One
thing that often catches people a little off guard about me is my love for
hockey. Originally, I am from Texas. There, football is practically a religion.
On Friday, people watch high school ball. Saturday is college day (I was in
Lubbock so everybody was all about Texas Tech). Then, Sunday was the day to
cheer for the Cowboys. I never cared to partake in any of it, though, so was a bit
of a social outcast in that respect. It wasn’t until ’98 that I realized that I
was actually supposed to be born a Canadian. (Not literally but I mean that I
thrive in the cold and I love the ice.)
I
always say that the biggest appeal of hockey to me is how much of a “team sport”
it is. My friends often rebut that other professional sports are also team
sports. I surely don’t disagree with that but hockey doesn’t really have many
superstars. In football, the focus is pretty much on the quarterback and he (or
she, if it is a women’s league) can make or break the team. In basketball, it
seems that you always have the one person that gets all of the fame and glory.
Hockey isn’t like that, though. Sure, you may have a goalie that is a brick
wall but other than that, players or rotating on and off the ice every minute
and a half or so. The high scorers spend more time on the bench than on the
ice. It is all about the team coming together and I absolutely love that. (I
also like that it is fast-paced and low scoring which means that every goal is
a thrill.)
This
week, we have been studying the Intentional Change Theory (ICT) which, in a
nutshell, is our conscious choice to guide the path of our progression toward
our ideal self which is “what you want out of life and the person you want to
be – leading to your personal vision” (Boyatzis & McKee, 2005, p. 88). Intentional
change is a continuous process that has five steps: the realization of the
personal self, embracing your real self (how you actually are and how others
see you), your learning agenda (capitalizing on strengths and working on
weaknesses), experimenting with habits, and developing and maintaining
relationships.
I
would imagine that these star players exercise ICT every day. I am often
encouraged by the story of Michael Jordan (Halberstam, 1999). When he was in
high school, Michael Jordan was actually told that he was too short to play for
the varsity team. He knew, though, that he was destined to be the best of the
best. He committed everything he had to preparing for a future in professional
basketball. He realized both his ideal self and understood how he was currently
seen by others and found a way to work through that to push toward excellence.
In his senior year, he finally made the varsity team and became a primary player
for the team. The rest is history. He didn’t let anybody stop him from
advancing.
We
hear success stories like this all the time from every sport – superstars that
were told that they were not good enough or that had all of the cards stacked
against them yet were able to rise to the top. We are inspired by these stories
to enact changes in our own lives to work toward our own ideal self. Perhaps we
are looking to be more physically fit, increase our paycheck, or just have better
relationships and a social life. We look to these stars and say, “If they can
do it, I know that I can, too!” We then follow the steps of ICT and make it happen.
Here’s
the problem. What happens when you have a team of people that are all trying to
be the best version of themselves without regard to the rest of the team? I see
this all the time even in Army recruiting. You have a bunch of individuals
working toward their individual goals of being a recruiting superstar but they
forget to work together to make it happen. Consider this. In the 1970s, the
Russian hockey team was unbeatable. However, in the 1980 Winter Olympics, the
U.S. hockey team did the impossible and worked together to take down the
undefeatable giant. The team was made up of amateur and college players. After
that, the team was replaced with NHL professionals. Team USA has not won gold
since then even though the team is made of superstars.
When
it comes to applying ICT to a group – in this case, a sports team (but you can
apply this to any group) – “intentionality and shared ideals are the drivers of
change and group transformation” (Akriyou & Boyatzis, 2006, p. 690). When
everybody is just trying to be the best version of themselves, that isn’t necessarily
conducive to a positive team. In 1980, the U.S. hockey team wasn’t playing as a
collection of individuals but rather as a solid team with one goal in mind – to
take gold. But how do you take a collection of individuals all striving to be
the best and actually get them to change their focus to being the best team,
instead? “In existing models of group development, negative emotionality was an
essential, explicit and/or subtle underlying theme. Negative emotion was seen
as a catalyst for change in the group” (p. 695-696). In other words, it takes a
little bit of anger or even failure for the need for a change to even be recognized.
If things are going well, even if the team is not performing at peak capacity,
the realization of a better alternative isn’t even acknowledged. However, when
competition against other markets or other teams is present, failure is naturally
easier to gauge. This failure causes strong emotions. At that time, “positive
motivation creates intrinsic motivation for intentional group development” (p.
696).
The
bottom line – ICT can be applied at the team level. Sometimes, though, we have
to experience a little defeat to recognize the need for change. At that point,
we can begin to work together to be the best possible version of our team.
Akrivou,
K., Boyatzis, R. E., & McLeod, P. L. (2006). The Evolving Group: Towards a
Prescriptive Theory
of Intentional Group Development. The
Journal of Management Development, 25(7), 689-706.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.libproxy.dbN.erau.edu/10.1108/02621710610678490
Boyatzis,
R. & McKee, A. (2005). Resonant
Leadership. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School
Press
Halberstam,
D. (1999). Playing or Keeps: Michael Jordan
and the World He Made (First ed.).
New
York: Random House.
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