Volume III Part 3

themilliondollarathlete
"Bring Out The Greatness Within You"

The strength of the team is each individual member...the strength of each member is the team.
—Coach Phil Jackson Chicago Bulls—

The Trust Factor

People often ask me how do you build trust? This isn’t an easy thing to answer. First, you need to be able to communicate well with others and this is where the DiSC assessment tool comes in (TMDA Volume I Part 4).

The ability to get along with others is an important skill set and leads to strong interpersonal relationships. Remember, the DiSC assessment uncovers the individual strengths and weaknesses in your behavior. If you don’t create a strong relationship with your peers, you can’t hope to gain their trust.

Understand that your personality is an extension of your attitude. You tend to communicate your personality both verbally and nonverbally. This is why being positive is so important in winning. Values play an important role in the success of your team. If team members are on the same page and possess the same values (e.g. wanting to win the state championship), a sense of unity begins to develop—you begin to build a strong bond.

Once this unity develops, a sense of trust begins to take hold. A great deal of time and effort is needed to gain someone’s trust, but only a few seconds to lose it. Think about it—if a good friend lied to your face, would you be able to trust him or her again? Perhaps, but it would be difficult and you probably wouldn’t have the same trust level as before.

You may now feel betrayed and tend to be “on guard” when you are with this person. You see how quickly things can turn.

Values

Team values or a vision as to what the team wants to do together are important if you want to be a winner. If you are on a team now, what are your goals? Are the goals you have similar to the ones your teammates have? I hope so. Let your goals reach for the stars and don’t sell you or your teammates short. There is a state championship team every year—why can’t it be your school?

If you start in your freshman year on a team sport, your teammates will remain the same throughout your high school and/or college years. Communicate and become friends off the playing field as well as on. Trust them and they will trust you. This is how you get to be The Million Dollar Athlete.

Next Blog

Creating a team identity to win.

Tony Falco
“TheCoach”
www.milliondollarathlete.blogspot.com