Characteristics of a Competitor

What Makes a Competitor

The most effective coach I ever met said that until competitors learned to play on a team, they could never be very good at competing by (with) themselves. Following are some lessons he modeled.

Some teams are soft. Some teams are tough. But all teams are made up of individuals and are coached by individuals. Teams take on their characteristics from their members. Competitiveness can be taught and the atmosphere and mentality of winning can be nurtured and learned.

Learn to act and make an attempt. Cooperation and sharing with team mates implies responsibility for the giver and the receiver.

Coordination and love put her there

Superstars

I once asked the coach why he did not choose a highly recruited star for his team. He told me, “We want great players, but in his case we would spend more time repairing the damage to the team than celebrating his contributions.” True super stars are great team players. But super stars win championships because they pass to their team mates in order to score, not because they are in trouble. In the same vein, teams do not exist merely to serve their super stars. Sometimes competition is taught selfishly. We all have met entirely too many selfish bosses that are successful because they are manipulators. That kind of competitiveness does not make it very far in sports because the rules are simpler and therefore the negative outcomes are more obvious.

Empathy and Responsibility

Competitiveness requires an awareness of all team mates. Team members can not be engaged in the play if they do not know where their team mates are, or not communicating with them. Practice in sports is as much about development of a common purpose, unspoken team synchronization, and trust as a substitute for communication, as it is development of physical or execution ability. Team members know their mates, their strengths and weaknesses, and know when to help, and when not to.

Notice that process development in organizations spins off the same benefits as practice. There is a further implication. Anything that obstructs a process from seeing its members as a team threatens the process itself. Therefore any inter-departmental silos or hand-offs, or even in some cases physical space must be either abolished or actively countered through meetings, metrics, pep talks, etc. The physical (discipline and process), intellectual (focus and education), spiritual (spirit and cohesiveness) and emotional (engagement and well being) components of the team must be nurtured.

Also notice that organizations have historically begun with functional organization structures, but as they get larger and/or mature, they invariably become process driven, either through reorganization or matrix formation on top of functional departments. This is no coincidence; teams perform better than connected individuals, and to the extent functional departments demand loyalty over process teams, the organization executes at slower speeds.

Competitors are proactively engaged. They are aware of the play and always ready to step in before their mates fail, not later when the play is finished and the other team has scored. Then it is too late. Roy Williams of UNC was asked at a press conference what he thought of one of his players who had lost the basketball at the end of the game. He replied that he was not upset with him at all, but he was very frustrated with the two players who didn’t come to help.

Competitors do not just identify potential issues and then talk about it later or squabble about how their mate screwed up. They are the first to dive in the middle and get the ball or the puck when it comes loose because they have been actively following the play. Competitors are actively empathetic.

Competitors do not just work hard. They are emotionally invested. They stand up for themselves and their team mates. Everyone meets up with misperception, either innocent or malicious. But then a choice must be made; to remain silent, or set the record straight. Similarly, competitors make sure their mates know who and where they are, and what they can be counted on. And then they do it.

Competitors take responsibility for themselves and their team mates.  When one of their mates fails or falls, team mates are the first to help them out and up. They know what it is like to need a little help, and the team comes first. In the same way, they are the last to take credit for winning, because winning is a team exercise. Competitors can also take criticism, even when it is given unhelpfully. They are always looking to better themselves, and so they are always listening for ways to improve, rather than disputing the style of the communication, or making excuses.

Internalization and Emotional Maturity

Competitors do not dwell on failure. They understand the game goes on, and there is no future in hand wringing, or assigning blame, or otherwise dwelling in the past. Teams win because they create their own atmosphere, and positive, uncritical scholarship from failure is a large part of it. Competitors realize the most important game is the next one. In the same vein, they know that no outside source can stop them from playing their best. Losing is a learning experience, and is no cause for shame if the team played their best.

On the flip side, competitors know how to win. They know that intimidation or nervousness bespeaks a lack of mental and emotional preparation. Competitors are always emotionally ready to play for their team. They spend considerable time imagining those things they must do to make their team a winner. They know there is only one important thing; to play their best for the team. There is no embarrassment in that, no cause for worry or shame. Competitors look success and the future in the eye. There is no reason to stop adjusting, or playing without confidence, or trying to improve, until the final second of the game is over. After all, life goes on.

Dean Smith, one of the winningest coaches in all of sports, once explained his success by saying that he was developing men, not basketball players. It is interesting to note that his program produced both great basketball players and coaches.

Competitors understand the true value of a defined, measured competition. They understand that for those few hours, they are in an incredibly unique and isolated situation entirely arranged to nurture them and their team to improve synergy and effectiveness and in every possible manner to meet their potential. All resources, especially the coaches, are there to further that goal. In this foundational regard, the opponent is totally secondary. Teams beat themselves, and losses are naturally designed for further self and team introspection. Ultimately they have little or nothing to do with the other team.

Imagine the difference in many organizations if teams and coaches viewed themselves in this light. Notice that this approach brings with it a fundamentally different perspective on roles of team members, coaches and even performance appraisals, as well as the holistic needs of the team.

Spirituality and Talent

Competitors understand the true inner nature of sports. They understand the need to react helpfully to their failures, and their successes are those of their team.  Because that is how teams work. They also understand that their contribution works best if they look their mates in the eye, and are ready to take on the challenge. There is no other way. They must learn to take on the responsibility and communication of being on a team, along with the determination to learn, so they can be constructive participants.

Competitors know teams can not function with maliciousness, selfishness, martyr complexes, or defensiveness. These qualities will eventually lead to ouster or the inefficiency of the team and its culture, regardless of talent. Sports teams put up with far less of these negative qualities than organizations, because the rules in sports are simpler and therefore negative consequences more directly and quickly materialize. Sports teams also have a clearer sense of winning, and so they put up with back-biting, gossip and selfishness less. Not realizing how hurtful these attitudes can be, managers tend to ignore these childish, spirit killing activities, or worse, they manage by them.

Competitors know that talent is not everything; helpful engagement is. They are engaged at all levels; body, emotion, spirit and mind. In some circles, a great competitor used to be called a sportsman. Our society and coaches and teachers all have chances to teach each other how to be good competitors and reach our and our team potential. We should all strive to be good coaches for each other. The basis for mentorship is grounded in these precepts, and everyone should have multiple mentors in their life.

Summary

Astute readers will notice that the article describes an actualized individual as defined by Maslow.

References

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