Developing and sustaining a championship culture and program takes relentless effort from everyone involved. Excellent leaders consistently reflect on the culture surrounding their programs and organizations. They know that achieving success is always a work in progress, and they continuously search for ways to improve it. Here are five reflective questions to sustain a championship …
“Dominating the controllables is an essential part of reaching high performance, thinking like the world’s best, and growing your grit,” writes Dr. Cindra Kamphoff, author of Beyond Grit. The process of high-performance seems complicated, but many people tend to make it more challenging than necessary. Consistently showing up each day and working a detailed process …
“We’re chasing winning. When you’re chasing winning, you’re just focused on that. Anything that’s a distraction outside of it you just don’t care about,” says Coach Kara Lawson. The barrier to entry for a championship team culture is incredibly high. Great coaches, players, and teams must develop and sustain an incredibly high attention to detail …
“The core advantage of data is that it tells you something about the world that you didn’t know before,” says Hilary Mason, a data scientist and entrepreneur. Although data often becomes overwhelming for people, it is the benchmark for continuous improvement in nearly any area of business, education, leadership, and coaching. Data provides the stories …
James Clear, a writer on habits and success, highlights consistency as a way to achieve goals: “Consistency before intensity. Start small and become the kind of person who shows up every day. Build a new identity. Then increase the intensity.” As the new year begins, many establish goals or habits. It’s important to remember to …
In my nearly twenty years of playing organized athletics, I held a variety of roles: developmental player, bench player, role player, average player, team leader, team captain, and a top player. These were all roles that I navigated and tried to uphold the best I could. My most successful experiences with various roles was when …
In the book The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban: How Alabama’s Coach Became the Greatest Ever, writer John Talty explores the details that make Coach Saban successful. Through the use of observations, interviews, and analysis, Talty outlines unique insights about developing and sustaining a winning program. While Talty outlines seventeen key characteristics, seven stood out …
Football coaching great Vince Lombardi communicated a powerful line around perfection and excellence: “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” Excellence in everything is the foundation for many successful leaders, teams, and organizations. When individuals decide to set a high standard, it often becomes a lonely, challenging road. Conversely, …
With the 2022-2023 College Football Playoffs finalized, it’s thought-provoking to consider how these teams reach the highest level of success. While all these teams have elite coaches and leadership that translate to exceptional results, the teams all have specific characteristics of winning programs. And, of course, that’s in part a result of the coaching and …
Developing a championship process leading to sustainable success means continually improving every detail. While the initial process developed for winning may work at first, it might not be effective moving forward. The process evolves as the coaches and support staff gather more data. In championship programs, coaches implement this evaluation process in one on one …