INTERVIEW: HOW TO LEAD YOUR SQUAD

The following is a chat with Holly Landau, chief executive and president of Landau Leadership, which provides training and management advice to companies and non-profit organizations. She takes her expertise on leadership in the boardroom, and applies them to the basketball court.

First off, what do you do?I’m the CEO of a consulting firm that designs customized training & development solutions and hosts unique learning events to boost individual/team productivity, strengthen work relationships, and help organizations reach peak performance. In the corporate world, they call me a leadership coach.

How would some of the leadership principles you espouse apply on the basketball court?Leadership is leadership, no matter what the playing field looks like. Leadership is the ability to influence and motivate people to work toward a common goal. It’s the ability to share your vision and passion about this goal, model positive behavior, and bring out the best in people along the way. I think these principles apply on the court and in a corporate setting.

What are the parallels between the corporate office and the basketball court? You’ve got a group of people, some actually on the court (or interacting directly with customers, for a corporate example), and some in important support roles, who all want the same result: success. And sometimes there’s added pressure on the team from sponsors (corporations have stockholders). Just when a coach or captain thinks the team is well-trained and successful, the players change and it’s a difficult adjustment for everyone. The same dynamic exists in a corporate setting. Another big corporate challenge these days is that leaders have to play the same game, but they have fewer players (due to layoffs).

On the court and in the office, you’ll usually find the same ‘characters’ or archetypes: the showboat who’s out for himself (and is convinced he wins every game by himself), the late bloomer who takes all season to finally start making great shots (he wants to succeed, but frustrates everyone until he finally starts scoring), the unmotivated player who doesn’t think he needs to practice/improve (and doesn’t realize that his poor performance is affecting the whole team), the player who shouldn’t even be on the team (but he’s a nice guy so no one wants to face the reality that he’s not pulling his weight), and the rising stars (young players who show a lot of promise for the future, and with the right coaching, can be amazing performers).

Training is another important factor on the court and in the office. Just because the players have the motivation to succeed, doesn’t mean that they have the means to get there. Theoretical and practical training about basic skills, teamwork, and strategy can help strengthen individuals and teams. As a leader, on and off the court, you have to realize that people have different learning styles. If you use one learning technique (like drawing play diagrams on a blackboard) then only some of your players will ‘get it.’ Augment the blackboard approach with other learning tools like team and individual practice, scrimmages, and bringing in experts to share secrets.

Finally, I think it’s also important to have some balance of work and play. Introducing some bonding opportunities (social or community events) off the court (or out of the office) might help strengthen the relationships of the players and improve overall performance. Let the team decide which activities would help them lighten them up and blow off some steam.

Squads are made up of different personalities. Some people just want to score, others take a casual approach to the games, while a few are willing to play for the greater good of the team. As the captain, how do you make it all work? This is a typical challenge for any corporate leader too. Sometimes you get to hand-pick your team, sometimes you inherit them (and they’re not always people you would have picked). I hear lots of leaders boasting, “I treat everyone the same way.” I suppose this attitude levels the playing field, so to speak, so you don’t choose favorites and give them more attention than others. The statement might sound positive but people are usually surprised when I suggest that leaders should treat everyone differently. In other words, it’s important to get to know what motivates each person and understand what they value as an individual. Sure, everyone wants to win, but one person may strongly value reaching their personal best in a game, another person might want to score points to gain team acceptance, still another wants to be in the media spotlight. Understanding what makes each person tick is critical to motivating them and managing all of them as a high-performing team.

It doesn’t have to be a mystery. If you don’t know what motivates a person after you’ve tried to assess it through observation, show some interest by asking an open-ended question like, “So why do you love the game?” Show curiosity when you listen to their response. This simple act could help build trust between you and your players. A good coach should help players find their best role, where their strengths lie, and manage the team according to these existing resources. You can groom some people for other roles, but most often people are naturally good in certain roles so why not capitalize on that?

How do you settle feuds or heated arguments between teammates?Ah, the leader as mediator. It’s a drag and a privilege. Whenever you’ve got two or more people trying to reach the same goal, you’ll have conflict. We all have a unique approach to a situation and we think it’s the RIGHT way. Conflict is normal, natural, and predictable – especially when the pressure is on. Some leaders would rather ignore conflict and let the teammates work it out themselves; but I suggest it’s a leadership opportunity. A coach can help teammates focus on the issues, not on the individuals. Encourage teammates to talk about WHY they approached a situation the way they did, to listen to each other’s response, and to try to understand the other person’s point of view (even if they don’t agree with it). You’re not conducting group therapy, you’re just trying to move through a situation that might get worse if you don’t address it. Establish team ground rules for ways to deal with conflict that arises in the future (and it will). Model the positive behavior during your own interactions and explain that you expect the same level of professionalism from your players. Take appropriate action if the ground rules are broken. All of these actions help you formulate your team’s culture and give you a reputation for being fair and respectful.

If you’re on a losing streak and morale is down, how do you keep the spirit up? It sounds cliché, but remind the team of past victories and that every great team throughout history has experienced some sort of defeat. Pull everyone together to create strategies for success. Identify and master smaller goals to build some team confidence, like having an intense give-it-all-you-got practice. What led to past victories? Are you still operating the same way? Do you need to change your strategies because the conditions are different now? Have accountability for the losing streak; the team created it. Nobody wants to lose, but instead of wasting time playing the Blame Game, be honest about why you’re not winning and deal with those realities. Set reasonable, achievable goals during practices to regain confidence.

Your losing streak won’t be a secret to anyone, so leverage the overconfidence of the opposing team at the next game. Remind your players that winning takes commitment, ability, and heart from every person on the team.

Conversely, if your team is winning a lot, how do you keep the momentum going? How do you keep complacency from setting in? I like this question, because people forget how easy it is to rely on current wins and then they get sloppy. It’s important to remember that just because you’re a top team on your familiar turf, it doesn’t mean you’ll be a Dream Team when you play the same game somewhere else. Like a U.S. team playing in the Olympics or a U.S. company trying to market their top-selling product to a global audience, you can’t assume that the same winning strategies will help you win in the next game. You need to keep your strategies fresh so your competition can never anticipate your next move.

One of the strategy tools I learned in the Army (I was an Army Officer at The Pentagon during Desert Storm) is the After Action Review. In the corporate world, it’s sometimes called a Post Mortem. After a project, or in this case, a game, it’s important for any team to discuss what happened once it’s all over, whether your team was victorious or not. It’s tempting to only analyze failures, but successes as well. Analyze contributions of the individuals (you’re not looking to blame anyone, you just want clarity about specific actions and behaviors that contributed to the overall results). Acknowledge why certain strategies worked in this scenario and what should be continued in the future. Identify weaknesses and remedy them before the next game. Celebrate your victories and acknowledge the unique contributions of each person. There’s also a reality that winning teams don’t want to face – there could always be someone better out there and you just haven’t met them yet. It’s important to focus on strategy and continuous improvement and not get too comfortable with the current situation because it could change from one minute to the next. We all know that many corporations have been horribly affected by the economic crisis, for example, and many of the players didn’t see it coming, and didn’t prepare.

Keep a keen eye on what the other team is bringing to the next game (like corporations trying to keep a customer). Get inside information about the strengths of the other team (or other company trying to steal your customer) so you know which strategies to deploy during the game (or product presentation).

Sometimes there are scheduling conflicts and some team members are unavailable. As team leader, how do you compensate? In this case, we can take a lesson from Broadway and appoint understudies. The show must go on and you have to plan for any scenario (like your star player tearing a ligament two days before the playoffs). Build the skills and confidence of key players during practice and give them increasing responsibility on the court, when possible, so the team is ready for any situation. Disaster preparedness is a part of leadership. Let’s face it, it’s easier to lead when everything is going along as planned, but during a crisis is when critical decisions have to be made, so you want to train everyone on the team in advance so they can adjust when necessary.

Another reality is that some team members are simply more committed than others, so some people don’t see the need to show up to some practices and games. State your clear expectations to the whole team about how many practices and games the team will attend in a season. Gain agreement up front from the team and establish rules about how many allowable practices a person can miss and still remain on the team. Never assume that players will act the way YOU think they should. Setting clear expectations and sharing your vision about what, specifically, commitment looks like to you (in behavioral terms) can get everyone on the same page.

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