PatWilliamsMotivate July Newsletter

Hello everyone! In the last newsletter I began a look at what kind of people aournd which you can build a successful team. The first trait to look for in building a winner was top talent. In choosing players for your team, however, talent isn’t everything. You need to find people who will work with you and work together. You need to find people who are coachable and will help your team chemistry.

_______________________________________________________________

I have worked with some of the legends of the game, from Jack Ramsay and Dick Motta, to Cotton Fitzsimmons and Billy Cunningham, every one of these coaches is a unique individual with a unique style and personality. However, at one time or another I have heard then make essentially the same statement come NBA draft time. Every one of these coaches without fail asks, “Can I coach this kid? Will he listen? Does he have a teachable spirit?”

Coachability is not only important in the highest levels of sport, its definitely important at every other level of sport as well as in every other endeavor of life. You’ve got to have team players who keep learning, listening and growing in response to their coaches and leaders.

Johnny Oats, current coach of the Texas Rangers said, “Some players come up fast, but they waste their talents no matter what you do. They’re just not coachable.” The quality of the kid is just as important as the talent. Coaching is what keeps a team harmonized, synchronized and continuously grow together. A team without coachable players is not a team; it’s merely a collection of flying egos.

Along with coachable players comes the idea of team chemistry. Talent sticks out but chemistry is harder to see. You can build a wild, entertaining, rambunctious team with talent alone, but to build a championship caliber team that works together and functions like a well-oiled machine you’ve got to have chemistry.

Chemistry is more important than talent. In fact team chemistry is the magic ingredient needed to complete the recipe of a winning team. What we call “chemistry” is a mixture of many factors: ability and skill levels, drive and ambition, personality, emotional makeup, values, communication, and people skills. Chemistry is not easy to assess until you actually put a team together under real-world circumstances and see how the individual members react to one another, play off one another, cooperate together and synergize. Often experimenting by adding this or subtracting that will help in achieving a level of chemistry that is just right.

Joe Axelson, longtime general manager in the NBA said, “Team chemistry is the most fragile of all chemical mixtures. You never know how you get it, and you never know why you lose it. But when you’ve got it, you know you’ve got it – and when you don’t you know you that, too.”

Chemistry is mysterious, delicate and elusive. It can’t be turned on and off at will, but this doesn’t mean that nothing can be done to create good chemistry. The best way to create an environment where winning chemistry can strike your team is to seek a balance of personality types. Your going to need some aggressive, high energy types, mixed in with some motivators and cheerleaders. You will need some leaders and you will need some followers. You need people who are confident enough to be risk-takers but you will also need some people who are unselfish enough to forgo the glory and move the ball around.

When you’ve got a well-rounded, well-balanced blend of personalities who above all trust each other, you’ve got a team. You’ve got chemistry and a chance to win championships.

______________________________________________________________

Next month, I will continue to detail the essential traits of "team players." I will look at the lives and advice from successful athletes, coaches, politicians and entrepreneurs who have produced great triumphs—such as General Tommy B. Franks, Hank Aaron, Oprah Winfrey and Sam Walton. I hope to motivate and mentor you to become the leaders I know you can be. Also, be sure to visit the other motivational sections of my website: my motivational quotes, my recommended reading and my joke corner.

If you have any recommendations or reactions to the newsletter, I’d love to hear them. I want to make this newsletter the most helpful newsletter on the web. I look forward to hearing from you!
_______________________________________________________________

Pat Williams travels the United States speaking to companies, associations, churches and schools. Whether you need a keynote address, an emcee or a motivational talk for you meeting or seminar, Pat Williams will make your conference an event to remember. For more information about scheduling Pat Williams, please visit our event booking page.