The 10 on the Team
Exploring team-ness, collaboration, and connectivity with experts around the world from dynamic and engaging fields
The 10 on the Team
The 10 on the Team: Carlette Patterson
THE 10 ON THE TEAM
July 16, 2022
By Jody Thompson
Carlette Patterson is a Champion for People with over 30 years of comprehensive experience in business and sports leadership, partnering with corporations, universities, sports, and philanthropic entities, to develop and facilitate coaching, training programs, and curriculums. Carlette is the creator of Personal, Professional, and Philanthropic Development Brands, implemented globally including CHAMP10N Sports Life Coaching and Certification®, Champion Wellbeing®, Chief Wellbeing Officers and Certification®, MeQ®, Life Training Academy, Sports Philanthropy League® and the 10 Talks® Podcast.
What are 5 qualities of highly effective teams?
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Commitment to the Team’s defined purpose.
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Discipline to choose the Team’s purpose over individual desires.
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Talent and skills needed to achieve the Team’s defined purpose.
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Respect for each person chosen for the team and the position/ contribution chosen for them.
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Love of the Team's purpose.
Of those 5 qualities – is there 1 that is an absolute essential?
Commitment to the Team’s defined purpose is the one absolute essential.
Why? Commitment to the Team’s defined purpose is absolutely essential to team success because the purpose is the why; the commitment is the how, and together they are the compass for every what, the team chooses to invest in to achieve team success.
What facilitates good team communication?
Communication anchored in truth creates a foundation for teams to build respect and honor for teammates and the Team’s purpose.
What is kryptonite to a good team?
Individual mindset and actions.
What are ways in which teams can “grow”/develop their team-ness?
Investing time together to gain an understanding of how and what each person needs to be set up for success and how best to create team systems to honor and engage each person based on their strengths.
Investing energy in practicing together to gain confidence and trust in the power of the team vs individual management.
Investing emotionally in the Team’s purpose by being vulnerable and allowing the power of the team to be stronger collectively vs individually.
As a “coach of coaches” so to speak, what do you recommend to coaches and team-leaders that are interested in cultivating a sense of team-ness among their players? Is there a “special sauce” to fostering teams-ness as a coach?
The “special sauce” to fostering team-ness as a coach is love. Love of each person for who they are vs their performance. Love of the purpose of the team vs the outcome of the team. Love of the journey of creating the team-ness vs forced acceptance and inauthentic leadership. Love of learning - about and from each other, the skills needed to achieve great success of the Team’s purpose and learning from mistakes.
From your outstanding career as a Sports Life Coach, do you feel that individual-level success is amplified or multiplied when individuals work within a team or teams to succeed (rather than “going it alone”)?
I do not feel that individual-level success is amplified or multiplied when individuals work within a team or teams to succeed (rather than “going it alone”). Individuals who prefer to go it alone do not do well on teams because they choose to invest in their own development vs investing in the development of the team. Team success is a mindset and a choice of the team over individual wants, needs, and desires. Team is not for everyone and everyone does not succeed on teams. Without an authentic belief that without the team, a person is not successful, they will not have the mindset or choose to have their ability support the Team’s mission, their focus is on individual accolades and acknowledgment.
You lead a remarkable, high-achieving team – how do you keep your team members consistently focused on the central mission and vision of Patterson Sports Ventures?
We keep our team members consistently focused on the central mission and vision of Patterson Sports Ventures by anchoring in love, purpose, and competitive greatness. Love of each other. Love of our team's purpose. And the love of being competitively great for ourselves and each other to achieve our Team’s success. Team success, significance, and satisfaction are achieved when each team member has a very clearly defined position on the team and can contribute to our Team's success. Our people always come first, what they need, how they can be supported, honored, and celebrated for who they are, and how much we value them. Together we win. Together we fail and anytime we fail we support each other to learn, lean into team grace and forward focus.
Philanthropy and Service are big components of your coaching philosophy and process. From your perspective, how does giving of yourself to others relate to the notion of being an “Agent of Change” and the idea of personal success?
As “Agents of Change” our work is based on the Power of the Team, playing a small role in something bigger than ourselves. We believe we can only contribute to team success based on our commitment to being great teammates. Being a great teammate starts with honoring who we are, what we value, and sharing it with others. Our process for how we train to be our best, is a 3D Model- living personally for significance, professionally for success, and philanthropically for service. “Live it to give it” is our mindset, philanthropy and service are how we give it- by giving hope.
Our philosophy is that every person can be a philanthropist- a giver- and G.I.V.E.H.O.P.E. – Get Involved Volunteer Educate Help Other People Excel.
You have worked with so many fantastic teams throughout your career – if you could pick ONE (maybe two) team of teams, any sport, any year, what would it be and why?
I don’t have one team that I can choose as my favorite, I do have ONE aspect of each team that represents what I value about teams, it is the power of love. I have had the honor of working with ASU Women’s Basketball Team for 18 years and ASU Women’s Volleyball for three years. The gift of serving and supporting Charli Turner Thorne, the winningest coach in ASU history, and Sanja Tomasevic, a young, new head coach, is a great example of the power of love. Each coach has a deep, passion for the love of their sport; a commitment to constantly learn how to be better, for their profession and their athletes; and a love of being competitively great. They are honoring who they are, they value how they can help others become their best and they invest in the journey to show up every day and find a way to honor their Team’s purpose.