Phil Jackson – Coach of the Los Angeles Lakers

MGTO 234 Team ProjectGroup 7

Outline

Profile and accomplishments of Phil Jackson Personal attributes Leadership style Situational circumstances that may

contribute to his success Will he continue to success as a leader? What we have learnt from him

Profile and Accomplishments of Phil Jackson

• In 1981, Jackson was the coach of the Albany Patroons of the CBA Steered the Patroons to a league title Won a CBA Coach of the Year Award Left after 1986-87 season with a 117-90

career record

Profile and accomplishments of Phil Jackson

• In 1990, Jackson became the head coach of the Chicago Bulls of the NBA Six-time NBA champion Winning percentage is the best in NBA history First coach to win championships in two

leagues (NBA & CBA)

Profile and accomplishments of Phil JacksonIn 1999, Jackson moved to Los

Angeles and coached the Lakers Win the 2000, 2001, and 2002 NBA titles

that Los Angeles had not seen for more than a decade

• In 2002-03 season Has the best winning percentage in the

NBA annuals Has the no. 1 playoff winning percentage

Attributes of Phil Jackson

VisionEmotional maturity and equanimitySelf – confidenceConsiderationAwareness

Vision

Vision Motivating to provide direction for future

planning and goal setting.  Phil has vision and a plan to achieve

that vision. He says, “vision is the source of leadership,

the expansive dream state, where everything begins and all is possible.”

Emotional maturity and calmness

Remain calm and stay focus to a problem, especially when dealing with adverse situations

Phil is incredibly calm when facing high pressure.

Usually stays seated on the bench during games

Rarely calls timeouts even when his team is lagging behind the opponent.

Self – confidence

With strong self-confidence, a leader is more likely to make influence attempts, and nay influence attempts made are more likely to be successful.

Phil acts as a salesman, able to get his players to believe in what he is trying to accomplish on the basketball floor.

Self – confidence Able to convince superstars

such as Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Byrant of Lakers and Michael Jordan of Bulls to put their egos aside for the good of the whole team

John Paxson commented Phil, "He's so confident that he doesn't need to rant and rave. He's even-keeled, and it's rubbed off -- it's why we play with the poise we do."

Consideration

Subordinates more likely to cooperate as a team

and respect a leader if a leader is considerate.

Phil gives support to his players and always be in touch with them.

Knows the duress his players are under, what kind of travel schedule they have, the pressures they have etc.

Awareness

Viewing most situations from a more integrated, holistic position.

Phil Jackson’s motto: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities. In the expert’s mind, there are only a few.”

Views himself as a beginner see more opportunities and

possibilities in a game, like how to guard, how to rebound etc.

Leadership style

High-high leader Task-oriented Relations-oriented

He practices Participative leadership Transformational leadership

High-high Leader

Shows high concern for both his team and the outcome

“you have to have the ability to pat the player on the back and you have to provide enough support or enough discipline so that they know there are standards that have to be met. So that's the balancing act that coaches get into.”

Task-oriented behavior

Sets common goal for himself and his team

Highlights the importance of teamwork and building a selfless team Eliminated isolation play no overdependence on any single player

Uses different approaches to bring players back on track

Reads failures and successes quickly Make adjustments to the team

Relations-oriented behavior

Shows support and concern for his players

Knows clearly what his player’s body is going through

Let the players maintain a balance life between families and work

Shows concern not only for his players but all such things that support a team

Shows recognition to his players spoke to the public that he was

fortunate to have Michael Jordan in his team.

Appreciates teamwork

Participative leadership

Exercises delegation Gives his team the responsibility and

authority for making decisions Seldom gives detailed instructions during

the game “You have to rely on yourself, because when it

comes to crunch time, I am not out there on the floor with you.”

Appreciates any suggestions and initiations on decision making from his players

Consult his players and other staffs More open to assistants’ advice by

practicing meditation

Transformational leadership

Emphasizes selfless team play Uses a famous strategy, triangle offense

Makes his team more aware of the importance of task outcomes. “It means thinking and moving in unison as a group and

being acutely aware, at any given moment, of what's happening on the floor.“

transcends his players’ own self-interest for the sake of the team "I learned that the most effective way to forge a winning

team is to call on the players' need to connect with something larger than themselves. It requires the individuals involved to surrender their self-interest for the greater good so that the whole adds up to more than the sum of its parts."

Transformational leadership

Able to make otherwise-could-be-extremely-arrogant star players like Michael Jordan to be humble and cooperative "This is the game I try to coach, in which everybody

gets the ball, and everybody moves the ball, and everybody has a feel for the ball,“

"They have this idea that this is a community game." Able to gain trust, loyalty and respect by

his players Michael Jordan: “I enjoy playing for Phil. I am loyal to

Phil and to what he has done for the Bulls, and have no desire to play for another coach.”

Situational Circumstances

Situational factors contributed to Jackson’s success

He is able to grap every opportunity in the situations

Enables his leadership traits/ behavior to become more effective and prominent

Situational Circumstances

A. The Bulls got substantial media attention prior to Jackson’s arrival

Having stars like Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen

But never won a single championship in NBA

Jackson emphasized on escalation of Teamwork

Brought the Bulls to consecutive NBA championships

Gained attention and support from the public and the media

Situational Circumstances

B. Jackson got the best NBA players under his teams

Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal

Demanded a less directive, more supportive leadership style

Jackson can focus on the psychological aspect and team work of his teams

Has a PhD in psychology Experienced by being a past NBA

player

Situational Circumstances

C. Have a loyal and supporting coaching staff

Managers manage different facets of the team Assistants helped design complex offensive

and defensive strategies

Jackson able to get full attention on his playersThe public overwhelmed by the effectiveness of the strategies

Situational Circumstances

D. Jackson played basketball in the New York Knicks for thirteen years

Unselfish, team-oriented style of play The Knicks won by maximizing collective

achievement of individual player

The Knicks’ style of play adopted by Jackson

Success in transforming individually-perceived players e.g. Michael Jordan & Dennis Rodman into a well cooperated team

Phil Jackson: Continue to Success as a leader

He is a greatest professional coach of all time “He has built the highest winning percentages of

all NBA coaches for both regular season and playoff games”

At the same time, He has proven to be a Successful Leader!!!

To be an effective leader…..

Create alignment on objectives and strategies

Help interpret the meaning of events Builds mutual trust and cooperation Strengthens collective identity Encourages and facilitates collective

learning Promotes social justice and morality Develop and empower people

Create alignment on objectives and strategies

Jackson taught the team the complex offensive and defensive strategies

He states clear objectives by emphasizes the importance on selfless team: “the first principle of teamwork, of sports,

is the spiritual principle of unselfishness…because no one person, no matter how great, can carry a team ”

Help interpret the meaning of events

Jackson could see more possibilities than one could imagine

Always can see what the opportunity is, how to guard, how to rebound.

Builds mutual trust and cooperation

Convinced Jordan to believe in his teammates and share the ball

Makes a statement to his players: “ if you don't play team basketball, sit down.”

Teammates trust and respect him so much, one player said: “he (Phil) really allows you to grow into your own space, and I think that's why players respect him so much.”

Strengthens collective identity

Enhances strong collective identity among the teams, rather than individualism

Jackson ameliorated the simmering feud between Shaq and Kobe, made them realized that they are a part of the team, not superior to any other teammates

Established a peaceful co-existence between superstars

Encourages and facilitates collective learning

Let players work out their own problems

One of his players said: “he (Phil) really allows you to grow into your own space”

Encourages his players to learn their best way to work toward common objectives

Develop and empower people

Jackson said: “You need to empower everyone to meet their goal!”

Encourages his players to take a time out to consider the past, present and future short-term goals in between playing

Lets them work on their problems by learning from past experiences

Promotes social justice and morality

Treats all the players equally no matter they are superstars or not

E.g. one of the superstars does not share his ball to his teammates, Jackson just call him out of the court

Increases his players’ satisfaction by the climate of fairness and compassion.

Other things that contribute to Phil Jackson’s success

Phil Jackson’s high adaptability Leads both Chicago Bulls and Lakers into

a big success One of the Lakers’ players said: “Before Phil

came, no matter how many points Lakers led over their opponents during the game, they would lose. Now, no matter how many points they were down, they could come back and win.”

Other things that contribute to Phil Jackson’s successGains support and respect from his

players and the public One of his players said: “This really is a

coach that, No. 1, loves the game.” Rated 3.75 on online rating website

(RateItAll) (the top one rating is 4.12), position at the 5th rank out of 30 NBA coaches

Public comment: “The best coach in basketball” ”One of the greatest coaches ever”

To conclude Jackson performs all the functions that

an effective leader should have which are strong predictor of his future performance

Jackson will continue to success as

He has great ability to adapt Focuses attention to the outcomes that

the team desires Motivates, challenges, tutors, and

counsels his teams to victory Get the support and love from the public

and his players

What have we learnt?

To become a leader in the future…Need to understand well

Our position Situation and the environment we are in Abilities and characteristics of our

subordinates. Able to identify problems quickly and

correctly, make suitable solutions to the problems.

What have we learnt?

Develop mutual trust with our followers and respect them Easier to motivate our followers to

commit in common goals.

Reference Source

Video Link:http://www.nationwidespeakers.com/speakers/phil_jackson.html

Book:

Phil Jackson, Hugh Delehanty, Bill Bradley (1996). Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior. New York: Hyperion

Websites:http://www.nba.com/history/jackson_50.htmlhttp://www.nba.com/coachfile/phil_jackson/http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/J/JacksonP1.asphttp://www.bebeyond.com/BBToday/062000/BT062100.htmlhttp://www.usatoday.com/sports/nba/02playoffs/2002-06-05-cover-jackson.htm

The End Group 7

Rita FanIvy LamWendy LamMimi NganIvy Yip