The Cohesion Coach: How Phil Jackson Brought the Rebel Bulls Together
Dennis Rodman, a legendary defensive basketball player, was key to the 1990s Chicago Bulls’ success. “I’m the one that goes out there to do all the dirty work, taking abuse from the other [teams’] players,” explained Rodman. Yet, he was seen as a rebel at the time due to his off court antics. Bulls’ General Manager, Jerry Krause, was hesitant to ask Rodman to join the team because he was “acting out” on the San Antonio Spurs team. Because the Bulls already had a strong support structure with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and coach Phil Jackson, Krause decided to bring Rodman into the mix in 1995. When he arrived, Rodman fit into the team “like a hand in a glove” says Pippen. Fellow teammate Steve Kerr said that what Rodman brought “was exactly what we needed, someday who gave us that edge on the front line.”
We know that teams of rebel thinkers beat teams of clones, but getting those rebel thinkers to work together is key. Creating cohesion amongst the diverse individuals on the Bulls’ team required an artful and unique coach. Phil Jackson was dubbed the “Zen master” of basketball coaching. He brought the Bulls together by encouraging them to be selfless in service of the team’s goal. In his book Eleven Rings: the Soul of Success, which is named after his eleven championship rings, Jackson says:
“I’ve always felt that there is a strong connection between music and basketball. The game is inherently rhythmic in nature and requires the same kind of selfless, nonverbal communication you find in the best jazz combos.”
Jackson asked the players to set their egos aside, even during charged internal conflicts. He knew that winning basketball teams were built on strong relationships. Relationships that strengthen when tested with internal conflict instead of faltering.
When the Bulls invited Rodman to join the team, Jackson mediated a conflict between Pippen and Rodman. The players were at odds because Rodman injured Pippen back when Rodman played on the Detroit Pistons. In order for Rodman to join the Bulls, Jackson asked him to apologize to Pippen first. Although Rodman didn’t want to, he acquiesced. He repaired the relationship in service of building a stronger team. Jackson’s commitment to openness, communication and dialogue was key for the team to grow together instead of apart. His approach is an example of the “Plus Principle,” which argues that honest and constructive feedback is integral to effective teamwork.
For example, when an exposé book titled The Jordan Rules made public internal team tension, coach Jackson saw it as an opportunity to cultivate cohesion. Instead of shutting down conversation about the allegations, Jackson welcomed the opportunity to discuss team dynamics and said “a lot of it rang true.” The coach believed that the publication influenced Jordan to ease up on his teammates. He said the book’s aftermath “brought [Jordan’s] star down to a level where he was a human being.” Coaches were then able to restore a level of order on the team.
Jackson always aimed to transform conflict into healing. In Eleven Rings: the Soul of Success he quotes Ghandi: “Suffering cheerfully endured ceases to be suffering and is transmuted into an ineffable joy.” When team management informed Jackson that the 1997–98 season would be his last on the Bulls, the coach turned a potentially disastrous, divisive situation on its head. He named the season “The Last Dance” and rallied the players around winning a final championship together. It worked.
However, he didn’t encourage conflict for conflict’s sake. Jackson knew conflict was inevitable at points, but he also created structures that created cohesion without stifling growth. He practiced “depersonalized criticism,” a technique Jackson learned from fellow basketball coach Tex Winter. “It gave me the ability to critique the players’ performance without making them think I was attacking them personally,” he explains. Jackson created a framework where each critique was an opportunity to learn. It wasn’t a time to bring a player down, it was a moment to employ the Plus Principle. The team became a “learning organization” says Jackson. There was the expectation that critique was necessary to improve performance.
Each time Jackson critiqued a team member, “he understood that I was merely trying to get him to understand how to work the triangle offense.” The triangle offense is a basketball strategy where players pass the ball between them often instead of one star player always making the shots. Critiques weren’t personal, they were about making the team better. This tactic improved team performance during Jackson’s first year as the team’s head coach. But it wasn’t quite enough for them to win the championships. They lost to the Detroit Pistons in 1990.
Jackson explained “…we needed to be more connected as a team and to embrace a more expansive vision of working together.” He knew they needed to strengthen team cohesion and found inspiration in the Lakota warriors of the Sioux Nation. Jackson references Native American scholar George W. Linden, who explained that each warrior was “the member of a tribe, and being a member, he never acted against, apart from, or as the whole without good reason.” Their concept of freedom is not about freedom from something. Rather, freedom for the Sioux means “freedom for, freedom for the realization of greater relationships.” Freedom comes with responsibility to the team.
Coach Jackson implemented a “multifaceted program that included the triangle offense but also incorporated the lessons I had learned over the years about bonding people together and awakening the spirit.” The Plus Principle is an effective tool but it is not a silver bullet. Creating cohesion amongst a team of rebels requires multiple strategies employed at once and recalibrated based on shifting context. Jackson reminds us that “the bond that unites a team can be so fragile, so elusive.” Yet, his dedication in pursuit of cultivating that bond, a sense of oneness, amongst the Bulls paid off. Jackson helped turn the Bulls into a championship team that won the title six times through the 1990s.
Have you ever been on a team that had that elusive sense of oneness? How was conflict handled on the team? Did team members engage in the Plus Principle, using those conflict moments as an opportunity to learn and grow? Let us know in the comments.
LinkedIn post text:
We know that teams of rebel thinkers beat teams of clones, but getting those rebel thinkers to work together is key. Creating cohesion amongst the diverse individuals on the Bulls’ team required an artful and unique coach. Phil Jackson was dubbed the “Zen master” of basketball coaching. He brought the Bulls together by encouraging them to be selfless in service of the team’s goal.
Have you ever been on a team that had that elusive sense of oneness? How was conflict handled on the team? Did team members engage in the Plus Principle, using those conflict moments as an opportunity to learn and grow?
