Leadership Lessons from March Madness: Teamwork, Dedication, and Greatness
March—the whispers of spring, the thaw of winter, the excitement of college basketball, and the disappointment of another busted bracket. I mean, who knew that you couldn’t pick a perfect bracket by just selecting the mascots you like the best? Peacocks, anyone? Spoiler alert: this approach has not yet been proven effective. People piling into sports bars that are slowly recovering from the restrictions of a global pandemic. It’s the Big Dance and every team is looking for a win—the one that allows them to continue advancing into the next round. In a matter of one game, the “sure bet” team finds their confidence wavering as a little-known team who just needed one chance to make tournament history and put Saint Peter’s University on the map. Despite the scores of broken brackets, March Madness highlights leadership, teamwork, and the greatness that we all have inside of us.
The characteristics of a winning basketball team during March Madness are formed through the collective work all year long—engaging in countless hours of practice, studying opponents, and learning to leverage individual strengths for the benefit of the team. If we step back from the games, every year we are reminded of the same traits it takes to build an effective work culture. If we have learned anything from adapting to a global pandemic—it is to stop wishing for the past and focus on the road ahead.
Most of us think we can predict the winners based on past performance or demonstrated skill, even the most favored of teams can have an off night or make just enough little mistakes to cost a game and give a No. 15 seed the leg up they needed over a No. 2 seed. This underdog victory can fill the most fervent fan with frustration and inspiration all at the same time. Because in the end, no one can measure want, need, drive, or heart—all of which remain on full display during any March Madness game.
Leadership: The same discipline and guidance needed to coach a winning team is also necessary to bring together individuals with varying talents across any organization. Leaders need to balance operational tasks with opportunities for creativity and accolades with thoughtful critique that allows individuals to continue growing while contributing to the mission. This requires a delicate balance. It means leaders must make the time to get to know their employees. The same motivational speeches that ignite passion in one group of individuals may cause the opposite effect in another.
Teamwork: In the increasing world of remote work, it can be easy for individuals to become insular and only see the contributions they make. A critical skill of any leader is highlighting the work of individuals in a way that demonstrates the collective achievements of the whole team to advance shared goals. There might be one extremely talented player, but without the collective efforts of everyone these individual skills alone are not enough to carry the team to a win. The same is true across differing businesses of any size. It is rare that a single individual secures a win. We all rely on others and despite the pandemic requiring people to temporarily adopt a solitary lifestyle, we must remember that our successes are not based on individual achievements. They reflect the combined focus and shared contributions to make progress and eventually, gain the win.
Greatness: Confidence can be an underrated characteristic within the business world. Often this is attributed to a kind of hubris that generally precedes a public or painful fall from grace. However, if we look closely, we are sometimes too quick to ignore individual greatness or brush it aside as arrogance. Greatness is an opportunity to apply self-assurance in the face of extreme obstacles, a time when training and discipline come together to achieve what we weren’t sure was possible. Too often, we look past the glimmers of greatness within individual team members and forget that at one time, we, too, relied on this boost of confidence to allow us to reach for the impossible and become the leaders we are today.
For some college basketball players, this March Madness season might be their one-time to show on a national stage the greatness that lies within them. We all love to see those seemingly magical Cinderella moments where everything comes together for an underdog team, but even though it seems like magic, such moments are always the result of a season of work, sacrifice, encouragement, and dedication.
We each can have that kind of season, college basketball player or not. We can support our teammates and put the needs of others ahead of our own. This does not mean our goals shift to second place, but it allows us to understand that our dreams are attainable when we recognize that our achievements are not solely our own. We have all been supported, sustained, and reassured and in the end, we can look back on our successes and see that we are better for these efforts.
“The true price of leadership is the willingness to place the needs of others above your own. Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self-interest.” ~ Simon Sinek
