teamwork and fist

“Teamwork: the fuel that produces results uncommon in ordinary people.” Anonymous

“The key to teamwork is learning a role, accepting that role, and striving to be great at playing it.” Pat Riley

Several years ago, when I was coaching the Junior College basketball team at Wentworth Military Academy, an opposition coach approached me after the game. He said: “Your sons are overperformers. How do you get them to play so hard?” I replied that it wasn’t that my players were overperformers (although truth be told, they were), but that theirs were underperformers. As for making them play that hard, I demand it. Players know what their teammates and I expect of them. I went on to explain my theory of teamwork and fisting.

The teams have two options: they can be like the hand or like the fist. The hand is made up of five fingers that work independently of each other. Extend all five fingers of your hand and you will have peaks and valleys. Some nights, when everything is going well, you are on top of one of those peaks. However, it is easy to slip back into the depths of the valley. And, if I slap you with an open hand, it will hurt you, it will embarrass you, it will hurt your pride. But, it will not deliver a knockout blow.

The Fist, on the other hand, is a tight-knit group, coming together for a common cause. Sure there are still the five individual fingers on the hand, but now they are working on the other fingers. If I make a fist and hit you, I can deliver a coup de grace. When you get to you you wonder what in the world hits you.

Mike Krzyzewski, longtime head coach at Duke University, also talks about the Fist. In his book, Leading with Heart, Coach K says, “I view our team members as the five fingers on one hand. Some hands have small fingers that easily fold into a fist. Other hands have very large fingers but , if they never come together as a team, they probably won’t be as powerful as the talented individuals who do.”