AFM Home | The Staff Report | Sept 2003

So you recruited the best blue-chip athletes or had a talent-laden senior class returning for your first big game of the season, but got crushed by a team that doesn’t have the horsepower to carry your team’s water cooler, hmmm. What’s the missing link? More than likely, the magic of true “Human Synergy.” The teams that you continually see with the championship trophy are not only dedicated to winning, but to creating that “magic” that makes them better, stronger, faster, happier, more efficient and more successful.

Here are tips designed to help you and your team maintain that winning edge needed to finish on top:

Purpose - A great team is not only committed to finishing the game, but to one another. A solid and unwavering strength of purpose is the main foundation for game-day success, and as a coach you must develop a team that has a similar drive and similar goals to yours.

Self-worth - Everyone on the team must make a practice of noticing physical, mental, and emotional changes in the people around them, and do whatever is necessary at the time to make things right. In a nutshell, be the guy you want to coach with.

Control - Avoid being the chicken with your head cut off. Hasty, half-cocked solutions often do more harm than good. Taking the time to do things right will definitely save you time in the long run.

Respect - Remember that to get the best out of people, you must think and believe the best of them. Or as Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Trust men and they will be true to you. Treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.”

Teamwork - A “we” thinker avoids blame and criticism when things aren’t going well. It’s easy to criticize, but it takes a far bigger person to rally the team, minimize weaknesses and get the team back on track.

Focus - The first step is to gain consensus on team expectations and goals for the season. The entire team must “buy in” on subjects like, “Are we going for a championship, or will just making the playoffs be enough?” Once the season has started, do everything in your power to make each team member feel important and needed.

Ego - Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. And it’s also a gift to the helper. Think about it. How strong, fast, motivated, useful do you feel when you’re being asked to help carry the load?

Leadership - Captain. Leader. Same thing, right? Not necessarily. So many teams make the mistake of leaving all decisions to the team captain, when other teammates are clearly more qualified to take the lead at the time. Each teammate must be prepared to lead and to follow.

Evaluation - Vince Lombardi, once said, “The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven.” These are words to coach by and to live by.

– Robyn Benincasa is the Director for WorldClassTeams.com.
For more information, email robyn@worldclassteams.com.