Our team initiates the building and marketing of a hat product line for Nike with Charlie Woods, son of Tiger Woods, the sponsor. To operate successfully and excel, we developed the skills we needed and defined roles for our team project members.
We need these primary skill sets, including marketing, product design, manufacturing, finance, and legal expertise. In marketing, we need someone who has worked with startup companies and the development of branding strategies for the youthful audience. The mission will be to create a beta test plan for Charlie Woods and go after the millegolfers’ audience. We want a skilled designer who can follow golf and lifestyle apparel trends and know the materials and production techniques well for product design. They will be the brains behind the walk concept and oversee the hat design development. The manufacturing part was administered in collaboration with a consultant who has contacts in foreign supply chains but who can also help in locating factories, placing bulk orders, and managing production timelines. In the financial aspect, a professional is required for the budget and forecasting to determine cost targets, assess profitability, and control cash flow. For legal, an IP lawyer can hire sponsor agreements and filing the trademarks attached to using the brand name and image of Charlie Woods.
Based on these skill sets, we found those individuals in our system to play these project roles. For marketing, we used an ex-Nike employee on the roster with years of experience in sports sponsorships. For product design, we engaged a student whose recent graduation was with a degree in fashion design focusing on athleticwear. We chose a supply chain consultant to work with who has experience with many activewear brands, and she helped us. We hired an accounting intern for finance functions; for legal, we have a small IP law firm.
According to Badke-Schaub & Hofinger (2019), there are five main reasons for the failure of teams: lack of a clear goal, communication problems, no accountability, nobody trusts, and interpersonal conflicts. Teamwork will move each zone to increase our possibility of success. Goals will be aligned through the definition with the right milestones and success metrics. Status meetings will be scheduled regularly, a project management tool will be used for all team members so that everyone will be in the know, and escalation points will be established to solve common communication issues. Roles and responsibilities will be detailed, and individual deliverables will be used to measure performance. These psychometric tests and team-building exercises create bonds and mutual trust among the group members. Lastly, our conflict management plan provides constructive feedback forms, accounting for the escalation process, and appoints an impartial tie-breaker to resolve disputes in the most useful way possible.
Through identifying the must-have skills, hiring experienced people to man various project roles, precisely defining responsibilities, and taking on likely problems with team dynamics, our cross-functional project team is ready to launch the new Nike/Charlie Woods hats product promptly. Weekly assessments, overseeing the deadlines and budgets along the way, and focusing on collaboration will see the team taking the final product to market as a united front.
Finally, our team collectively analyzed the fundamental element of the entire process that would successfully bring out a hat product from Nike/Charlie Woods. By hiring competent people to fill different marketing, design, manufacturing, finance, and legal roles, we now have a project team that can effectively deliver the concept from start to finish, which is due to the cross-functional expertise within the team. Communication of duties and their regular follow-ups will promote responsibility.
References
Badke-Schaub, P., & Hofinger, G. (2018). Failure in teams: why successful teams do not fail (so often). Strategies in failure management: Scientific insights, case studies and tools, 67-78.
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