In addition to playing professional football in the NFL with the Cardinals, Lions, and Packers, I have served on a number of public, private, and non-profit boards, in addition to being a Strategic Governance Advisor to a wide variety of companies from tech startups to troubled bank turnarounds. Governance in the corporate world is mainly “top down” from a board of directors. From my professional experiences with “governance successes” and “governance failures” in the corporate world, I find myself appreciating even more the “bottom-up” governance principles I learned from Championship Teams in the sports world.
One of the most important principles I learned is the “competitive advantage” to be gained by completely aligning, and linking, a team’s Vision, Governing Values, Mission, Competitive Strategy, and Execution Plans with measurable “performance outcomes.” I refer to this type of strategic alignment as “Championship Alignment,” and it is the core governance principle for building a Championship Team.
From my professional experience with “Championship Organizations” of all types, there are four (4) “self-governance dimensions” that, when leveraged together, create sustainable competitive advantage, if a Championship Alignment foundation has been put in place:
- Governance Leadership: the right “Team Leaders,” at every level in the organization, that model for team members how to achieve performance outcomes in the “right way”;
- Self-Improvement Resources: sufficient financial, and non-financial, support resources that enable team members to continually improve their performance outcomes;
- Accountability Processes: formal, and informal, accountability processes that empower team members to be accountable for performance outcomes; and
- Performance Culture: shared values and self-governing “tribal traditions” that challenge team members to exceed performance expectations.
Championship Alignment + 4-Dimensional Self-Governance = “Governance Capital,” the competitive advantage currency of Championship Teams. Every Championship Organization I have been associated with, whether in the sports or corporate world, had a measurably greater amount of Governance Capital than less-competitive peers. This is the primary reason why Championship Teams win consistently against seemingly equal competition. Championship Teams expect to have a competitive advantage on the field of play from having more Governance Capital than their competitors. Let me illustrate the competitive advantage value of Governance Capital from my experiences with Championship Teams.
When I was drafted into the NFL by the Cardinals in 1976, I became a member of what was widely considered the best Offensive Line (“OL”) in the NFL at that time. The Cardinal OL set the record for allowing the fewest quarterback (QB) “sacks” in a season for three straight years (1974 – 1976); a record that still stands today. Consider the Cardinal OL Mission to win games for the team by allowing the fewest QB sacks. The Competitive Strategy to achieve this measurable Mission Outcome was to architect, and execute, blocking schemes each game that neutralized the opposing team’s best pass rusher. One of the tribal traditions of the Cardinal OL was not just “no QB sacks,” it was a performance expectation that the man you were assigned to block never even “hit” the QB in a game, let alone sack the QB. The coaches did not dictate this; the players developed this self-governing tribal tradition themselves. It was not written anywhere in any playbook. The Cardinal OL Governance Leaders (i.e., the All-Pro Veterans) constantly emphasized this performance expectation as the “signature reputation” for being a Cardinal OL during film study, particularly, if your man ever did “hit” the QB. But, the performance expectation of not allowing your man to ever hit the QB was really perfected during football practices. The Execution Plan to perfect this performance expectation was “perfect practice” execution during practice. This was practice with a specific Execution Outcome to achieve—never fall to the ground in practice and always be in an “on-your-feet” mobile position to make a competitive difference. The Championship Alignment and “self-governing” building blocks that enabled the Cardinal OL to be the best in pro football can be depicted as a “Championship Governance Pyramid”:
Can you see the parallel competitive advantage in the corporate world, if a company was in complete Championship Alignment with every organizational unit in the company self-governed? The Board’s governance responsibilities would then become more about ensuring the company is effectively self-governed …than having to solely govern the company themselves. A company’s overall amount of Governance Capital is the sum total of the Governance Capital created from each of its self-governing organizational units …a “bottom-up” governance model.
Let’s explore Championship Team Governance Capital a little more in terms of self-governing tribal traditions. Championship Team QBs have a tribal tradition of regularly treating their OL to a nice dinner at an expensive steakhouse the evening before games (Note: OL are “carnivores,” and not tofu eaters). OL are the unsung heroes on a football team; but this particular tribal tradition reinforces and strengthens the protective bond that exists between a QB and his “Praetorian Guard.” Do you think this type of tribal bond makes a difference during the game, when a millisecond of extra pass protection time can be the difference between a completed pass for a touchdown, an interception …or even worse–the QB being carted off the field on a stretcher? Of course, it does! Is there a parallel lesson in the corporate world for culturing self-governing tribal traditions …particularly, in organizational units that “support” customer-facing units?
What does it mean to be a “self-governing professional” on a Championship Team? This is a question Championship Teams challenge players to answer every day. Championship Teams see “professionalism” through a different prism than most of the corporate world. To make the point here, let me take you back to the “Cowboy Code” of the Old West. It is called “riding the brand.” Take two of the most iconic brands in the NFL…the Dallas Cowboys (name irony?) and Green Bay Packers. From a brand value standpoint, the Cowboys are the most valuable professional sports brand in the world. And, the Packers, playing in the smallest NFL market, are more valuable than almost all other NFL brands who play in much larger markets. Having played for the Packers, and against the Cowboys multiple times, I can tell you that when you put on the “Green and Gold,” or the “Blue Star,” you are “riding the brand” in a very visceral way. You are reminded every day you put on a Cowboy or Packer uniform that great players have ridden this brand in the past; great players will ride this brand in the future; but, for me and my teammates…our time to ride this championship brand is …today. For Championship players, “riding the brand” is not a job; it is a deep sense of responsibility, and accountability, to past, present, and future players who will also ride the same championship brand. Just “meeting” performance expectations is not good enough, Championship players seek to “exceed” performance expectations. Is there a parallel lesson for “riding the brand” in the corporate world?
If I were compiling a “Handbook for Championship Organizations,” I would also include some of the other Championship Governance principles I learned from the sports world:
Governance Leaders: Only recruit “Character Athletes” that have a “team first” attitude. There is no letter “I” in the word, “TEAM.” The best coach I ever played for was the legendary BYU coach, Lavell Edwards. Many valuable lessons about competing on the football field (and, in “real life”) were learned from Coach Edwards. During his 19 years as Head Coach of BYU, Coach Edwards won consistently, with less athletic talent than other teams, by recruiting, and developing, players who were expected to live up to an Honor Code off the field. Coach Edwards had a special talent for setting even higher performance expectations of players than the minimum threshold standards of the Honor Code …and then challenging players to exceed those “higher-bar” expectations. Players who exceeded higher-bar performance expectations (i.e., Governance Leaders) helped inspire other team members to exceed higher-bar performance expectations, also …both on and off the field.
Self-Improvement Resources: You create a Championship Team that has sustainable competitive advantage by providing team members with sufficient support resources for both their on-the-field and off-the-field personal development and improvement. Self-improvement off the field (e.g., strength training, etc.) carries over to performance outcome improvement on the field; and, vice versa.
Accountability Processes: Provide all team members with the “power” of regular (i.e., monthly) Performance Accountability Reviews where everyone in the organization, even superstars, “return and report” on their individual performance outcomes. “Accountability” for a Championship Team is much more than a catchy HR slogan; it is literally the lifeblood of their competitive strategy. Championship Teams know that opposing teams will always bring their “A-Game” when they compete at game time. So, no matter how good the win-loss record is, a Championship Team has to continue to improve as a team…which means individual team members have to continue to improve …which means performance outcome accountability to themselves …and to the team.
Performance Culture: Culture self-governing tribal traditions, that challenge team members to exceed performance expectations, from the “bottom up” (not “top down”). Bottom-up tribal traditions are the “championship glue” that holds Championship Teams together. And, the proof is consistently demonstrated on the field of play in the competitive outcomes achieved by Championship Teams who have built self-governing performance cultures (e.g., New England Patriots).
Championship Governance principles that are applicable to the sports world are, indeed, applicable to the corporate world for any company that seeks sustainable competitive advantage in their marketplace …and that is what makes a “Championship Team.”
This article was adapted from, “What Corporate America Can Learn About Self-Governance From Championship Teams.” Brad Oates is Chairman of Stone Advisors, and an Independent Director on the CIT Group Board of Directors (NYSE:CIT). He is also a regular lecturer on Corporate Governance and Business Ethics through his academic affiliations with the Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance at UT-Dallas and the Marriott School of Management at BYU.