Damage, Tank and Support. Gaming or Business Leadership?

Disclaimer**** I know this is a far reach and very abstract. Welcome to the Beyond section of my site.

This is a completely random thought that I had last night while playing a role-based game called Overwatch. Within the game, players can choose characters whose roles are categorized within three main categories; tank, damage and support. 

Tanks are robust and can take some damage, while maintaining position. Damage characters, as the name suggests, deal heavy damage to opponents, but are more susceptible to damage than tanks. Support characters are even more susceptible to damage, however they can heal their allies and themselves. 

What does this have to do with leadership? Well, if you take a look at a typical team inside of an organization, you would probably see a few key players. The head of the team, some directors, a few managers and interns. In my mind, I overlaid the role-based characters onto this hypothetical team, and here is what I came up with.

Directors would be categorized as tanks. They supervise the project and ultimately serve to achieve a goal, making sure nothing gets delayed or goes through the cracks. Managers would be categorized as damage characters. These people would knock out most of the actual project. Interns would serve as support, a crucial role that both tanks and damage characters rely on. These people will pick up left over work that needs to be done, relieving managers and directors with smaller projects and errands. 

What about the team lead? 

I would categorize the team lead as a game master. A game master steps back and looks at the larger picture. This person’s goal is to make sure that projects are getting done as smoothly as possible and that their team of tanks, damage and support are working together flawlessly.

I took this idea one step further and let my imagination run wild. What if a team lead creates playing cards in real life, that uses this role-based method to categorizes their team members? I wonder if it would help team leads see the bigger picture in an abstract way or if it would just confuse the team. I guess there is only one way to find out.