Most of us know about Coach Tony Dungy. He’s a #1 New York Times bestselling author whose books include Quiet Strength, Uncommon, The Mentor Leader, and Uncommon Marriage. He led the Indianapolis Colts to Super Bowl victory on February 4, 2007, the first such win for an African American head coach. Dungy also was the first head coach to lead his teams to the playoffs for 10 consecutive years.
With those kinds of credentials, I couldn’t help but pick up his newest book, The Soul of a Team.
In a nutshell, it shares how succeeding in life requires mastering the art of teamwork. Virtually everyone is part of a team — and when they work well, teams can accomplish more than individuals working by themselves.
He writes, "But not all teams are created equal. When a team isn’t functioning well, individual strengths can be undermined and weaknesses accentuated, making the work environment a terrible place to be. The Soul of a Team is a modern-day fable to teach leaders how to put S.O.U.L. in their teams."
His acronym SOUL is defined below:
Selflessness: Fulfilling your role by learning it thoroughly and by consistently giving 100%.
Ownership: Putting individual needs aside for the good of the team.
Unity: Understanding and rallying around your team’s mission, philosophy, and culture, through open communication and positive conflict resolution.
Larger Purpose: Contributing to the wider community in a lasting and significant way.
Like this Article?
Subscribe to ISE magazine and start receiving your FREE monthly copy today!
So, whether your expertise is being a technician, manager, director, VP or higher — we’re all in this network evolution thing together. Perhaps if we take Coach Dungy’s message to heart, we can improve both our individual and collective lives WHILE advancing and transforming the ICT industry.
Source: https://coachdungy.com
