Timeout for Leadership-your one-minute leadership idea
Tip Sheet #67
What makes a locker room ugly?
Yes, it is Super Bowl week and we are inundated with stories. We will learn everything one needs to know about the two teams. We actually will learn so much minutia by the time the game comes, we will be sick of it.
Yet, I was prompted by a tangential story this week to discuss in this space, what I think is a valuable lesson to learn for every principal and leader. When you look at the picture that accompanies this post you see an ugly locker room. It is physically a mess. The lesson I want you to think about far transcends the physical mess of this room. This lesson is about the people that occupy this space. And for you it may be your school or your workplace. It is a place where personalities must be juggled in order to get the maximum production from your team. And if things are not running smoothly in the locker room, there is a good chance that things will not go smoothly on the field. Use this metaphor as you think about your school.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been engaged in a saga with one of their superstars. A saga which will very likely end with that player being traded. This person has clearly become a disruptive influence in the locker room. I have been in locker rooms and schools where the same situation has developed. And it can only end badly. Someone has to go.
How can you trade a superstar? Easily, when he has become a negative and destructive force in the locker room. His behavior replicates a spoiled, petulant child. He has lost his focus on the concept of the team and it is now all about him. He needs a new start somewhere else and I will predict that the team that trades for him will soon be dealing with the same behavior. It may take a year or two, but it will surface. You see, I am of the belief that this leopard will never change his spots. No matter where he goes, he will become a cancer to that team or organization.
This behavior did not happen overnight. Most coaches, principals or CEOs will tend to tolerate this behavior because of production. As long as the superstar produces on Sunday, the organization will close its eyes to all of the aberrant behavior that occurs during the week. Then all of a sudden, the behavior can’t be controlled anymore or the production dwindles and we all sit around and ask ourselves, “How did this occur?”
We know how it occurred. We allowed it to occur. We sacrificed everything that we believed in for the chance to win. Now we have to pick up the pieces and hopefully repair the team. Because you see, this type of person leaves a large swath of damage behind them.
Unfortunately, some people just cannot be coached. You cannot keep them on your team. They will destroy everything that you have worked for. Each person must be held accountable for their behavior and when you as the head coach or principal see this coming, because you will, you must call a time out and clear the air. Hopefully you acted soon enough to repair any damage.
At the end of the day, you must coach the people that are winners. These are the people that conduct themselves like winners from the time they enter the locker room to the time they leave the field and far beyond that. They are winners around the clock. These are the people you can count on. These are the people that will make you organization’s culture thrive.
However, just like a cancer, these disruptive people must be excised form you team or school. And just like a cancer, if you don’t it will spread and eventually kill your team! And I predict that once this cancer is removed, your team will flourish and be the champions that you have hoped for.
