Sean Glaze, a high-school basketball coach for 20 years, argues that talent alone doesn't make a team. Employees become teammates only when connected to a clear common goal and genuine relationships with each other. Missing connections erode performance like a corroded battery.
I was a high school basketball coach for 20 years, and for the first handful of those, I wasn't a very good one. But that's because I didn't know then what I'm gonna share with you tonight. The good news is I got better. I learned a few things about developing teams, developing players, and I founded Great Results Team Building because I learned that whether it's basketball or business, Teams share similar issues. See, wearing the same uniform or working in the same office doesn't make you a great teammate. So I want to share a couple of things with you tonight to help you transform your employees into great teammates. Finish this phrase for me. There's no I. There's we. I completely disagree. Having coached for 20 years, I can tell you every player I ever coached was an individual. Every person in your offices is an individual. And they only become a teammate when they make the choice to become a small contributing part is something larger than themselves. But the mistake I made as a young coach is the same one many managers make. See, I was busy drawing up plays, just like managers are worried about strategic planning. But plans and plays are only as good as the people who are actually responsible for them. My locker room's a whole lot like your meeting room. See, we had talent. You've got talent. Talent was never the challenge. The challenge is getting that talent to work together as teammates. See, you don't win in business or basketball on talent alone. Talent's absolutely essential, but it's never sufficient because talented employees are still employees, and employees don't take initiative. Employees don't take responsibility for results. But what you've probably seen in your workplace is that people stop thinking like employees, and they start to feel like teammates. So how do you do that? How do you make that happen? Well, think about your own circumstances. Raise your hand if you've ever collected a check from a place where you only felt like an employee. And every hand goes up. If your hand rose, it's because you have something in common with the truck I drove in college. See, I woke up one morning and I went out to the truck and the truck didn't start, so I opened up the hood thinking I might find something. There was corrosion all over the battery, bad connections. See, people need connections too. You need to connect people to two things to make them teammates. The first is you need to make them connect to a compelling and clear common goal. They need to know why they're there, need to have a purpose. They need to be more when they show up than just a random dot on a page. But if, if you can let them see the big picture, If you let them see where they fit into the organization and its purposes and how they impact others there and outside your company, then they feel that small contributing part of something larger than themselves. And what you've probably seen is if they don't know why they're there, they're not going to do much while they're there. Compelling common goal is the first connection. The second connection is you need to make sure that they connect with each other. They need to know the strengths and challenges and desires and weaknesses and personalities of their coworkers. They need to connect with each other. See, there's a huge difference between working beside somebody and working with somebody. But companies who struggle with collaboration sometimes focus on strategy instead of connection. I've had clients call me, "Sean, we need to break down some of our silos between the different areas of organization." Tell them, "You've got it all wrong. Silos are created because people share values, because they share challenges. You don't want to break down silos, you want to create more and stronger connections." Because when you don't have connections, you get speeding fines. And people in your hallways speed by, say, "Hi, how are you?" Fine. And they don't get what Kelly talked about. They don't get connection. So how do you disrupt that behavior? How do you do something differently in your organization? Well, you don't be that guy. Don't put your head in the sand and allow your company culture to continue to corrode like my truck battery. Ask yourself, if you want your people to act and to feel like teammates, are they connected to that compelling common goal? And even more importantly, are they really connected to each other? If you want to inspire your employees to be teammates, I would love to connect with you. I offer over 50 free resources on my website. I invite you to connect with me there. And good luck with your connections.
