More Than a Team

Day # 1

Have you ever had the opportunity to start something from the ground up? I mean taking nothing and making it into something. I had the privilege to put together a first year college soccer program with a group of men this last fall. It is one thing to buy equipment, schedule games and fill rosters. Actually, that is the easy part. The challenge is creating an environment where people are knit together as a band of brothers, a family,  people who can be trusted and be trustworthy.

Here are three essentials in becoming a team;

1. Create opportunities to buy in. No one and I mean no one is going to create a team without buy in. Buy in means that an individual is committed to living by the core values established by the team framework. "So how do you create buy in?" you ask. One of the ways that I attempted to do this is by having our players help map out the vision. This requires a lot of time and attention to the details. Giving individuals on the team the opportunity to evaluate, create, and dream, provides a back drop for team vision.

Decision making is important for every team. Who makes the decisions on your team? When decisions are made by the team, it creates accountability. The players have to think in terms of others best interest versus their own. The more decisions you give people to make the better the chance you will have to pull off buy In.

One last thought on buy in. If everyone is not held accountable for their attitudes, actions, decisions, and motives, that the team agrees upon, there is no chance that a team will be able to sustain buy in.

2. Provide platforms to develop safety and trust. A group of individuals will never become a team until they experience safety. Many environments are incredibly unsafe. Manipulation, control and personal agendas rule most locker rooms.

Trust is a hard thing to gain and very easy to lose. You have only a few opportunities to gain trust and hundreds of ways to lose it.  I have found that keeping your word as the leader is essential in creating team. Many promise the world and deliver a village. When this happens, all credibility moving forward is destroyed.

Another way to develop safety is to eat with one another.  Simple, I know, but it is one of the best ways to grow close quickly with your teammates. We eat as often together as possible and it has proven to forge relationships at a high level.

We started our journey in becoming a team outside of the scheduled practices. Everyday after training sessions, the players would go over to our assistant coach Eric Stratmans house to stretch in the pool. The guys played games, ate, talked and chilled together in the intimacy of an indviduals home. This proved to be invaluable for growing trust and safety.

We are Official

3. Shape a unique culture. Everyone talks about DNA today. Most of the time people say, "we have no DNA of our own, we borrow from others to determine who we are and what we are becoming." I believe you must have a unique culture that you are striving to develop. Whether I am working in the context of church work or coaching my college team, I look for those who serve. People who serve first, most, and best, make great teammates and quickly shape culture. I have found that people who are looking to be served or wait for others to serve, rarely make it in the cultures that I am developing.

Encouragement to others can make all the difference. We determined that negative, critical, and unnecessary demeaning comments were all factors that slowed down our progress at becoming a team. The coaching staff did not model negativity and we challenged the players to stay positive in their communication with one another. Creating positive environments is a challenge because most people have never had that modeled for them.

Developing leaders and leadership qualities is emphasized beyond just winning or losing. My desire is to train, mentor, and coach young men into manhood. The longest conversations I have with my players are the ones that are not about soccer. Talking about goals, dreams and ambitions is critical in their development. It is vital to value our people beyond the soccer field,  helping them to reach financial, athletic, and career goals makes our relationships unique.

Together

You may not be a coach of a sports team, but most of us play on a team of some sort. Being on a healthy team makes all the difference in the world!