It was 2013 and six years since the San Antonio Spurs’ last NBA Championship. Having won their first four titles in the preceding eight years, the locals were restless.
Yet, head coach Gregg Popovich, who had overseen the franchise’s successes, was calm and focused as if working his way through a puzzle that was close to completion.
We visited the Spurs at the end of that season, and the entire organisation seemed to share that commitment to mission and process.
They were believers.
Walking through the players’ area in the locker room was a large sign titled Pound the Rock.
Written by Jacob Riis, it was just words. But words that represented a focus, a commitment, almost a promise…that the entire organisation had bought into.
POUND THE ROCK
WHEN NOTHING SEEMS TO HELP, I GO AND LOOK AT A STONECUTTER HAMMERING AWAY AT HIS ROCK PERHAPS A HUNDRED TIMES WITHOUT AS MUCH AS A CRACK SHOWING IN IT. YET AT THE HUNDRED AND FIRST BLOW IT WILL SPLIT IN TWO, AND I KNOW IT WAS NOT THAT BLOW THAT DID IT, BUT ALL THAT HAD GONE BEFORE.
Whist to the outside world, the Spurs were Finals losers to Lebron James’ Miami Heat; inside the locker room, they were simply hammering away towards the ultimate goal.
And just 12 months later, they would reverse the result and blow away James and his Heat, dropping just one game in the 2014 Finals Series.
Not long after, we were blessed to have Matt Neilsen – an Australian Boomer who had played in Europe for most of his career, join our coaching staff. Neilsen had spent the previous off-season with the Spurs and his national head coach Brett Brown – who was an assistant there.
He arrived in Perth with extensive global experience in performing teams as a player and coach. The Wildcats, despite reaching the playoffs, were unsuccessful in 2015 and head coach Trevor Gleeson with assistant Adam Forde were looking for new ways to win.
The consensus was to glean lessons from the most successful teams around the world, and the Spurs were as good as any.
The result was Vitamins – daily commitments to incremental improvements.
It was Pounding the Rock in Action.
It was our answer to the simple question every successful team asks itself – what efforts and sacrifices are we willing to execute that our competitors won’t?
Like most initiatives, a seismic cultural shift required three key factors for it to work:
1. A Clear (often outrageous) Mission and Why;
2. Uncompromising Commitment to new Behaviours; and
3. Championed by leaders and distributed Ownership.
Whilst the rest of the larger franchises in bigger cities in the NBA were hoping to win championships through massive budgets, star players (James, Durrant, Wade), and even the belief that they could outsmart the competition, the Spurs and Popovich knew continued success was down to doing what others won’t.
It was pounding the rock daily without any early wins.
Vitamins were a game-changer. It changed our internal DNA from thinking success would come from outsmarting or outspending the competition to outworking it.
It became about taking daily steps towards the mission. It required a reliance on delayed gratification. It necessitated a universal belief in the process, even if the results were not immediate. All aberrations were considered serious and rectified early. It was championed and lived by everyone.
And then…The Compounding Effect paid everyone back.
In our consulting work, we believe The Compounding Effect of what we call Disciplines is just as effective, especially when the competition is not finite—as it is in sport.
New entrants. No salary caps. A global playing field.
Yes, there are those who still think they can outsmart, outspend, or outwit the competition.
But as we all know, this is short-lived.
Sustained success comes from continual incremental improvements – or Disciplines.
If you’d like to implement Disciplines in your team or organisation, speak to us. We’d love to share our learnings and provide proven, actionable programs.