What’s your team leadership style?
As a child, I watched Michael Jordan’s career unfold. I saw the way he would often will the team to win by taking almost complete responsibility for clinching that game.
It was an amazing thing to watch, because you knew that somehow…he would find a way to pull it out at the end.
Who can forget the countless last second shots. The key assists to teammates.
The superhuman defensive plays!
Whatever the challenge, MJ got it done.
But here’s an interesting fact: When Michael Jordan was with the Chicago Bulls, he won six MBA championships.
But when he left for another team, he never enjoyed the same results.
Phil Jackson: Building star power teams
Now let’s look behind the scenes: Throughout the six championships led by Michael Jordan, the coach was Phil Jackson.
Interestingly enough, Phil Jackson won five more championships with the LA Lakers. In addition, he also claims the highest winning percentage of any NBA coach!
Phil Jackson was the kind of leader who brought everyone together. He had the talent for choosing the right people. And he was tasked with putting together a plan that could accomplish things no other teams could.
He set clear expectations on the role that each person would play. He delegated responsibility. Obviously, he knew he could not be the one out there passing the ball. His job was to support each person through each success or failure along the way.
He understood with great clarity what it is to be a great coach.
Learning to pass the ball
That’s why, in recent years, I’m trying to follow the example of Phil Jackson.
I’m still inspired by the example of Michael Jordan. And who doesn’t want to be the star of the team?
But as I’ve grown as a leader, I’ve realized that I would often stack things on my own shoulders. Too often, I didn’t involve other people with a task or challenge.
I was sure I could depend on myself. And I knew I could succeed by applying my own personal effort to a problem.
Too often, I chose to work things out alone. But that wasn’t always the best strategy for the team.
Moving from driven player to star coach
In considering the example of Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson, I think a lot about the kind of leader I’m now striving to become.
Although I’ll always dream of jumping from the free-throw line to sink a ball and win the game, I also understand that my role as a leader is increasingly behind the scenes.
Leadership oftentimes isn’t flashy.
Leadership is often outside of the limelight.
Leadership is often a thankless job and sometimes, it’s a lonely one.
But I’m learning to believe that if you can mobilize your team with the strategies used by Phil Jackson and other championship coaches, you can build a championship team as well.
5 ways to build a star power team
- Have a plan – Know the system you’re going to apply and the resources you’ll need to execute success. You have to decide what you want to accomplish and how it’s going to get done.
- Assemble the resources — It’s natural for people to look at the resources they have and then work from there. But looking at things this way, it would be hard to accomplish anything great. Set your goal to not only get the resources that allow you to succeed now, but will get you to the next level.
- Delegate – Leave your dreams of being the star player to when you shoot hoops. You can’t fill every component of the plan yourself. Divvy up the main pieces of the plan to your team. Then, let them own it.
- Be clear – You must explain the plan and its goals repeatedly through the process with clarity. Any ambiguity will cause you to move slower and less effectively. Keep it simple, because people don’t understand and remember complicated plans.
- Support the failures – Teammates are going to fail. They’re going to drop the ball. And they’ll lose confidence in the process. Your goal is to help them pick up the pieces and to get redirected. It’s a natural tendency of leaders to pick up the ball when a teammate falters. Don’t! Failure is part of the process. It’s how each person learns. Get them to fail fast and to maintain the momentum.
