Shane Battier - The Ultimate Teammate

The regular season has ended and the 2011 NBA playoffs are in full swing! After an 82 game marathon, the top 16 teams head into the post season for an opportunity to compete for an NBA title and a chance to solidify their names as among the greats.


It's an exciting time for basketball fanatics like myself because the level of play and intensity immediately gets raised a few notches. With the increased stakes, everything that happens in the game matters even more. Every basket that's scored has significance, every play is dissected and each decision a player makes on the court is made with the intention of helping the team win.

My good friend, Don Yaeger recently highlighted one such "Ultimate Teammate" in his recent Moments of Greatness newsletter.

On April 17, 2011 Shane Battier hit a game winning shot to give his Memphis Grizzlies their first ever playoff win in franchise history (16 years). That win propelled the Grizz to become the second team in NBA history to upset the top-seed in a seven game first round playoff series.


When you take a step back and look at the entire picture, it's makes sense that Battier is the one who made the shot. And the thing is that it's got nothing to do with the fact that he's a superstar because by today's definition, he isn't.

This former Duke product has never lead any team that he's played on in scoring, never selected to play in an All Star and plays a very effective game with little to no flash.


The reason it makes sense that he hit that shot is because throughout his entire NBA career, Shane has had a history of making the teams he plays on better.

Case in point:

• After his rookie season, the Memphis franchise finished with back to back 40+ win seasons for the first time before he was traded to the Houston Rockets prior to the start of the 06/07 season.
• The Rockets went on to have three consecutive 50+ win seasons before he was traded back to Memphis just before the trade deadline this season.

The 6ft 8in small forward has a reputation throughout the league of being a hustle guy that's willing to do the little things like diving for loose balls or drawing offensive charges against his opponents.

These little things or Game Changers (Hard Court Lesson #6) can be the difference between winning and losing.

If you're on a team or part of a group, you have an opportunity to be that "Ultimate Teammate". Regardless how big or small, your actions can contribute to the team's bottomline.


In sports, they're called, "glue guys" because of their ability to pull everyone together through selfless team oriented play and willingness to sacrifice their own stats for the good of everyone else.

Shane is one of those guys, how about you?

PS - Click here to subscribe to Don's newsletter.

See you on the court!

Pulling Together

If we look deep enough, we can find life lessons just about everywhere.

For example, my friend John Murphy used the illustration of geese to teach some incredible lessons about how teams can become high performers through the power of pulling together.

Check it out this 3 minute video!

Pulling Together

See you on the court!

What's In It For We?

Moving people past their individual thinking to a team oriented state of mind will always be one of the biggest challenges to effective team work.

Team members with their own personal agendas, concerns or fears can severely stunt the growth of the collective and make the team work process both difficult and painful.


In some cases, people are carrying around personal baggage from prior experiences which in turn prevents them from fully participating as a functioning member of the team.

This feeling of being "burned" can lead to mistrust of others or maybe it's much simpler than that. Perhaps they've never been part of a team before and have no idea or concept of what it means to be a contributing member of a group.

Whatever the reasoning is, it's important to recognize that until these matters are dealt with, they'll serve as a deterrent to becoming an effective team member.

This is where leaders and coaches come in.

Leadership in the context of team development is about moving people past this individualistic frame of thinking to a mindset where the goals, wishes and desires of the team take precedent.

By breaking down these barriers or roadblocks and creating a "we" mindset as opposed to a "me" enviroment, leaders are helping to create synergy amongst the team and putting the emphasis on the whole instead of the individual parts.


This topic will be explored in greater detail on the next edition of HCL Radio where I'll be joined by leadership expert and business consultant, John J Murphy.

John is the founder of Venture Management Consultants, a consultancy firm that specializes in helping people and organizations achieve and sustain peak performance, with one of his focuses on team training and development.

John provided some insight as to what leadership means in the context of team work.

Click here to listen to what he said.

To hear the rest of the conversation, I'd encourage you to tune into the next episode.

See you on the court!

Building A Magical Team

Having a team working together and collaborating is a fabulous way of achieving results. The determining factor really comes down to how well individual team members can co-exist and function together.

When a group isn't on the same page, you have nothing but a collective mess.

However, a well functioning team working together in unison is like a finely tuned machine producing remarkable results.

Orlando Magic Senior VP, Pat Williams really hammers this point home in his latest book, Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams.




Afterall, he'd know better than anyone else.

As co-founder of the Magic, Pat was instrumental in working with his team to bring an NBA franchise to a city that didn't have a sports arena to play in or no history of pro sports of any kind.

Their economy primarily consisted of oranges and Walt Disney.



Pat said, "You just can't do it individually, it's gotta be done as a unit. We've gotta understand how to build teams and act in a sense of collaboration."

Pat joins the next episode of HCL Radio and further elaborates on the importance of teams working together.

Plus, he'll also discuss the role a leader has in bringing it all together to make it work.

Click here to isten to the entire interview with Pat.

Thanks for reading!

The Difference Makers

There's a misguided belief that says that your team will be successful as long as you have the best players in the world on your squad.

I've always believed this notion to be false and an article in a recent issue of the New Yorker further strengthened my resolve.

It's called David vs. Goliath - When Underdogs Break the Rules and was written by Malcolm Gladwell, author of many best selling books such as Blink, Tipping Point and Outliers.

It chronicled a story reminiscent of the biblical David and Goliath tale in which a father decides to coach his daughter's under skilled Little League basketball team.

Despite not having the talent and skill level of the other teams, Vivek Ranadivé guides his squad all the way to the national championships where they unfortunately, are beaten.

(This story may have Goilath as the victor but not without a serious scare.)

I suppose one could argue and say the lack of skill was the difference between them winning and losing. However, the reality is that this under skilled team made it to the finals when on paper, they weren't supposed to.

This proves that as important as skill is to being a successful team, it's not enough.

While there are several factors that come into play, I'll give four of the top difference makers:

Game Plan

Having a good coach with a sound philosophy is huge and I think this story illustrated quite nicely its importance.

Ranadivé knew that his team didn't stand a chance if they played the conventional way due to the disparity in skill level. So he adopted a defensive style of play that pressured the offensive team the entire length of the court. It produced turnovers and didn't allow the offence time to execute their diagrammed plays.

Execution

You'll sometimes see a time out called in the closing seconds of a big game. The coach gets the team together to design a play to score the game winning basket. They come out of the huddle, everyone gets into position and something unplanned happens. Maybe somebody drops a pass, misses their assignment or inadvertently steps out of bounds. A loss follows and the game is over.

The process where strategy becomes a reality is execution. A coach can design, draw and strategize all the plays but it ultimately falls on the shoulders of the team to make it happen.

A leader's job is to support and equip their followers with the necessary tools and resources to get the job done and put themselves in a position to be successful when the rubber hits the road.

Intelligence

Intelligence on the court is critical. As a youth basketball coach, I've seen too many examples where players are taught to run a specific play but don't fully understand the reasoning behind what they're doing. So if the plays says to set a screen, that's what I'll do regardless if my defender has left me unguarded for an open shot.

Leaders empower their people to make better decisions and help them understand the reasoning behind the action. Knowing the reasoning helps make better decisions, so if something breaks during the course of the game, the players can choose an alternate pathway that makes sense.

Micheal Jordan, six time NBA champ once said, "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."

Chemistry

Jordan's quote touches on the final point which is chemistry. This is the thing that brings it all together. For a sports team to exist, you need a group of talented athletes, who work together to achieve a common goal. What makes this so dynamic is that each member of the team has an opportunity to contribute their own unique skills.

Their ability to co-exist in unison is one of the main differences between winning and losing.

In closing...

While skill is an important thing to have, it's not the only thing. To be that conquering David, teams need to be smart, be able to work together and have a solid game plan going in.


Keeping these difference makers in mind will do a lot to strengthen your team, improve your leadership skills and influence your wins and losses.




Thanks for reading!

Audley
Hard Court Lessons - Where developing leaders is more than just a game.

Gold or Bronze?

Having a successful team takes more than just assembling the most talented players in world and expecting them to be winners.

Making sure you have the right group of people who's blended skills can complement one another is vital to the team's success.

We're talking about collaboration, exceution and chemistry.



The 2004 US Olympic basketball squad is a great example of this. They were the finest basketball players in the world who's goal was to bring home the gold medal. However, their dreams materialized into a bronze finish.

While there isn't an official do's and don't list when it comes to assembling a team, here are a few things to keep in mind.




Communicate the goals of the team clearly from the onset to make sure everyone knows the game plan.

Try to assemble a group with varied skill sets and strengths, this will give members an opportunity to show off their individuals talents.

Having a vision of what the team's identity will be can help you select the most suitable members.

Align tasks with strengths of the members to best maximize contributions.

Have a clear system on how you choose to evaluate prospective team members. Instinct vs references

In Closing...


Keeping these points in mind could be the difference in having a team that brings home a gold medal versus a bronze.




“Coming together is the beginning;
keeping together is the process;
working together is success.”
– Henry Ford

Thanks for reading!

Audley

We've Got The Power

There are several small, subtle unoticeable things that happen in basketball that lead to paying huge divedends in the way of a basket or key possession.

You'll often times see players pointing at each on the court as they make their way back to the other end of the floor.

What they are doing is a form of acknowledgement.

Perhaps a player has set a screen to get their team mate open for a shot or maybe offered some sort of assistance on the defensive end to force a turnover.

By pointing, they're saying "Thanks", "I saw that" or "Keep up the good work".



In a lot of ways, it's the little things that make the most difference and this is especially true in basketball as well as life.

Acknowledging the actions of others hold tremendous power and can create waves and ripples that motivate, inspire and improve the quality of our personal and professional relationships.

Having out actions acknoweledged will make us more prone to do the same for others.

Think of a moment that you worked really hard on a project or task. What was the feeling you had when someone recognized and commented on what you did?

Did it make you feel valued and appreciated? Were you inspired to keep going? Did you level of respect increase for the other person?

I believe that we all want to be acknowledged for our contributions to society deep down inside. To know that our actions made a difference to someone else is a great motivator on so many levels.




In her book, The Power of Acknowledgment Judith W Umlas says, "each of us has this power, and it is important to remember to use it appropriately, often, and honestly both in business and in our personal lives."

It's a marvelous power that can encourage others to do great things including help score more baskets!


Thanks for reading!

Audley