Vince Lombardi

How to get aligned

getting alignedYou’re driving your car and you notice the steering wheel is vibrating, you have to hold it off-center to go straight, if you let go the car veers to the right or the left. When you bought the car the wheels were aligned and the car drove straight. Over time, general use, bumps over curbs, and potholes caused the wheels to be misaligned. If you want to have an easier time driving to your destination and save the wear and tear on your tires, you need to get your wheels aligned.

You are leading a project at work and it’s not meeting the deadlines that were set. When you started the project, everyone on the team understood and bought into the vision. Over time, other priorities came into focus, missteps, and mistakes, caused the project activities to be misaligned. If you want to have an easier time reaching the project milestones and save the wear and tear on the team members, you need to get your activities aligned.

How to get aligned. Getting out of alignment with car wheels happens all the time. We expect it, look for it, and deal with it by adjusting the suspension so the wheels sit on the road the correct way and move in the direction that the driver is steering. What about projects? It happens here all the time also. It’s actually just as easy to diagnose, but will take a bit longer to align than when you take your car to the mechanic. Here’s what you should do:

Go back to where you first got aligned – the vision of the end state. The reason that projects get out of alignment is that over time a team of people can forget why they are doing what they are doing. When we forget where we are going, any road seems like the right road.

Someone who knows quite a bit about cars, teamwork, and success is Mario Andretti. He is the only person to be named Unites States Driver of the year in three decades, the first driver to win IndyCar races in four decades, and the first to win auto races of any kind in five decades. On the importance of always knowing where you are going he said, “Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal.”

Revalidate that each team member knows how what they do fits into the end state. Day to day activity can become unfulfilling if we don’t understand how what we do makes a difference. Everyone needs to feel connected to something bigger.

Vince Lombardi, one of the most successful NFL coaches and namesake of the Super Bowl trophy said this about teamwork, “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

Get everyone back on the track to success – delegate with a plan. The project won’t work unless everyone is out working on their individual part. Don’t keep the control too close to home, you can’t keep directing everything.

Eli Broad founded two Fortune 500 companies in different industries (KB Homes and SunAmerica). His view on successful delegation is simple, “The trick to delegating is to make sure your employees share your priorities.”

The Commitment of Leadership

commitment LombardiLeadership is not for the faint of heart. If you want to succeed, plan on making the commitment to being in it for the long haul. As Abraham Lincoln said, “Commitment is what transforms a promise into a reality.”

There is no overnight successes in leadership, but there are steps you can take in the right direction towards success if you are committed to the climb. For every person who climbs the ladder of success, there are a dozen waiting for the elevator.

Now here are the challenges that many face when they look to make the commitment of leadership:

What if I don’t have a complete plan for success? Here is the thing about plans – they always change. If you wait for the perfect plan before you will make the commitment, you will never commit. As long as you have a clear picture of what success looks like when you achieve it, you can start moving in that general direction and modify your plan as you learn more.

“You need to make a commitment, and once you make it, then life will give you some answers.” – Les Brown

What if I don’t have time for a commitment? Here is what I have found in my life. I do lots of things throughout the day, week, month, or year. When I choose to make a commitment to something I free up time to fit it in by not doing other things that don’t lead to success.

“I have the time for anything I am committed to.”

I am not sure I’m up for a long-term commitment. Actually a long-term commitment is nothing more than a set of daily activities that leads to long-term success. Take this one day at a time, one action at a time.

The only way saying ‘ I will’ leads to ‘I did’ is through the daily practice of ‘I do’” – Denis G. McLaughlin

The one way to team success

team success - common visionThere are three common ways used to achieve team success, only one works over the long-term:

Do what the leader says is right, do what you think is right, and do what the team agrees is right.

“In the end, team success only comes when working towards a common vision.”- Denis G. McLaughlin 

 

 

Do what the leader says is right, follow the rules. Which leads to this….

  • – Short term activities that have no long-term vision attached
  • – Waiting for direction
  • – No sense of belonging to anything bigger than the activities
  • This may lead to short-term success, but over the long haul it falls short. Rules from the top can never cover every decision that must be made in every circumstance.
  • Mike Krzyzewski, the first coach in NCAA Division I basketball history to record 1,000 victories said, “The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions.”­
  • Do what you think is right, make up the rules. Which leads to this…
  • – Short term activities that have no team-centered vision attached
  • – Searching for direction
  • – No sense of belonging to anything bigger than yourself
  • Even if every person has the best of intentions, they come from a limited perspective. Each individual can have a unique view of success for the team and will head in their own direction to pursue that success.
  • Hockey great Wayne Gretzky said, “Hockey is a unique sport in the sense that you need each and every guy helping each other and pulling in the same direction to be successful.”
  • Do what the team agrees is right, agree on the rules. Which leads to this…
  • – Short term activities that lead to achieving the long-term, team-centered vision
  • – Having a direction
  • – Belonging to a group who together achieve success
  • Vince Lombardi, one of the most successful NFL coaches and namesake of the Super Bowl trophy said, “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”
  • In the end, Team Success only comes when working towards a common vision.

Building something to last – focus on the fundamentals

built to lastIn Jim Collins 1994 book Built to Last, he analyzed companies that were successful over the long term.  Not one hit wonders, not those that are remembered for a product, but those that transcended changes in technology, customer needs and wants, and changes in leadership. The basic tenant of building something to last is to focus on the fundamentals.

“In a world of constant change, the fundamentals are more important than ever” – Jim Collins

Listed below are five main themes from Built to Last.  Let’s see how each of those applies to leadership today.

“Make the company itself the ultimate product—be a clock builder, not a time teller”

This is the difference between fulfilling one need one time, or building a company, process, or person that can fulfill many needs many times.   

“Having a great idea or being a charismatic visionary leader is time telling; building a company that can prosper far beyond the tenure of any single leader and through multiple product life cycles is clock building.” – Jim Collins

Here is how you can use this theme in your leadership practices:

Companies – “We don’t have products we sell to customers, we have customers that we sell products to.” – Denis G. McLaughlin

Processes – “We don’t use people to complete projects, we use projects to complete people.” – Denis G. McLaughlin 

People – “Don’t strive to earn a million dollars, instead strive to become a person capable of earning a million dollars.” – Paul Martinelli

“Build your company around a core ideology”

Change is the only thing that will consistently happen.  The economy changes, regulations change, customer needs change, and leadership changes.  To be successful over the long term, you must adapt to these changes.  According to Collins, the only way that this can work is for a company to “be prepared to change everything about itself except its basic beliefs as it moves through corporate life.”

Here are a few examples from the book:

-3M’s dedication to innovation

-P&G’s commitment to product excellence

-Nordstrom’s ideal of heroic customer service

Other leaders have viewed this theme in their leadership practices:

We succeed only as we identify in life, or in war, or in anything else, a single overriding objective, and make all other considerations bend to that one objective.” – Dwight Eisenhower

Success demands singleness of purpose.Vince Lombardi

You have to know where you’re going. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never know if you’ve arrived.” – Denis G. McLaughlin

“Build a cult-like culture”

Having a strong core ideology, or purpose, is foundational. But unless that ideology is lived out it is just words. You have to have a plan for establishing a culture that supports the ideology.  Leaders are responsible for defining the purpose, articulating the purpose, and rewarding achievement of the purpose.

Once you establish your vision, you must clearly articulate it, over and over, to maintain focus.

Theodore Hesburgh said, The very essence of leadership is that you have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.” 

People will naturally repeat the very things that they are rewarded for achieving. First, set goals that when successful completed, lead to achieving the purpose. Second, reward the employees who participated in the successful goals.  This is more than money.  Rewards come in many forms, all which should be used with regularity, as earned:  Public and private praise, increased responsibility, new challenges, more training,

“The only way to get people to like working hard is to motivate them. Today, people must understand why they’re working hard. Every individual in an organization is motivated by something different.”  – Rick Pitino

 “Homegrow your management”

I view succession planning with equal importance as setting the vision and strategy for the company or team.  I fact everything that I do is about succession planning, including setting the vision and strategy.  Leaders should use every opportunity to teach and grow leaders in the organization. 

One of the things we often miss in succession planning is that it should be gradual and thoughtful, with lots of sharing of information and knowledge and perspective, so that it’s almost a non-event when it happens.” – Anne Mulcahy

If you aren’t teaching someone else how you do what you do, you are letting opportunity pass you by. Your main role as the leader is to prepare a successor while you lead the team. It shouldn’t be something that is part of your long term plan to get to when you are near the end of your season – that’s too late.

“From now on, choosing my successor is the most important decision I’ll make.  It occupies a considerable amount of my thought almost every day.” – Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, nine years before he retired.

Are homegrown managers effective?  Don’t we need new ideas from outside of the organization?  Collins summarizes the success in developing CEO’s in house with some examples from his book:

“Consider that the founders of Ford, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Marriott, Merck, Motorola, Nordstrom, Philip Morris, Procter & Gamble, Sony, Wal-Mart, and Disney remained in the role of chief executive for an average of 37 years each. They were founder-entrepreneur types and manager-builder types. Not only that, their immediate successors—all homegrown insiders—remained in office for 24 years on average. 

“Stimulate progress through experimentation and continuous improvement”

Throughout this article we have stated that companies that were built to last were those that transcended changes in technology, customer needs and wants, and changes in leadership.  To survive change, one must be willing to change.  However, the willingness to change does not bring with it the perfect ability to successfully change.   

The secret to success in a changing environment is to allow for continuous improvement through small experiments that yield small successes in finding ways to take small steps forward. 

“The way to simulate the drive for progress is to create an environment that encourages people to experiment and learn—to try a lot of stuff and keep what works.” – Jim Collins

Companies that are built to last do not rest upon their current state of achievement.  Instead they are always looking forward to the next change, challenge, and championship.

“Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence – only in constant improvement and constant change.” – Tom Peters

Lead with integrity

toungue in mouth and shoeYour example is the best teacher of integrity for those who are watching – and believe me, your followers are watching.  They may hear every word of advice you give, but unless they see you living out your own advice it won’t stick. 

“Make sure the tongue in your shoes goes the same direction as the tongue in your mouth.” – Ken Whitten

Your example is also the best teacher for yourself.  Unless you keep the bar of success high; you will never know what you are capable of achieving.

“Remember that the bigger the goal, the stronger a person you must become to achieve that goal.”  – Robin Sharma

What does it mean then to lead with integrity – even when you don’t want to, have to, or need to?

What if I don’t want to lead with integrity? It will be difficult. You will face challenges.  Isn’t there anyone else who can do this?

There are times in our careers and our lives, when we wish someone else would step up and lead.  “Don’t I deserve to just sit this one out?” We say. You’re in charge for a reason my friend – you are good at it.  You are gifted in your ability to lead.  If you are the leader, then you have to lead. 

“Leadership – it’s not about rights, it’s about responsibility.”  – Denis G. McLaughlin

What if I don’t have to lead with integrity? No one will know. It’s only once and you will do it next time.

Vince Lombardi said, “Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” Brian Alden learned how to lead by studying great leaders like Lombardi.  He found that “Leaders with a history of success have developed a habit of working hard to achieve their success.” Don’t make choices based on other’s knowledge of your choices; make them based on your habit of hard work.

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

What if I don’t need to lead with integrity? Everyone will understand. No one expects you to be perfect.

It’s true that no one really expects anyone to be perfect, you included.  Will everyone understand if I make a mistake? For the most part, yes.  But you want your legacy to be more than “He wasn’t perfect.”  I would rather my epitaph be something like, “He always gave his best effort.”  If I let someone down, it won’t be because I didn’t try to do my best. That is the example I want to set for my team.

“The proof of your character comes through in the lives of those on whom you have an impact.”– Denis G. McLaughlin

Are people born leaders or nurtured?

joy of leadership is helping others succeedWe all know larger than life leaders.  Those we think are born leaders.  They are frequently on television, the internet, and newspapers.  We have studied them in the history books.  They are the Presidents, CEOs, Head Coaches, and Generals that command our attention.  If you are not just like these leaders, then you must not be a born leader.  So how did they get where they are?

Vince Lombardi said, “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”  I agree with Lombardi, that leaders are truly made.  Here are a few ideas on what makes great leaders:

True leadership lies in guiding others to success.”– Bill Owens

A good objective of leadership[ is to help those who are doing poorly to do well, and to help those who are doing well do even better.” – Jim Rohn

“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders.” – Robert Townsend

Management is about arranging and telling.  Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.”– Tom Peters

We are all gifted with abilities that if used to their fullest can help others succeed – and that is the definition of leadership.  The nurturing comes in the seeing of what true leadership really is.

“No one is born as a leader, but everyone is born to lead.”

 

Sacrifice: Another word for Teamwork

individuals sacrifice so that teams win championshipsFootball playoff season is here.  I love the playoffs.  Only the best teams remain; the ones that made the sacrifice to earn their place in football history by making the playoffs.  Teams that made it this far are already a success in my book.  These players sacrificed their time, energy, focus, knowledge and skill so the team could reach this pinnacle of their sport. 

Every player chose to give of themselves to reach this goal.  They focused understanding their role on the team and executed that flawlessly.

Women’s soccer great Mia Hamm defined teamwork like this, “I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.”

All teams, whether in sports or business, rely on teamwork to succeed.  And teamwork only works when the members of the team are willing to sacrifice for each other’s succees, and for the success of the team.

“People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problem of modern society.” – Vince Lombardi

 

Individual commitment to the greater goals.

Success - individual commitment to a group effortEveryone seeks to achieve success. Most people look at their own individual accomplishments to fulfill that desire. As the leader of a team, you are responsible for the success of the team. But it is the commitment of the individual that makes a team successful. It is therefore important to understand how you can achieve success for your team through the individual success of your team members.

Individuals focused only on their individual success may not be applying their talent to the tasks that will generate the most success for the team, and hence for them in the long run. While each person should use their talents to their fullest extent, long term success comes from not just focusing on individual success, but on how individual talent can be used for the success of the entire team.

Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”– Vince Lombardi

Here are three areas for leaders to focus on when it comes to individual commitment to team success:

Explain the definition of team success. If you want your team members to have a commitment to something bigger than themselves, you have to describe what that team success will look like – in a detailed and vivid way. You are going for an emotional connection to the outcome. Something that your team members will be proud to be part of. Something they can visualize.

“Every well built house started with a definite plan in the form of blueprints.” – Napoleon Hill

Explain how the individual commitment will benefit the team success. Now that your team has a picture of the team success in mind, they need to know what part their individual talent and success will play. Your team members need to feel that their contribution is key to the ultimate team success they now envision. The team needs them to be individually successful as they do their part.

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” – Babe Ruth

Explain how everyone on the team will play a role in the team success. Picture of team success – check. Understanding of how what I do contributes to the success – check. Now comes the part that sometimes gets left out – how is everything else going to get done if I don’t do it myself? It’s not enough to just explain the total picture and the individual team member’s part, leaders must lay out the entire plan. Successful individuals want to know how the piece before them and after them is going to be successfully done so the team success will come.

“I can do things you cannot; you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” –Mother Teresa

It is only through the joining together of individual talents that we can achieve beyond our individual abilities. As Andrew Carnegie said, “Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to achieve uncommon results.

 

Success comes from a habit of hard work

HabitVince Lombardi said, “Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” How does winning become a habit? Sarah Knowles Bolton, a press correspondent and author of the late 1800s, wrote several books that summarized the lives of successful people: statesmen, artists, and scientists, to name a few. In her research she found that “The victory of success is half done when one gains the habit of hard work.”

In my book, The Leadership GPS, Brian Alden is building a new team and needs successful leaders.  His grandfather, Michael Tennyson, teaches him that, “Leaders with a history of success have developed a habit of working hard to achieve their success.”

 

Lead with integrity, even when you don’t want to, have to, or need to.

integrity-quotesYour example of integrity is the best teacher for those who are watching – and believe me, your followers are watching.  They may hear every word of advice you give, but unless they see you living out your own advice it won’t stick.

“Make sure the tongue in your shoes goes the same direction as the tongue in your mouth.”  – Ken Whitten

As a leader, your team members seek your approval.  Whether it’s intentional or not, they will imitate your actions in an effort to align with your expectations.  In my first book, The Leadership GPS, Brian Alden learned from his mentor that “Imitation is preferred when you are following success.”

Your example of integrity is also the best teacher for yourself.  Unless you keep the bar of success high; you will never know what you are capable of achieving.

“Remember that the bigger the goal, the stronger a person you must become to achieve that goal.”  – Robin Sharma

Brian Alden’s mentor taught him early in life that “The only real failure in life is the failure to try.”

Read More…

1 2  Scroll to top