Designing Your Team From Scratch?

Leaders at this time of year think about their teams and how they are performing, and if any tweaks are needed to improve next year. If you are in this frame of mind we highly recommend you watch this 12 minute video from Rugby Hall of Fame player and Coach Jack Clark. He has been the coach of USA Rugby and the Cal Bears and his players for decades have walked their talk. He is now sharing how to build out a system of values for your team, and once they are codified and defined they can be measured and required. 

Two things jump out to us. The first is that Clark is selling the concept of pushing decisions as far out in the system as possible. This is very hard for insecure leaders to do as they can be unsure about the outcome and as such want to control everyone and have all hard questions come back through them. This is the definition of a “Kingdom” culture.  Clark specifically describes how his...

first value of “selflessness” allows every member of his team to make quick decisions. They just ask, “What is best for the team?” and the answer appears. This is brilliant. Clark also highlights the differences between authority and leadership. He articulates that every human system must have a chain of command, yet every member of the team has the ability to ​be a leader. As you are looking to equip even the newest hire to help your company, consider taking a page from his book and outlining the differences between the two.  It just might empower your younger employees more than you can imagine.  Authority is how decisions are made, leadership is how you inspire others.

Try our post on Developing Character next!