Larson and Lafesto (1989) identify eight characteristics that are associated with team excellence: 1) clear, elevating goal, 2) Result driven structure, 3) Competent team members, 5) Collaborative climate, 6) Standards of excellence, 7) External support and 8) Principled leadership, (Northouse, 2016 Page 368). As reading through the Team Leadership section of our textbook (Northouse 2016), these eight charecteristics stood out to me. As the groundskeeper for Little League International in Williamsport, PA, I have been fortunate enough to be involved in the annual Little League World Series baseball tournament. Seeing first hand examples of leadership as it relates to baseball teams and the differences between well-rounded teams compared to subpar teams, the relevance to team effectiveness and leadership is very pronounced. I will analyze a team from Pearland Texas that made it to the U.S Championship game in 2015 and how the eight characteristics associated with team excellence applied to this particular team. Below is a video that summarized their journey to the U.S. Championship game.
As the head groundskeeper for Little League International, I had the opportunity to be on the fields while the teams were preparing for their games. The first thing that stood out to me about the Texas team was that they did not have a clear-cut superstar on their team. All players were average size, they did not have an over powering pitcher or a player that was a serious home run threat. They were just a well-rounded team and that falls into the competent team member characteristic that Larson and Lafesto identified in 1989. Based on recent pitching rule changes, teams that make it far into the World Series tournament need to be well balanced opposed to having one or two great pitchers. In this instance the Texas team had a roster full of players that were all about the same skill level, as the old saying goes “You are only as good as your weakest link” and in this instance it is more beneficial to be well rounded. Next this team definitely had a clear and elevated goal, which is to win their upcoming game and make it to the overall championship game against Japan. In an underdog role, the Texas team had to play Pennsylvania, which was a clear favorite to win. If you watch the video below, you can listen to the teams pre game chant, where they all get together and chant their hometown name and their motto “ One Dream”. This is a great example of having a well-defined goal of making it to the World Series championship game. Baseball teams are in a result driven structure, meaning that winning is based upon the team scoring runs. In order to advance in the tournament, a team has to win their games and in order to win the team must produce runs. This can be further broken down into hits and base runners. In order to first score a run, a player needs to get a hit. If you get a hit you are going to be on base. Winning is a result ingrained into the team by the coaching staff and baseball is a perfect example of a result driven structure. In order to be considered successful a team needs to win.
I considered the Texas team to have the best coaching staff out of all sixteen teams playing in the tournament. This relates to principled leadership, where a very effective coaching staff kept players focused and made the right decisions at the correct time. Going in to the U.S championship game, this teams normal starting pitchers were in eligible to pitching because of pitch count rules. The coaching staff decided to start a pitcher that did not pitch before this point in the tournament. This decision was made following warm ups, note in the video that the coach helped the young man going into a stressful situation by telling him he looked sharp in warm ups. This had to be extremely stressful for the player as he knew he had to preform at a high level for his team to advance and also that the huge size of the crowd (45,000 people) would be intimidating. The coaching staff did an excellent job keeping the players focused and the starting pitcher pitched a great game into the 6th inning. The Pearland Texas team demonstrated a clear collaborative climate where team members would build off of one another. Team members fed off of one another’s positive energy, you can see this in the video when the pitcher strikes out Cole Wagner, which was Pennsylvania’s best hitter. After the strike out, all infielders came into congratulate the pitcher, he even let out a little smile.
A unified commitment is something that this team displayed very well; they have developed their own identity and played toward their strengths. Team spirit was very high with this group of kids and seeing how much support they had from their hometown and fan base it was easy to see what a tight nit group of players they were. External support is another factor that played into the success of this team. The overall support from their local community, coaches, parents, fans and sponsors was somewhat over whelming. You can see in the video fans approach the coach to tell him what a good job he is doing, also note the amount of purple Little League hats and tee shirts present. I believe that the overall attitude of the coaches and players bolstered their fan base. The last of the eight characteristics associated with team excellence that I will discuss is standards of excellence. Having an up close seat to the fields gave me a close perspective to all teams playing in the tournament. I could tell that this team was special as they were very well behaved and disciplined. While other teams may have players that slam their bat on the ground or throw their glove in the dugout, the Pearland team did not exhibit any of this behavior. Even though Texas lost the U.S. Championship game, they were still focused on the consolation game the following day. Note in the video below, the coaches talking about playing one more game and how well they set standards for the players to follow.
The little league team from Pearland Texas was a great example of the eight characteristics associated with team excellence (Northouse, 2016, Page 368). They demonstrated how a well-rounded team could accomplish great things. Along with the leadership the coaching staff displayed, which helped the team get to the highest level in Little League Baseball. Thinking back about my experience with the 2015 Little League World Series, the Pearland Texas team stood out to me when examining these eight characteristics. Please take the time to watch the related video below.
References:
Northouse, Peter G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and Practice, 7th Edition. Chapter 14.
Pennsylvania State University (2016) Psych 485: Leadership in work settings. Lesson 9.
Little League Videos: