You Win in the Locker Room First | Summer Reads | Part 5 of 7

Welcome back to the Impact Leadership Podcast. In today's episode, we'll be returning to our series, “Summer Reads.” Chip Parker will be discussing You Win in the Locker Room First by Jon Gordon and Mike Smith. Everything we do as leaders reinforces culture, and culture is what drives behavior. Let’s dive in!

Thanks for listening to the Impact Leadership podcast! We are so glad that you're here. If you're looking to connect with Chip Parker, send him a message at chip@theorchardcc.org. New episodes are released weekly on Wednesdays. We'll catch you in the next episode!

Transcript

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Hey everybody, welcome in to the Impact Leadership Podcast. My name is Chip Parker and I'm the lead pastor at the Orchard Community Church, a multi-site church in North Central Florida working to impact lostness and impact the next generation. This podcast is all about helping you as a church leader grow your leadership to grow your impact. Let's hop into this week's conversation. All right. Well, welcome back in. Man, I've got to say, I think I've said it every week the last few weeks, but I am enjoying getting to go back through some of these books that have really shaped me as a leader. Some of these books are books that I touch often and just kind of read back over or skim over. But, you know, getting to talk about them has really brought even fresh application to my life. So I hope it's been helpful to you. If you've missed any of the past few weeks, I'd encourage you to go back and catch up. This is only week five in this current conversation. So there's four episodes for you to go back and listen about some books that have been very impactful to me. We've looked at books from a wide spectrum. We've looked at kind of business leadership books with Pat Lincione. We've looked at ministry leadership books. And last week, you know, we even looked at a book that is a very personal book for me, and I think something that every leader should read. But today we're going to talk about a book that touches on some of my time leading as a coach. The title of this book is You Win in the Locker Room First, and it's written by John Gordon and former coach of the Atlanta Falcons, Mike Smith. Now, this book is really kind of one that not a lot of people talk about unless you're in the coaching world. And I think it is a phenomenal book for every leader, whether you're coaching or not. John Gordon may sound familiar to you. He is a fairly popular author with a lot of books written around the idea of positive leadership. Maybe he's most famous for his book called The Energy Bus that really made a lot of rounds inside the school system with leadership inside public schools. Great author, but this book caught my attention because it's all about sports, it's all about coaching. And man, I think some coaches are the best leaders that I've ever met in my life. Coaching and leadership just go hand in hand. So I was drawn to this book. And what this book does is it journeys the rise and in many cases the fall of Mike Smith's journey as coach of the Atlanta Falcons and how culture shaped the team's performance both on and off the field. What they argue in this book, John Gordon and Mike Smith, they argue that winning cultures are built intentionally. Nobody falls into a healthy culture. Nobody falls into a great culture. Culture is something that must be cultivated. It's something that you got to give intentional effort to shape. And what they said, kind of breaking it down through the story of the book, are there's some big principles that help build a winning culture. The first thing they say that you need is a compelling vision. We need a compelling vision that drives our culture, that anchors our culture. And if you're gonna have a successful culture, that's the first thing you need. Second thing you need are shared standards. What are the standards that we are gonna operate by? What is that minimum acceptable standard that we're gonna hold everybody to? And if you don't, hey, we're gonna step in. What is that shared standard? And then finally, well, how do we model expected behaviors? How do we live those out? How do we make sure that these aren't just words on the wall, but they're part of our DNA as an organization? So again, three parts of that winning culture they say are a compelling vision, shared standards, and the modeling of expected behavior. And then they go on to say that it is not these big team meetings, the words banners put on a wall. It's not these great, you know, inspirational coaching speeches at halftime that really solidify this culture, but this culture is shaped through countless daily interactions, those little bitty interactions, whether it's conversations in the weight room or showing up on time for drills. It's those little daily interactions that are going to drive culture. And the overall picture of the book is that leadership is not about strategy, it's about creating an environment where people can thrive and contribute. It's a great book. I encourage you to pick up a copy. I think it's actually, you know, a fairly easy short read, but you'll enjoy it. So let me kind of just pause and go through some principles from this book that I think will be helpful to you no matter what field you find yourself leading in. The first principle I would say is this this book is a great reminder that culture shapes behavior. Now we know that behavior shapes culture, right? We get that, but we also have to remember that culture shapes behavior. When we give attention to our culture, what we are doing is shaping the behavior of the people inside our organizations. People who don't fit into that culture will find their way out or they will adjust. Culture shapes behavior. Those things that really conform our culture and our behavior. Pastor Craig Rochelle says it like this a culture is what you celebrate and what you tolerate. And man, I think that is so good. That is really the essence of this book. Culture is what we celebrate, what we tolerate, and it is that culture that shapes behavior. So culture shapes behavior, but number two, standards create consistency. It's one thing to have culture in the cloud where we have these, you know, ideas of how we want to operate, ideas of what we want to do, but it is those standards, it's those standards that are measurable, that are specific, that are attainable, that really create the consistency of culture in our organization. And in my experience, whether it's churches or nonprofits or even little league sports teams, the problem is not that we don't talk about culture, it's that we don't have standards for that culture. And then the third principle is this not only do those standards create consistency, but leaders are those who model expectations. If you are not modeling the expectations that you've set, you are failing as a leader. We are not above or outside of the standards that we set. We have to live by them as well. And I have seen countless leaders undermine their own leadership because they try to live outside of or above the standards they've set. If we do not model what we expect of others, we will kill our culture. So culture shapes behavior, standards create consistency, leaders model expectations, and then relationships drive influence. Relationships drive influence. Again, far too often, in my experience, I've seen, and this is in church world as well as anywhere else, I've seen people lean on authority as their main engine for leadership because they are in a position of authority. They think that is what makes them a leader. And in some cases, yeah, that's true. You can't get around the authority that comes with certain positions, but true leadership and true impact in leadership. Did you catch that subtle plug there? True impact in leadership comes from relationship and comes from influence. It doesn't matter how much authority you have in an organization if you don't have influence with people that you lead. True leadership comes through influence, and influence is only built through relationships. So those relationships, those daily interactions are so, so important. And then finally, everything we do as a leader communicates something. Everything we do, those things that we say, the actions we take, the actions that we left untaken, all of those things communicate something to the people that we lead and something about our culture. I think that was a great reminder by Coach Smith inside of this book. So again, you know, five principles here that I thought were so good from the book. Culture shapes behavior, standards create consistency, leaders model expectations, relationships drive influence, and everything we do communicates something. So what are some applications that we can take away and put into our leadership practice right now, today, this week? Number one, I would say this Hey, if you're a leader, celebrate the behaviors that reinforce the culture you're trying to create. If you have somebody in your organization who is doing what you want done, even if they're not seeing the best results in the world, celebrate the behavior, celebrate the process. That is gonna go so far into shaping your culture, you will be amazed when you see it. And then, secondly, I would say maybe take some time today and evaluate whether your leadership actions and maybe other leaders in your organizations, their actions, evaluate whether those leadership actions align with the values that you've stated for others in your organization. Because if you are not living by the standards that you've set, you are undermining your culture and you are failing as a leader. So again, this book is maybe a different book than you've ever thought about reading before. You win in the locker room first by John Gordon and Mike Smith. I'd encourage you to pick up a copy, read it. Man, if you if you love sports, you're gonna love this book. If you love leadership, you're gonna love this book, and I think it will be helpful to you. One last thing before we end this conversation is just let me say if you are a leader, specifically in the local church context or even outside of it, I would love to be able to connect with you if I can help. If you would like, I'm gonna have my email in the show notes. Reach out to me. We can set up a time to connect because here's what I know leadership is bigger than any one of us. If we are truly going to have an impact in our communities, we need to lean on each other and we need to learn from each other. So I would be more than happy to do what I can to connect with you and help you lead right where you are. So reach out, let us know how we can connect. But until then, we'll see you right back here next week on the Impact Leadership Podcast.