Love, Team, and the Stanley Cup

I played ice hockey as a kid, in college intramurals, and as an adult, so I was happy to watch game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals last Monday night. You didn’t need to know much about hockey to see what a hard-fought game it was, both teams playing with incredible intensity. Florida had won the first three games of the series, then lost the next three – so they were on the brink of an historic setback. But they prevailed in this gripping game 2-1 to win the Stanley Cup.??

I am a little reluctant to talk about sports as a way to illuminate any business ideas. There are gender, cultural, and other divides that make the discussion unwelcoming to some. But here goes:?

Allowing for the euphoria of the moment, it was striking what one player, Matthew Tkachuk, said:?

“I can’t believe how good this two years has been. I’m so thankful for this group of guys. It’s the best place, the best guys, it’s something really special here with what we have.”?

Naturally, I was curious what made Tkachuk feel that way. Another player, Kyle Okposo, who had been drafted 18 years earlier and was finally a champion, explained it:?

“Just the make-up of the group and the buy-in. We just have one of the most unselfish teams I’ve ever seen. It’s all the way down. Everybody’s so happy for the other guy. Everybody wants success for everyone. There’s no egos. There’s no fluff. Everything’s real. We did it together and that’s the best way.”?

Granted all this comes in a moment that is the highest of highs, it’s nevertheless inspirational.??

Imagine how much would be possible on a team – your team – if everyone had that great level of not just unselfishness but a real desire to see others shine.?

How do you get there? Different teams have their own ways but some common elements I see:?

• Real conversations about trust, shared goals, expectations, feedback, and the experience people are having. And by the way, real is not a platitude. Real means vulnerable, courageous, and outside your comfort zone … the kind of conversation that you’d like to duck, but you have for the good of the team.?

• Shared values that bind people together. These need to be explicit and discussed. People and the team need to be honored when they are living into the values, and people and the team need real and real-time feedback when they are not. That’s where trust comes from.?

• A performance orientation that puts a premium on results. This in no way precludes treating people kindly and as humans. But it does mean there are consequences when individual performance is below what the team needs.?

It’s an amazing feeling when a group of people achieve something special and come to love and value each other along the way. Is your team on the way??