Players on championship teams often credit team chemistry for their success. A unified team is far more likely to win than a divided one. As Dr. Michael Brown said on a GameChange Livestream Forum, “Unity isn’t a luxury, it’s a multiplier, so talent will add, but unity multiplies.”
Dr. Brown, a high-performance mindset coach who works with the Michigan State and Bowling Green athletic departments, also said, “Chemistry is so, so fragile.” He described the team chemistry he sees in winning programs that regularly compete for championships. “Great teams win because they replace let’s say, me thinking, with we thinking.
Nobody would argue that “we over me” is an ingredient for team success, but it can get challenging to create that value because sports reward the stars on each team for their individual contributions. Pro athletes get bigger contracts, college players get drafted, and high school athletes get recruited when those individuals rise above the level of their peers.
So, what do you do to avoid your team chemistry from falling apart when individual goals clash with team values? What are things that a team leader (coach, captain, etc.) can do to balance the goals of the team with the aspirations of the individuals?
First, everyone should agree that there is nothing wrong with an athlete leveraging their performance into a better life for themselves or their families. A sports contract or a college education can be transformational to a person’s life, and anyone pursuing to better themselves or their families should be applauded.
So, how can the individual shine without harming the collective goals of the team? What are some steps that can be taken to help create team chemistry? Here are four:
- Rising tides carry all ships. Players looking to make more money or get recruited will have a far better chance to achieve those goals on a winning team than they will on a losing one. A smart leader will make this very simple concept clear to any player who might consider himself more important than the team.
- Support Individuals: Provide a space for each player to share their individual goals and why they are so important to them. Knowing the why will create a culture of empathy and teamwide support for each individual’s personal goals. Feeling the love of teammates contributes tremendously to team chemistry.
- Good leaders know how to collaborate. Team chemistry will typically be much stronger if the team has the opportunity to set the standard that it is trying to collectively achieve. USC football coach Lincoln Riley often tells his players, “Good teams are coach-led, great teams are player-led.”
- Focus on the process. Great coaches are obsessed with the process because they know that if you focus on doing all the little things right, your chances of winning are much greater than when obsessing over the outcome. The focus on getting better every day during practice will also obviously improve each player’s skills, which moves them closer to reaching their individual goals.
Dr. Brown stated, “When the identity of a team shifts from individual performance to collective purpose, everything elevates.” Although this is absolutely true, great leaders find ways to allow their team’s players to achieve both.
