After going 8-5 in his first season, the Georgia Bulldogs under head coach Kirby Smart have simply been dominant. Since 2017, the Bulldogs have an 86-11 (88.7%) record over the last seven seasons while winning two national championships. Whether you lead a business, church, non-profit, or athletic organization, there is much to learn from this college football dynasty about having sustained organizational excellence.
Recently, Seth Emerson of The Athletic examined the program in this article. As I read his thoughts, I gleaned the following four ways you and your team can have continual success:
Talent Acquisition
Emerson did not address the Bulldogs’s recruiting, but talent acquisition is the lifeblood of any successful organization. You simply cannot have continual success without it.
Under Coach Smart let’s look at the team’s ranking of its recruiting classes over the last eight years:
- 2017 – #3
- 2018 – #1
- 2019 – #1
- 2020 – #1
- 2021 – #5
- 2022 – #3
- 2023 – #2
- 2024 – #1
John Wooden said, “I’d rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent.” Coach Lou Holtz added, “I’ve coached teams with good players and I’ve coached teams with bad players. I’m a better coach when I have good players!” Likewise, you will be a better leader when you acquire top talent.
Lack Of Assumption
All experienced leaders understand the dangers of assumption. Assumption limits preparation and caps your ability to adjust to changing circumstances. Coach Smart aggressively guards against assumption.
Tight ends coach Todd Hartley said, “It’s been almost like a reset button for everybody: ‘Let’s start fresh. Don’t assume we’re already on third base because we’re not. So it’s been a fresh start for the coaches. It’s been a fresh start for the players. Just embracing that mantra of assume nothing.”
Process > Outcomes
Successful leaders focus more on the process than outcomes. You can control the process, outcomes are sometimes outside of your control. Trust the process.
Hartley continued, “When you’re in it and the way Kirby has built this thing, it’s so process-oriented. We talked about the process and not the outcomes. And when you’re not thinking about the outcomes and you’re focusing on the process, you don’t even think about the Playoff. Like you don’t have time to think about 12 teams. You don’t have time to think about SEC and away schedule and whatever it is we have.”
What we learn from Coach Smart is our focus should be on achieving our maximum potential today. And if we stack enough good days on top of each other, we will have a chance to achieve all of our objectives.
Employee Continuity
Acquiring top talent is not enough. You must also develop and retain these individuals.
High employee turnover is a sign of organizational dysfunction and a precursor to failure and missed expectations. The Bulldogs have very few players enter the transfer portal each year. Coach Smart said, “I think it’s a huge advantage because everybody else doesn’t (have continuity). So it’s not so much that we do, it’s that the others don’t. Continuity is success.”
Continuity is success. One such program which demonstrates this principle is the 2023 national champion Michigan Wolverines. Smart pointed out, “No question that the reason Michigan won it is they were old, almost the entire team we played two years before was back. That’s just the nature of the beast, you know, a veteran team with experience is going to beat a youthful team, we see it in the NCAA basketball tournament every year. Yeah. And we saw it this year. So I don’t think that’s gonna go away.”
Conclusion
If you want your organization to have continual success, you will need the following:
- Talent acquisition.
- Lack of assumption.
- Prioritize process over outcomes.
- Maintain employee continuity.
What is one of these areas you can improve on to better position your organizational success?
Update – Georgia Bulldog Culture
This article was written just prior to Georgia’s 34-3 dismantling of Clemson. Immediately after the game’s conclusion, ESPN’s Molly McGrath interviewed Coach Smart. His comments embody the culture of the Georgia Bulldogs. The following are two of his comments:
- “You got to out-physical them, out-hustle them, and out-discipline them. I thought we did all three today. I was really proud of our guys.”
- “Cash Jones had the pick-up of the day on a blitz pick-up and no one’s talking about that. That kid’s been in our program for four or five years picking people up on a blitz and it mattered today.”
The Georgia Bulldog culture is about physicality, hustle, discipline, and making a big deal about the fundamentals (blocking a blitz) which are critical to winning.
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