You Win in Locker Room First : Connect

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Book Notes from 'You Win in the Locker Room First' By Jon Gordon and Mike Smith

Connect

• Communicating and Collaborating Leads to Connection
• A great benefit of communicating and collaborating is that they develop connections between you and your team members.
• Communication begins the process of building trust, collaboration fosters this process and enhances relationships - this leads to stronger connections between team members.
• A connected team becomes a committed team.
• The more I have worked with teams over the years, the more I realize that connection is the key to becoming a great team.
• Connection is the difference between a team that thrives and one that crumbles.
• One of the biggest complaints I receive from coaches is that their teams arent connected.
• They have a bunch of young men or women who usually focus on themselves, their personal goals, their social media followings, and their egos
• I have found that when coaches and players focus on becoming a connected team, the me dissolves into we.
• Team Beats Talent When Talent Isn't a Team
• If we are more connected, we will have a better chance of winning the tight, big games.
• Blown away by all he did to connect with his players and foster relationships between them - Billy Donovan.
• They are a great example of how a team beats talent when talent isn't a team.
• I truly believe when a coach and team connect with each other, commitment, teamwork, chemistry, and performance improve dramatically.
• We Got This
• Ravens 2000 Super Bowl team - was the most connected team I have ever been associated with.
• 2000 Ravens Head Coach: Brian Billick - navigating the team through five week drought without an offensive touchdown.
• He handled this with transparency, and even sometimes with humor so that our team would not get uptight.
• The defense focused only on what they could  control and they were very supportive of the offense as they worked through their slump
• When you are connected you are able to turn misfortune into fortune
• We had to stay connected as a team to achieve the outcomes we have worked so hard for.
• When you are connecting as teammates, you reach a level of confidence that will take you a long way in overcoming the issues that can cause dysfunction within the team.
• When your team is connected, you have this synergy within the organization that will not allow your team to disintegrate.
• Unplug From Technology and Plug Into People
• We live in a more connected world today than any time in history
• The technology that is meant to help us can harm us if we let it - the same goes for our connected devices.
• We are connecting less meaningfully.
• More guys are connecting with their devices than with each other.
• The best teams I have been around were teams that enjoyed being around each other.
• When you are a team that does not connect - you will be a team that fails to win.
• As a team you must recognize that importance of connecting with each other and identify ways you can make these connections happen.
• I don’t think our mobile devices should be our main form of connecting with each other.
• It should be in addition to one-on-one  conversations where you can look people in the eye and have a meaningful heart-to-heart and truly connect.
• Create a Connected Locker Room
• I believe that to create a connected team and locker room you have to make time to connect and plan activities that facilitate this.
•  connect with people - it’s the most important thing you can do to build a great team.
• As a leader you have to be intentional about connecting with your team and  creating ways for team members to connect with each other.
• Each team member chooses a different word for the year and commits to living that word.
• Hero, Hardship and Highlight
• Where team members share who their hero is, a hardship they had to face and a highlight
• Defining moment - where you go around the room and people share a defining moment in their life.
• When individuals grow and connect, teams become stronger.
• When team members connect and build strong relationships, they don’t just work with each other - they work for each other.
• Connect Outside the Locker Room to Be Strong Inside the Locker Room
• To truly connect as a team - its important to connect outside the locker room.
• Find opportunities for everyone on the team and in the organization to connect more frequently.
• As the leader of the team or organization you should always be looking for ways to enhance these types of connections.
• We also wanted to create opportunities for the players to get together outside of the pressures of the work place.
• When you team is connected, you will see and feel it in the way they treat each other.
• When you are truly connected team you will see players participating together in functions outside of the locker room.
• This level of connectivity is what will take you team to the next level.
• Stay Connected
• Once you develop a connection with your team members it's important to make sure you stay connected.
• Connection is something you must keep working on
• When you have worked with each other for so long and know each other so well, you being to take things for granted.
• You cannot lose sight of the fact that every year it is a new and different staff and team.
• You as a leader have to always evaluate how well we are connecting.
• Teams that are not connected at the top crumble at the bottom
• Stay connected as a leadership team - stay connected with your players - helps your players stay connected with each other.
• The connection you create today will be the bond that strengthens your team tomorrow.