with this one in the book of Genesis in the Bible. He was trying to do too much and it took his father-in-law Jethro pointing it out to him before he was able to see the unhealth in his leadership strategy. (See Exodus 18).

As I work with leaders across the country, one of the areas most overlooked is the leadership development of their bullpen. Here’s why: Because there is So Much to Do! The daily demands and pressures of running an organization are tough and most leaders are so IN their organizations that they can’t seem to rise ABOVE them long enough to see the forest for the trees.

Building in consistent blocks of time, energy and strategy to develop the leaders around us seems, on the surface, to be almost counter-productive. It can feel like we’re taking time away from doing work to talk about doing work. However, it has been my experience that placing a priority on developing the bullpen of your organization yields long-term benefits in huge ways.

3.  Our bullpen has the ability to give us a Winning Advantage like nothing else can.

So how do we create a sustainable system for leadership development within our organizations?

* Carve out time well in advance. If we’re waiting for time to just appear in our calendar where we can all stop and learn together, it will never happen. We must get way ahead by strategically placing time in our weekly, monthly, and yearly calendar to intentionally grow together. Jack Welch, former head of GE, said that in the height of his career, he would spend between 30 – 35% of his work week developing the leaders around him.

Here’s how that might look for us:

• Systematically place a 60 minute standing appointment on your calendar with your direct reports each week?


• Zoom out 60 days and block off an entire morning for leadership development.


• Go on a 2 day retreat out of the city to watch DVD’s and talk about leadership.


• Read a chapter of a book each week and discuss it together.

Start small, but do something. Remember, you need them to get those last 6 outs for you and your team.

* Don’t give in to the Temptation to Compromise on it. One of the biggest reasons we don’t develop our bullpens is because we have to focus so much on the first 7 innings. When it comes to leadership development, there will always be things that suddenly come up. Avoid the temptation to schedule over these growth times. They may seem like a hassle in the present, but remember these are precisely the people who are going to be called upon in the late innings of the game to keep the Win alive!

* Make it Personal. Finally, the best way to develop your bullpen is by recognizing that each team member is an individual. No two pitchers are alike. Each one has their own strengths they bring to your team. As the leader, it’s your job to know your team well enough to grow them in the areas where they add the most value to your organization.

So as I watch another long season slip between the cracks for both of my teams, I hope that this off-season, I’ll remember a valuable lesson in leadership: My chances of winning are only as good as my bullpen. I think my teams have got some work to do.

Matt Keller