Russ Schoen

Here’s a question. What % of the Cardinal’s collapse could be linked directly to the Cardinal’s coach, Denny Green? What do you think? If you didn’t catch last Monday Night’s football game between the Chicago Bears and the Arizona Cardinals, it was one of the greatest comebacks of all-time by the Bears and one of the greatest chokes ever in NFL history by the Cardinals. The Cardinals blew a 23-3 lead late in the second half. To read about it, click here.

 
So if you are a Bear’s fan, it was awesome, amazing. Talk of the superbowl and destiny was in the air. Chicago was rocking with positive energy. If you are a Cardinal’s fan, well take it from me, a New England Patriot’s fan (Yes, for the record I do live in Chicago but I grew up in New England and that 1985-1986 Bears demolition of the Patriots ~ well ouch!) things will change, though it may take 15 or 20 years.

Anyway, after the excitement of the game wore down, a couple of us started debating the impact that the coach has on the team. If the Cardinals had a better coach, would the outcome have been different? Know one knows for sure, but what I do know is that research in the field of creativity, innovation and organizational development has shown that about 70% of the observable behavior of people in a team can be directly attributed to the culture and climate that the leader of the team creates.

This is true whether or not the culture is positive or negative. So the question I leave you with today is: how might you use this information to make sure those you lead are equipped to do their best?