Changing a Culture Starts with Leadership
“The culture precedes positive results. It doesn't get tacked on as an afterthought on your way to the victory stand.” – Bill Walsh
This past year, consulting with Anthony Lynn, Head Coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, we have worked together on the foundation that is creating a unique Charger culture under Coach Lynn’s leadership.
As a consultant to a business or a pro sports team, an outsider would never see what I do on the inside. However, Chargers.com writer Ricky Henne wrote about a day he spent with Coach Lynn, making my work visible early on that day.
The excerpt below from 24 Hours with Anthony Lynn gives insight to both the process and outcomes as a team builds a competitive advantage through Organizational Health.
….7:12 a.m. – When you walk into Lynn’s office you are immediately drawn to a long wooden desk…To his right is a pair of white couches with a coffee table. …. On the table near the couches is a pile of books the head coach is encouraging everyone in the organization to read. Each book by Patrick Lencioni is titled “The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business”.
“A friend of mine gave me this book, ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team’. It’s about leadership. It’s about dysfunctional organizations, what leads to them and how to prevent them. I started reading it on a plane, and I just couldn’t put it down. I’m telling you, I never finish books like that. But I couldn’t put it down. This book is the next by the same author and supposed to be just as good. I plan on reading it over the summer. I had a bunch ordered, and I gave them to all of the coaches. Philip saw it and I gave one to him last week. He says he’s just about done with it. There are lots of good talking points.”
If you learn one thing about Lynn, it’s just how much he values organizational health, clarity, accountability and transparency. That’s why one of his first tasks after forming his staff was hiring a consultant to help establish a culture and learn what makes each coach tick. They all met with the consultant in an individual setting before taking a Myers-Briggs questionnaire to discover their personality type and core values. They also spent a significant amount of time meeting with the consultant in a group setting, deciding together what was important to them as a staff. They charted ground rules for healthy conflict while learning about one another. As a result of the meetings and questionnaire, the consultant put together what Lynn dubs his “call sheet.” Just like the piece of paper he’ll use on game day, he has a laminated two-sided printout with information on each and every coach. It’s filled with charts and graphs, outlining each coach’s values and personality traits. It showcases the best way to communicate with each individual while reminding Lynn of their strengths and weaknesses. The results also explain the best way each coach responds to motivation and criticism. Each member of the staff owns a copy as well. At this moment, before embarking on the rest of the day, Lynn sits back in his chair and reads every inch of the document:
“This is my call sheet. I look at this every morning. Communication, accountability and transparency are pillars of organizational health. This is something I value deeply, and what I said I would emphasize when I interviewed for the job. I met with each coach and explained the point of the exercise. We had a lot of conversations together, and by the time we were finished, we learned so much about one another and what we value. About the type of men we are. We came out of this with stronger relationships, and we charted ground rules for healthy conflict. Because let’s be honest; when the season comes along we are going to have disagreements. That is healthy. What we don’t have is time to get bogged down in conflict. What comes out of those disagreements and understanding our ground rules for healthy conflict is what will help us in the moment.”
