Leaders are ultimately responsible for how their teams behave and perform. All good things (and not so good) start from the head.
In this article, I’m not going to review why a winning mindset is important. Every leader knows that. And if you didn’t, now you do.
Rather, I want to leverage the fact that “repetition is the mother of skill” because it’s one thing to believe in the power of positive thinking and another thing to create a culture of authentic confidence.
Here are three principles and performance-driven behaviors any leader can practice to constantly reinforce a collective winning mindset within a team and organization.
(1) Lead with “our destination is winning.”
In this scenario, let’s define winning as maximizing our potential. The leader’s job is to paint the picture of victory for each team member and then orchestrate the process to a successful end. Everyone must believe that our destination is winning.
(2) Praise the power of “making yourself proud.”
Effort is the key to success. The ability to look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and feel good internally about your grind. Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said, “There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience.”
(3) Never stop “turning adversity into competitive advantage.”
Every loss can be a win. We all experience defeat. At NIU men’s tennis, we certainly don’t win every match, but we can learn from every match. Our mission as leaders is to embody resilience and to empower our teams to keep moving forward.
Leadership Questions for Action:
- How can we turn this setback into something that works for us?
- What’s our definition of success as it relates to this project?
- Who can we recognize for their dedication and hard work?
René Vidal