I was recently interviewed by Joe Drape of the NY Times for a story he was writing about the Smith Center football team, whose streak of 79 consecutive victories came to an end in an overtime loss in the class 2-1a championship game. In the article Joe is trying to drill down on where winning streaks come from. Joe asserts at one point that it’s partially about talent, chemistry, and luck, which isn’t innacurate. And yet, those seem insufficient for explaining how you explain 79 consecutive victories. (In fairness to Joe, he delves in greater depth in his book “Our Boys” into coach Barta’s approach, and the influence of the entire Smith Center culture. It’s a fantastic read.)
What Joe is going after in this piece is at the core of what we’re trying to not only understand, but positively impact in our Power2Progamming. We’re trying to develop the culture and character of excellence and ethics for success in school, work, and beyond. We look to examples of excellence over time, to distill down the replicable elements for use by parents, teachers, coaches and business leaders.
So where do winning streaks come from? First, as I indicated in the article, they come from leadership. But, just like was profiled in “Good to Great” these aren’t necessarily your rock star leaders who overwhelm their teams with charisma. The leaders are committed to shaping a culture of excellence. What we say is: “we shape the culture, the culture shapes the character.”
What shapes culture? Signature practices or ways of doing business. It’s your rituals, your routines, your explicit focus on developing the character NEEDED FOR the system you want to run. What’s that mean? If you to run a disciplined offense, based on personal and collective responsibility; if you need honest and constructive critique; if you need humility and continuous improvement; then, you must shape routines and rituals that build those character muscles.
So, winning streaks come from strong culture. Leaders have a vision of the culture needed for their philosophy and practical approach. Leaders shape rituals and routines–signature practices that define who we are and how we do business. In and through the consistent and faithful experience of those practices, over time, individuals begin to take on the distinguishing mark (in Greek, character) of that culture. What kind of character is needed? Performance character (qualities needed for excellence–perseverance, work ethic, positive attitude,) and moral character (trust, respect, honesty, humility, love, committment).
When you have a culture, a shared way of doing business that is like water to fish–you don’t know any different way of being and being this way seems essential to who you are and how you live–then the depth of impact on individuals is extraordinary. The culture then becomes an even more powerful shaper of the inviduals than the leader (the leader still matters in that they have created and hold the group to faith implementation of the routines, but the individuals come to believe in the routines and “the group way” with unwavering faith. That’s why they say, “good coaching is what your team would do in the last three minutes if the coach wasn’t there.”
Talent, chemistry, and luck aren’t unimportant in understanding success. But it’s really focus on shaping the culture, to shape the performance and moral character NEEDED for success. Because character and culture are what develop talent and chemistry. Luck? Well, we all need it, but how to get it is a different post.
