3 Keys to an Empowered Environment

Part of the continuing series on the The 3 Pillars of Impact: Varsity Edition where we focus on connecting the 3 Pillars to creating a culture of winning in the locker room.

The 3rd Pillar of Impact, Empower Others, is the most complex of the Pillars in regard to taking it into the locker room. As I wrote in 5 Challenges to a Winning Culture, the sports world has long been the poster child of autocratic, command and control leadership style.
 
But I want to point out that empowerment is only a top-down activity. I would argue that it is an approach or mindset that can be cultivated and applied to multiple levels within an organization or team. It is an environment that exists with a team/organization that embraces individual ownership to a shared vision. 
 
While the 3 Pillars of Impact are intertwined, an environment where people empower each other is the pinnacle. It’s true that individual empowerment impacts the Courage to Challenge and Expect Excellence by making these Pillars easier to achieve. But an environment where empowering others exists will be short-lived and will crumble if the first two pillars are not firmly in place.
 
As I break down the 3 Components of an Empowered Environment; keep in mind the complexity as related to those involved. Coaches, administration, players, staff, and family. Typically, there are significant differences in background and age, but most importantly goals.
 
Administration may be focused on graduation rates, donors, reputation or winning. Coaches, while focused on winning, can also worry about their jobs - both the current and future. Players can be worried about stats, outside pressures, or the next level. Parents are worried about their child; their well-being and they are getting what they deserve. Wow! Trying to bring that all together is a huge undertaking. Let’s delve deeper.
 
The 3 Components
 
Sharing the Vision
While you can always debate if this is the outcome or the initial step, my personal feeling is that creating a shared vision in the beginning not only helps paint the picture of where we are going, but as a leader, you are showing vulnerability and establishing trust with those heading on the journey. 
 
While everyone may not buy-in initially, they can gain an understanding of their roles and that they can have input to what that future will look like. A good friend and coworker used to say, “we don’t have to agree, but we need to be aligned.” This is powerful in that you establish understanding and awareness of what needs to happen. Whether or not you fully agree on the method is another thing, but if you can align roles and activities, it will help move everyone forward.
 
A shared vision can unite a team and organization. It gives a true-north that everyone can use to validate their paths and actions. It’s a common language used to describe and connect the standards that have been set by the team.
 
Own Your Role
Ownership is absolutely critical for an empowered environment If players won’t take ownership of their own development plan, then a team will never reach its potential. That link in the chain will always break. 
 
In Expect Excellence we talked about the difference between Accountability vs Ownership. An empowered team doesn’t have to hold someone accountable because that person is doing it themselves. They own their actions and failures. They own their development.
 
As a player, roles can be defined by positions, and it is understood that the O-Line blocks and the Defensive End contains. In basketball, it can be different as some kids may take on roles of scorer, rebounder, or energy guy, but ultimately a high-quality team is made up of people who are willing to play the role that is needed at that time. Author Liz Wiseman says that Impact Players just don’t do their job, they do the job that needs to be done. 
 
Alan Stein Jr, in his book Raise Your Game, talks about the job of a leader is to sit down with his team and explain the value of each role and how they impact the team. Stein says, “success is not about being the star, it’s about starring in your role.”
 
There is a reason football coaching staffs have expanded their roles and responsibilities. A head coach cannot be the autocratic master of everything. There is too much to know about plays, people, situations, and opponents. They are more of a conductor of a symphony than a controller of the chess board. 
 
This is happening in other sports as well. Basketball coaches understand that their assistants can call plays, focus on defensive strategies, and contribute at a higher level than holding a clipboard or letting them know how many fouls. 
 
If a coach doesn’t respect and trust his assistants enough to share the coaching, then how much trust can there be in the players to perform? Ego and control are killers of an empowering culture and therefore a culture of winning.
 
Creating Trust 
The first two pillars are key to reinforcing trust. Having the Courage to Challenge allows you to Expect Excellence from yourself and others. It happens in every interaction. You are either creating trust or losing trust. Teams that have a culture of winning are constantly building trust. Even when there is a challenge, in a high-trust environment a person will give the benefit of the doubt and delay judgment on whether to lose trust. Awareness of the Emotional Bank Account and making sure you are making deposits makes everything else easier.
 
When there is a culture that embraces an environment of empowerment:

• Coaches trust their staff.
• Coaches trust their players.
• Players trust their coaches.
• Players trust their teammates.
• Parents trust the process.

 
When you think of great teams that possess a winning culture, you know that there is a Shared Vision that aligns the entire team and drives their actions.
 
A great team is built of people that own their roles. All members, at all levels, know how their role fits into the bigger picture. 
 
On great teams, trust exists and is foundational. It is reinforced by words and actions.
 
The vision is aligned. The roles are owned. The team trusts that they are empowered to create a culture of winning Beyond Today.

---