BELONGING
Owen Eastwood is a coach who works with elite teams to help them create cultures that facilitate the highest level of performance. He has worked with, amongst others, the South African cricket team, the British Olympic team, top NATO generals and apparently a copy of this book was given to every member of the England men’s football team prior to the European Championships. (Although strangely he is not even mentioned in the James Graham play Dear England, which credits another performance coach Pippa Grange).
Eastwood draws on philosophies rooted in his Maori heritage about creating a deep sense of purpose and belonging.
In the book he uses lots of examples of how he has helped teams deeply investigate and define their values and aspirations, reinventing the team identity if necessary.
His argument is that to deliver their very best performance, especially when under pressure, human beings need to feel both absolute personal commitment to the team goals and absolute trust in their fellow team members. This can never come when objectives and culture are imposed top-down. Rather it can only emerge when people have been part of the process of shaping it.
There are so many wonderful insights and lessons for anybody who is involved in leading teams that aim for high performance. It's another book I deeply wish I'd read while I was a director. I would have been so much better as a leader.
There is also a terrific interview with him on the podcast eatsleepworkrepeat