b2badmin | Coach Pat Sullivan

12 Nov

Balancing respect, humor

The big news from the athletic world this week came from the NFL. We had one player – Martin – accuse another player – Incognito – of bullying him. Because of the bullying, Martin left the Miami Dolphins team.

Since the initial accusation, more information has surfaced, so we don’t know what really happened. Only the two athletes and possibly some teammates know what occurred.

If it were just hazing, I don’t think there is any doubt that hazing can advance to bullying. Bullying is never acceptable in any way, in any venue! In our forty-four years of coaching, we allowed no hazing.

I don’t believe most leaders encounter hazing and bullying in their organizations. But they do deal with humor, and just as hazing can lead to bullying, humor can lead to hurt.

Leaders have to use their words and their humor carefully. What the leader may think is humorous has the potential to cause hurt in the recipient and affect the entire organization negatively.

I once worked with a leader who would use what he thought was humorous toward one of his subordinates. We all liked and respected the man he singled out fairly regularly and lost respect for the leader. What he thought was funny, we thought was ignorant.

As coaches and as leaders we do want to see some levity on our teams. Striking the right balance between levity and seriousness is a healthy thing for organizations. However, we always have to be careful that the humor never crosses the line resulting in something hurtful. Respect cannot be compromised.

01 Nov

Embrace challenges, recall the fundamentals

The fundamentals are the keys to athletics.

Balance, footwork, passing, dribbling, and shooting are the fundamentals taught in the play of basketball.

It makes no difference what offense you run – motion, dribble drive, read and react, or set plays. It makes no difference what defense you run – man-to-man, zone, or match-up. If your players are not solid in the fundamentals, the basics, they are not going to be successful.

Coaches are constantly looking for that magic offense or defense. Eventually, they realize there is no one magic offense or defense. If there were, everyone would be running it.

Your team’s success goes right back to the fundamentals.

When your basketball team is struggling and you, as the coach, are not sure what to do, you often decide to go back to the basics in your practices.

One of our former players, now in corporate real estate sales, recently told me about a difficult situation. He was having a bad year and troubled about how to get things turned around. Recalling his years with our collegiate basketball program, he thought about the fundamentals and how we used to revisit the fundamentals when things went awry.

He went back to cold calling and all the basics of selling and finished with a great year.

Athletics and business coaching, teaching, and learning do go hand-in-hand. Often, the challenges we face in any of these arenas can be successfully navigated by remembering the simple things: the fundamentals.

25 Oct

Leadership, perseverance, after the storm

“Birds sing after a storm…” (Rose Kennedy)

If anyone had storms in his or her life, it was Rose Kennedy. The above was the quote that she used to get through all the tragedies that happened to her children.

This was a quote a priest used in his homily one Sunday at Mass. He had been accused of pedophilia, only to be exonerated some months later. When asked how he endured the incredibly difficult months that followed the accusation, he said he daily reiterated Rose Kennedy’s maxim.

There is a lot of adversity out there and none of us is exempt, most especially those in leadership positions. Certainly, one of the worst things a leader has to deal with is a false accusation.

There are three ways leaders can work through these accusations that attack their character. First, they can remind themselves that regardless of what others may say, they know the truth. They know what they did and what they did not do. So, let others say what they will, they know it is simply not true.

Second, rely on your close friends. They do stay with you through thick and thin and it is okay to lean on them. You do not always have to be the strongest person in the room.

Third, Rose Kennedy’s thought on storms can be very beneficial. The storms do end and the birds do sing. It can be a most difficult ride, but its intensity will end or, at the very least, dissipate. It is critical for the leader to remind himself or herself that better times are ahead.

15 Oct

Powerful Presentations by Leaders Employ the 5 P’s

“Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.”

Dr. Arvid Johnson was inaugurated as the ninth president of the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois on October 4th, 2013.

Whenever leaders are asked to speak on behalf of the organization they lead, it is of paramount importance that they take quality time to prepare. Many leaders do not take the time to properly prepare and too often speak off-the-cuff.

Every time a leader speaks, he or she has the opportunity to make a good impression for their organization. They are not speaking for themselves; they are speaking and representing their organization.

Every speech is important, but inaugural speeches are especially important because they ingrain that critical first impression.

Dr. Arvid Johnson was inaugurated as the ninth president of the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois on October 4th, 2013. His presentation was outstanding in every way – content, humor, humility, and delivery. It was obvious that he adhered to the Five P’s. His presentation was both thorough and meticulous.

The theme of his presentation and his presidency is “Called to Serve; Called to Lead.” He made it very clear that he knows what a servant-leader is and that this style of leadership will be the trademark of his presidency.

Everyone in the audience left believing that St. Francis’ future is in good hands. Dr. Johnson’s preparation paid great dividends for the University he will be leading.

07 Oct

Why Coaches Coach: Leadership Insights from the Athletic Arena

Leaders may gain a valuable insight from athletic coaches.

Most people have some background at some level in sport. Because they often have this past, they can be very vocal as they see your teams play. And their opinions often reference just how dumb a coach you are!

If you coach, it is a given that you will have your critics.

When you are having a losing season, the profession is no walk-in-the-park. The crowds at games, the radio, the newspaper, and the television are constant reminders that times are tough and that you are the leader.

Given the above, even though you may not recognize it during the difficult times, you do realize at the end of your career why you coached. It is all about relationships. It is about the players who become your friends – cherished friends. You develop an incredibly strong bond with your players and you come to believe just how privileged you were to have coached them.

The literature seems to reflect that today’s leaders neither direct nor manage their people; instead, they coach them.

If leaders realized that they are coaches and took the above lesson from athletic coaches, it could really impact their leadership decision-making in such a positive way.

You coach for the long-haul – for the relationships and the friendships that you build for a lifetime.

30 Sep

2 Quarterbacks, 2 Leadership Styles

Wes Welker had an interesting interview on ESPN.

Welker, one of the NFL’s top wide receivers in recent years, has been in the spotlight a bit lately because of the terrific start by his new team, the Denver Broncos.

During the interview I saw, he had three insights into leadership – one on his career and two from two prolific quarterbacks he has caught passes from. He has the distinct perspective of being a receiver for two of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history – Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

His first insight was on his career. As an undrafted rookie free agent in 2004 (and cut by the San Diego Chargers after one game), it wasn’t until his fourth season in the league that he got the opportunity to start. The ESPN interviewer asked him how he became such a force in the NFL when he was not even drafted coming out of Texas Tech. His answer was he only got into the NFL because of special teams and because of his attitude.

He was always determined to be the toughest player on the field. Despite his very small physical stature compared to other NFL players, he could compete because of his toughness.

Leadership is tough and leaders have to develop tough-mindedness because they will inevitably have numerous critics.

When asked to compare Brady and Manning, he said each leads with different leadership traits. Brady, he said, is a passionate leader, whereas Manning is a steady leadership voice. These are two different ways of leading – at first glance – but both effective.

I think great leaders combine both traits and I also believe Brady’s passionate style is as effective as Manning’s passion about preparation and execution.
Leaders have to be tough, passionate in their beliefs, and steady in their daily habits. It also helps to have the toughness for which Welker himself has become admired.

20 Sep

Are Good Leaders More Demanding or More Compassionate?

A recent blog article in the Harvard Business Review got my attention. It was entitled, “Nice or Tough: Which Approach Engages Employees the Most?”

More than 160,000 employees were surveyed to ascertain whether leaders who were “drivers” or “enhancers” were the most effective.

Their conclusion was something most athletic coaches do on a regular basis. They concluded the “or” in their question was the wrong word – that it should be supplanted by “and.”

The best leaders in business did both – they drove and they enhanced.

We have known and continue to know in coaching that you have to demand. Competition is tough; opponents are tough; and coaches have to be demanding to make their athletes game-ready.

Think of the best teacher or coach you ever had…… Was he or she easy or demanding? When I ask that question in a presentation, and ask the audience to raise their hands on easy or demanding, the result has always been unanimous. To a person, everyone agrees that the best teacher or coach they ever had was demanding.

We also know in coaching that you have to care about your athletes beyond the narrow confines of an athletic arena if you want to get the best they have to give. You don’t fool the athletes. They know which coaches genuinely care about their welfare and which don’t.

Great coaches do both. They demand and they care.

12 Sep

When “I” Becomes “We”

A story that circulated in Chicago during the Bulls Jordan era was very insightful for leaders.

Tex Winter, a Bulls assistant coach, reminded Michael Jordan that there is no “I” in “TEAM.” Jordan’s retort was that there is an “I” in “WIN!”

The irony of that exchange is that they both are right. The best “I’s” – the “I’s” being the leaders – have the ability to turn “I” to “we.”

In the first of Jordan’s six NBA championships the Bulls had to beat Magic Johnson’s Lakers in the final round. As a 34-year college basketball coach at the time, I was at the first game and watched Jordan score 37 points, only to have the Bulls lose 93-91. They had to play the very next day and as I drove to the Chicago Stadium, I wondered how Jordan would approach the game.

Jordan, the “I”, the leader, I believed, could have scored 50 points against the Lakers. Instead, he began the game by taking only one shot in the entire first quarter.

He knew the “I” – as great as that “I” was – could not beat the Lakers by himself. He had to involve all his teammates. He had to turn the “I” to we. The Bulls won that second game 107-86 and went on to win the next three in a row in their run to the championship.

The attitude of the leader does make a difference and the great “I’s” have the ability to turn their “I” into an organizational’ “we”….just as Jordan did.

05 Sep

4 Things Great Leaders Have in Common with Great Teachers

Mark Twain once wrote, “I didn’t attend the funeral but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.”

It does not have to be that way for a leader at the end.

I believe great leaders do the same four things that great teachers and coaches do:

They know their subject matter, be it algebra, football, or a particular business. This knowledge automatically earns them the respect of the people they are leading.
They can disseminate their knowledge. We all know of the brilliant professor who cannot bring his knowledge to our level. His brilliance is never questioned, but he cannot simplify his knowledge so we can learn.
They teach, coach, and lead with enthusiasm. They are enthused when we take their knowledge and succeed in history, basketball, or business.
By far, their most important characteristic is that they care about the people in their charge beyond the narrow confines of a classroom, a baseball field, or a work place. Amos Alonzo Stagg, the football coach at the University of Chicago when they were in the Big Ten Conference, was a perfect example of this trait. His degree was in divinity but he felt he could minister to America’s youth better from a football field than a pulpit.

Combined, these four traits help create enthusiastic followers and enduring respect for a leader. Despite Twain’s sentiment, people do want to attend the funeral of a leader who cared about them.

-Pat

27 Aug

Great Leaders Listen to New Ideas with Eyes, Ears

Listening is respect.

When I take the time to listen to you—-really listen—-I am showing you that I respect your insights and that I respect you as a person. People want to be respected, and this is especially true for the people who report to you. They truly appreciate your willingness, as the leader, to value their opinions.

When they know that their ideas will be listened to, they in turn give more respect to the leader and work harder in their position within the organization. They feel they are an important part of making the organization the best it can be.

“Give me your eyes.”

I first heard this expression from a high school football coach, Gordie Gillespie of Joliet Catholic High School at the time, at half-time of a game. After he had listened to the offensive players answer his questions on exactly how the defense was playing, he was ready to give his second half adjustments. Prior to giving the adjustments, he told the players to “Give me your eyes.”

Obviously, he felt if he had their eyes, he very well may have their minds. I took this concept into my forty-four years of basketball coaching and my listening. In basketball, you have a total of only one minute for a time-out. First, I would quickly listen to my assistant coaches’ inputs, then I would go to the huddle to give instructions to the players, having approximately thirty seconds to get our ideas across to them. So, very assertively, I would say to our players, “Give me your eyes,” prior to the instruction.

The players had to pick up the salient points of the adjustments in a very short period of time and often in a very hostile environment when in the opponents’ gym.

I then took this very same concept into my leadership position as the athletic chair. When conducting meetings or in one on one sessions with my colleagues, I gave them my eyes while they were talking. I found that by doing this, I enhanced my listening skills.

Great leaders know two things about ideas: 1) they know they do not have all the answers and 2) they never know where the best ideas will come from. Leaders who believe they have all the answers cannot be worked with. Their egos won’t allow it. I always felt they were the worst people to report to because they had no regard whatsoever for your ideas or the ideas of others in the organization.

But the best leaders were the best listeners. They knew that they wanted to listen to everyone’s input because they never knew where the best ideas would come from.

There definitely have been times in my leadership roles where the best idea actually came from the least experienced person on our team. That is why it was – and is – the best way to lead. You need to listen to everyone in your organization.