You Win in the Locker Room First

By Jon Gordon & Mike Smith; Adapted by Susan Schilke, TeamStrength February 2016

The 7 Cs to Build a Winning Team in Business,
Sports & Life

Culture:

  • Organizations with sustained cultures have sustained success
  • Culture drives expectations and beliefs
    • Expectations and beliefs drive behaviors
      • Behaviors drive habits
        • Habits create the future
  • Know what you stand for – put it into process
  • Focus on the Root, not the fruit
  • Built it up and down – everyone creates culture
  • Live it, value it, reinforce it and fight for it

The7CsContagious:

  • Make a decision to be positively contagious (C vs. germ)
  • Leadership is a transfer of belief – share a powerful vision and mission with your team
  • Fill your team with positively contagious team members
  • Remove energy vampires
  • Adopt a no complaining policy

Consistent:

  • Be the same leader whether you are winning or losing
  • It’s not okay to be moody – people don’t know what to expect and lose trust in you
  • Consistently remove any seeds of complacency
  • Commit to consistent improvement
  • Be humble – life-long learner; headlines become fish wrap
  • Be hungry – push yourself and your team to be great

Communicate:

  • Communication begins the relationship developing process – relationships are key to winning teams
  • Voids in communication are filled with negativity
  • Take the temperature – listen and learn from your team
  • Reiterate and reinforce your critical messages – make sure the leaders are sharing the same messages
  • Communication fosters collaboration

Connect:

  • Creating a connected team is one of the most important things you do – Team beats talent
  • Use team-building exercises to build relationships
    • Hero, Hardship & Highlight
    • Defining Moment
    • If you really knew me, you would know this about me
  • Create opportunities to connect outside the building
  • Connection is a continuous process

Commit:

  • Not just involved – your commitment has to be greater than anyone else’s in the organization
  • It’s not about you, it’s about the team – commit to them
  • Focus on making your team better
  • Lose your ego and own the problems
  • The ultimate commitment is sacrifice

Care:

  • A leader who cares builds a team who cares
  • Make caring a strategy
  • Value team members as individuals
  • Develop and share a caring trademark

Coaching:

  • True leaders don’t create followers…
  • They create more leaders
  • Coach with optimism and positivity
  • Help people become the best versions of themselves
  • Ask people to share their goals and help them get there

Character:

  • Don’t just settle for talent without character
  • Character drives talent to greatness
  • Leaders are developer of characters as well as talent

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