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When the
legendary John Wooden was coaching basketball at UCLA, he
seldom made home visits to prospective players. He did make
an occasional exception, however, like the time he went to
see an extremely talented prospect who had great potential
to help his team.
Wooden
had every intention of offering the player a scholarship that
night. In fact, all the necessary paperwork was ready and
waiting in the pocket of his suit coat. But when he left the
player's house later that evening, the scholarship was still
in his pocket.
What changed
Wooden's mind? His decision had nothing to do with basketball,
that's for sure. Rather, as Wooden watched the player interact
with his mother, he was troubled by what he saw as a decided
lack of respect. He surmised that a young man who spoke disrespectfully
to his mom probably wouldn't respect his coach, either. That
was enough to keep Wooden from offering him a spot on the
team.
When Wooden
shared this story with me, he noted that he had often passed
on exceptional talent if the player lacked good values. "What
I have found is, just because the talent and the giftedness
is there doesn't mean you're going to be able, as a coach,
to bring it out of them," he said. "But if their
values are there — the right ones — you can bring the best out
of them every time."
This story
is a great illustration of an important teamwork concept:
Values — those guiding principles that influence and guide behavior — determine
the foundation of the team. When the members of a team are
guided by respect, integrity, excellence and other positive
attributes, their footing as a group is strong. Their shared
values provide stability for their organization to build upon.
That's
not all a strong set of values will do for a group of people
working together, of course. Let me illustrate with a few
word pictures.
• Values
are like glue. They hold an organization together.
• Values
are like a ruler. They set the standard for a team's performance.
• Values
are like a compass. They give direction and guidance.
• Values
are like a magnet. They attract like-minded people.
• Values
provide identity. They define and identify the team.
It's easy
to talk about values in a generic sense. It takes a bit more
effort to identify the specific principles that your company
or team lives by, and even more discipline to communicate
those values effectively to each person you hire. Sharp new
employees will be able to ascertain much of what your organization
believes in by watching your team in action. But it's always
helpful when you reinforce those nonverbal messages with some
kind of structured presentation that explains who you are
and what you believe in as a company.
I did
this very thing several years ago when I moved my company
to Atlanta from San Diego. We hired quite a few people when
we moved, and to bring them up to speed on where we had come
from organizationally, I gave them a formal overview of who
we were and what was important to us.
In this
talk, I articulated the following values to my team:
1.
Personal growth.It is the responsibility of each individual
to grow personally, but it's the leader's responsibility to
help facilitate that process. You can grow your organization
only as much as you grow your people.
2.
Making a significant contribution. I believe every person
ought to do something that he or she truly believes is making
a difference.
3.
Living and working with passion. I don't know about you,
but I want everyone around me to love what they do as much
as I do. I have no desire to motivate people the people I
work with to get passionate about life. I would rather beg
them to find another job!
4.
Commitment to excellence. As I've written in this column
before, I believe each of us should set the bar higher for
ourselves than anybody else will.
5.
Team leadership.The only way to build a successful organization
is by developing a great team around you.
6.
Living a life of integrity. Without this, everything else
is meaningless.
Finally,
the best way to ensure that everyone on your team is guided
by similar principles is to examine each prospective employee
through the lens of your organization's values and hire only
those individuals who share those same values. If their values
already match yours, they'll fit in much more quickly and
start being productive a lot sooner than they would if you
had to help them adapt to your company's mindset.
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This
article is used by permission from Dr. John C. Maxwell's free
monthly e-newsletter 'Leadership Wired' available at www.MaximumImpact.com.
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