Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau and the 7 Habits of a Highly Successful Team
Bulls coach Tom Thibideau is renowned for his work habits and preparation, and the results speak for themselves. The author of this article (Kelly Scaletta in the online publication Bleacher Report) obviously modified Covey’s 7 habits of highly successful people to fit the positive habits that Thibideau has instilled in his team (see attached).
Question
As a leader what habits do you practice and/or promote?
Why focus on habits vs. results?
My Answer
Habits produce skills
Skills produce results
Results give one money, benefits and a sense of accomplishment.
HABIT 1: BE PROACTIVE – Take initiative by realizing that the decisions you make in the preseason are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in the regular season and postseason.
HABIT 2: BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND – Self-discover and clarify your deeply important team values and postseason goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various players and playoff roles.
HABIT 3: PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST – Planning, prioritizing, and executing your season’s tasks based on importance rather than urgency.
HABIT 4: THINK WIN-WIN – Genuinely striving for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your game.
HABIT 5: SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND, THEN TO BE UNDERSTOOD – Using empathetic listening to be genuinely influenced by a player, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you.
HABIT 6: SYNERGIZE – Combining the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals no one person could have done alone. How to yield the most prolific performance out of a group of people through encouraging meaningful contribution, and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership. Everyone is a master of something and not everything. Positive potentials can be put together to achieve better results.
This is constant improvement of each player in order to be a better team and to sharpen skills in order to achieve better results.