Lessons from the Lions

Last year something amazing happened…not only did the Michigan Wolverines win the National College Football Championship, but the Detroit Lions won two consecutive playoff games despite massive numbers of injuries. As John Hiner, Editor of MLive.com shared in his Letter to the Editor on January 25, 2024, Dan Campbell brought about a cultural change from the “Same Old Lions” to a culture that believes in the team. He did that by relentlessly talking about the culture he was building and by going out to recruit people that fit into that new culture. The team culture changed…and then the culture of the fans began to change. Today, they are among the loudest fans to ever cheer their team. After generations of fans hoping for a glimpse of victory, things have shifted. The Lions are now the team to beat. It only took three years to accomplish.

This got me to thinking about workplace culture. The broken-record theme of “improving workplace culture” goes in circles, around and around and around, but the music never changes. The culture may experience a blip of improvement, giving false hope, time and again, but it never seems to stick. Much like the “Same Old” Lions may defeat the Green Bay Packers one week, then lose miserably to a last place team the next.

What lessons can we learn from Dan Campbell and the New Lions about changing the culture of an organization? First, the leader needs to be a cheerleader, not a purveyor of all that is wrong with the team. Culture change starts at the top. The message needs to be realistic, not pie-in-the-sky. Campbell was open and honest about what was going to be needed. He needed people who were blue collar, hard-working, and committed to the cause to succeed – and he was going to recruit those people to the team and things were going to change! Don’t we need much of the same from our corporate leadership? They need to lead the charge, saying, “This is what we need…we need people who have our vision for the future…people who are willing to work hard and give it their all for us to succeed and we are going to be the best! In exchange, we will support you and encourage you and connect you with the resources and training you need to be your best. We are going to pull together and shine! Our culture will change because we are changing.” The messaging must be broken-record consistent. It must always focus on the positive, even as it acknowledges the hard work that is needed to move forward.

Next, we need to be willing to make personnel changes. This may be moving to a different position on the team or being moved off the team. If people are not willing to get onboard with the new direction of the organization, we need to find people who are. A skilled worker with a terrible attitude will do more to harm the organization than almost anything else. Sometimes we need to invite people to find other opportunities. Firing people is not necessarily the answer, though. Sometimes their attitude issue is due to them not being a good fit for the position they are in. Running backs and wide receivers are both offensive weapons, and can sometimes make plays like the other position, but their skills are different. Maybe your employee needs to move to a new position within the company that is a better skills fit. Others may simply be working under a supervisor whose leadership style doesn’t work well for them and they would do great in a similar role under a different supervisor. Take time to find the source of the discontent. Most people want to be happy at work – give them an opportunity to shine.

Be your team’s most outspoken supporter. It doesn’t matter if they just made a “rookie mistake” – you are there to coach them, teach them, support them, encourage them. We all make mistakes. Help them learn from their mistake and grow. If you need to correct them, do it from the coach’s office, not at the press conference. When they do well at something, praise them publicly. Remember…correct in private, praise in public. Don’t criticize others when you meet with other members of your team. That undermines trust. If you are criticizing my coworker when you meet with me…what are you saying about me when you meet with them? If you have to talk about other team members in your meetings, be sure you are saying something positive about them. If there is a problem that needs to be addressed, talk about the issue, not the person. “We need to create more turnovers.” Not, “Johnson should have intercepted the ball when he had the chance in the second quarter. That would have changed the course of the game.”

Don’t be afraid to get your “hands dirty” working alongside your colleagues in the trenches. Dan Campbell works hard right alongside his players. They believe he is for them and understands them. They believe he can be trusted and is on their side. When leaders stay in their executive suites, with their espresso machines and beautiful offices and conference rooms, those on the front lines don’t believe their leadership understands their day-to-day realities. When the executives take the time to leave their suites and come down to the floors, the laboratories, the production lines, on a regular basis and engage with them, the front-line workers will begin to believe the rhetoric that comes from the “ivory tower”. When the CEO begins to call for their employees to work together toward a common goal and lays out the vision and how it is going to impact them, the workers know where the CEO’s heart is at, the underlying dream and vision, and they can trust the words because they know the person behind the words.

Let’s be like the Lions – Out with the Same Old Lions and in with a winning team! Let’s go Lions!