It’s that time of the year: pumpkin spice lattes, flannel, foliage … and football. And while the NFL has seen its share of controversy in the past decade, football is still America’s favorite sport to watch. Why? It’s exciting, hard-hitting, and full of compelling rivalries and underdog stories. 

One aspect that’s underrated, however, is just how strategic and cerebral the sport is: players regularly memorize 700-800 page playbooks, and coaching staff number 20 people on average. NFL teams don’t win because of luck (well, most of the time); NFL teams are successful because of coordination, communication, and strategy – elements that are also critical to successful partnerships in financial services. Here are a few NFL-inspired learnings for your fintech playbook.

1) Identify the Actionable Plays

Sure, we all get excited by the occasional Hail Mary or trick play – but most often, it’s a well-balanced playbook that wins games. The same is true in fintech-enterprise partnerships: corporates must be open to taking risks or trying things differently, but both sides should realize that sometimes innovation doesn’t have to be full of sexy buzzwords. What matters is that the innovation drives better outcomes. 

At MassChallenge FinTech, for example, we work with our corporate partners to identify several key challenges facing their businesses, and then we help them to refine those into three to five actionable goals they hope to enlist fintechs to help them solve. From data management and analysis to customer engagement, the challenges may vary each year, and we suggest prioritizing high-impact, achievable “wins,” alongside one exploratory or “Hail Mary” idea. This variety ensures our corporate partners are consistently working toward the “end zone” while also pushing teammates within the organization to think more creatively about pain points and solutions.

We then publish these challenges to the broader community so that there is no guessing as to how these industry-leading organizations want to engage with start-ups, and so that partners and start-ups can hit the ground running with a clear playbook from Play 1.

2) Gather (and Empower) Your Personnel

There’s no I in TEAM. Good teams have coaches that know how to build a roster and staff, delegate responsibilities and deploy resources, and maintain focus. The same is true for corporate teams working with fintech start-ups. 

At MassChallenge FinTech, we make sure our partners have enlisted leaders within their organizations to spearhead efforts and manage the start-up relationships. Even before working with start-ups, it is crucial to identify specific champions or business units (complete with technical leads) to drive the partnerships by incorporating them into their day-to-day priorities. By empowering employees to make innovation core to their responsibilities rather than recreational, enterprises can produce a better return on fintech partnerships — and more quickly. Moreover, these engagements also further encourage a culture of action and innovation beyond the specific start-up engagements, which can help accelerate internal innovation efforts as well.

3) Look at the Entire Playing Field – And Learn From Them

The Patriots approach the Dolphins’ defense differently than the Cowboys’ for good reason. Winning takes awareness of your organization’s strengths and weaknesses, but it also requires learning about (and from) your competition. Both coaches and players across the NFL talk shop and learn from each other – sometimes through competing and sometimes through collaboration.

Pool the collective intelligence and insights within your organization, but also remember to look beyond your walls to peer institutions, competitors, and innovators. What are they doing? What is working and what isn’t? How can you learn from them? Many of MassChallenge FinTech’s partners could be considered competitors, but through the program they embrace both competition and collaboration – with the end goal of advancing the industry as a whole and better serving their customers.

4) Listen to the Play Call (And in Some Cases, The Audible)

MassChallenge FinTech supports both start-ups and enterprises throughout the six-month program to ensure each side is achieving tangible results. Often, however, many roadblocks come down to miscommunication – so it’s crucial that both start-ups and enterprises both understand the play calls AND communicate any changes or shifts in strategy.

Level-set on expectations for communication and be as straight-forward as possible. Also keep in mind that communicating a definitive “no” is sometimes just as valuable as a “yes” in saving time, resources, and energy on both sides.

Win at Innovation

In closing, play hard AND smart – identify the opportunities, empower the people who can execute on them, and be willing to try many different plays. Unlike the NFL, there’s no singular Champion in innovation – just an entire industry that has great potential for better technology and solutions for customers. So lace up those cleats and get going.

Luke Lennon is the Monday Morning Quarterback (and Marketing and Community Manager) at MassChallenge FinTech (MCFT).

The MCFT20 Cohort will be announced in mid-December. For more information, sign up for MCFT’s newsletter and follow @MassChallengeFT on Twitter.