Years playing basketball taught Patrick Sallee some lessons on leadership that will up your game off the court.
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I don’t remember a time in my life I wasn’t playing basketball. When I was born my dad was coaching at a small college in Oklahoma. I was around it all the time and at home constantly bouncing a ball or shooting outside. I wasn’t good enough to have any sort of professional career, but never expected the lessons I learned through years of this game would help me long after I was done competing.
This year’s NBA finals was one of the most watched in history and lived up to the hype, even without a few key players. I was reminded of these lessons as two of the best players in the league competed this month.
While being a team sport, basketball is definitely not equal opportunity. The best players have the ball more, shoot more and get most of the attention. While everyone understands this, you still have to find ways to include the rest of the team. It keeps people motivated and increases ownership of the outcome. I see this even in old man pickup games I join. When one player dominates the ball, you can see the body language … shoulders slump, heads drop and effort level decreases. “At least I’m getting exercise” only lasts for so long. People want to be included!
I’ve seen this too many times at the office as well. When people don’t feel involved in the project, they lose interest in the outcome. Even if in a small way, people need to connect their work to the greater outcome. They have to be included.
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Even if in a small way, people need to connect their work to the greater outcome.
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Mike Miller has had a long successful career in the NBA. He is an average player in every possible way except one, he’s an exceptional shooter. The team he is playing for doesn’t matter. If the game is at home, on the road, during the day, at night … none of it matters. He just shoots and the majority of the time he makes it.
Making shots in a basketball game is much like closing a sale in the business world. Really, whatever key measure your business operates under … anything that “puts points on the board.” Employers overlook a lot of things to keep people around that put money in the bank. If you can consistently connect your performance to revenue, or other key measure for the organization, you become indispensable. The people who consistently achieve results, regardless of outside circumstances or how they are feeling today, stick around for long careers.
One of the more remarkable things about the way Lebron James plays is how he makes others better. He has taken two of the worst “supporting casts” to the NBA finals. If you follow the NBA at all, it sometimes feels like he could take four guys he just met at the YMCA and make a long playoff run. Especially after key injuries this year, the guys he had left were relatively limited in ability. Yet, Lebron finds ways to get them open shots in places they are comfortable. He creates easy opportunities that builds up his teammates confidence. And confidence is everything.
Managing people at work is similar. You know the skill sets of the people on your team. Go out of your way to put them in a place they can be successful and continue to give them easy opportunities to build confidence. People are far more likely to take on more, engage at a deeper level, and work harder when they are confident in their ability.
In most team situations the best players are, by default, the leaders of the team. What separates the ones that win from those that lose is how well they share the credit. I’m not just talking about in the media. This is team meetings and locker room conversations. Are they noticing, and recognizing the contributions from everyone on the team, no matter how small?
Often at work, the top performers get promoted from the role they are excelling, to managing people doing that role. A big difference in future success is their ability to share the credit. When the team you manage consistently hits goals or succeeds on projects, no one needs to be reminded you manage that team. Give the credit to the people making it happen. For one, it’s accurate and the success wouldn’t happen without them. But more importantly, it builds them up to keep striving for more. When your team members succeed, you succeed.
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When your team members succeed, you succeed.
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I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard coaches say “it’s the little things that win and lose games.” This is true not just in sports. When the things that don’t get much attention get done exceptionally, it’s our job to point them out and acknowledge the work. When we approach work and life with less concern for who gets the credit, we see, together, the success we all want.
