COACHING – TEAMWORK

Teamwork

Lessons from Bill Nelson

Neville Bleakley OA Manager (Coaching Programs)

In August this year Bill Nelson gave a talk on teamwork at the University of Canberra. Coaches from the AIS and the ACT Academy of Sport (ACTAS) were invited. For Bill, it was a chance to renew old friendships, as he spent six years at the AIS as a swim coach, coaching some of Australia’s finest athletes. He was respected as one of the best communicators in the business.

BY 1996 Bill was spreading his wings. He was an integral part of in the South East Melbourne Magic winning the 1996 National Basketball League Championship, against seemingly all odds. In 2000 he published his thoughts on building and maintaining a winning team, in a book titled “Gold Teamwork”. Bill is an inspirational speaker, and his messages are easily understood. I bought a copy of his book and asked him to autograph it. He wrote on the inside cover “Success is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy the ride”. Readers might like to think about what that means to them.

Orienteering is an individual Sport – Why Worry About Teamwork?

In families, every person is an individual too – but the family has to function as a unit, hopefully allowing space for those who need more of it, or need more of it at certain times. If one person assumes that the family is primarily HIS or HERS – no matter what their role may be (sole breadwinner perhaps) – then that family will have a tough job maintaining purpose and harmony. Every person in a family is capable of adding value, but their contribution must be recognized and appreciated by the other members if the whole is to work as a unit. So it is with Orienteering teams.

Team Roles

Bill Nelson likens the team to a tribe, where ultimately their survival will depend upon the interaction, communication and cooperation amongst all members of the tribe – the warriors, the educators, the hunters and gatherers and the wise old elders. On Jan 28, 1986, the space shuttle “Challenger”, arguably the most technologically advanced piece of machinery in the world at that time, exploded because of the loss of resilience in two $1.50 O-ring seals. Everyone’s role is critical to the outcome of the team. Not everyone in the team is going to have a high profile, be highly paid, or be highly motivated, but they can still add value to a team.

The Environment

Legendary Australian swimming coach, Forbes Carlile, once said “Our aim is not to produce champions but to create an environment from whence champions are inevitable”. Bill’s advice is to be better than your competition in at least one thing – then build on that. Not every team can be the best in everything it does. It’s an old Chinese proverb that the road to success begins with one small step.

Relationships Within the Team

Bill Nelson maintains that within any team structure there will always be some level of conflict amongst members. Superior performance, social rivalry, misunderstanding of goals and responsibilities, lack of space in which to operate, and/or grouping of team members may cause rivalry. His advice to leaders is, before making a judgment on what course of action to take, look at all the circumstances, and who played what role in the scenario. Then make your move.

Leave Your Ego at the Front Door

It’s natural for athletes and coaches to have an ego. Bill Nelson maintains that if you are participating or competing for the benefit of yourself, then the team will suffer. Every athlete should be proud of what their team achieves, and be proud of their role in achieving that outcome. Individuals are always better because of the people around them. Egos can be our greatest asset or our greatest undoing. Telling people how great you are doesn’t necessarily make you good in their eyes, anyhow. If you talk about team success, people on the outside will understand your role in that success.

Australian Orienteering

There is so much in Bill Nelson’s book that will resonate with the reader involved in sport. It’s not a book of formulae, but more a book to make the reader think about methods of operating with teams, and ways of viewing situations. Perhaps the most potent message for Australian Orienteering in 2005 would be Bill’s exhortation to “Live locally, think Globally”. He gives a telling example from swimming in the early ‘90s. Translated into orienteering-speak the same message would be that it’s very tempting to look at the powerful European Orienteering countries and to copy their models for preparing their best. However, we don’t live in Europe so their programs are not going to suit us. Our home is where we are. We live, operate and socialize in a certain environment for certain reasons. It’s OK to dream, but bring those dreams home, make home better and then take a look at the real picture.

Reproduced with permission from Bill Nelson’s Total Performance Concepts Pty Ltd. If you would like to purchase 'Gold Teamwork' please send an email to: totalperformance@totalperformance.com.au with ‘The Australian Orienteer’ in your subject line. The cost is $25 + $5 p&h. For each copy you buy, $5 will go to Orienteering Australia’s AO magazine account. Also, if you would like to continue to see the latest articles Bill is producing, you might want to subscribe to Total Performance Concepts Pty Ltd free newsletter called 'The Full Nelson'. Just send an email to: newsletter@ totalperformance.com.au with 'subscribe the full nelson' as your subject line. NEW FOR 2004 - UPDATED VERSION OF BILL NELSON'S GOAL SETTING STRATEGIES CD - listen to Bill Nelson explain his three-step goal setting programme that has developed Olympic champions, created record breaking business profitability and allowed people to live the life they have always dreamed about. Visit http://www.totalperformance.com.au or contact Bill’s office on (02) 4942 4987