LOSS Archives - Wheeler Coaching Systems

Recently I was watching The Falls of Buffalo which is a documentary on the Buffalo Bills seasons from 1989 – 1993. If you aren’t a football fan you may not know they are the only team in the National Football League to go to four Super Bowls in a row . . . . and lose.

You may wonder what can we learn from a team that never could win the “big one.” Before I go any further may I suggest even though they came up short four times they accomplished something no other team in NFL history has. Going to the Super Bowl four times in a row! Other teams have gone four times or more, but to keep a team working together to get to that level of success multiple years is an accomplishment. Let’s look at a few teamwork principles that can be learned from their experience.

Storming

Football is a sport that can attract some strong personalities and egos. This was quite evident in the locker room during the 1989 season. Personalities were clashing both privately and even in the media as star running back Thurman Thomas at one point complained about their quarterback Jim Kelly. This experience is normal for all teams.

Teams go through four stages and the second stage is storming. During this stage people clash as the roles and expectations get clarified. Both the spoken and unspoken culture are forming. Teams come out of this stage either more divided or unified through healthy conflict. A leader’s job is to help the team navigate this stage in a manner that brings everyone together and their coach Marv Levy was able to do that.

Know and Fulfill Your Role

Leadership expert John Maxwell describes the Law of the Niche in his book The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork. This law states that “all players have a place where they add the most value.” Like I mentioned these Bills teams had strong personalities but they knew and fulfilled their roles. During the 1992 Wild Card playoff game starting quarterback Jim Kelly hurt his knee and Frank Reich stepped in to rally his team back from a 32-point deficit to beat the Houston Oilers.

He is one example of an individual fulfilling his role at a critical time to help the team. When team members embrace their role and fulfill their role to the best of their ability for the team great things happen. For this to happen team members must have clarity on their role, buy-in to the vision, and value the team more than their individual accomplishments.

Support

One of the most fascinating lessons from this era of the Bills is the support they had. After their first Super Bowl loss kicker Scott Norwood was miserable because he felt he lost the game for his team. While watching this documentary you heard the support of his teammates who recognized many mistakes factored into their loss and not just his missed kick.

Not only did he receive encouragement from his team, but upon return to Buffalo the crowd of community members chanted his name to hear from him. The community of Buffalo was still behind him and was not blaming him. When a team has this kind of support from one another and from the community around them it ignites a passion to keep persevering and fuels them for the type of success necessary to have a four-year record of 59 – 19 and reach four Super Bowls in a row.

Maybe your team has had some continual setbacks. You may have had to adjust personnel and strategy as the Bills did, but where is your team performing well? Is your team in a stage of storming? Do you need to give them clarity on their roles or are they fulfilling their roles to their highest ability? What kind of support do you need to provide them as a leader? Need help creating an environment to assess challenges you are facing? Contact me to discover how I can come alongside you and your team to help them continue to thrive.