Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 507 - Lead Your Team Like They’re Volunteers (Tony Dungy Part Six)


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 10	Issue 507
Craig Impelman Speaking \| Championship Coaches \| Champion's Leadership Library Login
LEAD YOUR TEAM LIKE THEY’RE VOLUNTEERS (TONY DUNGY PART SIX) John Wooden Video Clip (3 min. 45 sec.): Coach Wooden is asked: "Considering your Indiana origins, how did you get all the way to UCLA?" Long video but great story if you enjoy hearing Coach Wooden. Tony Dungy was head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996 to 2001, and head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2002 to 2008. Coach Dungy became the first African American head coach to win the Super Bowl when his Colts defeated the Chicago Bears in 2007. Dungy also set a new NFL record for consecutive playoff appearances by a head coach in 2008 after securing his tenth straight playoff appearance. Coach Dungy believes that leading a team like they are a group of volunteers, as opposed to a group that "has to be there", can produce great results. In his book, The Leader Mentor, he explained it this way: "For maximum achievement and sustainability, it helps to view your followers as volunteers, which requires a different aproach from the authoritarian or autocratic leadership used to characterize many organizations. That high-control management style might be appropriate in certain situations, but I don't believe that type of leadership has a long shelf life. If you are trying to get the people you lead to go above and beyond their simple job descriptions, you must make sure they understand the ultimate organizational goal—your vision and mission—and believe in its importance until it becomes shared by all. Viewing the members of your organization as volunteers—and really, they aren't far from it, given how transient the workforce is these days—forces you to see them in a different light. You'll begin to lead in ways that demonstrate respect and appreciation. By focusing on persuasion instead of position or authority, you will move beyond fear or "the power of the paycheck" as motivators and begin to capture the hearts of the people you lead. They will recognize and appreciate your genuine concern for their welfare and growth—all of which will benefit the organization. You must get to know the members of your team and learn how to energize them before you can expect them to buy into a common mission. You must be able to explain the mission in terms they can understand and persuade them that it is worth pursuing. You have to make it mean more to them than just a paycheck. To succeed as a leader, put other people first." Are your team members as enthusiastic as a group of eager volunteers? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 507. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 507. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE The Joys Of Home Curling smoke from a chimney low, And only a few more steps to go, Faces pressed at a windowpane Watching for someone to come again, And I am the someone they wait to see- These are the joys life gives to me. What has my neighbor excelling this: A good wife's love and a baby's kiss? What if his chimneys tower higher? Peace is found at our humble fire. What if his silver and gold are more? Rest is ours when the day is o'er. Strive for fortune and slave for fame, You find that joy always stays the same: Rich man and poor man dream and pray For a home where laughter shall ever stay, And the wheels go round and men spend their might For the few glad hours they may claim at night. Home, where the kettle shall gaily sing, Is all that matters with serf or king; Gold and silver and laurelled fame Are only sweet when the hearth's aflame With a cheerful fire, and the loved ones there Are unafraid of the wolves of care. So let me come home at night to rest With those who know I have done my best; Let the wife rejoice and my children smile, And I'll know by their love that I am worthwhile, For this is conquest and world success- A home where abideth happiness. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
For more information visit www.woodenswisdom.com