Ask any sports champion about their journey through their championship season(s) and the truly great ones will all share one basic principle and practice they each have in common that allowed them to perform at their highest levels. One of the main keys to their overall dominance in their field is that at some point each preseason they spend a good amount of time focusing on the basics or fundamentals of their craft. Almost every sport has a preseason. This is the time that is set aside prior to the regular season that each team is supposed to use for training, planning and preparation. During this prearranged time of preparation, it is very important that the coaches and team in general make a conscience effort to not just focus on the dominance of their sport but really pay significant attention to practicing and perfecting the fundamentals. It is the fundamentals, the basic essentials of the task at hand, which lend to the consistency of doing anything at the highest level. The legendary Jim Rohn once said “Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.” This would suggest that if you’re looking for consistency in the growth or success of your business, team, or organization it would stand to reason that you would want to make sure that you spend significant time focused on the fundamentals. Here are a few fundamentals you and your team can work on to be more consistent in the winner’s bracket:

*Know what the overall goals are:
 Make sure that your overall vision or purpose are CLEARLY posted and understood by all.

*Know the function of each position:
  Each team member should be reminded regularly how important their position is to the overall success   of the team as well as know what part their team mates play. Regular individual goal assessment and direction meetings are necessary.

*Strength Conditioning Is Essential:
Although team members may have been in their position for a number of years, there is never too much refreshing or learning that one can do to enhance their forward progress. Suggesting that team members (including management) take basic courses such as time management, conflict resolution or colleague engagement will help to sharpen the most basic of skills to enhance more advanced skills as time goes on.

*Break When Necessary:
Encouraging your team to take regularly scheduled “step back” moments will not only show that you care about their overall well being, but also will keep them fresh and sharp for the road ahead. Stepping away from your work for even a brief time can actually enhance the quality of what one can put into whatever they are doing.

These are just a few suggestions on how you and your team can get back to the fundamentals of being a dynamic and championship team. We all had to start somewhere and it’s that which we are good and great at that is strongly supported by the basics of that action. Getting back to the basics always allows the opportunity to build on the base to launch you to your best.