We have all heard many times over the years that coaching and leadership are about relationships. As I think back to our fortunate run to the 2008 NBA World Championship and our run to the Finals last year, I can’t help but recall the importance of relationships to our success.
In particular, I want to call to your attention to four important relationships that I feel exist in all successful teams. For us, all four of these involved a respect by and for both parties, a trust of each other, and also a genuine like for each other.
RELATIONSHIP #1: Our players liked, respected, and trusted the coaches.
RELATIONSHIP #2: Our players liked, respected, and trusted each other.
RELATIONSHIP #3: Our coaching staff liked, respected, and trusted the players.
RELATIONSHIP #4: Our coaches liked, respected, and trusted the other coaches.
I believe this last one is the one relationship, from a coaching perspective, that doesn't get enough attention. It's almost never talked about or evaluated, but it can be a real killer of a team’s success. I know of coaches that backstab each other and are only in it for their own advancement, showing no loyalty to each other. If this is going on, particularly when you're going through a difficult time, you may be on a crash course with your season.
As coaches we have to make sure that our relationship is healthy and strong. The players can sense and see a divided staff. They can sense and hear a staff that is not loyal to its Head Coach. Players also are pulled in different directions -- what coach or coaches should they listen to, believe, support?
We were (and are) fortunate in that all four of these relationships were strong. But it doesn't always just happen. We invested a lot of time in each of these relationships to make sure they worked. It definitely takes time to build all of these, but it is time you will be rewarded for in the long run. For us that reward was the 2008 Championship trophy!
These same strong relationships will enhance any corporate environment as well. As the African philosophy of "Ubuntu" (which our team has adopted)states: "people are people because of other people." Whether it's the corporate world, your team, or the Boston Celtics, relationships are a major ingredient to execution, performance, and ultimately...success!
