Iso

If you are a follower of the Monday Huddle Up you know we often write about teamwork and how to build out organizational capacity in an effective way. This week we are going to touch upon a bit of a different topic. One that involves a more direct one-on-one strategy.

If you have been watching the NBA playoffs, or are a basketball fan at all, you have seen the isolation play (aka “Iso”). There are several forms of this play, with the most common coming at the end of a quarter, half, or the game. The most typical version is called “1-4 flat” where the ballhandler keeps the ball near half court and the other four players go down on the baseline, as far away as possible. This forces the defense to play man to man on the ball and takes the other four defenders away from the ballhandler so he or she can wait until the clock winds down to make a move.

The average fan sees this scenario as a one-on-one situation, however there are some set plays you can run off of Iso once the ballhandler gets by the lone defender. This is key to know that even though it seems to be an individual type play, sometimes it really isn’t.

In the business world, we always want to strive towards establishing great work teams. However, sometimes situations call for an individual effort. A one person task. An Iso type play.

Years ago dying our time in Denver, one of our board members was not too happy with something and he was ready to check out and take his influence elsewhere. My team came to me and said I needed to go talk to him one-on-one and try to get him to change his mind. It was the ultimate Iso play. I was on my own to try and convince this important community leader to stay on board. While I was the Iso player in this scenario, the key was that once I talked to him and reassured him that we would take care of his concerns, the whole team had to step in and deliver on the “play” and make it work to his satisfaction. So in the end, what looked like an Iso, really wasn’t.

If you have to put someone on an island in an individual scenario, make sure they have the team’s support on the back end. While you may have to put your best player in these situations from time to time, you can still run a play off of the Isolation to make everything work.

Don’t look for Iso plays unless you have to. If you do run an Iso, be sure to have the rest of your players in position to support the effort on the back end.