Starting a business is like going to war and the idea of winning and or beating the opponent. That is where the concept of offense and defense comes in. Offense is when you are trying to make a score and win. Defense is when you make sure that the opponent doesn’t make a score and eventually you do turn the table around and score as well. Being in the offense is to score and ultimately win. Here are some pointers by Josh Melick on how to play more on offense.
It’s not always obvious if you’re going to play on offense or defense.
There’s no perfect formula in knowing the turns when to use it. As key players in the business, Melick stated that they should be on the know-how when to play offense or defense. Think comprehensively he said and try your best to play in the offense side.
In businesses, the Legal department is interesting.
They deal with lawsuits and trolls. Who wants to deal with these kinds of things? This makes the particular department fit on the defense side. But as a leader of a company, Melick shared that you should perceive when is the right time to attack. How to use the available lawyers and lawsuits which can be made as tools thus bringing it to the offensive side. Just as Barack Obama stated in his book, “A Promised Land”, he used legal challenge during his first Illinois senate campaign and it did well for him.
The HR department can be perceived as on the defense side as it takes care of the business and employees’ well-being.
That is their main function. However, they can use the manpower available since the employees are their biggest asset hence putting them on the offense side. When employees’ well-being is good then it’ll reflect on the customers too. HR hiring players or employees and benefits are examples of the department being on the offense side.
The sales and marketing department tends to be on the offense side.
The sales and marketing department tends to be on the offense side but when you look deep into it and see the continuous debate of the sales team with customers towards a competitor may be seen as a defense. In order to stay on the offense side, they must learn how to use key benefits by communicating with their customers effectively.
In general, the departments above should focus on the offense tasks more than the defense tasks, even the Customer support through creating the right programs that will satisfy customers can achieve an offensive score that can beat the opponent and help the team win.
Josh Melick, co-founded and is the CEO of a venture-backed technology company Broadly, a company that helps small businesses on how to build their tools for effective communication with their clients and has already raised more than $20M. An engineer by profession, Melick has been with AT&T and Intuit in the executive leadership department.