I’ll admit that I was stoked by the title of this article, How To Make Your Team Smarter: Add More Women?, because I’m a woman and I think we make everything better. But it turns out my main takeaway from the article was how coaches could use this information to make our teams better.
The basis of the article was research identifying certain criteria for successful teams. The research showed that a team didn’t need to have the smartest folks on it, but people who shared these three characteristics.
3 criteria of successful teams
They share criticism constructively. I think this is the toughest lesson to teach to teams: Giving and receiving criticism is a responsibility of every team member…it’s a must. We’ve got to teach our players that they’re letting their teammates down if they don’t give them appropriate criticism. If we’ve got a team of players who tell each other they’re playing great when they’re really playing terribly, then we’re not going to be a very good team. If we’ve got a team of players who get pissed off when one of their teammates tells them they’re doing something incorrectly, then we’re not going to be a very good team. Criticism, when given constructively and appropriately, is always a good thing.
They have open minds. Our players have to have open minds about their coach’s teaching style, about their teammate’s personality types, and (most importantly, in my opinion) their playing time and role on the team. In my mind, having an open mind really means being a team player. It’s putting the team first and self second. If our teams have this mindset, then they’ll have an open mind to whatever the season has in store for them.
They’re not autocratic. I know you’re thinking, “Dawn, my team is an autocracy. When I tell my players to jump, they’d better ask how high!” Yes, I get that…even business teams have a boss that they’ve got to report to and are most certainly accountable to. This is talking about the team itself, the players. If you’ve got captains who wield their power like Attila the Hun, then they’ll either tick off the other players, scare the other players, or their teammates will just stop following them (mutiny!). None of those things are good. While it’s wonderful to have strong, competent, and confident captains…they should still be respectful of their teammates and their opinions.
Female teams
Before those of us who coach female athletes start jumping up and down because we’re ahead of the game on being successful according to research, I think we need to remember that we still have to teach our players how to do these things.
We’ve all had the girl on our team who didn’t know how to deliver criticism and ended up hurting everyone’s feelings. Or the girl who demanded that the team be her minions because she was voted team captain. Being of a “team” mindset isn’t something that’s innate to female athletes.
The takeaway
When you really think about it, being of a team mindset isn’t common, which is another reason I think athletes are more prepared for the future than the average student (check out this post for more!). It isn’t common to receive criticism constructively or to truly have an open mind to new ideas or different people. And it certainly isn’t common to give up the “my way or the highway” mentality.
The proof is in the pudding. Successful teams, regardless of gender, have these three qualities. Now that we have the information, let’s do something with it!
