I was recently gifted a book from a dear friend written by PJ Claasen for my birthday titled The Bok Way.
PJ Claasen co-founded Purpose Works in 2020 and their mission is to equip organisations, leaders, and employees with the tools to create environments in which people thrive and do their best work. The book unpacks the principles in a way that equips anyone responsible for leading a group, team, or organisation with the tools to replicate what the Boks have achieved under Rassie Erasmus and his management team.
I am sharing a few succinct stepping stones from the book for anyone who wants to build a great team and strongly advise you to get yourself a copy which is well worth a read.
FIND PEOPLE WHO LIVE YOUR VALUES:
Anybody is welcome to join the company, irrespective of colour, creed, background or origin. Once you join the team, you need to earn the right to stay on it. If you do anything to hurt the collective good, you no longer deserve to be on the team.
As a business, team or organisation, you need to be clear about your essence and deliberate about the behaviours you reward. You can even create your own version of battle stats, identifying the behaviours and attitudes that have the most significant positive impact on your culture. When people know what is expected of them and are rewarded for that behaviour, they are more likely to continue doing it.
The best teams and organisations have a clear identity. They act according to the values they profess to care about and hire people who do the same.
PUT UP SCOREBOARDS:
One of the central drivers of engagement in any environment is the tangible, measurable experience of getting better at what you do. The principle emphasises the importance of recognising and facilitating small, tangible achievements to sustain momentum and helping employees feel a sense of accomplishment and purpose. This is exactly what the Boks are doing with the road maps they create for each player. Does each employee have a way of tracking their progress and impact? Do they know what they need to be working on to move to the next level of contribution in your business? Are your managers having meaningful conversations with them to track their progress and give advice when they hit roadblocks?
In the best teams and organisations, everyone is a work in progress. Nobody rests on their laurels, and the focuses on helping each other improve on what they contribute.
The above extracts are a microcosm of the message in the book which has 3 parts:
Part 1: The thinking Components; How the Boks see themselves
Part 2: The People Components: How the Boks treat each other
Part 3: The Execution Components: How the Boks do things
To conclude I will share the summarised Secret Sauce leading to the Springboks success from 2018 to 2025 that Schalk Brits successful player with Saracens and the Boks shared with PJ Claasen.
No team can succeed without a strong work ethic and discipline. You need collaboration between great people and great leaders – great in terms of competence and character. You need more than brain smarts; you also need a healthy dose of emotional intelligence – to have empathy for others, and to treat them with respect and understand their humanity.
Approach all you do with humility and know that you are always a work in progress – that growth is never complete, even when you are successful. Be open to learning from others, whether they are above or below you in the hierarchy and share your intellectual property generously to benefit others.
Celebrate your success. Celebrate the success of others. Pay attention to how far you have come but stay grounded, humble and stay accessible and continuously check your ego. Be part of the team, cultivate friendships and create memories. Make people feel welcome and invest in lives of others.
Try different things so that you have y have a back-up plan, be adaptable and don’t place all your eggs in one basket. At the end of the day, no matter what your accomplishment level or how long you were involved for. It comes down to how you answer this question: “ Did I leave the jersey ( the team/organisation and South Africa ) in a better state than I found it .
