Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 508 - Is Your Open Door Really Open? (Tony Dungy Part Seven)


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 10	Issue 508
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IS YOUR OPEN DOOR REALLY OPEN? (TONY DUNGY PART SEVEN) John Wooden Video Clip (2 min. 27 sec.): Coach Wooden recites great poem: "The Road Ahead and The Road Behind". Don’t miss out in this! 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 a leader should be proactive in really getting to know the people he/she works with on a personal level. In his book, The Leader Mentor, he explained it this way: "Teamwork doesn’t tolerate the inconvenience of distance." - Author Unknown "Without engagement, you cannot lead effectively. You cannot mentor with empathy. You cannot inspire people to new heights and lift them to a better place in their lives. If you do not engage with those you serve, you will never understand them or know enough about them to be able to have a positive effect in their lives. One of the other ways I tried to build communication and foster engagement—and I encouraged my coaches to do this as well—was to keep an open-door policy. I rarely closed the door to my office unless I was in a private meeting. I wanted everyone in the organization to know that they could come see me whenever they wanted. A true open-door policy is a matter of attitude and approachability, not just whether the office door is propped open. I played for a few coaches whose offices I was scared to death to enter, even when the door was standing open. I was never comfortable asking them anything or communicating beyond a surface level. On the other hand, the coaches who had the greatest positive impact on me were ones whose doors I wasn’t afraid to knock on, even if they were closed. As a leader, what kind of atmosphere have you created? Do you have an open-door policy, but no one ever comes to your office? Whether intentionally or unintentionally, have you created an aura of detachment?" Is Your Open Door Really Open? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 508. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 508. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE The Plugger He isn't very brilliant and his pace is often slow, There's nothing very flashy in his style; He has to dig and labor for the things he wants to know, And lie's busy learning something all the while. The clever men go by him in a hurry day by day, And the stars get all the mention and the fame, But the patient, steady plugger in a thorough sort of way Keeps on going and he gets there just the same. He's a quiet sort of fellow and tie's backward in his speech, You'd never find him clamoring for applause; He will listen to another who has anything to teach, And he never worries working for a cause. He may take a little longer with the task he has to do, Than to genius whose talents seem to run; But you'll find the patient plugger at the finish coming through, And there's merit in his labor when it's done. He is slow in getting started, he must know the reason why Certain things occur within a certain way; There is nothing in his method to attract the passer by, And at times you'd think he's wasted many a day, But when brilliant men have faded and the stars have lost their light, When the clever men have stumbled in despair, When the great have come to failure with the goal they sought in sight, You'll find the patient plugger getting there. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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