The People Advantage: Why Your Team Is Not Winning

Paul (0:00): The other beauty of disc was that when everybody knows how they're wired, then you really teach them how those wirings interact to put together the best opportunity to interact with each other. And I think that's the beauty of it. It's not just getting to know how you're wired and how everyone's wired. It's actually the benefit is how do those things actually go together so that they work more cohesively? How do they communicate together?

Unknown Speaker (0:27): That's the beauty of it. Welcome to the house soccer explains leadership podcast, where we explore leadership principles through the lens of the beautiful game.

Phil (0:38): Welcome back to how soccer explains leadership. Thanks a lot for being a part of the conversation. Well, we are in episode two of season fourteen, and this season, we're doing things a little different. If you didn't check out episode one of this season, I encourage you to go back and listen to that because this season is all tied together and it builds on itself. It's really about the people advantage, the advantage of understanding ourselves and understanding each other on our team so that we can perform better.

Phil (1:06): And, today, we're gonna be talking about really how you play, how you lead, and you lead how you play, and really, you know, the way you're wired impacts everything you do and and and how you interact with others. But before we get dive into it, Paul, what's up, man?

Paul (1:25): Yeah, man. Things are good. We're just looking forward to you know, I've enjoyed, you know, our first conversation about this season and the direction we're gonna go and excited about what that's gonna do, I think, for our listeners as we dive into, you know, dive into all this. But things here are great in in Waco, Texas, man. No no complaints.

Phil (1:42): Awesome. Awesome. Well, I'm I'm psyched for this. I'm psyched for this these conversations. And today, we're basically gonna do a refresh on DISC model of human behavior.

Phil (1:52): Those of you who are longtime listeners of the show, you know it's something that's that I've used over the last decade or so in all the work that I do, and I've just seen how powerful of a tool it is. I've used it with the soccer team that I coach, and we've taken a team that was relatively toxic. I'm not gonna say the most toxic team I've ever been a part of, but it it was very relatively toxic to now, I would say, is the healthiest culture I've ever been a part of in a soccer program. And I owe a lot of it to that. You know?

Phil (2:24): It's not just that. We also have a leadership team. We pour into mission, vision, values, and a lot of that stuff, which is critical. All of it goes together. And and we've had great kids, but but you can still have great kids that don't click and don't connect and don't understand each other.

Phil (2:42): And when that happens and things get stressful and things get uncomfortable, you start losing a couple games, it just could blow up, and and and we know negativity is contagious. So, you know, I know that we did a disc training with your team at Baylor when you were coaching there. You understand disc and how it works. And and so what are your thoughts just generally about wiring and how it impacts, you know, really everything?

Paul (3:10): Yeah. Well, you've heard us, you know, our listeners have heard us talk about this a lot, this concept of, you know, in leadership, you need to know yourself, right, before you know others. And I think that's an important piece of this is that the first thing is knowing knowing yourself and how you're wired. Right? Because that's gonna directly affect how how you lead.

Paul (3:28): And if everybody in an organization takes that kinda takes that idea and understands they need to understand themselves first because they're all leaders in their different environment, whatever position you play on the field or whatever position you are within a team. It's important that you know who you are first. So it's not just about you know, so I think some people think that, well, you know, someone to come in and do disc training. And as a coach, I'm gonna know, you know, more about all of my players. Yes.

Paul (3:55): And the players also know themselves better as well. It reveals a lot. So knowing how you're wired as a as a coach, as a leader is so important because it it it helps you understand how you lead best. But the other beauty I thought of disc was that when everybody knows, you know, how they're wired, so to speak, as we're saying, then you really teach them how those wirings interact to put together the best opportunity to interact with each other. And I think that's the beauty of it.

Paul (4:25): It's not just getting to know how you're wired and how everyone's wired. It's actually the benefit is how do those things actually go together so that they work more cohesively? How do they communicate together? Though, that's the beauty of it, think, Phil. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (4:40): So I I I think it's a great it's a great thing.

Unknown Speaker (4:43): I love that. I love that. And, you know, and we talked last episode about the conductor. Right? And I I think that, again, it's that idea of you need all the instruments in order to have this beautiful music.

Unknown Speaker (4:55): Now you can have a saxophone alone and it can sound great, you can have a trumpet, you can have this, and you can have that. But when they all come together and they're playing together as one, it's like, what? And and you need all of them to make these different music. Right? And so in that sense, you need all these different styles like you talked about, and I love it.

Phil (5:14): And what real quick, we'll we'll share if you don't know, and if you've never heard of DISC, DISC is a again, it's a model of human behavior, and it's d I s c. And it's basically, are you outgoing or are you reserved? Are you task focused or are you people focused? And if you're outgoing and task focused, you're you're what's called a d. You're you're a driver.

Phil (5:34): You're one who goes after it. You're you're allowed, and and you're gonna go fast, and you're gonna get a ton of stuff done, and you're gonna make things happen. And you're you'd like to win. Very competitive. Going you know, that it's it's it's we're gonna win, win, win.

Phil (5:48): Right? The I is outgoing and people focused and very inspiring. And and again, this is very there's so much more to all this, but this is kind of the shortcut so that we're not using language that you're what in the world are you talking about? So the I is the inspiring personality style, and it's it's an influencer. It's one who is not an influencer the way we say.

Unknown Speaker (6:06): Some are the way we're talking about it today.

Unknown Speaker (6:08): Good clarification there.

Phil (6:09): It's just someone who influences people naturally. Everyone influences people, but it's more one who's kind of that life of the party, outgoing people focused. Just fun is the driver. Results are the driver for the d. Fun is the driver for the I.

Phil (6:26): And, yeah, there's a lot more to it. The s is the people focused and reserved, and it's really the supportive personality. It's the steady personality style. It's one who is very empathetic, and peace and harmony is what the s needs, and and really team cohesion is what is critical for the s. Ss love being part of teams, and they will do anything for you.

Phil (6:49): They will go they will take, you know, the shirt off their back for you, but they don't like necessarily feeling like they're the ones who are gonna ask for stuff. Right? So they're they're not gonna necessarily speak up and and advocate for themself. They're gonna make sure everyone else in the room is is doing great. And then the c is the more is the people folk or task focused and reserved personality style, and it's the more cautious, conscientious personality style.

Phil (7:21): Very detail oriented, excellence, value, quality are going to be the most important thing for them. Paul is a high c. I am a high I. It's actually a lot of the reasons why I think this this podcast works well is because we're wired differently, and we bring different things to the table. And, you know, and we need all of it.

Phil (7:44): If all those things coming together, you have the Ds that are driving that, hey, guys, we gotta we gotta win. We gotta go after. We gotta do this. We you know? And that's important in a team.

Phil (7:52): Right? We gotta win. We gotta get results. The I is the one who's gonna inspire when when you're kinda down and we need someone to lift them up. And, you know, the s's are the ones who are gonna be that steady and going, you know, that team cohesion is super important.

Phil (8:05): And if we don't have it, we're not gonna we're not gonna do our best. And then the the c's are the ones who are saying, we're gonna bring that excellence, that quality. We gotta do everything. We don't just gotta get stuff done. We gotta get it done right.

Phil (8:18): And all those things coming together just build this beautiful team when we're working together. But you can also see how a d when unhealthy goes to anger. An I when unhealthy just goes to just talking and talking and talking and just being unfocused and going and and not being, on the on the same page oftentimes and and just trying to talk them way out of stuff. The s will actually withdraw. So when an s is unhealthy and they're on a team where that's unhealthy, often they just won't play to their best of ability because they're withdrawing and they're just taking themselves out of the out of the equation.

Phil (8:54): And then the c's will get hypercritical. And so when we see that, we also go, okay, that could become toxic real fast if we have unhealthy people. So a way to keep people healthy is to build them up in great ways. It's also individually. You gotta know how to how to stay healthy as well.

Unknown Speaker (9:13): But that's not necessarily what we're talking about here. So with all that, Paul, how do you wanna tie that together as we're getting ready to wrap up this this episode? This does go quick, folks. These are bite sized nuggets as we talked about, but, you know, I have a few more minutes. But what what what are you thinking of all that?

Paul (9:32): Yeah. I I think that, you know, it's a great high level look at what what DiSC is. And and if you can think through that, you know, as you're listening to this and really start to think of, you know, how those how those different personality traits really work together, that's where you find the beauty in team. Right? And I think that's where the disc training is is extremely helpful because you do start to see you may start to see, oh my gosh.

Unknown Speaker (9:57): I didn't realize I don't have enough d's on my team. You know? Maybe I don't have any. Right? As as we're as we're looking at different things.

Paul (10:04): And maybe maybe it comes into, you know, if you're, you know, looking for players, you know, or you're looking somebody to build your team, are you are you looking not just for qualities on the field, but what are the qualities off the field? That's what this season is about. It's not just about on the field stuff, but what's the off the field stuff that's gonna help us be more successful on the field. And I think learning your wiring as a coach and learning the wiring of your players is one of those pieces.

Phil (10:29): Yeah. I I love that. And and, obviously, some teams have more of an opportunity. If we're talking college coaches right now, you have more of an opportunity to actually look at this stuff in recruiting. You can even have your your recruits take a disc assessment.

Phil (10:45): There's no rules against that. You can do that with different people. Definitely, would recommend you do another team. If you wanna talk to me more about it, there's obviously no obligation, no anything, but I'd love to just you know, I could spend a half hour with you just talking about your team and and help understand how this might help you. If you wanna do that, you can you know, just, go to my website, darkleadership.com, and hit that, you know, book a strategy call button, and we can go on a half hour, just quick call and just to see what how this might help your team.

Phil (11:17): Clubs, you you have some say in it, obviously, but, know, it's a limited pool who's coming to you, so you gotta pick from that. But when you have your team, is I think it's really important, especially you're not just doing this for the team's sake. You're doing this for the kids' sake and for their family's sake and for their future's sake, because this is stuff that's not gonna just be them with them for this season. It's gonna be with them for life. So that's something that I, strongly, strongly recommend, strongly advocate for.

Phil (11:47): And and, you know, and again, it's something that this will not this won't make a an unathletic player athletic and a great soccer skilled tactician on the field, but it will help them perform better on and off the field because they'll be healthier in every way. So what do you think of that last thoughts there, Paul?

Paul (12:12): No. I absolutely. I would definitely encourage folks to to at least reach out and have a conversation. And and you mentioned on the club side, I think as a club director, you may not be able to do this for all of your players, but I do think that if you brought in your staff and you did it for your coaches, I think as a as a leader of a club, I think that would be really beneficial to know to know your coaches. Because as as a as a as a club, you are a team of coaches.

Paul (12:35): And and I think, looking even at my my staff of coaches, I've got all the different personalities. When we come together to make decisions, knowing what those personalities are could be very helpful and as we strategize and and look to move to the future.

Unknown Speaker (12:49): Absolutely. Well, folks, this is it for episode two. And, you know, I I bet there were people out there going, there's no way Paul and Phil can keep these episodes ten to fifteen minutes. But, you know

Unknown Speaker (13:01): We're doing it.

Unknown Speaker (13:01): Park. Two for two. And, you know, and so with that, folks, if you wanna check out what Warrior Way is doing out there in Waco, Paul and Marcy doing some awesome things, not just in Waco, but throughout Central America as well. You can check that out at the show notes. Also, Dark Leadership.

Phil (13:17): You'll see the link for that if you do wanna book that strategy call. Strongly recommend it. No obligation. No cost. Nothing.

Unknown Speaker (13:24): But we can we can have a chat. So with all that folks, I hope you're taking what you're learning from this show and you're using it to help you be a better coach, a better parent, a better spouse, a better player, a better leader better than all that you do. And continually remind yourself that soccer does explain life and leadership. Thanks a lot. Have a great couple weeks.