More from "Tribes"

Last week I quoted the book, “Tribes – We Need You to Lead Us” by Seth Godin (Portfolio) and made some remarks related to application of its ideas. More of the same follows below.

 

Today’s item is from the section titled, “Improving a Tribe.”

 

“As we saw earlier, it takes only two things to turn a group of people into a tribe:

• A shared interest

• A way to communicate

 

The communication can be one of four kinds:

• Leader to tribe

• Tribe to leader

• Tribe member to tribe member

• Tribe member to outsider

 

So a leader can help increase the effectiveness of the tribe and its members by:

• Transforming the shared interest into a passionate goal and desire for change.

• Providing tools to allow members to tighten their communications, and

• Leveraging the tribe to allow it to grow and gain new members.

 

Most leaders focus only on the third tactic. A bigger tribe somehow equals a better tribe. In fact, the first two tactics almost always lead to more impact.”

As before, we’ll look more intently at each section with some application points for each.

 

As we saw earlier, it takes only two things to turn a group of people into a tribe:

• A shared interest – Sports teams are already ahead of the curve in this process as their shared interest in their sport is central to their being together. Sport Chaplains, Character Coaches and Sport Mentors are also uniquely equipped to add another layer of shared interest as they weave faith in Christ into their relationships with players, coaches and support staff.

• A way to communicate – For sports teams this is usually face to face at practice and on game day. At other times it may mean phone calls, emails, text messages, etc… The team’s Sport Chaplain can enhance their communication and thereby greatly increase the team’s effectiveness. Team building exercises are most effective in this process. Please contact me if you’d like to discuss this more deeply. We can also model ways of communicating more effectively for the coaching staff and for competitors as well.

 

The communication can be one of four kinds:

• Leader to tribe – This usually looks like Coach to Player. It can also be Character Coach to Coach or to Player. The Sport Chaplain’s leadership role within the life of the team can be powerful and of tremendous worth. Don’t discount your influence. You may be leading the tribe.

• Tribe to leader – This is usually Player to Coach and is much different than that mentioned above. This kind of communication is usually in the coach’s office or somewhere with more privacy when the subject is personal. It’s often exercised while watching practice video or discussing technique and strategy. The Sport Mentor can help the tribe to communicate more effectively by helping them understand how to speak with respect to those who lead them. The tribe may be speaking to the Character Coach also, listen closely and you can serve them better.

• Tribe member to tribe member – The modes for this communication are widely varied from relaxed joking in the locker (changing) room to trading SMS text messages to facebook posts, tweets, phone calls and things I’m not even aware of yet. Improving this area of communication may be the most difficult as the methods and culture change so rapidly. Sport Chaplains can also enhance the tribe’s communication, member to member, by working to establish relational connections, to build trust and to make commitments to each other.

• Tribe member to outsider – In the world of sport this looks like coaches or athletes speaking to the media or signing autographs for fans. Those on the inside of the team communicate differently with those inside the team (tribe) than they do with those outside. Usually that’s a good thing which is necessitated by the outsiders’ lack of technical knowledge or a disparity of values. The Sport Mentor can do a real service to the tribe as he helps them to define their values and consider wise communication skills with outsiders.

 

So a leader can help increase the effectiveness of the tribe and its members by:

• Transforming the shared interest into a passionate goal and desire for change. – Sport Chaplains are in a perfect spot to do this as our shared interest in the sport is enhanced by the shared interest and passion for Christ. The shared interest and passion can be transformational. Let it be.

• Providing tools to allow members to tighten their communications, and – Character Coaches who learn how to use technology well and to connect more deeply than the 140 characters allowed in a Twitter post can greatly enhance the communications between team members, their coaches and even each other.

• Leveraging the tribe to allow it to grow and gain new members. – Please don’t get caught in the trap of fixating on this item to the exclusion to the first two. They actually lead to this one. Properly focusing on them will allow this one to happen rather naturally.

In summary – Sport Chaplains, Character Coaches and Sport Mentors may be in perfect position to be dynamic leaders among their teams (tribes). We must look for the Lord’s grace to serve and to lead with Christ-honoring character. Go ahead, lead.