Taking Time to Celebrate

We all have teams we lead and teams we are on either in the business world or on the athletic field. Here are some random thoughts that I am working on and would like to share with you. Please feel free to chew on them or spit them out.

I apologize in advance for the grammatical mistakes there may be. It's the price for watching game film while typing and thinking.

*Building morale and celebrating victories*
Getting people/players to stop thinking about themselves and on the team goals. This is a tough road for the leader. I have come up with 5 steps that I think can solve this problem. I feel that the leaders can take these 5 action steps to counter the issues of self on your team. Remember you will never rid yourself of selfish desires on your team. Jesus found his team struggled with selfish thoughts and desires.

*5 actions steps*

#1. Goals
-What are your goals you want for your team?
Three parts to goals
a. Vision: A leader who has vision, but cannot share that vision is going to struggle. What is your team vision? How are they going to get there?
b. Responsibility: Each player/coach needs to accept their role for the team.
c. Sacrifice: Each player needs to sacrifice for his/her team.
All three of these components need to be a part of your team goals.

#2. Leadership (a difficult one to work on)
-Make sure all of your leaders are on the same page. Meet with them. Share your vision and then have them lead and pass on that vision to their teammates.
-The past 7 years, Bethel basketball has incorporated a team "theme" or "motto" which reinforces the leadership plan for the team. They see the posters in the locker room, around campus and here the theme repeated throughout the course of the season. "One Heartbeat," "Band of Brothers" and "Defend the Legacy," are some of my personal favorites. "A History of Victory" will be the theme for the 2009-2010 season.

#3. Roles
Make sure that each team member knows their role. Each player needs to have a sense of responsibility to do their part. This is a hard one. Many know their role, but it might be hard to accept it. You may have a player who's role is to be the encourager, supporter and motivator on your team while he may want his role to be a scorer. We have to spend more time with the people who feel they do not have a significant role on the team to help them realize just how valuable they truly are.

#4. Respect:
- respect your teammates and the mentality.
-Do you have my back? Do you care about me as your teammate? As a person?
-As a coach, ask yourself this question: "Does your team hang out together both on and off the floor?" The disciples hung out a lot.

#5. Spread Your Praise
-In order to have ownership in something we as leaders need to acknowledge their contributions. How can I praise the guys who don’t play?

*Another thought on leading people*
Celebrate the victories in your life.
-After a down season in 2006 I learned a valuable lesson, "DON'T TAKE WINNING FOR GRANTED!" Celebrate your victories. Many times I've walked into a locker room after a team has won and no one is really excited. In a way I thought that this was good, but as I see kids today I think they need to get excited when they win. As coaches we need to show that excitement. Authentic celebration is a key part of leadership. Take some time to celebrate the little things. Have a good week in sales?--Celebrate! Did a player or person reach a goal you gave them?--Celebrate! I've learned to celebrate and get excited when people reach their goals...it's OK to do so. It may be for only 5 minutes, but take the time!
-I've found out that it isn't fair to your team to “wait” to celebrate “only when we win the championship" because itt might not come. Were the successes along the way through the process important? We need to stop and recognize success when it comes. Think of ways to celebrate things your team accomplishes. What is wrong for the leader to jump up and down and get excited when someone does something significant? We should not take winning for granted. Celebrate and share the victory together.

*Why celebrate?*
1. it acknowledges team goals
2. it builds and validates the needed effort for the next challenge
3. it motivates the team to work harder
4. it improves attitudes
5. it can rally others around the team to get excited about what you are doing

*Strategic celebration*
In the locker room is the best place to acknowledge and bring forth your teams effort after a victory. In the office at work, in a meeting--these are great places and moments to show what your team has done. Do you have times set aside to just celebrate?

Recognize players keep it personal
-Celebrate as a team and as coaches together.
Next point
Determine when to move on: when they get off the bus or when they come to practice the next day. Don’t over celebrate your victories. There has to be a closure and time to move on and your team needs to know when that time is.

Final thoughts
1. Build relationships that last a lifetime.
2. Don’t expect your team to play with passion, they first need to feel your passion. Pass on the passion!
-Go to practice or a team meeting and not coach or teach with any passion and see what happens. I'm sure you could predict the outcome. As a preacher once said “passion starts in the pulpit.”
2. What gets rewarded gets repeated, my dog knows this one
3. Coach the way you are, don’t be anyone else. You will be miserable by not coaching “your way." You can not be someone else. You can model after someone, but you still have to be who you are.
4. What are the needs of your team? What can you do to help them meet those needs?
-Do they need a father figure? Do they need some direction and discipline? Do they need someone to talk to?
5. Remain sensitive to change.
-Don’t be afraid to change. Change practice, change the lineup, hange a drill change, change your underwear :)
6. Meet with your team leaders often! (people forget the mission...quickly!)
7. Learn from others
-Find the best people to learn from and study them.

I pray that in the weeks ahead that with all of our busy duties that we find time to celebrate. We all need to celebrate our Savior and be reminded what he has done for us. Good luck and God Bless

-Coach Lightfoot