The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and sports are in the air.

Yes, you read that right. It’s sports time in the USA.

The World Cup is about to kick off in LA. The Knicks made the NBA finals for the first time in 27 years—which is SUCH a big deal in New York that Mayor Mamdani repealed bedtimes so kids can stay up to watch. SNL called out sexism in sports by joking that the NBA is the “men’s WNBA”.

And speaking of the WNBA, I'm heading to my first-ever live basketball game…go Liberty!

Now, I’m not a sports person, but I’ve been thinking about how everyone pushes the idea that business teams should be more like sports teams.

Orgs bring in big names from the sports world to give keynotes. Off-sites use sports as team-building activities, hoping the lessons rub off. We’re told to replicate strategies pulled from the playbooks of sports greats.

But if the comparison were really 1:1, the lessons would’ve hit by now, right? The reality is, sports teams and business teams are quite different.

Coaches don’t play in the game. Leaders do. Sports teams spend a huge chunk of time training. Biz teams don’t have that luxury. And org goals aren’t as simple as reaching the highest number on a scoreboard.

Teaming at work is a complex challenge that comes with its own set of rules and circumstances.

Here’s where sports and business teams diverge (and how we might still apply sports lessons to make meaningful progress):

1. In organizations, the goal often isn’t clear.

For sports teams, the primary goal is straightforward. Win.

For biz teams, that’s often not the case. Goals compete with each other, are measured by unclear standards, or aren’t communicated at all.

But we can design for clarity. It just takes a little extra effort.

Tools like our Team Charter—an exercise to help teams map out their mission, roles, and plan of execution—can clarify what success looks like and give people a purpose to work toward.

2. Performance feedback only happens once or twice a year.

In sports, candid feedback isn’t just encouraged, it’s expected.

Teams regularly review games and train to improve. They understand that losses are growth opportunities. They welcome critique because they know it’ll help them succeed.

In business, performance reviews are few and far between.

If teams can create more space for reflection—what we call a Retrospective—and really use the time to analyze and learn from their performance, they can reap the same rewards as their sports counterparts.

3. We optimize for individual success, not team success.

If you watched Heated Rivalry (who didn’t), you’ll remember the scene where Ilya Rozanov pumps his team up by saying, “I need to win.” When it aired, IRL hockey players agreed: This wouldn’t happen because teams never say “I”, they say “we.”

Sports treat teams as a unit of performance. Win together, lose together.

Businesses, on the other hand, typically optimize for the organization or the individual. People are judged on their own merits and driven by their own need to succeed.

But when we optimize for team success—when we frame our purpose around collective performance—motivation and effort become collaborative. The team feels closer. Trust improves.

Even if business will never be as clear-cut as sports, teams can still learn valuable lessons from athletes. Most importantly, that excellent everyday teamwork is what leads to a gold medal.

I’m sure we’ll see tons of examples of really good sports teaming in the coming weeks…and if a New York team is winning, you can bet I’ll be cheering them on.

Karina Mangu-Ward

Partner, August Public

Want to find out if your team meets the moment? Take our free 2-minute assessment based on the research-backed practices from our book.

Learn your team’s archetype—Choreographers, Flywheel, Launchpad, Spark, Greenhouse, or Think Thank—and uncover insights on where you’re strong, where you’re stuck, and the one or two practices that will make the biggest difference.

Take the assessment now at assessment.aug.co