Coach K, Words, and Standards

Last week, a friend texted me this short video clip.

For those unfamiliar with the speaker, it's "Coach K," a.k.a Mike Krzyzewski, longtime head coach of the Duke University basketball team, who retired this year as a living legend of the sport. His college teams won five national championships, and he also coached the U.S. team to three Olympic gold medals.

"A standard is the way you live all the time, and you hold other people accountable for. It's how you live." - Coach K

As I continue to research and ponder the subject of standards for this newsletter and my daily work, I encounter more leaders who follow the line of thinking in the above quote. And one area where I continue to be inspired is when leaders such as him distinguish the word from others that are similar - norms, values, principles, guidelines, specs and, of course, rules.

WORDS MATTER

Because one of my personal standards is "words matter," I think about these comparisons and synonyms a lot. And for each word, I keep reaching the same conclusion:

• A norm is a standard but a standard is not necessarily a norm.
• A value is a standard but a standard is not necessarily a value.
• A guideline is a standard but a standard is not necessarily a guideline.

You get the idea. And as Coach K insinuates in the above clip, the same applies to the word, rule.

My passion for standards was initially inspired by the comparison of that word with another one - expectations. As I've discussed in prior articles, the context of that comparison is relationships, and the main point I try to make is that expectations are unhealthy for relationships and standards are healthier.

TEAMS & STANDARDS

The coach of an athletic team is no different from any other team leader: they are there to help guide the team to work together in pursuit of a common cause. And as any leader knows, every team is complex, consisting of different personalities, work styles, old habits, personal motivations, etc. The leader's fundamental job is to manage each, and all, of those personalities effectively enough in pursuit of that common cause.

Imagine for a moment how challenging it must have been for someone like Coach K to guide a group as complex as his first U.S. Olympic team in 2008. For example:

• Each member was playing for a different professional team, and had absolutely no prior experience playing with all their new Olympic teammates.
• They were high-profile, highly paid professionals, and many of them had big egos and high standards/expectations of their own.
• They would be playing for a coach who, despite amazing accomplishments at the collegiate level, had absolutely no experience as a coach of a professional team.

Somehow, Coach K was able to guide this complex (yet ridiculously talented) group to an Olympic gold medal. But here's the thing...

He did it twice more with entirely different (and again, highly talented) teams.

So how did he do it? I have no idea but I imagine that his attitude about standards vs. rules played a small part. In other words, he didn't have expectations for his team members, which are effectively what rules are. And as many of us know from prior or current experience, rules in relationships can be even more unhealthy than expectations.

I also believe that the process Coach K used to set the standards was part of his success. Please watch the clip below, starting at 0:53.

Not only does Coach K explain the difference between rules and standards for him, he also shares that he did not set the U.S. team's standards by himself; it was a collective process.

"We have no rules but we have standards." - Coach K

That idea alone - collaboratively setting standards - is a powerful way for teams or groups of any kind to get aligned.

WORDS SET STANDARDS

It's not only that words matter when comparing the word standards to its synonyms; the words which are used to describe the standards matter as well.

From his book, The Gold Standard: Building a World Class Team, here are the standards of Coach K's first U.S. national team.

Notice the words?

In all likelihood, they were thoughtfully chosen, discussed, debated, and agreed upon by consensus. The primary standards, in larger type, are supported by secondary standards to create alignment and common understanding of desired behaviors.

And perhaps the most important word throughout - one that matters to every group or team - is "we."

Is there a standard at your workplace that
can be improved with better word choice?

Do you have a shared experience of how words
made a difference in your life?


Please share comments, reactions, and questions below.