You Win in the Locker Room First: The 7 C's to Build a Winning Team in Business, Sports, and Life by Jon Gordon & Mike Smith

Author:Jon Gordon & Mike Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
ISBN: 9781118862414
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2015-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

Connect Outside the Locker Room to Be Strong Inside the Locker Room

Mike Smith

To truly connect as a team it's also important to connect outside the locker room. We purposefully tried to find opportunities for everyone on the team and in the organization to connect more frequently. For example, throughout the season we held functions that involved the players, coaches, scouts, and support staff and all of their families. We held family night dinners on Wednesdays when we were playing on the road so the kids had an evening to spend time with their dads. This also created a chance for us to be together as a large group in a non-workplace setting. We had different activities throughout the season based on holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We also had a guest-chef program where different players were chosen to set the menu for lunch on Thursday in the second half of the season. The meal had to have a theme and the players would try to outdo one another. Some of the best “celebrity chef” meals we had were Todd McClure's Cajun menus and Jonathan Babineaux's Caribbean spreads. These are just a few ways to work on connecting outside of the locker room. As the leader of the team or organization you should always be looking for ways to enhance these types of connections.

We also wanted to create opportunities for the players to get together outside of the pressures of the workplace. Some of the activities that we had were tied to community service or fundraising events for local charities. It is easy to overlook how blessed we are, regardless of what our profession is. Giving back to our community and to the people who are less fortunate is another way to work on being a more connected team or organization. We tried to make these times fun and enjoyable for our players. We had events like Huddle Up for Miracles, where players were celebrity waiters and competed to see who could raise the most money through tips. We also supported programs like Feed the Hungry and Christmas shopping for families in need. We had planned golf and bowling events. I wanted the players to see how active we were as a team and posted the names of all the players who made appearances during the previous week at our team meeting on Wednesday. There were years when we would have over 1,000 community visits. One of my favorite events was our golf outing, which we called the Jocks versus the Hacks, where we played with the media and coaches.

These moments of connection really made a difference. When your team is connected, you will see and feel it in the way they treat each other. You will see players and staff interacting on many different levels. You will see players' and coaches' respect for one another grow, and the other people within the organization will tear down the proverbial walls in which people and departments typically operate. This is one of the leading indicators that you have a connected team.

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