by Don Lowman, Towers Perrin
A friend of mine was recently on a flight and realized that Tony Dungy, the recently retired head coach of the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League, was seated next to her.
For those of you who don’t know who Tony Dungy is, he was a remarkably successful football player and coach — he won the Super Bowl as a player with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1978 and he was the first African American head coach to win the Super Bowl when he led the Colts to victory in 2007. He retired with many coaching records at the end of the 2008/2009 season, including most consecutive playoff seasons (10) and highest average number of regular season victories (10.7). Tony not only knew how to win, but he won with grace and he garnered respect from players, fans and his fellow coaches.
My friend, a devout football fan, couldn’t resist the opportunity to hear Tony’s ideas first-hand about leadership and what lessons he had learned from coaching that might apply to business leadership. Here’s what Tony told her when she asked him about his philosophy on leading a team, which she then shared with me:
- His parents were both teachers and they believed that it was their responsibility to make every student an “A” student. But not every student learns the same way, so you have to tailor your style to each individual to bring out the best in them.
- You have to make each player on the team understand that the good of the team is greater than that of any individual, and that you can only be successful as a team.
- You have to earn your players’ trust — this is foundational to the first two. They have to trust that your coaching and advice is what is best for them and for the collective team.
So to paraphrase one of the most successful and respected coaches in the National Football League over the past 10 years, there are three simple rules to coaching and effective leadership: Know the individual needs and learning styles of the people on your team and customize your approach to growing them; make sure that all the members of the team are focused on what is good for the team and what success looks like; and commit to building and maintaining their trust.
Tony’s tips are consistent with many of the lessons we learned from the Engaging Eight in our book, Closing the Engagement Gap. These coaching lessons apply to any competitive endeavor involving people, be it sports or business. We should all be so lucky to apply them as successfully and with as much passion and grace as Tony Dungy.
–Don
