In his book, "The Gold Standard," Mike Krzyzewski knew he was on his way after the following conversation with LeBron James. When you best players, your star players, are ready to submit to the overall values and vision of a team, then you are on your way:I think one of the primary mistakes that leaders make in team building is in believing that they have to be the sole provider of leadership. Great teams have multiple leaders, multiple voices. A major part of building a team is discovering who those voices will be and cultivating them, making sure that their leadership is established within your group.
Part of cultivating leadership is ensuring that your team will hear a number of different voices, not the leader’s alone.
There are other reasons to establish these voices on your team. One is simply this: someone may be able to express something much better than you or communicate it in a way that really connects with the team.
In team building, it is vital to recognize the need for moments like these, moments that may never come about as the result of a formal meeting.
Reminiscent of my words to him before our bronze-medal game in 2006, I said to him, “We need you to be a leader this summer. I am really going to rely on you.”
LeBron leaned in closer to me and said, “Coach, this is a huge time for USA Basketball. We need to win now. You can ask me to do anything, and I’ll do it. Anything you ask, Coach you can count on me.”
