Great Teams Need Great Role Players

The thoughts I’ve recorded here have all been inspired by the wise people I’ve met, books I’ve read, podcasts I’ve listened to, people I’m coaching and the insight they have given me. I thank them all of them for going deep to find their wisdom.

My goal is to match their generosity by sharing some brief ideas, quotes, as well as a recommendation each Friday for you to ponder.

The concepts are taken from years of daily journaling and in the moment note-taking in my Moleskine journal.

Great teams need great role players.

Those grounded individuals, who in developing their ‘game’, focus their personal efforts on how they become a better teammate.

They understand their shortcomings but have the personal insight and humility to build a game almost in response to, and despite of, their weaknesses.

These are rare characteristics, and worth their weight in gold.

Great role players appreciate the strengths of others, but they do not resent their talent; they seek to amplify it, understanding their own efforts will often go unseen as a result. Rare will be the public recognition that will be reserved for their higher-profile teammates, and they are fine with that.

They know only one player can kick the goal, but it is a team that scores it.

Great role players are lifetime learners, understanding they must remain ahead of the game, never taking their role in the team for granted. Not only do they have an appetite for learning, but they also have an equally intense hunger for application. As a result, their most powerful influence is as a role model, as the combination of attitude, ethos and humility is contagious.

While the star players can inspire, lift the team in the moment with acts of brilliance, it is the role player who is more likely to shift the team culture through the consistency of their behaviours, setting a standard, exemplifying the attitude of team above self.

For the role player, it’s not about being the best at something in the game…it’s about being the best at something for the team.

My favourite role player in the AFL, and perhaps my favourite player overall, is Richmond midfielder Shane Edwards. He exemplifies all of the values I have articulated, and while he is a talented player, he has become so much more in a team of far more profiled individuals, improving every year of his long and mostly unsung career. My guess, he would be a favourite teammate of those big-name players and loved by his coaches.

As leaders, it is our responsibility to identify and develop the role players, a highly underestimated aspect of leadership.

It starts with recruiting, not sacrificing culture for talent, and being steadfast in hiring individuals with a track record of self-responsibility for personal development.

And if you get it wrong, and you will, being prepared to make a quick call, and as the legendary coach, Allan Jeans would say…

“Your first loss is your best loss”.

Beyond recruiting, valuing and encouraging the importance of the role player must form part of your systems and symbols, roles and routines.

Your attitude to the notion of ‘role player’ will also say so much about you as a leader, what you really value, the behaviours you reward, building trust, as well as your personal commitment to establishing a sustainable team ethos.

You simply cannot be a great organisation without great role players.

I always enjoy the opportunity to talk all things culture and high-performance, and the development of leaders to achieve it.

Here are a few of ways to start the ball rolling:

• I like to share the ‘bruises’ of my lived leadership experiences as a 25 year CEO in the AFL with leaders as part of our Learning Leadership event for senior leaders. We have run this event for the past few years, and the feedback has been excellent. We have now transitioned the event online. There is no cost as we recognise that time allocated to learning is perhaps our most precious resource, and therefore we have also provided a number of dates from which to choose, please use this link.
  

• Sign up for the “More to the Game” weekly email, and receive a copy of my “What business can learn from football” White Paper. The emails are short leadership reflections, no more than a couple of minutes to read and we will always treat our communication with respect. Please use this link.
  

• Download my book “More to the Game”. In this publication, I have combined my writings and drawings with the beautiful imagery of Michael Willson, the premier AFL photographer. It is free to download (no sign-ups) at “More to the Game – What leaders can learn from football” 
  

You can also contact me at cameron@designCEO.com.au and let me know how you think we can work together.

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