Recruiting for Character Works! Just ask this year’s winner of the Men’s NCAA’s Hockey Championship.
I have had the distinct pleasure of being a hockey dad for the past two decades. From watching my son barely maneuver on his skates at the local arena almost 20 years ago, to winning the back to back NCAA Men’s Hockey Championship this past weekend, it’s been an emotional journey to say the least.
We often compare events in sports to those in business, and we should, as there are many great lessons entrepreneurs and leaders can learn from sport teams that have achieved greatness. National Champions do not become that without great execution. What I mean by great execution is recruiting for success. How do you build a National Championship Team? Well, I learnt a great deal this past weekend while attending this year’s Frozen Four, the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship and cheering on my son on who is part the University Minnesota Duluth Bulldog Hockey Program.
Before you sit and watch the talent on the ice, what’s interesting to learn is that every single member of this championship team will tell you they are all as good as their teammates, no one talks about who the real “superstars” are. If you watch and listen to these young men through interviews, you’ll hear a pattern, they acknowledge only that all teams have equal competitive play and talent within them. I emphasis that these players are also always very complementary of their opponents. It was captivating to hear them talk like this… so I began to wonder what sets them all apart? How does one team band together to become National Champions two years in a row at such an elite level?
As I watched and listened to pre and post-game interviews I started to hear a word repeated specifically by players of the winning team, “Character”. What I found so compelling about this is that many people might think to themselves, who’s kidding who, what does a 20-year-old know about character? However, I constantly heard them attributing character to questions regarding their success, and I began to realize they don’t just understand the meaning of having good Character, successful teams exude it!
Many of us while watching them were scratching our heads at times, why? Well, you have to ask yourself, how did a team from a city of only 86,000 people and a University with an enrolment of only 11,000 return to a National Championship for the third consecutive year and achieve the National Championship title last year and here they are again, how are they competing at this elite level successfully again? I’d love to share a few important points of the relations and comparisons of success between sports and business.
The first thing that made me smile, and got me thinking about this team’s success, was trigged by an event that occurred when I entered a local bar “716”. It was the pre-game meeting spot for the teams’ families and friends. I immediately met up with one of my son’s house mates from Duluth, Minnesota, who is a student at the University and works part-time as the Zamboni driver at the teams home town arena. I was in a bar in Buffalo, NY, approximately 1,100 miles from the campus and the team’s home Zamboni driver was present for support. Well the support group around the team felt it necessary that their Zamboni driver was there in Buffalo to support the boys while they compete for the national title.
Next, we all quickly packed up at the bar and headed to the red carpet event where the Bulldog Marching Band, Cheerleading Team and Mascot made an appearance! They had just arrived from the 17-hour bus ride through a treacherous snow storm, but nothing was stopping the program from having their full support group around them. I can just imagine the cost to bus the marching band, equipment and the entire cheerleading team along with hotels and food for everyone for all three days. The cost seemed almost irrelevant as it is part of the team and managements mentality that everyone involved in the program deserved to be at the National Championship.
After the first evening of the Championship, I discovered something else that helped me uncover the mentality of this program’s successful operation. There were so many options for all the teams to keep them preoccupied before the final championship game from national television interviews, autograph sessions, and social engagements in Buffalo, the Duluth team chose a different option. One morning, they took time to visit the Buffalo Children’s hospital and brought some fun team fan gear along with their Mascot. It was more important for the team to take that time to give back to a community that barely knew them and make many children and their families smile. It was a selfless and giving mindset where they were encouraging the players to make meaningful choices driven by choosing to embody good character.
I was learning quickly that arrogance and selfishness had no place at this National Competition or within their program. It seemed to not matter what the team had accomplished in the past, only that all the members were truly grateful for having the opportunity to be in the place they were and to be a part of the Bulldog’s program.
Moreover, I was surprised at the lack of Ivy League schools attending, many believe to be the most popular schools had not qualified for the championship. No Princeton, Harvard, Brown, or Cornell. How is it that institutions that boast at being the best within their programs don’t make it to the championship? You learn quickly it is all about the program and members of a team buying into that program. How do you make players believe in the program and embody the character you want them to?
Head Coach of the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, Scott Sandelin continually talks about recruiting character, they believe the backbone of their program is the high regard given to the selection of candidates, not just as players with talent but as the actual people they are. Candidates are scrutinized at the highest level, deep background checks at a level you can’t even imagine. They want to know who they are inviting into their program and to ensure those candidates have the capacity to buy into their program and embody the incredible values of the program. The team doesn’t want to ever disappoint Coach Sandy, they revere him. He’s the first to admit at times he may be hard on them, but I believe his messages are heard better that way. He makes each member of the team feel appreciated, regardless if you are the starting centre on the first line or the man responsible for the filling of water bottles. Everyone has a role. Everyone is respected. Regardless of winning or losing, successes or failures, past accomplishments or failures, Coach wants to hear that his players are upstanding citizens who are idolized and give back to the community. It’s character he emphasizes, over sheer talent or national titles.
Last year when their assistant equipment manager “Hoagie” celebrated 37 years of his volunteering with the team they inducted him into the UMD Hall of Fame and erected a billboard in town celebrating the moment. When Coach Sandy was hired back in 2000 Hoagie went to see the new Coach right away and asked the Coach if he could keep his volunteer job… Coach Sandy’s answer was “I told him he’s got a lifetime contract here”…“He is the program”, this is how they treat a volunteer, with as much respect as any other member of the team
Beyond the character of the players, I had the opportunity this past weekend of interacting with their families. You learn quickly that every player, every family of a player has a story in which we call “Their Journey”, the life events that led them to where they are today. Most journeys are not a fairy tale, actually I have yet to hear one of those. You hear of families that have made sacrifices to feed a passion within their child. Quickly you realize the support behind these athletes is like no other and no two journeys are the same. Families have worked at molding their child to be a champion, not only on the ice but in their communities and academics as well. As we met and gathered over the three-day event every parent was full of compliments about the other players and everyone knows of the character of each player. We are all proud to be associated with such a team and more so the UMD program.
I learnt that group of champions are more than just talent, they lead by example in all aspects of their lives. The character of each member of that group is someone you want to get to know, better yet someone who would go out of their way to help you, someone you’d really want on your team. The local Minnesota businesses and alumni know it, the recruiting into Fortune 500 companies for these young men in the Bulldog program is incredible. There are multitudes of offers that come through for these men as they prepare for their post academic life. Remember the Zamboni Driver I met up with… he’s interning this summer as a Financial Analyst for a National Mutual company.
Perhaps today in business we need to step back and look at our selection process, what and who are we truly recruiting and what does that process look like. Is it all about the talent or does the candidate have the drive and honest character where we can teach them the talent? I, along with the UMD Program believe skills can be acquired, however character is difficult to teach. It is learnt through upbringing and quite inherent. I believe now that stronger character driven teams will yield better successes than teams built on straight experience. I hope this article has given you a second lens when reflecting on your recruiting processes. Perhaps the next time you are with a candidate ask them to tell you something about their “journey” and what lead them to you. You may be pleasantly surprised with what you discover about a person’s character, as you embark on building your Championship Team!