Team sports teach leaders a lot about culture, vision and inspiration.In my previous post I discussed how relevant team sports are in reference to leadership. I mentioned that great team players have integrity and edify their teammates. These attributes are present in great leaders. In this post I will dive into culture, vision and inspiration.

Culture

Life is meant to be enjoyed. It is meant to be fun. Great leaders appreciate this. And, adventure racers thrive on it. If you are not creating an atmosphere your employees ENJOY being, chances are, they are not thriving and neither is your organization…at least not for the long-term.

Employees leave jobs not because of the job, but usually the leader behind the job. Give a lot, laugh a lot. Create a space and culture that is fun and your team will WANT to work with you versus feel like that HAVE to.

Vision

Having a strong and compelling WHY – a reason – a dream – is what compels us to do the things that we know we should do. It takes vision to get MOVING. When my team races we always race with a few clear objectives that we all agree on: to stay safe, race hard, and finish. That almost always lands us in the top of the field.

Having a clear vision and purpose is what separates great leaders from good leaders. They have a clear vision and work to achieve it and others rally to be a part of achieving that vision.

Inspiration

Motivation is about making you do something. Inspiration is about being led are called to act. As a leader you can have a vision all day long, but unless you can inspire others to enroll in your vision, it’s dead. Yes, I said it. Dead.

Training for a 24-36 race has taught me about being inspired. When it’s 5 degrees outside at 5 in the morning and you know that you have to get training miles in for your next event, you find out very quickly just how enrolled and invested in the race, your goals and your team.

Motivation will only get you so far. Great leaders lead and inspire their teams to act.

In part 3 of the series, I’ll dive into passion, being a life-long learner and teamwork.

Most leaders struggle with disengagement, dysfunction, and non-productive behaviors with their teams. We deliver training that develops leaders and engages teams to increase your company results.