Bridging Leadership Lessons from the Workplace and Those Experiences Shaping Today's Youth and Tomorrow's Leaders
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. It has been extremely rewarding for me to adapt the 3 Pillars of Impact to the sports world. I introduced the concept when I wrote about taking the 3 Pillars to the Locker Room and have since been breaking down the Pillars (Courage to Challenge) and other aspects of the talks and training I have been providing such as 5 Challenges to a Winning Culture. This post is highlighting the 2nd Pillar of Impact, Expect Excellence, in a way that connects to athletic programs. Whether at the office or in the locker room, the concepts are the same. James Clear in Atomic Habits makes sure people don’t confuse excellence with the goal. It’s about creating a standard of behavior and habits that leads to your best performance. With the introduction of new rules in college sports such as NIL and the Transfer Portal, the impact on college coaching and team chemistry has been a hot topic on the talk shows and social media. The trickle-down effect is impacting high school sports and expectations where players are expecting instant gratification and honestly want success, but only on their terms. Sadly, this isn’t just in the sports world as businesses are seeing new employees with no experience and very limited skill sets, demand wages and benefits far beyond the value they bring. Taking a STAND on STANDards The result of this current reality is a push to lower standards to adapt to this changing environment. Corporate leadership, school administration, and coaching staff are tolerating and accepting behavior and efforts that are below their standards for fear of retribution or disruption on their team. But, as coaches and more importantly, leaders, we must address this to ensure that standards are established. If we set standards but do not hold our players accountable, then we have no standards. We are not helping young people to be prepared for life by letting them skate through the learning. Establishing the mindset of Expecting Excellence is what identifies a Winning Culture, regardless of a team’s record. Leaders take a STAND to establish, communicate, and align STANDards with their team. Leaders make sure their players are bought in and see the potential benefit to them and the team if they hit those STANDards. 4 Key Areas of Expecting Excellence From Yourself and Others There is a reason I start with “yourself” because if you don’t hold yourself to a standard, how can you ever expect it from someone else? As a coach or a teammate, start with your actions and efforts. Focus on what you can control first and foremost. As Stephen M.R. Covey pointed out, “We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behaviors.” Knowing this, we need to make an effort to build trust and vulnerability so that we earn the right to engage others. Revisiting the 1st Pillar, Courage to Challenge, lays the framework for how to engage others so that the challenge can be received as intended. Whether the coach or a teammate, establishing standards and showing that you are working towards the standards is the first step to Expect Excellence from others. Touch the Line Coaches are notorious for making players run again if they fail to touch a line in sprints. Even if it is 1” short, coaches seem to get sadistic enjoyment about pointing out the player missed the line and having them ”line up” for another one. Does anyone actually think that not going that extra 1” really matters in the conditioning of the athlete? Well, it doesn’t. But does the discipline to do what is required and expected of you as a player matter? Definitely. That 1” or that 1 missed tackle or that 1 time you didn’t talk to a teammate about a screen can be the difference in winning and losing. The challenge for the leader, whether a coach or teammate, is how you connect the standard of the 1 thing to the importance of the player achieving that 1 thing for the greater good of the team. The team that can minimize the negative 1 things will typically win the game. The team built with people committed and focused on eliminating the negative 1 things has the winning culture. B.B.T. (Be Better Today) It’s not about being perfect. It’s not the score on the scoreboard. It’s not the goal itself. It’s the mindset of excellence. It’s the journey to pursue what excellence means. It’s the willingness to improve. “Greatness is not meant for a few chosen people. It’s meant for those who persistently pursue their dreams every day and make that choice when they wake up.” - Kyrie Irving I’m all for having dreams and a vision. But it won’t happen overnight. But it will happen by your daily actions. Again, it’s not about being perfect. It’s not about playing in college. It’s not even about a district championship. Just Be Better Today. Accountability vs Ownership I prefer using ownership to accountability because inevitably when people talk about accountability, they are talking about holding someone else accountable. They are not usually looking inward at themselves. The first aspect of Expecting Excellence is to look at yourself first. Walk the Walk. Holding yourself accountable is the definition of ownership. While this specific topic is central to the 3rd Pillar of Impact, Empower Others, I bring it up in Expect Excellence because if everyone is expecting excellence from each other and everyone knows the standards, then if they are committed to moving forward, they are taking ownership to build a winning culture. As a leader, again whether a coach or teammate, your job is to grow individuals so that they see the value of taking ownership and more importantly the importance of modeling that with the team so that your team is moving in the same direction towards a winning culture. When you have the Courage to Challenge and you use that to establish a mindset of Expecting Excellence, then your team is building a Culture of Winning Beyond Today.
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AuthorTom Brown - a husband and a father who is simply trying to make a difference. Using my experience as a Manufacturing Executive to connect leadership from the boardroom to the hardwood to help teams grow and develop to make a difference in the lives of others. Archives
May 2024
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