Leadership Lessons from Team USA

The highlight of the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona was the assembling of the most dominating basketball team in international history: the USA “Dream Team.” They won their games by an average of 44 points, they never called a timeout, their hardest games were their practice scrimmages, the leading scorer was Charles Barkley, and the roster had 10 of the 50 greatest NBA players. I was 10 when this all happened and got to watch most of the games, and was in awe of what I got to watch. The USA had reclaimed the gold medal in basketball, and had cemented itself as the benchmark program in FIBA. Fast forward to 2004 in Greece. The USA finished with the bronze medal, losing 3 games in the tournament. For perspective, in the modern Olympics since basketball was a medal sport (1936), the USA had lost 2 games total. What happened? I would say that this is what happens when a team isn’t a team.

Here’s a comparison of the 1992, 2004, and 2012 teams on perhaps the best statistic to monitor an effective team: assists to turnovers. In 1992, the team averaged 32.4 assists and only 9 turnovers. In 2004 that number had changed to 15.2 assists and 14.5 turnovers. In 2012, the team averaged 25.1 assists and 2.4 turnovers. The 2004 squad was a roster full of talented players, but many of them had reputations around the NBA for being “me first” guys - Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Carmelo Anthony, and Lamar Odom. Meanwhile, the 1992 and 2012 teams were marked by guys who had reputations for being team-first players, and was grounded in solid leadership with LeBron, D-Wade, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant. The 2004 team was absent of any solid, vocal, trusted leadership - Tim Duncan is the rock of fundamentals and team play but is not known for being a vocal leader.

What lessons can we take from this for the local church and especially on the ministry staff as a team? I believe there are four:

1. Visionary leadership - Not only did the 2012 team have solid leadership from players, but they were coached by Mike Krzyewski from Duke and the team was selected by Jerry Colangelo. Those men had a vision that captivated all of Team USA - the only thing that would make it a success was a gold medal. Churches need a visionary leader at the front, at the head of the organization to cast a compelling vision that can provide a target for the church to accomplish. Without this compelling vision, the team is directionless and will eventually fall into the inertia of bad habits, self-focus, and ministry silos.
2. Big picture first - Churches are made of individual ministries, just like a team is made of individual players. But the difference between a ministry team and a collection of staff is when those ministries and leaders are aligned around a central focus for an overall, church-wide vision. Sadly, many churches operate like multiple congregations in one building, because the individual ministries are operating independently of the whole. A big picture first mentality puts the church mission, vision, and strategy first and then fits the individual ministries into that paradigm. The dog wags the tail, not the other way around.
3. Others > Individuals - In a ministry team setting, success is shared and celebrated. No matter who, the entire team is part of that victory. A culture of team sees that what happens to one leader affects all leaders, and because of that the senior leadership needs to build in systems and structures that allow for collaboration, face time, and opportunities for interaction. When mistakes are made, individual blame is given and necessary consequences happen, but the team is focused on the restoration and encouragement of the fallen teammate. It’s one of the best images in sports, when a player gets hurt and his teammates help him off the court.
4. Understand your role - One of the worst things that can happen on a basketball team is when a distributor thinks he’s a shooter. There’s only one ball and five players, so someone has to shoot. That’s why there are shooters on the floor, to take the bulk of the shots. Team dysfunction happens when roles are ambiguous or rejected. If they’re ambiguous, they need to be clarified and explained in a way that the entire team gets it. If they’re rejected, then that team member needs to be dealt with in the appropriate way. A team cannot function if team members do not understand their place in the organization, in the informal dynamics of the team, and how they relate both vertically to their direct reports and horizontally to their peers.

---