John Wooden. Hopefully you recognize the name and instantly associate the term synergy, along with other terms such as; leadership, teamwork and winning.
For those less familiar or if you need a reminder; John Wooden was (and/or is) arguably the greatest college basketball coach of all time who led the UCLA Bruins to unsurpassed success during his tenure. Here are some key statistics; “Beginning in the 1966-67 season, the Bruins embarked on the most dominant run in college basketball history. They won seven straight championships, gaining three undefeated seasons along the way. UCLA’s record 88-game winning streak and string of championships ended in 1974, but the team rebounded the following year to give Wooden one more title before his retirement. “The Wizard of Westwood” ended his 29-year college head coaching career with a 664-162 record and an amazing .804 winning percentage, as well a record 10 national championships” (Biography.com, 2016).
What does this have to do with Synergy? In order to win at this pace for an extended period of time requires great synergy. Merriam-Webster defines ‘team’ as “a number of persons associated together in work or activity” (Merriam-Webster, 2017) and the UCLA Bruins were indeed a number of persons focused in their activity which resulted in unparalleled winning for two decades.
Regardless if its basketball or business a few key elements must be put in place to create synergy:
- A leader of a team needs to be identified. Enter Wooden, 1948.
- A philosophy and objectives have to be established (see Wooden’s Pyramid for Success).
- A leader must recruit the right players to be on the team
- Plan, execute, review. Plan, execute, review…
This is obviously a great success story and there are numerous reasons why a global organization might want to replicate Wooden’s approach to creating synergy. Based on my own experience; achieving a state of “high-performance” on a team where collectively the members have a greater level of commitment to the organization, to each other and to the tasks of the team (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014) is both difficult and elusive.
If Synergy; “implies a belief that we can learn from others and others can learn from us” (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014), then building an environment of teamwork, learning and cooperation is essential and a leader’s skill at facilitating the process for forming, storming, norming and performing (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, exhibit 9.2) is arguably the most important factor. “Synergy also comes from the Greek word meaning working together” (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014). Put these elements; leadership, learning environment and teamwork together and you likely have the recipe for success, much like Wooden did.
Three key teachings from Wooden that could benefit most multinational teams in attaining synergy are;
“Have utmost concern for what’s right rather than who’s right”
“The star of the team is the team, ‘we’ supersedes ‘me’”
“Perform at your best when your best is required. Your best is required each day”.
Now, as a quick reality check; most MNE’s would never have the patience to wait as long as UCLA did for the success to come. Wooden’s success came back in the 1960’s and 70’s at a time where more patience was exercised, not only in college sports but also in business. Today, there is much more intensity for immediate results that organizations won’t wait for more than 3 to 4 years at the most if a team is not delivering significant results before changing course. It’s the same today for basketball coaches as well. The average tenure for a division I men’s basketball coach…3 years.
The irony; coaches with the most championships over the last 50 years had been with their respective team for over a decade suggesting patience and persistence builds synergy and wins in any market.
Biography.com Editors, 2016, John Wooden Biography, A&E Television Networks, http://www.biography.com/people/john-wooden-21369183
Bronars, S. 2012, Bronars Economics, Impatient Lakers and Patient Spurs, https://sbronars.wordpress.com/tag/tenure-of-head-coaches/
Merriam-Webster Incorporated, 2017
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences. London: Routledge.
Wooden’s Pyramid of Success Wooden, J. & Jamison, S. (2005). Wooden on leadership. McGraw-Hill
cxg374 says
John Wooden is an excellent example of great leadership that inspires great team synergy. His to the point teachings are easy for the team to understand and clearly defines the team dynamic and expectations for new members of the team. Through Wooden’s consistency and vision, he was able to foster true teamwork which Moran, Abramson, & Moran (2014, p. 269) describes as a cooperative and coordinated effort by persons working together. No sports team can be successful without teamwork, however, luck for us Wooden spelled it out so that we can all takeaway from his teachings.
Ref:
Moran, R. T., Remington Abramson, N., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Global Teams and Global Leadership. In Managing Cultural Differences (p. 269). New York, NY: Routledge
cpb147 says
Douglas,
I enjoyed reading your post especially on John Wooden. His name is brought up repeatedly in the leadership trainings in which I have participated along with Shackelton and various world leaders. Wooden, however, focuses on the coaching aspects of leadership which there are a number of successful coaches throughout the years. What I find surprising is that in a time of equality being pushed throughout all of sports, that there could still be a single dominant team. The New England Patriots have proven that there can be dominance at least in the NFL.
Moran, Abramson, and Moran (2014) discuss effective teams have members who are flexible and open to change, exercise patience, and dealing with different organizational structures. This is typical of what we have seen from New England. They started this season without Tom Brady for four games and still managed to win three of those four games. They are effective because of the philosophy and leadership of their coach, Bill Belichick. According to Kerr (2015), Bill’s philosophy is that each person should focus on doing their job. This means explaining the game plan for next week’s game. Not the week after, but next week only. Set expectations for each player as to what their job is. Practice the basics of the position for each player and provide feedback on their performance. Encourage trust and confidence. By having each player focus on their job, regardless of who is playing another position, the players learn to be flexible and adapt to changing situations. It also instills trust in each player that the other players are going to do their job.
References
Kerr, J. (2015, January 26). How Bill Belichick’s “do your job” mantra applies to leadership. Inc. Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/james-kerr/how-do-your-job-can-be-a-difference-maker-for-your-company.html
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences (9th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.