From Locker Room to Boardroom: Transforming Teams for Success

Understanding the Dysfunction of Teams

Patrick Lencioni's five characteristics of poorly performing teams are relevant to so many organisations and these five characteristics are:

1. Absence of trust,
2. Fear of conflict,
3. Lack of commitment,
4. Avoidance of accountability,
5. Inattention to results.

Teams that suffer from these dysfunctions often struggle with communication and collaboration. Trust is essential for team members to be vulnerable, but its absence leads to a fear of engaging in healthy conflict. This lack of open debate results in ambiguous commitments and a reluctance to hold each other accountable. Ultimately, these issues culminate in team members prioritizing personal goals over collective success, undermining overall team performance.

Under Craig Bellamy, Melbourne Storm has avoided such a scenario for over 20 years. Let's dive into the wisdom of Craig Bellamy, the best coach possibly ever, and see how his strategies can transform your team's performance.

In sports and business, leadership isn't confined to titles or positions. As Craig eloquently says in his book, "You don't need a title to be a leader. Leaders do the best job they can every hour, every day, every month, every year. Everyone has a different role to play, but, at the end of the day, if you are doing your role the best you can at each and every moment, that is being a leader."?

Leadership by Example

Great leaders set the tone through their actions. Craig notes, "If our meetings or training sessions are not well organised and planned, that shows the players that I'm not – or the coaching staff is not – working hard, so how can we expect them to do something we're not?" This principle extends to all aspects of behaviour. Whether it's saying "please" and "thank you" to flight attendants or modelling healthy eating habits, leaders set the standard. As Craig says, "It is the same as being a parent. If you want your kids to eat healthy food, you have to eat healthily."

Leadership Takeaway:?Audit your daily behaviours. Are you setting the standard you expect from your team? Remember, your actions speak louder than your words.

Reflection Question:?In what ways are you setting a positive example for your team?

Exercise:?Choose one behaviour you want to model for your team this week. Actively practice it and observe the impact.

Role Clarity and Accountability

A crucial aspect of leadership is ensuring each team member understands their role. Bellamy emphasises, "Make sure that the players know what their job is; that they know how to do it, and how their job fits in the big picture." This clarity creates accountability and motivation. He adds, "When they become responsible for doing a certain job, players become accountable to their teammates and supporters because that little job can have a domino effect if it is not done properly." You cannot hold someone accountable to something that they do not know!

Leadership Takeaway:?Clear roles and responsibilities foster accountability and motivation. Ensure every team member knows their role.

Reflection Question:?Does your team know their roles and how they fit into the bigger picture? Is it absolutely explicit to them?

Exercise:?Create a "role clarity document" for each team member, outlining their responsibilities and how they contribute to the overall goals. Be explicit.

Mental Toughness and Consistency

Mental toughness is a hallmark of high-performing teams. It's characterised by consistency - small differences between best and worst performances. Craig observes, "Those players who have very small differences between their best and worst are the mentally tough ones." This toughness emerges under duress and involves "doing your job no matter what external pressures or factors there are."

Leadership Takeaway:?Cultivate mental toughness by promoting consistency and resilience in your team.

Reflection Question:?How can you help your team maintain consistency under the most pressure?

Exercise:?Implement regular stress-management workshops and resilience training sessions for your team.?Revisit what worked for the team when they were under the most pressure.

Building a Winning Culture

A positive team culture is built on addressing problems through proper channels and maintaining consistent actions. As Craig said, "You can't be a dickhead all week and play good on Sunday.“ Everyone must buy into the team's beliefs and goals. "You need everyone to buy into the idea of believing in what you have done before and to feel that it's worthwhile pushing on. You only need two who don't, and you can fall apart."?

Leadership Takeaway:?Foster a positive team culture by addressing problems directly and maintaining consistent actions.

Reflection Question:?Are you addressing problems openly and fostering a culture of consistency?

Exercise:?Hold a team meeting to discuss and reinforce your team's core values and behavioural expectations.

Discipline and Work Ethics

Craig defines discipline as "doing things you don't want to do." It's about committing to hard work with faith in the process. "That's how you commit to working hard. When you have absolute faith, it is going to help you get to where you want to go. You have to be very, very disciplined to do it well."

Leadership Takeaway:?Emphasize the importance of discipline and work ethic in achieving long-term goals.

Reflection Question:?How disciplined is your team in their daily tasks?

Exercise:?Set weekly discipline challenges for your team, such as punctuality, meeting deadlines, or completing high-quality tasks.

Continuous Improvement

Successful teams always continue learning. Craig encourages his staff to educate themselves on different systems and practices, always looking outside their industry for inspiration. "We want our staff to get out and about, going to other organisations to see how they do things."

Leadership Takeaway:?Promote a culture of continuous improvement and learning within your team.

Reflection Question:?How are you encouraging continuous improvement in your team? Do you fund this in your team?

Exercise:?Organize monthly knowledge-sharing sessions where team members can present new learnings from different sources. Invite guests in to learn from.

Dealing with Adversity

Great teams use adversity as a catalyst for improvement. They avoid making excuses or blaming others. Craig says, "When a winner fails, he trains harder, while a loser blames others. When a winner makes a mistake, he says, 'I was wrong.' A loser says, 'It wasn't my fault.'"

Leadership Takeaway:?Use adversity as an opportunity for growth and improvement.

Reflection Question:?How does your team handle setbacks and failures?

Exercise:?Create a "failure analysis" session after each project to discuss what went wrong and how to improve. Reward those who are brave enough to help you all learn from failure.

Leadership Qualities

Humility is a key trait of successful leaders. They should be able to delegate and empower others, as exemplified by coaches like Graham Henry, who Craig admires: "He didn't need admiration, he didn't need to be in charge of every little detail, he was content delegating and empowering the people around him to do their jobs effectively“. Leaders must also strike a balance between being approachable and maintaining authority. Craig shares, "I like to get on with guys, I like to have a bit of fun and a joke at training when it is appropriate," but he also emphasises, "Everyone is accountable for doing their job to try to get the result we want."

Leadership Takeaway:?Combine humility with the ability to delegate and empower others while maintaining authority.

Reflection Question:?How well are you balancing approachability and authority in your leadership style?

Exercise:?Practice delegation by assigning a significant project to a team member and providing them with the support they need to succeed.

Sustaining Success

Remember, the journey doesn't end with one big win. Complacency is the enemy of sustained success. As Craig warns, "Sometimes you can be fooled into thinking 'yeah, we're going okay', and you do not look at yourself as thoroughly as you should." Comparison is the thief of joy! Obsess over your own environment rather than compare to others.

Leadership Takeaway:?Avoid complacency by continuously evaluating and improving your own performance.

Reflection Question:?Are you regularly evaluating and improving your leadership methods?

Exercise:?Schedule quarterly reviews of your team's performance and set new goals for improvement.

Your Leadership Journey Starts Now

Leadership is not a destination but a continuous journey of growth and improvement.

Which of Craig's insights resonated most with you?

Start implementing these strategies today and watch your team transform into a high-performing, cohesive unit. Remember, great leaders are made, not born.

Share your leadership experiences and challenges in the comments, and let's learn from each other.