Saturday, March 29, 2025

Why Winning Impacts Team Culture and Buy-In

When my siblings and I were founding members of a local track team, we discovered firsthand that victory is not solely about individual success, but it can bring together, energize, and establish a sustainable team culture. Within our team, each victory, whether a close competition or a record-breaking victory, wasn't ours but everyone's celebration. This shared experience generated a feeling of belonging and purpose that continues to guide my definition of success to this day.

Winning builds a strong bond between teammates. It promotes trust, respect for one another, and a feeling of responsibility to a shared goal. Research in sports psychology substantiates this, showing that shared triumph increases cohesion among teams and boosts individual motivation by making each player feel worthwhile and part of something greater than themselves. At our track team, every finish line that one of us crossed meant a small victory for the team as a whole. Such collective victory reminded everyone that each contribution was important to the whole. We were lucky because we had coaches who believed in such an idea, and they spread the idea so that we runners cheered and urged each other forward even when we were behind and not winning. When I started coaching in my late 20s, I applied the same principles to help the athletes whom I was coaching in the various sports that I was coaching. As a coach, I realized that a good team culture is not talent-based; it is established through shared striving for excellence.

My own experience of training with my brothers, pushing our limits, and celebrating our triumphs taught me that the journey itself was as important as the final victory. In both celebrating our victories and defeats with our teams, we also commiserated in our failures. In this way, we transformed setbacks into learning experiences and microscopic victories into ginormous morale boosters. This camaraderie gave a background in which every practice session was a chance to bond and grow together. Individual success is gratifying, but the glory of victory is felt when it's shared.

Victory is not merely about self-importance; it's about what it achieves for the group. When the team believes in a common purpose, every individual's success lifts the others. Whether it's a championship softball victory after years of hardship or the team effort that led to a team victory in football, the outcome is a clear indicator of what can be achieved when individuals unite for a common goal. The momentum generated by a win can elevate the level of day-to-day performance.

A win motivates each member to give their best because they know that their input matters. As they see their efforts bear fruit, team members are more invested in the sport and also in the values of teamwork, mutual assistance, and improvement. This spirit of collective achievement makes everyone strive to be better every single day, confirming the notion that victory is just as much a part of the journey as the destination. In a sense, when you have faith in the idea of winning, you're making a bet on a culture of trust, shared aspiration, and mutual growth. That's why every win, no matter how big or small, has to be celebrated by everyone, because it's not every person for themself; it's everyone's victory.

Friday, March 28, 2025

The Key Question: Does Winning Matter?

Winning is a reward, an achievement. But if all you're thinking about is that finish line, you might lose the important lessons that were gained in the process.

Winning is important! It's something visible, a benchmark that teaches us and others about our effort and dedication. But if all you're looking at is that finish line, you might be ignoring the amazing ride that got you there.

Reflecting back on when I was a middle-distance runner, I now recognize that every race was not simply an opportunity to stand on the podium. It was a lesson in perseverance, teamwork, and self-improvement. My brothers and I trained with a competitive spirit that was not about defeating one another but challenging ourselves. We were part of a group of people who came together to build our city's track club. Every practice session, predawn morning jog, and training session as well as every loss or victory, helped determine our attitudes. It was only later, when I looked back, that I realized true victory was not in the win, but in the discipline, the improvement step by step, and the knowledge accumulated along the way. We did not celebrate when we lost, but we used the defeat to help us improve as a team and individually and those smarter than I realized that the strength we had developed while losing, both individually and as a team, made us stronger.

Being a champion was not easy, in softball, it took five years to clinch the provincial championship. Each season, regardless of the scoreboard, taught us valuable lessons about resilience, trust, and the importance of enjoying the game. Similarly, my time as a linesman in minor league football, being part of a Canadian championship team, reminded me that success isn’t just defined by that final win but by the shared journey that brought us together.

Sports and motivation studies will tell you that winning is definitely gratifying, but the process of seeking excellence creates enduring satisfaction. Having a single-minded focus on an outcome can rob you of the depth in incremental daily improvement and learning. Instead, setting process-type goals, like improving your skills, building endurance, or even learning a difficult play, will be more gratifying and long-term in nature.

So, when you consider the question of whether winning matters, you must remember that every step along the way, every small victory or loss, is a practice in perseverance and is just as valuable as the victory. Winning is certainly a time to rejoice, but it is the journey, dedication to improvement at every turn, relationships made along the way, and the lessons you learn in winning and losing that make you who you are in the end.

As you pursue your own quest, on the mountain or in anything, keep in mind that the path is as enjoyable as the prize. Cherish every step in between, and you shall realize that the heart of victory is not necessarily in the line but in every step that led you to it. 

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Does winning really matter?

My grandson does competitive skiing, an individual sport. He is quite good, and he is being recognized by a national body, but he is still young. My best friend's grandson, who is the same age as my grandson, has been recognized as a top athlete in Football and is competing for national recognition.

 When I was young, my brothers and I were good athletes and excelled in both team and individual sports. When I was their age, I loved to play, practice and win. Winning was a nice reward, but it was not the goal of why I participated. My friend, who was also very athletic, believed that winning did matter more than participating So that leads me to the question:  Does winning really matter?

As I thought about this question, I was reminded that it's not only about the trophy at the finish line when we win but about the individuals we meet along the way, the challenges that we overcome, and the things we learn when we win.

I was younger, I specialized at the half mile and mile races, and I was four years second best in my age category. My brothers, with skills in sprinting and distance, had similar interests. Both our abilities and our attitudes helped our coaches to form a city track club—a place where we each recognized that winning's value lay in what we all worked towards and gave up for each other.

At the same time, my athletic career took me to the softball diamond, where my brothers and I played for a team that, after five long years of hard work and perseverance, finally won the provincial championship. A bit later, I was also fortunate enough to be a linesman in minor league football on a team that won the Canadian championship. These lessons taught me that though the thrill of victory was enjoyable, the true value lay in the day-to-day grind, the camaraderie, and the pure joy of playing the game.

This leads us to a question that has crossed my mind over the years: Does winning matter?

In my mind, the answer has always been nuanced. Yes, winning is a beautiful moment of recognition, but it’s the journey—the practice, the team spirit, the steady improvement- that truly shapes us.

For this series, I’ve broken down what winning means and how it touches every part of our lives. Over the next few blogs, I will explore what I think we should be telling our grandchildren about winning. I hope you enjoy the following ideas:

1.    The key question: Does winning matter?

2.    How winning influences team culture and buy-in

3.    The challenge of defining success beyond wins and losses

4.    Personal coaching lessons: finding small wins within the game

5.    What research says about motivation—why winning isn’t the top priority for athletes

6.    How to shift the focus from championships to daily improvement

7.    How can an athlete balance recognition while staying process-oriented

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Time Management for retirees

When I retired, I expected my calendar to stretch out before me like a wide-open range—no meetings, no deadlines, just freedom to do as I wanted. I had counseled people for years on how to plan for retirement, and yet when it was mine, I found myself waking to days that were indistinguishable from each other. It did not take long to see that retirement without planning was not freedom—it was pandemonium.

Since 2010, I’ve been writing about retirement issues, guiding seniors through this transition, and helping them create fulfilling, purpose-driven lives. As an Advisor to the Senior Advocate for BC, President of the Wilson Seniors, and Chair of the Tri-Cities Senior Action Society, I’ve seen countless retirees struggle with an unexpected challenge: what to do with all this time. Many believe that once they retire, time management no longer matters. But here's the reality—time management is not about extracting productivity from every minute; it's about optimizing your days so they don't get away from you.

Envision time as an essential spice to life. Like the way you need the proper spices to provide zest to a dish, you need the proper handling of time in order to bring zest to retirement. We are given 24 hours a day, and already we utilize a portion of it sleeping. What is left over is up to us to shape—but with no purpose, it's easy to get caught in habits that leave us unfulfilled.

One of the biggest retirement lessons is that everything changes. That's life. But that doesn't mean we can't plan. Having some structure in your day, loosely set, allows you to do the things that matter most. That might be taking time for hobbies, exercise, volunteering, or time with friends and family. Without structure, days pass, and before you know it, months have gone by without doing what you enjoy.

For those still working part-time or volunteering, time management is equally crucial. One of the most frequent complaints I hear is the constant barrage of emails. Email is an essential tool, but it can also be a distracting burden. Allocating specific time every day to review and answer messages—instead of allowing them to control your schedule—opens up time for more substantial pursuits. Unsubscribing from unwanted mailing lists, sorting significant emails into folders, and setting up automatic filters can maintain digital clutter under control.

Next, there's the authority of the notes. Whatever you're doing—jotting reminders, making appointments, arranging meetings—good note-taking keeps things together. If you're part of group meetings, pre-checking with participants will iron out essential points and eliminate wasted time. These small habits pay dividends, making your day run more efficiently and smoothly.

But time management is not so much about things to do—it's about balance. Scheduling time for yourself is no less important than scheduling time for work. Whether spending the morning on walks, reading, hobbies, or just sitting over a cup of coffee without any frantic hurry, such self-indulgence is what makes retirement a worthwhile experience.

Retirement is not filling every second with duties, but nor is it letting time go unmarked. By creating soft habits, living in the midst of what matters, and working with interruptions, you can intend each day. The reality is, the beauty of retirement isn't so much in having time—it's in creating the time valuable.