What sets Ted Lasso up as a contender for one of the best shows on TV now? The incredible positivity the main character brings to each episode, as if Ned Flanders had escaped the Simpsons to become a fully fledged character.

What Ted has to deal with though is a fundamentally dysfunctional football team, the previous manager had focused on short term results; some of the key characters include.

• Jamie Tartt, the exceptional goal scorer who has limited capability as a team player, often causing strife within the team.
• Roy Kent, the hard-nosed captain of the team, a veteran of Chelsea who does things his way.
• Rebecca Welton, the owner of AFC Richmond who has her own divergent agenda.
• Leslie Higgins, Welton's loyal subordinate.
• Sam Obisanya, the young player, who with the right support can be great.

Each is a character you can easily find in an engineering team as much as any football team and although the team is disarray, Ted uses his positivity to win each of the characters over. It is not just his positive personality that does this, his humble character belies an astute mind who is able to understand the motivations of each of the people within the football club, and by supporting them in achieving their goals, Ted enables the team to grow and become stronger.

Many managers fail to understand the people they work with, they do not trust those they manage, and do not help their teams grow. These managers may achieve short term goals like the previous football manager but they will never enable to team to grow like Ted does.

You can enable a team to grow and become high performing by bringing positivity to a new situation and Ted Lasso shows how it can be done but don't just take my word for it, you can watch Ted Lasso on Apple TV today.