8 Habits of Highly Successful Teams

Leaders desperately want to build great teams. They want to be part of great teams. Leaders want to recruit great talent to their great teams. Most importantly, leaders want to implement a system which will guarantee sustained success. Leaders want to lead championship teams. The question is how do you do it? This weekend, five-time national championship coach Nick Saban will lead the Alabama Crimson Tide into this year’s college football playoff. In the video above, Colin Cowherd interviewed former UCLA head coach Jim Mora. Coach Mora gave some insight into why Alabama is consistently at the top of college football’s ranking. Whether you lead a church, business, nonprofit or athletic organization, the following are 8 Habits of Highly Successful Teams I gleaned from the interview and supporting articles.

1. Highly Successful Teams Are Lead by Highly Successful Leaders – Coach Mora said, “Systems created by guys who have tremendous conviction in what they do have had success, and have resources.”
2. Highly Successful Teams Have an Ethos Which Permeates the Entire Organization – Coach Mora added, “If you go to Alabama and you walk into the equipment room and the assistant equipment manager is folding a towel and you ask him what he’s doing, he’ll say, ‘I’m preparing to win a national championship.’ (He’s not saying), ‘I’m folding this towel.’ (He’s saying), ‘I’m folding this towel the best a towel’s ever been folded because I’m preparing to win a national championship.’ That attitude permeates the entire organization.”
3. Highly Successful Teams Are Disciplined – Coach Saban said in the December 25 edition of Sports Illustrated, “You can either suffer the pain of discipline or the pain of disappointment.”
4. Highly Successful Teams Have Curious Leaders – In the same article, Coach Saban said the following, “I didn’t invent any of this stuff.  I’m always looking for the next guy I’m going to learn from.” This speaks to his commitment to continual learning and the humility to learn from anyone.

Following up on Coach Mora’s assertion that Coach Saban’s championship attitude permeates the entire organization, let’s take a look at the team’s best player, defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick. The All-American was also profiled in the December 25 edition of Sports Illustrated. The following are four additional leadership lessons we learn from Fitzpatrick:

1. Highly Successful Teams Make a Big Deal About Small Things – Fitzpatrick stated the team’s 2017 loss to Clemson in the national championship game was because of “people coming late to a meeting or not wearing the right socks.” He concluded, “If you can’t do the small things right, how can you expect to do the big things?”
2. Highly Successful Teams Have Unified Leadership – When your best player is a reflection of its head coach, you are positioned for success. Saban said of Fitzpatrick, “I just like being around him. I like the way he goes about his work. It’s fun to see him improve and take on new challenges. He’s just one of my favorite guys.”
3. Highly Successful Teams Are Purposeful – Fitzpatrick’s performance coach Chuck Morris said, “Hard on yourself is an emotion. He strives for excellence, which is purposeful.”
4. Highly Successful Teams Relentlessly Self-Evaluate – Teammate running back Damien Harris said, “If we win, Minkah will give everybody hugs, he’ll be smiling—but as soon as he gets out of the locker room, he’ll be watching film, trying to find out what he did wrong.”

What is one thing you learned from the Alabama program which will make you a better team? This article originally appeared here.