At Ambition we ran a ‘No d*ckheads No passengers’ recruitment and retention policy to create a positive team culture. We were generally looking for people who didn’t have an ego, worked hard, were adaptable and bought into Ambition’s ‘Building Better Futures’ values.
I was interested to read the definition of a d*ckhead by New Zealand All Blacks mental skills coach, Gilbert Enoka in his interview with Maria Nokkenen, in the excellent Game Plan A by Adidas.
“A d*ckhead makes everything about them. Often teams put up with it because a player has so much talent. We look for early warning signs and wean the big egos out pretty quickly. Our motto is, “ if you can’t change the people, change the people”.
The early warning signs of big egos are people putting themselves ahead of the team. Or people who think they’re entitled to things or expect the rules to be different for them. People operating deceitfully in the dark, or alternatively, being unnecessarily loud about their work.
The management might not spot these counterproductive behaviours. The players and leaders themselves should call others out for their inflated egos”.
Our coach Steve Hansen, a brilliant man, once came into a team meeting a few minutes late. As he walked in, one of the senior players stood up and said, ‘Coach, you can’t be late. Not again, please.’ So it’s actually the team monitoring this behaviour.
For more of the All Blacks wisdom view full article
Great mantra -“ if you can’t change the people, change the people”.