The 10 Commandments of Winning Teammates

[00:01] SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Principal Center Radio, bringing you the best in professional practice.

[00:06] Announcer:

Here's your host, Director of the Principal Center and Champion of High Performance Instructional Leadership, Dustin Bader.

[00:13] SPEAKER_02:

Welcome, everyone. Justin Bader here with Principal Center Radio, and I'm honored to be joined once again on the show by Sean Glaze. Sean is a nationally renowned speaker, author, and the founder of Great Results Team Building, where he helps inspire employees to become winning teammates. He's the author of three books, including Rapid Teamwork, which we've previously discussed on Principal Center Radio. And we're here today, Sean, to talk about your new book, The Ten Commandments of Winning Teammates.

[00:41] Announcer:

And now, our feature presentation.

[00:44] SPEAKER_02:

Sean, welcome back to Principal Center Radio.

[00:46] SPEAKER_01:

Hey, Justin, thanks so much for having me and letting me share a little bit with your audience.

[00:48] SPEAKER_02:

Sure thing. So first of all, let's talk about what it means to be a winning teammate, because we all find ourselves as administrators in this role of being, on the one hand, a teammate, and on the other hand, a person responsible for making sure that we hire and retain and lead effective teammates. So what does it mean to be a winning teammate?

[01:10] SPEAKER_01:

I think that's a great question. It sounds obvious, but I think that the more you get into the obvious, the less simplistic I think it occurs to be. And a winning teammate is different from an employee. And I normally go in, whether it's talking with a client for a team building workshop event, whether it's with a school faculty or a corporate group or even as a keynote, one of the things that I'll touch on is there's a Grand Canyon-sized chasm of difference between an employee who's focused on him or herself and his or her job And then a teammate who realizes that they're a part of something larger and more significant than just that one person. And that's really the angle that I approach the story with. And one of the things that I know you have a couple of daughters who are just talking about, and I have three kids who are a little bit older.

[01:57]

But it was really as they were growing up that I began to, as a dad, focus on the importance of being a winning teammate and having been a coach, having been in the classroom, certainly it was the athletic side that brought me to doing some of the team building and speaking that I've done. But the issue of changing somebody's perspective from what is my job, what do I need to do, what is on my to-do list for the day versus how can I be a support or how can I be an encourager or how can I be a contributor instead of what can I get thinking, what can I give? And I think the winning teammates are those that see themselves as a small part of a more significant, larger picture and focus on connecting themselves, not just to a compelling common goal, but more importantly, to the people they're accomplishing that goal with.

[02:43] SPEAKER_02:

Well, I think that takes us a level up from the way we often look at kind of mutual accountability in terms of goals and responsibilities and roles and objectives. And I've got a OKRs, Objectives and Key Results, which I think is an idea that was popularized at Google and lots of people are talking about, you know, KPIs and other ways of kind of defining what someone's job is and what targets they're working toward. And of course, in schools, we have annual goals that the evaluation is partially based on to some extent. But you're talking about something that goes beyond, you know, what am I individually evaluated on and what tasks do I have to perform and what targets do I have to hit? And you're looking at a sense of awareness about how you impact other people, it sounds like.

[03:29] SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. And whether it's as a principal or administrator, I think ultimately that's what you want to have is great teammates. And you want people to be incredibly strong in terms of classroom and knowledge and teaching styles and that toolbox. But I think Almost more important than that, I can bring in somebody that has some of that background knowledge and has a willingness to learn and be coachable and become a strong teammate and care about something more than just what's on that job description. And I used to tell players, and I hopefully was a good teammate myself and as a peer teacher and as a fellow coach, my job was never to just do my job. My job was to make sure that we as a team were successful in achieving our goal.

[04:12]

And as a school, you're going to have a number of different silos on that location. And you're going to have the math department and English department or elementary schools. You've got the first grade versus the kindergarten versus the fourth graders. But ultimately, everyone in a school is working towards that school goal. And sometimes those goals get a little bit longer and kind of just sit on a frame on the wall. But sometimes those goals really get internalized.

[04:37]

And the more you can attach your people to that goal so you understand why they're waking up in the morning, what is it that I'm jumping out of bed excited to do today to help these kids get from point A to point B eventually. And they see themselves as not just somebody who is working toward that goal and with a cause and a mission, but as I mentioned, somebody that is working together. And I think that the idea of building great teams starts with having teammates who see

[05:04] SPEAKER_02:

more than just their classroom and more than just their job description very well said and i'm thinking about those school level goals and and the the types of goals that bring us together and they're motivating and often as a school the goals that are set for us or maybe we set them but they have to be in in certain quantitative terms often they're things like hitting test score targets that you know don't necessarily get us out of bed in the morning. They're not actually what pulls on our heartstrings and gets us to really commit 110%. So as leaders, I think one of the things that we've got to do to equip and engage people as team members is to really translate those goals. If we're going to hit a certain set of test scores, what does that really mean for our students? And what does that really look like on a day-to-day basis in the lives of our students? Because I really think we've got to tap into that desire for something that's greater than, I showed up and did what I was supposed to.

[05:58]

And I think back to your coaching background. You have a coaching background, is that correct?

[06:02] SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. Yes. Coaching basketball.

[06:04] SPEAKER_02:

Talk to me about how your work with organizations, with companies, with schools is kind of rooted in that coaching background. Because obviously as a team, nobody is there to just say, well, I passed the ball when it was thrown to me and I shot it at the hoop when I was within range. Obviously, we naturally have a shared vision. on a basketball team. But in a school, it seems like, you know, we've got to actually purposefully create that.

[06:30] SPEAKER_01:

Well, I think it's a great analogy. I'd actually like to backtrack just a hair to what you were mentioning earlier, because I know that there is a huge amount of pressure on school administrators and principals are judged and even teachers are judged by those test scores. And I think it's not unlike what you see in corporate realms where as a salesperson or as a part of whatever team, once you set those metrics, numbers are rarely measured. exciting and engaging. I think that people and stories and emotions and causes are engaging. And I think sometimes as educators, one of the tragedies is we get caught up in trying to meet a number and we lose sight of the kids that are producing those numbers.

[07:07]

And I've always said one of the more recent keynotes I gave here actually to a school system in Georgia, Justin, was part of the talk I was giving to administrators is we get so caught up in focusing on numbers that Sometimes we lose sight of the people. And I think that more often than not, if you'll focus upon those people and the relationships and in getting them bought into the excitement of accomplishing something that would be a compelling common goal beyond just that number, beyond just we're going to make sure that in the end of course test, we're going to average this as a score that we're going to. Yeah, I think that hopefully there's more to that. whatever educational environment you're a part of than just meeting numbers. I think our job is to inspire kids and those kids are inspired. And then with their inspiration, with their engagement in classes, the more that we connect with them, the more that we can give them something to be excited about and see themselves grow and develop.

[08:00]

I think the numbers are a symptom and a result of those connections and those engaging activities that we put in front of them because we're concerned with more than just the numbers.

[08:11] SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. Well said. And I appreciate that, that reframing that we have to do as leaders to say, okay, yes, these are the numbers that we're accountable for hitting, but ultimately this is about kids. And this is what our vision is going to look like on a day-to-day basis for, you know, for the work that we're going to do. So I wanted to kind of jump to the other end of the spectrum that, that coaches and leaders need to kind of take responsibility for and, and, I was thinking about my own experience as a kid in high school. I was not an athletic kid, but I helped out with the basketball team a bit.

[08:42]

And one year I was helping out with the basketball camp and I was really struck by how much emphasis there was on the fundamentals. You know, this is an advanced basketball camp, but even at an advanced basketball camp, there's a lot of time spent getting the fundamentals right. You know, it's not trick shots. It's not how to do a, you know, a showy slam dunk. It's the fundamentals. And as I was looking at the Ten Commandments of Winning Teammates that you identify in the book, you know, none of these are esoteric, right?

[09:08]

They're fundamentals. Talk to me about kind of where those come from and why you see them as so foundational as basically the Ten Commandments of being a winning teammate.

[09:17] SPEAKER_01:

You mentioned fundamentals and very few games were won because... of a team being great at making half court shots. Games are won because teams can make layups. Games are won because teams can handle the ball well.

[09:29]

And those aren't necessarily, as you said, incredible advanced skills. Those are simply basics that are repeated over and over. And you see that not just in basketball, but you see that outside of the athletic realm in terms of sales or certainly in terms of teaching. What are we doing every day that is going to be that foundation for student success? Maybe it's reading 15 minutes at the end of each period to make sure that they do everything better because they become better readers. Because if they don't read very much, they're not going to write very well.

[10:01]

And I think that in any area, a great mantra is you do well what you do often. If you focus on those fundamentals, you realize that it's not the hard stuff that's the hard stuff. If you get good at the easy stuff, you're going to be far, far more successful in whatever venture. And specific to the Ten Commandments, One of the things that I was thinking about as I even envisioned the book years ago was what I'd shared with my son and with a number of my athletes. And that is, you know, let's do the small things well. And if you focus on those small things, the big things kind of take care of themselves.

[10:39]

And whether it is, you know, staying positive or being clear or encouraging others, it doesn't sound like it's difficult, but I think sometimes like anything else, we look for What's the magic weapon and where's the shortcut? Cutting corners sometimes creates more corners. If we want to be good leaders and good teammates, what can I do to be somebody that's making this a better experience for the person next to me? I think more than anything else, Justin, that's really the shift in focus and the shift in awareness that I went through as a young man to hopefully a little bit wiser guy now. And I think that a lot of athletes and even teachers in classrooms eventually have to go through if they haven't yet. And that is, again, changing the focus from what do I need, which is obviously important, to what can I do to help others?

[11:31]

And how do I see myself in terms of my interactions with others? And one of the things that I think really convicted me was the question, what does it feel like to be my teammate? And as a coach, that was something that I was great with X's and O's early on, but I wasn't anywhere near as connected or aware or emphasized as much as I should the relationships and the camaraderie and the chemistry that really gives groups a chance to excel and overachieve. And I think that that shift from strategy and I think culture always is going to eat strategy for breakfast and the idea of focusing upon those fundamentals and recognizing it's those fundamentals that build connections and create stronger relationships. So you can do a better job and be more supported in the classroom and down that same hallway and in your teams makes things far more successful.

[12:26] SPEAKER_02:

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Peter Drucker, if I recall correctly, right?

[12:29] SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. Yes, sir.

[12:30] SPEAKER_02:

We've got a course on culture and I know we, uh, quote that in, in that course that, you know, it, it makes such a difference, you know, so much more than the particular program that we're pursuing the way we work together within that framework. You know, I would rather have a high functioning team that works together well on the fourth best curriculum than how, you know, have people all doing their own thing, quote unquote, using the best curriculum in the world any day of the week.

[12:56] SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I think that your principals and those teachers that are listening, it's not just philosophy on paper. It's something that you see every day. You can have a great idea for what you want to have happen in your class and a tremendous lesson plan or tremendous curriculum plans and a great PLC. But if those learning communities aren't together, if they don't feel connected, if they're not sharing information and collaborating and supporting one another along the way, the plans end up falling through. And I think that you can always adjust strategy based upon culture. And you don't want to change the destination.

[13:33]

You don't want to change or diminish the goal. But I think that culture is absolutely the engine that allows you to get there a whole lot faster.

[13:41] SPEAKER_02:

Now, what advice do you have for school leaders who recognize that they've got someone on their team, someone on a particular grade level team or in a department who really has some work to do to be a winning team member? And I know you're fond of saying that becoming a winning team member or personal development is kind of like deodorant. It's always something you think other people need when you're standing on the crowded train. You think, boy, these other people need to wear more deodorant. But we never look in the mirror and say, what about me? What are some ways that as leaders we can help people make that recognition, you know, become more self-aware in that regard and not in a way that says, hey, you're terrible at this.

[14:23]

You need to get your act together and be a winning teammate. And here are 10 obvious things that, you know, that any adult should know. What's that balance between, you know, these are fundamentals. And at the same time, we know we're not doing them perfectly. How do How do we convey that skillfully to someone, you know, with kind of those soft skills that it takes to be heard and to give feedback that's going to be received well?

[14:44] SPEAKER_01:

I think that's a terrific question and one that every principal who's listening is going to experience at some point because you know, there are going to be those teachers who are either a comfortable in the way that they've done things before. And I've always done this and I've closed the door. And I think that's one of the tragedies of, of education, uh, at whatever level public or private Justin is that all too often as a teacher, there are circumstances where a teacher will walk down a hallway and close the door and do everything on their own and feel like they're fighting that battle alone versus understanding there is, uh, just a treasure trove of information and ideas and support and encouragement around them that sometimes we don't take advantage of because we isolate ourselves as educators. And I think that the single most significant thing that occurred in my experience as a young teacher wasn't because I reached out, but because somebody reached out to me and offered a hand.

[15:42]

And then I was far more willing and able having seen that and having kind of had a mentor present themselves to me And then you begin to build relationships, and you share ideas, and you offer ideas, and you certainly ask for ideas when you're a young teacher. And those are the things that it's relationships that are the foundation of collaboration. And so I think the first thing that any type of administrator or principal can do is to begin to build a culture that's not a culture of isolation. And that's a lot tougher to do than it is to say. But I've mentioned to a number of principals recently, you're going to have more than a handful of meetings throughout your year, whether it's monthly or biweekly, certainly pre-planning. And in those meetings, I used to scoff at seating charts for my students.

[16:29]

I thought they could discipline themselves. As long as there was no issue, I didn't need to move them. And so for the most part, that ended up working out what I thought was pretty well until I started using more seating charts. And then you could move kids around during the semester and and create some of the connections and create some of the relationships and the pairings that you designed as a teacher where they could have a chance to not just meet other people in the classroom and build a better culture that way, but to have people that you knew might need to spend more time together or might be able to spark an idea or be a little bit more of a catalyst for certain insights or behaviors than those that they were around naturally. And I think you see the same thing in terms of teachers. We're going to sit near those that we're already comfortable with, that we already have a relationship with.

[17:16]

And how easy is it for a principal to assign seats at the next meeting in the cafeteria? And in the midst of those assigned seats, you're not only giving somebody a chance to sit next to somebody that maybe they've not built a relationship with and wouldn't be willing to collaborate with, but then maybe take five minutes to ask them a fun question, to share something about themselves that otherwise maybe they wouldn't have. so that I know something about this person. I'm a little bit more comfortable so that when that opportunity comes for me to ask a question about whatever it might be, then I'm far more comfortable collaborating, reaching out, asking and sharing because I've built some of that relationship. So the first thing is to do what you can as an administrator to try and combat the silos and the isolation that I think sometimes naturally occurs. I think the second one, if I can go on briefly,

[18:06]

is in those conversations that likely are going to be had by an administrator and a teacher that may not be as willing to interact or invest in. I think just making them aware of the circumstance by asking that very, very powerful question and to ask someone and to have them begin to think about themselves, what does it feel like to be my teammate? What does it feel like to be in my classroom? What does it feel like as an administrator to be one of my teachers? How often do we, in those circumstances, really consider outside ourselves what it's like to be in our own presence? And how often do we really take action and seek to behave differently based upon the insight we get when we do begin to ask ourselves that?

[18:57]

And if I'm being honest with myself, I wasn't always the best teammate as a teacher because I was oftentimes focused upon getting there and making sure I'm prepared for class and having the copies ready and contacting parents. And you go down the list of that long to do checklist that teachers have that continues to get longer with documentation, et cetera. But I'm going to be more successful and I'm going to be happier as an administrator, as a principal, as a teacher, if I'm aware of those people around me and making connections and, and allowing myself to be a great teammate and to recognize that those feelings and those interactions have a huge impact upon how successful I'm going to be.

[19:40] SPEAKER_02:

It makes me think about kind of court awareness. You know, if you're on the basketball court and you've got your eye on the ball and you're following the movement of the ball, you know, in a major way, that's not enough. You know, you also have to be aware of yourself and where your teammates are and who's open. And it really strikes me as the same as the situation that we encounter in schools where it's not enough to say, okay, what is the task that needs to be done? What does the project need? that we're implementing?

[20:07]

What do we need to take action on? We also need to be aware of ourselves and aware of our colleagues in terms of what people need. Maybe someone needs some encouragement. Maybe someone needs a boost of confidence. We've got to be aware of the human side, the actual people who are showing up to do the work and not just so focused on the task at hand.

[20:27] SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. I think that the idea of the basketball analogy you use, obviously that being my background and not everybody I know is a sports fan is going to relate. But I think the idea of if I'm coming down the floor, dribbling the ball and my eyes are on the floor where I'm dribbling instead of up seeing my teammates and recognizing the circumstances and where the defense is and what they're doing and what the time and score are. I think that's a tremendous analogy because all too often we get caught up dribbling the ball with our eyes down, focused on us or what's immediately in front of us. instead of putting ourselves in the context of what are we seeking to accomplish together with these people that are committing themselves to being my teammate.

[21:05] SPEAKER_02:

And I think that's a huge aspect of capacity for improvement. You know, I think often we think about improvement in terms of doing that work, of taking on a project or making a change, but we don't look at the resources that we're bringing to the table organizationally. And I think following those 10 commandments, you know, doing more than is expected, being aware of others and encouraging others, staying coachable, sharing appreciation, all the things that you highlight in the book really do, in a very tangible way, build our capacity for improvement. And if we look at schools that, say, have persistently failed to improve from year to year, It's often not that they lack resources. It's not that they lack money or lack curriculum or interventions. It's often that they lack in those fundamentals, those fundamental capacities to improve.

[21:55] SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, connecting with a compelling common goal and then connecting with each other. And I love the idea that you mentioned professional development is so often and so overwhelmingly focused upon those strategies. And teaching strategies are incredibly important. But how often is that professional development focused upon developing relationships and connections and the culture that's going to allow those strategies to really be successful?

[22:20] SPEAKER_02:

Well, Sean, in your work with organizations of all types, I wonder if you ever encountered this attitude that that type of work, investing in people, investing in relationships, is a little bit squishy, you know, is a little bit soft, is a little bit, you know, we're worried as principals sometimes that teachers will go home and, you know, people will say, hey, honey, what'd you do at, you know, professional development today? What'd you do in your in-service days? Well, we're worried that our teachers are going to go home and say, well, we just did trust falls. and then everybody will roll their eyes and they'll think what a waste of taxpayer dollars but i think what we've been talking about here you know really does get back to to building capacity and and building the the ability to do that work together so what do you say when you encounter that kind of skepticism because i know you work with groups of all all types including some that are probably you know even more uh more hard-nosed about such things than we are in the education profession what do you say to that criticism that this type of work is a little bit too soft

[23:16] SPEAKER_01:

Well, that was me when I was teaching for probably my first six to eight years. And I was the guy in the back of the room that when they brought in someone to do what at the time was termed team building, I rolled my eyes and suffered through what was not a great experience. And it was only through athletics and my team and wanting to build a better program and bringing in somebody that became a strong mentor to me and obviously having a great deal more experience down the line that you realize that team building is is not a one-time event and team building is not sitting around a campfire holding hands and singing. But team building is a collection of engaging experiential activities that gives people a chance to see in a microcosm how their communication and how their interactions affect their success. And basically to come away from an activity that could absolutely produce laugh out loud moments and give people a chance to laugh

[24:13]

and to enjoy working together through that challenge or that activity. But most importantly, your job as a facilitator is in the midst of that team building workshop to turn those ha-has into relevant and applicable ah-has. Because if all we do is have a good time, then I've not done my job. My job is to make sure you have a great time and that those people on your staff come away and recognize this is relevant, this is something that I can apply immediately. Because I think that's really the the hundred thousand dollar question is in the midst of whatever event. And there are certainly team bonding events and whether it's going bowling or doing paint, you know, ball or, you know, a thousand or things that people have done over the past many years to give their people a chance to spend time together.

[24:56]

There's certainly value in that. And I think the difference between team bonding, which is let's just go and spend time together and team building is what are we doing with this experience, with this activity, to turn it into something that makes us a better team, that gives us specific tools and insights that we're going to be more successful because of next week, next month, next year. And I think that hopefully as a facilitator, I recognize the value in that. And one of the best feelings that you get as a facilitator is to go into one of those rooms with 200 faculty members and to know that there's the couch full of coaches or there's the table full of you know, teachers that are the cynics and the ones that are rolling their eyes and why are we here and I've got a thousand things on my plate to do, et cetera. And, you know, three hours later or six hours later for a full day event to have them come up to me and say, Sean, listen, I didn't know what to expect, but I really enjoyed it and it was valuable and I appreciate the fact that you kind of walked us through some things that we really needed to experience.

[25:58]

And those are those kind of moments that you really value from teaching working with people, not just in education, but in a number of different industries.

[26:07] SPEAKER_02:

I love to hear that at the end of the day that, you know, maybe they were skeptical at the beginning, but it came together. So Sean, the book is the 10 commandments of winning teammates. Uh, and I know people can get that from audible or Amazon or Barnes and Noble or whatever. If people want to get in touch with you directly, what is the best way for them to find you online?

[26:24] SPEAKER_01:

I am, uh, available online at great results, team building.com. They can actually access the book via winning teammate.com.

[26:33] SPEAKER_00:

Um,

[26:33] SPEAKER_01:

And again, as you mentioned, it's a book I'm really, really proud of. And I think that regardless of your role, whether it's being a better coworker, a better leader, or just a better family member, that asking that question, who's the best teammate that I ever had? What is it that made them that strong teammate? And how can I emulate some of those behaviors to be a better teammate myself? really make your team stronger, really make your family stronger, and give you cause to really enjoy some of those relationships that you might not be appreciating as much at this point.

[27:02] SPEAKER_02:

Well, Sean, thanks so much again for joining me on Principal Center Radio.

[27:05] SPEAKER_00:

Enjoyed it. Thank you, Justin. And now, Justin Bader on high-performance instructional leadership.

[27:13] SPEAKER_02:

So high performance instructional leaders, what did you take away from my conversation with Sean about being a winning teammate? One of the things that really stands out to me is the importance of looking in the mirror and the importance of asking about ourselves. how are we doing on those fundamentals? And to Sean's major question there, how am I perceived as a teammate? Am I the kind of teammate that I would want to have? And of course, we're often in kind of a different teammate role if you're the principal.

[27:43]

You might not have a direct peer or your peers might work in other schools and you might be more of the leader in the organization and in less of a peer role. But it's incredibly important to ask, How am I coming across to the people that I lead? And if you've never done a 360 leadership assessment or an anonymous survey where people can give you that kind of feedback, I want to encourage you to do that. And one partial tool that's not necessarily just about your leadership but about your school overall that can help with this is the Instructional Leadership Score Assessment that we have at principalscenter.com slash capacity. And If you take that quiz, we've got just a few questions you can answer there to get your school's instructional leadership capacity score.

[28:30]

So go to principalcenter.com slash capacity, answer a couple of questions, and we'll send you a report with a breakdown in different areas of capacity and give you some action steps that you can take to build capacity for instructional leadership, to build capacity for improvement in your school.

[28:49] Announcer:

Thanks for listening to Principal Center Radio. For more great episodes, subscribe on our website at principalcenter.com slash radio.