"THE GOLD STANDARD"
BY MIKE KRZYZEWSKI (COACHING THE OLYMPIC TEAM)
COACHING INFORMATION from THE GOLD STANDARD by MIKE KRZYZEWSKI, Published by BUSINESS PLUS, New York, 2009.
* In developing teams, I don't believe in rules. I believe in standards. Rules don't promote teamwork, standards do....A team needs to work together to develop its particular set of standards. This process itself promotes teamwork.
* A major part of becoming a team, then, is the establishment and collective acceptance of your standards, based on your team's makeup and centered on your unique goal.
* Leaders should remember that not all the good ideas have to come from the top, and they should be secure enough to change plans based on the input of the team.
* You share a lot when you are on a team, but the primary thing that you share is your common goal.
* I started by presenting two standards that are vital to the formation of relationships, two concepts that are fundamental to a team dynamic: communication and trust. I said to my guys, "When we talk to each other, we look each other in the eye, we tell each other the truth, and we treat each other like men."
* "Being on time is a sign of respect for your teammates and coaches and for your task."...Jason Kidd.
* "No matter where you play if you can shut somebody down and rebound the basketball, you're going to win no matter who you're playing against."...Kobe Bryant
* The ability to be flexible also needed to manifest itself in the way we related to officials. I asked our team to be strong, to show no weakness, and to never complain about a call. Unselfishness and flexibility became our standards as well.
* I think one of the primary mistakes that leaders make in teambuilding is in believing that they have to be the sole provider of leadership. Great teams have multiple leaders, multiple voices. A major part of building a team is discovering who those voices will be and cultivating them, making sure that their leadership is established within your group. In order to do this, the team leader must first make certain that he or she has a solid relationship with those leaders.
* Attention spans seem to grow shorter and shorter with each generation. It has become increasingly true that no matter who you are...there is only a finite period of time during which you can speak and expect a group to listen.
* You may feel your team has a fifteen minute attention-span window. You can personally talk to that team for 15 good minutes. But when you have established several different voices on your team, you can open that window a little more by utilizing those voices.
* A leader doesn't have an exclusive contract on getting a point across. You have to have enough confidence in your leadership to share it. And really, this will make your team respect you more because they will be able to perceive your level of security. If you can make clear that it doesn't always have to be yours, you can more deeply ingrain the understanding that it is ours.
* You must make the members of your team realize that by being a part of a group, they can become better individually.
* A leader has to realize that he is not always the best, most talented, or smartest one in the room. But that leader must also realize that he or she darn well better have a great relationship with whoever that person is if the team is to be successful--a relationship without jealousy, built on trust and communication, and where you know that you can count on one another.
* From the start, we had a mantra for our team of "No pacing. Play every play."
* At our first meeting in the summer of 2006, Jerry Colangelo told our team, "Check your egos at the door." Jerry was referring to a crucial concept of team building: the sacrifice of the individual ego and the establishment of a stronger, joint ego.
* You cannot simply ask your team to just adapt to you. As a leader, it is part of your responsibility to adapt as well....a leader needs to be a part of a mutual adaptation that forms a combination of the best of everyone.
* A basketball team should check their egos at the door but should also pick them back up on their way onto the court. What I mean is, there is a delicate balance when it comes to asking people to adapt. You never want an individual to be so deferential to the team concept that they lose the part of their individual ego that makes them great.
