Essay on
The Winner Within, A Life Plan For Team Players
by Pat Riley
Pat Riley was one of the best basketball coaches in the 90s. He wrote a book based on his work as a team coach on how to build a successful team. I was always intrigued by how sports teams can work together and achieve so much. Having the know-how in a book is great, and I was really looking forward to reading about building a team from a different perspective than the business one. Sport is very different from business, yet at the same time, the teams in business and in sports have so much in common and are built on the same grounds.
The main idea of the book is that the key to success is teamwork. Whether it's a career or personal life, Pat identifies several stages of the development of any team.
Innocent climb
The first one is the innocent climb, which is the stage of initial growth. It happens when a team of members who aren't selfish and haven't had much success together yet. That gives them a big climb. The team, though, has to act unselfishly and trust each other and also put in the work. All of this combined is key to the initial success. The initial success can also have another side of the same coin, and that is the stage called the disease of me.
The disease of me
If the team doesn't learn early in the process how to handle success, what brought them to success can also turn against them. This is when teams and members of the team become selfish and self-centered.
The core covenant
Then there is the core covenant. This helps teams get a new motivation, a long-term motivation, to work within the team and achieve something together. This stage is about having a set of principles and values that are long-term, unchangeable, and connect the team players and how they see themselves, each other, and the world around them.
Thunderbolts
Another crucial stage is thunderbolts. In this stage, unexpected events happen, and they can bring people down. What happens in successful teams is that they support each other, and they know that sometimes things don't go as planned. However, some people and some teams have more difficulties getting over thunderbolts, and that's why it's crucial to have the right mindset and stay strong together to overcome this stage.
The choke
The choke is a stage that happens when, in very critical moments important for the team, they don't manage to perform as they expected and as they needed in order to win. This happens when the team doesn't judge their position towards their opponent correctly.
The breakthrough
The breakthrough comes when team members realize that the hurdles are self-imposed, and they can also disappear just by their individual work. This is a very important part of the evolution because from this moment further, this realization enables the team to move much stronger and faster than before.
Complacency
Complacency means that the team is very self-confident. Winning a lot, they are impressive, but they can forget that there are other people working on the same and that they can get much better because they are working hard as well. This is important for the team not to stop putting any effort but keep working and keep putting the same effort as before. What is crucial here is for the team members to remind themselves that there is someone out there working hard on the same thing.
Mastery
If the team manages to overcome complacency, they can get into mastery. That means committing to excellence and the pursuit of the best performance that they can ever perform. They desire to reach the best level of performance that they possibly could. What is important here is to Always reach for best standards. And. Keep up morale. And Team spirit
Upping the ante
Upping the ante means going beyond mastery and becoming a legend within your own field. It means establishing a historical significance.The team members need ro reach for the best standards, maintain team morale, and spirit, and go beyond.
Core cracking
If cracking occurs and some core players leave to pursue other challenges, it's essential not to force the team to stay together but to accept the reality, stay true to the legacy, and take the best from past experiences for the future.
Moving on
Moving on involves coming back from the crack, putting together new goals, starting fresh and building up a team from the ground up.
It's fascinating to see the various stages a team goes through when forming and performing together from the sports perspective. I've never been a part of a team that has gone this far, but I'm excited about future teamwork because I realize that going through the whole process, overcoming hurdles, and accomplishing something significant with the team is what we aim for in the first place. I'm excited to go through this entire journey in the future.
