by Eddie Pipkin
It’s my predictable meditation on March Madness and the wonderful lessons that are imparted by coaches and teams as the yearly drama unfolds. This year the focus has been on women’s basketball as female hoop heroes like Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, and Kamilla Cardosa have entertained b-ball fans across the nation. The University of South Carolina Gamecocks won their third NCAA national championship Monday night, beating Iowa, the team that knocked them out last year, and finalizing an improbable undefeated season, 30 games without a loss. That takes a special kind of teamwork, passion, and commitment, and, as always, as ministry team managers we should pay attention to what they had to say about one another, the secret sauce to their epic accomplishment.
Coaches and players on the championship team remarked on the unique team spirit which powered their successful season. As recorded in The Atheltic’s daily basketball blog, “The Bounce,” coach Dawn Staley (in winning the third championship of her career) gave all the credit to her student players:
And, through it all, Staley continued to be the example of professionalism and inspiration as a coach. While so many college coaches try to make things about them when they win but critique their players when they lose, Staley showed ample appreciation and grace for others in her postgame comments. Her tears showed pride as she needed moments to simply speak right after the win.
The key line, of course, is “While so many college coaches try to make things about them when they win but critique their players when they lose, Staley showed ample appreciation and grace for others. . . .” We’ve all known (or occasionally been if we’re honest) ministry leaders who got this equation backwards. It’s a serious temptation to take the credit when things are going well, and while it may be a polite reflex to give a general shout-out to the team that supports our win, it’s much harder to give specific credit where specific credit is due.
This South Carolina women’s basketball team, however, from superstar center to last of the benchwarmers was all about shared credit, as captured in this wire report that summarized the victory:
South Carolina doesn’t feel like it has five starters. The Gamecocks think they have 10. Maybe more.
South Carolina’s reserves, led by guard Tessa Johnson, outscored Iowa’s 37-0, offering a reminder that while there is more parity in the women’s game than ever, the Gamecocks currently have no parallel.
“When we play teams, they’ve got to scout everyone,” Gamecocks guard Te-Hina Paopao said. “They’ve got to scout all 10, 11 of us. And I know that’s hard to do because they’re hoopers and there’s no let off when they come in.”
No, there isn’t.
There were three games in this year’s women’s tournament when one team’s reserves outscored their counterparts by 30 or more. South Carolina was responsible for all three.
If you don’t know anything about basketball, I’ll enlighten you by pointing out that that statistic is simply astonishing. But it’s the product of a team that takes ball-sharing teamwork to the next level.
In the post-game broadcast interviews, two comments stood out to me, one by Staley, herself, and one by one of the phenomenal freshman players who came off the bench to seal the victory.
First, Staley commenting about the contributions from all members of the team: “We truly believe in elevating each player to be the best she can be and make the contributions that she can make.” And from the freshman player: “There is no selfishness on this team. Everybody believes in everybody else. Everybody believes in doing what it takes to win and in doing what it takes to help everybody else do what it takes to win.”
- Everyone has a contribution to make. Everyone is empowered to make that contribution.
- The victory belongs to all equally. No one wins unless we all win together.
That is a template for victory in any human endeavor that relies on teamwork.
When is the last team you saw a ministry leader brought to tears by the achievements of team members who have found their special moment?
My homemade acrostic to capture USC’s winning spirit reads like this:
T = Togetherness.
E = Expectations.
A = Aspirations.
M = Mettle.
A winning team thrives from a sense of the team members supporting, nurturing, and encouraging one another. It’s not enough to know your own strengths and weaknesses; you have to know and honor the strengths and weaknesses of every member of the team. You have to let them play to those strengths, and you have to protect them from the pernicious influences of their weaknesses.
A winning team thrives when team members have great expectations of one another. It’s not enough to stay out of one another’s way; it’s definitely not healthy to fight for territory. When we are hoping for the best for one another – for every team member to shine – when that is truly our goal, magical things can happen. We go out of our way not just to win for our own sake, but to put others in the best position to achieve their goals as well.
A winning team knows the vision for what they are trying to achieve and unifies around a grand strategy to gain that victory. They are invested in one another and in the wisdom and guidance of their coach. They understand the hard work that is required to achieve their goal, and they are joyfully committed to sharing that labor. They understand in their bones the concept of achieving something as a team that is far greater than anything they might achieve as individual performers.
A winning team displays mettle! Mettle is the quality of standing tough when the going gets rough, working through the problems as they arise with the help of those around you, all team members pulling together, lifting one another up, and carrying one another’s burdens. We don’t fold in the face of difficulties. We use them to lean on one another in ways that deepen our connections.
I found myself wishing that team was spelled with two “m”s, because “meaning” is also essential to their purpose.
A winning team celebrates the greater meaning of their shared cause. They are not just in it for the individual laurels or the short-term payoff. They are building lifelong relationships. They are laying the groundwork for a legacy. They are becoming people of positive influence and maybe even changing the game (changing the world) for better.
These are the kinds of teams we should be building for ministry.
As a counterexample to the myriad positive attributes of team thinking we just examined, this past weekend also provided a sad cautionary tale from Major League Baseball. Reading from Ken Rosenthal in The Athletic’s “Windup” newsletter, which covers all things baseball, I encountered this concern about damage being done to the arms of pitchers whose talents are being milked to the point of disaster:
On Saturday at Wrigley Field, I had a conversation with a fellow media member about pitching injuries. His summary of the problem was on point, but made me want to scream.
The hyperfocus on velocity and spin, he said, was achieving the desired results. Pitchers have never been as nasty as they are today, and teams win by pushing them to their physical limits.
Well, what is your definition of success?
Individual pitchers are being sacrificed to rack up wins. And it’s a short-term win-at-any-cost strategy that may be doing long-term damage to the teams, to the game, and sadly to the health of these individual contributors.
Why did these comments make me immediately think about any one of a dozen examples of local church ministry pushing staff members or volunteers to the point of exhaustion?
Burnout is real, and its one of the primary reasons that talented, dedicated people give up on engagement at their local churches. When we are hyper-focused on getting the work done at the expense of relationships – when we’re all about pulling off the event or program no matter how hard we are pushing people and without concerns for their individual needs – burnout is the inevitable outcome.
So, which kind of leaders do we want to be?
If an outside observer was writing about the team that we lead or are part of, would they write a glowing review of our selfless commitment to bringing out the best in one another in pursuit of a greater goal? Or would they report on a dysfunctional brood of territorial credit-takers? It’s up to us to decide what the DNA of our team is going to be, and there are plenty of proactive steps we can take to set the tone for what our reputation will ultimately reveal: winners together or those who fall short, tripped up by our own shortcomings. Share your reactions and comments below.
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