My daughter’s high school varsity volleyball team won the State Championships this past weekend. It was an amazing experience to watch, even more so because this group of girls is incredible.
They support each other, LIKE each other, visibly and audibly have fun when warming up or playing together, and credit their success to being “14 strong”. They worked hard, enjoyed every minute, and achieved their goal.
But while I am happy for and proud of my daughter and her teammates, their success came due to trickle-down. The team achieved success because of their coach, the leader of this group.
(Knowing the coach is a private individual, I’ll refer to her as Coach R.) It was due to this woman’s integration of powerful leadership skills that the team succeeded.
Lessons From A Coach That Worth Noting About
There were four specific things Coach R did that made her stand out as a leader and brought her team to the championship level:
1. She created a platform of unity
Coach R made sure there wasn’t a spotlight on one or two players. There was no “star” of the team. Those on the bench were as valuable as those on the court.
When she was interviewed after winning the State Finals game, Coach R said, “The U.S. volleyball team, their motto is ‘23 strong’. Even though only 12 players went to the Olympics, it took 23 players to get them there.
And so that’s the model that we’ve embraced this year. It takes all 14 of us to earn the state championship, even though not every player was on the floor tonight.”
In an organization, this approach is also true. Is the success of the organization reliant on one member or the team? And if the focus is on one team member, what does that do to the organization?
The other team members feel devalued. They stop giving their all. They lose sight of the goal. And where does it leave the organization if that one “star” leaves?
Left behind is a disjointed, disconnected, and dissatisfied group of people. The unity Coach R created became the platform for the team’s approach to the goal.
2. She created a shared mission and vision
Winning the State Championship honestly didn’t seem like the sole purpose of the season. While going to the States is a vision for most high school or collegiate teams, it seemed that for Coach R, the vision didn’t smother the mission she created with the team.
The mission was twofold: play their best and have fun. Watching the team the night of the Championships demonstrated that mission. The girls were singing and dancing the whole time as they waited for their turn to warm up.
They weren’t letting stress or anxiety get in the way of their fun. They were meeting the season’s mission even in what was the biggest athletic night for them.
Coach R made sure the girls knew they didn’t have to do anything different from what they did every game. She led her team in this mission, which guided them to attain their vision of the state championship.
The same applies to organizations. Ensuring everyone within the organization knows the long-term vision but buys into the daily mission to get there…and then keeps the mission alive even in the face of the vision.
3. She recognized her players as individuals, not just players
This was my daughter’s first season with this coach after transferring to the school. My daughter came home after practice one da,y and when I asked her what she did to kill time between the end of the school day and practice, she casually said, “I had my 1-to-1 with Coach today.”
Huh? I had no idea what she meant. Turns out, Coach R schedules time to meet with every player during the season. She sits with each girl, and while she certainly asks about the player’s goals for the season, more importantly, she connects with each girl as a person.
She asks real questions, and they get to ask questions to her. They talk as people, not as coach and player, not as adult and kid, but as women and athletes.
Can you imagine what this creates and what the same practice could do within an organization? Coach R’s players feel a real connection to her and her to them. It builds trust.
It builds commitment. It increases performance and retention whether in a volleyball program, in a family, or in a Fortune 500 company.
4. She demonstrated the behavior and thinking to support the mission
Coach R never yelled other than in excitement. She never demonstrated frustration. She was either smiling, offering praise, giving motivating talks, or offering coaching strategies for players to use towards the team’s mission and vision.
Coach R’s team saw this every time they looked at her or heard her. Their coach’s attitude and actions became the standard they emulated. She became the model of how to be, and they all adopted that model.
There wasn’t room for negativity because it would’ve been an outlier, an anomaly, and in fact, when typical issues came up through the season, the team quickly dealt with them and positioned themselves back in line with Coach R’s standards.
Leaders in any organization can do the same. Certainly, there are times that are challenging, but does expressing anger, frustration, or disgust move you closer to your vision or farther away?
What behavioral, cognitive, and emotional expressions help keep your team on track and focused on the mission and vision?
Overall, the leadership of Coach R worked for one reason: she led based on her own style. Coach R didn’t try to fit into a prescribed type of leadership. She didn’t base her behavior on famous coaches in an attempt to duplicate their leadership.
Building a Winning Team Culture Beyond the Court
A winning team culture doesn’t just happen by chance—it’s the result of deliberate effort from a successful coach who understands the coach’s job goes far beyond training drills.
Just as a business leader in a leadership position must guide their organization, coaches must provide direction that players can rally around.
Along the way, they uncover important lessons that extend far beyond the scoreboard, shaping how athletes view life, teamwork, and leadership.
Whether aiming for a national championship or driving business outcomes, the same values apply: recognizing that only players working together—not one standout—create lasting success.
The best coaches and every best coach know how to balance discipline with support, offering thought provoking insights that help individuals lead, develop resilience, and grow.
Coaches remind us that success isn’t always about earning more money, but about changing lives, making the journey meaningful, and proving that in the world of sports or business, there are so many ways to win.
Leadership Lessons that Translate to Business Success
The first step in effective leadership is understanding that the process is just as valuable as the outcome. Great coaches and leaders know how to set goals, encourage learning, and embrace new things while guiding people forward.
Whether on a basketball court, a soccer field, or in the boardroom, the ability to teach, give feedback, and keep people present ensures long-term growth and success.
A coach or executive may not always get everything right—sometimes things go wrong—but the key lies in staying committed and adaptable. Just like handling a ball in play, leaders must stay focused, flexible, and ready for the unexpected.
Through steady guidance, they show how the coaching journey can inspire people to push forward, even when challenges arise.
And whether in sports or business, when strong leadership helps people grow together, it creates not just better performance but stronger connections that last well beyond the game.
She created a leadership style based on her values, her strengths, and her vision for her players, not the group’s State Championship vision, but her vision as the leader of a program in which each player grew, personally and athletically, because of the support they gave and received from their team.
“It’s the buy-in. They buy into each other so hard, it’s ridiculous,” Coach R said. “Their strength is in the group. We work really hard in the gym every day on our skills, but we know that at this age level, having that cohesion can bring you from a 5 to an 11.
They buy into that. They work hard every day, but it’s because of each other … that’s what makes them truly special.” All due respect to Coach R, while it was due to the players’ connection and support of each other, even more, it was because, as a leader, Coach R created and showed what it means to be part of a winning team. Those are the lessons from a coach.
