What Makes a Positive Difference?

   LaserDay is a big fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers organization as an excellent example of how strong, positive organizational culture works as a performance booster.  The team’s coach, Mike Tomlin, is an individual from that organization that also serves as an excellent role model of performance management leadership.

   Little things—that little extra—set Mike Tomlin apart from the ordinary and make him extra-ordinary.  Take his immediate post-SuperBowl game performance:  His team had just lost the game, but Tomlin stood at the entrance to the locker-room and shook the hand of every single player and thanked them individually for their effort.  When asked about it, Tomlin answered simply:  “It wasn’t a big deal; I do it after every game.”

Tomlin is only 37 years old and the last season was only his 4^th as coach.  In that time he has won one and lost one SuperBowl.  When asked if he was meeting the expectations he had when becoming coach he once again replied simply:  “It’s probably about two SuperBowls too short of my vision.”

   Tomlin expects to win and expects his players to be self-motivated to win as well.  "He doesn't give you that win-one-for-the-Gipper-type speech," says Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. "He lets us motivate ourselves."  For example, Tomlin scribbled a note and put it on Roethlisberger’s locker.  It said:  “Terry Bradshaw: 4.  Joe Montana: 4. Where do you want to fit it?”

   Tomlin’s coaching and leadership strategy comes from his mentor, Coach Tony Dungy, who gave Tomlin his first coaching opportunity in the NFL.  “Dungy tries to lead through service, and I do the same,” said Tomlin recently. “I learned that from him in providing the men what they need to be great. Every day when I go to work, I don’t think about things I have to do, I think about the things I can do to make my men successful. So I have a servant’s mentality in terms of how I approach my job, and I get that from Coach Dungy.” 

   Does servant leadership guarantee you win every game?  “No, of course not,” says Tomlin, “but it does make a positive difference?”

  Tomlin has had to put that philosophy to use with the Steelers throughout the season, imploring backup players to step in and perform, and young players to grow up and contribute. “If you have a helmet on, you’re a guy who is capable of making deciding plays,” Tomlin said. “We don’t grade on a curve. If I give any of these guys a helmet on Sunday, I expect them to potentially put themselves in position to be the reason why they win. I think there is not a man in our locker room who doesn’t embrace that. We’re not interested in style points.” 

We have a lot of leaders in LaserShip: Regional Managers, General Managers, Operations Managers and Project Managers, but the lessons of Mike Tomlin apply to just about everyone—as Tomlin defines it: “if you have a helmet on I expect you be in a position to be the reason why we win.”   Tomlin’s philosophy is that we are all in a position to give people what they need be successful, to provide the means for others to self-motivate themselves, and to be, collectively, winners by building on each other’s strengths.  These lessons do not guarantee success but they make a positive difference.