The Cubs built a team with top-rate pitching, hitting and defense, but that didn’t happen instantly, Forbes’ contributing writer John Carpenter notes. “It was about finding young talent and nurturing it, blending that youth with experienced players, putting each player in the spot that took most advantage of his skills, and valuing the contribution of role players as well as stars,” Carpenter writes.

And for all the excitement the Cubs provided to fans, none of it would have happened were it not for the off-the-field work. The Cubs patiently marched toward a winning season thanks to the team’s owner hiring Theo Epstein as president.

“Epstein elevated the art of managing a sports organization, moving it beyond merely picking the right stars and filling out the roster with able bodies,” Carpenter writes. “He built a sophisticated talent-finding machine, combining cutting-edge, moneyball-style analytics with hands-on scouting for both baseball ability and player ‘make-up’–-Epstein-speak for things like coachability, flexibility, and attitude.” Epstein also brought in John Maddon as manager.

Importantly, he allowed Maddon to use his own approach to evaluating and motivating players and working with their strengths and weaknesses to put the team in the best position to win. “The best leaders find ways to make the best use of people’s talents and don’t put them in situations where they can’t succeed,” says John Philbin, founder and managing partner at Chicago-based leadership consulting firm, Strategic Talent Solutions.

“They certainly have stars, and people with stand-out ability are always important to success,” Philbin says. “But having stars who work with the rest of the team to achieve a goal, a shared goal, is even more important. It’s hard not to look at this team and see that they have gotten that balance just about right.”

Maddon proved that managing on the major league level and winning is more art than science. As with every manager, they are always under pressure to make the right decision, whether that involves who to start, where to put players and who needs to be praised or chewed out, Business Management Daily reports.

“HR professionals and front-line bosses in your organization face many of the same management challenges each day,” Pat DiDomenico writes. DiDomenico offers six ways on how HR can learn from Maddon and the Cubs.

Unlike most teams, Maddon did not put players in the same position (fielding and batting) for every game. Unconventional moves included batting pitchers eighth rather than ninth, or last place, in the batting order 140 times. Maddon also used one of his star players at six different fielding positions during the season, including three positions in a single inning.

“Play to your employees’ strengths, but recognize that shaking up the status quo and giving employees opportunities to shine in different capacities can yield big benefits,” DiDomenico notes. Other suggestions include:

• Allow young talent to prove themselves as the Cubs did in 2012, 2013 and 2014, even if it means losing in the short-term.
• Use technology and search tools to find good, productive talent and then track the data to see how well it is going.
• Work hard, but remember it is just as important to let players or employees have some fun. “Taking time for fun will create a bond that spills over into better teamwork and better performance,” DiDomenico writes.
• Flashy performance, such as a grand-slam, generates plenty of excitement, but the simple fundamentals of solid, everyday defense on typical plays is just as important. “If you keep your staff focused on doing the small things right, the big things will take care of themselves,” DiDomenico notes.
• Let your home-run hitters or star employees take chances realizing they will strike out, but also find success. “Jumping on your players for every mistake and failure will block their interest in risk taking and creativity,” DiDomenico writes.