A dejected Francisco Lindor, one of the best shortstops in the game, sat in the dugout, holding his head in his hands as the New York Mets hit rock bottom. After being swept by the L.A. Dodgers, capped off by getting crushed 10-3 at home, even the Mets faithful at Citibank Field had written their team off, booing the players as they headed back to the dugout.
May hadn’t even ended yet, but at 22-33, far behind the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies in the N.L. East, the Mets looked done.
Staring out at the field, a dejected Lindor—nowhere close to living up to his nickname of “Mr. Smile”—knew something had to be done. A ten-year veteran and four-time All-Star, Lindor headed to the locker room to call a players-only meeting.
Lindor explained what happened at that meeting to The New York Times.
“That allowed me to hold guys accountable, and for them to hold me accountable as well,” Lindor said. “We looked at each other in the eyes and said, ‘We’ve got to go. We’ve got to get this done. We’ve got to do whatever it takes to make sure we are moving in the right direction. And we’ve got to start by looking at each other’s process and holding each other accountable’.”
After that meeting, the Mets did exactly what Lindor asked for and held each other accountable, going 67–40 over the rest of the season. The playoffs, a distant dream at the end of May, started to seem like a possibility, but, by the start of September, the odds weren’t in their favor. But the Mets took things to the next level in September, going 17-9, capped off by a nine-game winning streak and going 11-2 at home.
Even when Lindor went down with a back injury, the Mets held another players-only meeting in the middle of September to ensure they were continuing on the right track, despite their leader’s absence.
Fast forward to this week. The Mets look like a juggernaut in the playoffs, upsetting the Milwaukee Brewers and the Phillies. They play in the NLCS next week and, if they win, will be going to the World Series.
A large part of the Mets’ success this year comes from the players coming together after facing adversity, agreeing to push each other and, as Lindor noted, hold each other accountable. That’s something all of us can bring to our workplace. In an article for Strategy and Business, Benjamin Tarshis and Jonathan Roberts, who work with PwC’s Workforce Transformation team, found that kind of mentality separates real teams from workgroups.
“Real teams are all about solving the hardest, most complex problems,” wrote Tarshis and Roberts. “A diverse set of perspectives and skills is required to untangle these sorts of problems, for which there is no obvious solution. Members of a real team trust one another and work toward a common goal. Real teams are thoughtful. Team members argue, and they push one another to do better. Real teams require nimble leaders who prioritize building connections within the team. They create clear boundaries that reinforce a strong sense of trust. They have a shared purpose and clear norms. And, importantly, they produce a collective output. If you see a group of people focusing intently on solving a single, very complex problem, you’re probably looking at a real team.”
By that definition, the Mets look like a real team as they defied the odds to go from an afterthought to a World Series contender. To their credit, the Mets players realize that they are having a very special season.
“Not a lot of people would necessarily have seen us in this position probably four or five months ago,” first baseman Pete Alonso told MLB.com after the series clincher against the Phillies. “A lot of people didn’t. For us to be in this position, it’s a huge testament to every single player that’s here, the coaching staff and the organization, because we’ve had that inner self-belief.”