It’s a team – from top to tail

What is a team? What makes some teams win over others, and how does that impact on our successes?
This past weekend I have watched several sporting events which were big for their own reasons, but out of which I got to observe the real key characteristics of teams in action.
Some things stand out:

• A willingness to do your part irrespective of what others are doing
• Understanding that dropping the ball by one of  your team mates is just part of the nature of team activities and if you can help you do.
• In a team you don’t seek to get square, you just do it because you believe in the team.
• There is no I in team but there is a me. I am allowed to revel in my successes and get rewarded for them but ultimately me is just part of team.
• Teams lose when the I thinks it is bigger than the group.
• Every team needs leaders – leaders in action more than words, but leaders none the less.

In an article I read Mick Malthouse (shame he coaches the Pies – but everyone deserves employment I guess), he talks about the true quality of character, that shines when the chips are down and in hard times (yes it is a cliche but it is true).

This is true on the field as it is off the field.

Last Saturday morning I got to watch and barrack for 1 of my clubs Under 12 teams, playing against an old club of mine. Our team had been the leaders all year, undefeated, and there was an expectation they would win.  Their opponents, of course, would have been coached to believe that anything is possible in a final and to give it their all. Which is true.

The first quarter lived up to that challenge, our team was up 5 behinds to nothing, which is about as close as you can get. Effort was high in both teams. The 2nd quarter turned, and our team kicked away by 3 or 4 goals still to zero.

It was after that run by our club team that individual character was tested in both teams.

It is often easier to coach a team with mixed results than one that has won all year relatively easily. Credit to our team’s coach he has maintained a humble team that knows they still have to work hard even while winning.  It appears they were neither complacent or arrogant in how they played the game.

They appeared to have formed a team very much focused on winning as a team, not just winning the flag.

They worked hard as a team and were rewarded for it. Even when things were not going to plan team mates encouraged each other, worked as a unit and put in their 100% and knew their team mates would too. The game was not over until late in the 3rd really, but they played as if it was on the line for all 4 quarters.

The underdogs had  a slightly different story. Several years back I had coached several of the boys (in their very early years)  and it was a little sad to see their character showing up what I observed when they were just young uns. When the chips were down, several of the players frustrated with the way they were behind were shaking their heads at their own team mates, standing around hands on hips as if they could do it better. Sadly in one instance when the ball came straight to one of the head shakers he dropped it cold – no shaking of the head at that point.

There were 2 key differences in my estimation between the 2 teams:

• Skills, the winners did have better skills, but they developed these all year as a team. Their team skill was higher.
• Their team ethic was strong. This is accredit to the boys but also the adults coaching the,

Too often adults get sucked into coaching the flag or the win in junior sport not the character.

Too many parents instil in their children a right to a result without understanding the fundamentals to achieving it. Some parents / adults believe that if you attend a certain school and focus on a certain sport ‘it will stand you in good stead’. What we should be teaching all children (and many young adults) is that the nature of society is the need and ability to interact in a community, form teams and achieve greater results.
Many famous phrases and clichés are born from the truth of the fabric of teams.

Social networking is a key, though this not a separation of this fact. We find in Social networking sites teams of our own through a vast array of similar interests.  (that’s a whole blog of its own).

Take the right pill and your life will be set.

While for many some financial successes come from the right networks, these same individuals fail to achieve personal satisfaction, as they ‘do not belong’. The cries of our youth and youth suicide rates echo this sentiment worldwide.

To belong means you have to fit into the team fabric, any team fabric, and thus then belong to that team. You can change teams, leave teams to achieve individual success, and reach great personal goals, but even long distance runners belong to clubs or compete internationally for the country (team).

I know personally some of the head shaking kids, and know they have been given this attitude from the adults around them in their formative years. To see them at such a young age not learning the key attitudes that  a good coach is trying to instil in them, because of other influences, and only focusing on getting a winning score, is disappointing and somewhat sad. 12 year olds should be part of many teams. They are in a transition to adulthood and need support networks, it worries me to see them already blaming others and not aware of working together.  They need to understand that as a whole they will have to belong to some teams as an adult, work, marriage, friends etc. You cannot survive that way easily if you are only focused on entirely your own objectives.

In the losing team there were boys who worked every inch of themselves over to have a chance of winning, but needed the support of everyone of their team mates. They needed that extra step, that extra bump to get there.  They gave their all and in doing so deserve to have been supported by their team mates.  Not because that might have made them win – someone has to lose, but you can still win in losing, even if emotionally you are still disappointed. Everyone loses when a team doesn’t play as a team, even if they win the game.
It also showed up on Saturday night in the Bledisloe Test at Suncorp Stadium where I again saw the differences between two very talented teams.

In this game I saw the biggest difference between the two leaders (captains).  Where Stirling Mortlock is quick to ‘throw a wobbly’ his counterpart Richie McCaw just gets on with the football.   Mortlock has been often times shown to lose his cool on field, throwing balls, giving away unnecessary penalties and focusing on other elements than his own performance.

There is no doubt that in every game, there are always elements that players / captains would feel upset about, or would disagree on the referee’s interpretation. That is the nature of the game and of life. It was obvious on Saturday night, in contrast, whenever McCaw was pinged or one of his teammates pinged for some form of ruck infringement, which in some cases were quite 50/50, he was on his feet, eyes on the next play getting back into position ready to play and win with the ball.

Ireckon in games so close these are the things that matter most. They matter to the player, they matter to the other team mates who need to see that extra bit put in. In the All blacks there appears to be an in built sense of trust in the team mate which is not always apparent in the Wallabies. They don’t worry about who did what or how unfair or not right something is. They just shape up for the next contest, the next play and know that everyone along side them will do their bit to get back in the game.

After the game, Mortlock used the excuse ‘we let in a few soft tries’ for their failure to win, as if that was the only part of the game. The All blacks let in soft tries too (maybe from an Australian view they were tries of excellence – no doubt the TV commentators would have that view) but the differences in the way they handle each part of the game is obvious. Mortlock does not come across as a good sportsman, it is win at all costs and make excuses later. It appears to me, the observer, to be the same culture that breeds a sledging culture in Australian cricket as an acceptable part of sport. It is the sporting culture on Saturday night that had the Australian supporters serving up sarcasm to Matt Giteau after he failed at a couple of kicks, jeering him for actually getting one into touch.

In contrast the All Blacks had a team of supporters that are an extension of their team. While expecting nothing but the best, they made Suncorp sound, as John Eales commented in his column in the Financial Review, “ Like West Auckland”.  Every supporter feels part of the All Black team, rightly or wrongly, they support them through thick and thin, and expect / demand success. (Note: they are pretty intolerant of losses, and target the bureaucrats and coaches pretty quickly – but never lose their support of the team. But after it all (contrary to Eales other comments about not being good winners), New Zealand supporters do know how to enjoy it is all over and the game is finished.

A team is about looking out for each other, understanding how every small thing you do makes a difference. Each word you use, how you carry yourself in the good times and bad times, how you talk with actions rather than words.

It is the quality of the decisions in the down times that matter. To listen to Richie McCaw talk after games, his approach is one of humbleness at the win, a realisation it is up to him to do his part, to win by effort and action, and to make no excuses when losing but to praise the team that wins. The All Blacks decided at half time they just had to get back in the game. They knew they could, and that as a team they could, and they did. They knew that whoever was next to them at any second they could count on and vice versa. That doesn’t appear true of the Wallabies, nor the losing team in the earlier match I described.

And the NZ supporters were not jeering their team when they were down, like the Wallaby supporters were.
I am sure losses cut just as deep, in fact it is obvious, but you rarely can blame the team didn’t put in with All Black losses. Usually they are beaten by better teams on the day, or skill / execution strategies or other psychological reasons (don’t mention World Cups).

The Wallabies still seem to carry the belief that because they are in the Wallabies, or play rugby or are from the right side of town, they deserve to win.

When it mattered most other team mates just didn’t do enough to cover for their peers, they were not all committed at the same time in the same way. Hopefully Robbie Deans will coach into these champion players something more than that. If it is ingrained in them from a young age that may not happen easily, and perhaps the change needs to happen back at the grass roots level.

As an employer, I see it often, the 2 types of individuals that come to work for you.
There are those with a belief they matter, more than anyone else, and there are those who just ‘get it’. No guesses which ones are my preferred employees. I used to think it was a work ethic that you could change. In my opinion, it isn’t that at all. It is not even a youth / age thing or any easy to describe generational group.

It is simply just the difference between what attitude and upbringing was instilled into them, by the adults that had impact and influence on them, in their formative years. Those who might have talent and what is the potential to succeed but cannot see past their own selves will always do well in small chunks. But they will never reach the great heights of achievement that teams achieve!

Without my team I would be a crazy web nut in the corner dreaming and not achieving anything. With the team around me who do all the work, we have a company that gets to achieve great corporate results and other personal and social ones as well.

Little things matter and are watched by me over the cycle of time with staff. There are those that have benefited from office whip-arounds in the office on key dates / achievements of their own, and gratefully received, yet when it is their turn to contribute never put their hand in their pocket. There is always an excuse – but the truth is they just don’t contribute to the team in the way a true team member does. They try to benefit off others without full commitment to something of value. There are others that have been here for 1 week who dip their hand in anyway because they don’t measure it in what they get back they measure it in an innate understanding of what being part of a team really is.

A team is what it is, more than one individual working towards a common goal, for individual reasons. But it not a lot of individuals doing things together.

Long live teams, and hats off to the coaches in any field who are striving to teach real values where others are not!  Long live the team members in my company without you we would be a lesser organisation. Long live the team spirit that allows exceptional talent to do amazing things. Long live those team members who might get the accolades and recognition but realise they did not do it on their own! Long live the All Black victories!  ;O)

Do your bit, do what you love, be there for your team mates 100% of the time and you will achieve more true riches than in any other way!