Najee Harris Believes Steelers Need Stronger "In-House Rules", Better Team Discipline
by Alex Kozora
Jan 15. 2024
https://steelersdepot.com/2024/01/na...am-discipline/
Najee Harris Believes Steelers Need Stronger "In-House Rules", Better Team Discipline
by Alex Kozora
Jan 15. 2024
https://steelersdepot.com/2024/01/na...am-discipline/
It remains to be seen what specifically Harris is going on about. We are each likely to read our own preconceptions into his comments.
But after thinking about it some....here is my response: Grow up. This is the NFL. Not Alabama. College is regimented and structured so immature kids away from home for the first time do not fall flat on their faces. You and your teammates are now paid professionals. It is on you to find and create the structure and self-discipline you need to succeed. All the rest of us in the adult world are forced to do that. Figure it out.
Take James Harrison as an example. He determined he needed a staff of dozens and a complicated health and nutrition regimen to succeed. So he didn't wait for anyone else to do it; he just went out and got it done.
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True, but it's interesting you mentioned James Harrison because he had similar comments about discipline/in house rules. Not in the same way, but talked about them being more disciplined. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/james-harrison-on-why-mike-tomlin-isnt-as-good-as-bill-belichick-discipline/Originally Posted by Mojouw
Not in a position to watch the video right now.
But... this is kind of my point. If you need external forces, structure, etc to make you not want to be late to an important work meeting....that is on you.
I realize I didn't play pro ball, but when I was younger, I struggled with getting to what I thought were unimportant work meetings and things like that on time or prepared. Then I realized that meant I was bad at my job. And out of desire to be not bad at my job, I got to those on time and prepared.
Got to find the motivation in yourself. If not, then it is all fake and will collapse during the first moment of stress.
Grow up yes, but how many of these guys ever grow up? Look at Bell and AB. Two grown men with immense talent that just made stupid decision after stupid decision. I have no problem with Harris calling out teammates for not putting the work in.
Absolutely. You can and should call people out. I got called out for being a dingus at various points. It is good for you.
My argument is that "structure", and "rules", and whatever else can not really be forced on people by external factors after a certain point. Either you have to grow up and "get it" or you never will and a series of fines, stern talking to's, and getting benched for a quarter or whatever isn't going to change much of anything.
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I worked with a girl who was very good at what she was asked to do. But, she was habitually late and received several write-ups for being late. I asked her about leaving home earlier so she could be on time, and she responded with, I do. Some people just never get it.
I get what your saying but in the real world this just doesn't work. If what you were saying was true then there would not be any bosses, managers, supervisors in the work force. Their wouldn't be ranks in the armed forces and so on.
The truth is the self motivated people are the outliers in the world. The people who need structure and to be supervised outnumber the people that do not. These guys are professionals just like i am a professional at my job and i am sure just like you are at your job. While i am a manager i still have a boss above me that makes sure i do what i need to do as i am sure you have a boss as well.
If you runa cupcake camp, and a very non disciplined practice or operation you will have the product we see now. One of the greatest pieces of advice i was given as i started becoming someone who managed people instead of being a worker was that you can never become too close with your employees. When you become "friends" with the people you oversee then you get taken advantage of. and no not everyone will take advantage but some will and then that starts to lead to a bad culture. Your bad culture will start to infect even your good employees.
This is Management 101 and a coach is a manager. If you expect people in this world to just "do their" jobs with poor leadership then its gonna become a trainwreck.
And that person should have been fired. In the Darwinian world of the NFL...that person doesn't have their contract renewed.
Say you create all this artificial structure and rules and regulations etc. What happens when it is 4th and 6 in the fourth quarter in a hostile road environment and a player is nursing an injury? If that person was only accomplishing their job by enforced structure, they are going collapse and do nothing. I gotta figure a dude like Elandon Roberts doesn't need a reminder to lift weights and get to meetings on time. And he shows up in playoff games with one working arm and balls out.
So I've done a lot of weird things for work and I find at least half of "management" and "bosses" as totally unnecessary and really only exist to try and ride herd on employees. I have seen that be necessary because the employees were terrible. And I have seen it be the biggest waste of time and resources because the employees had it all handled.
And we are specifically talking about the NFL here....not whatever you and I do for a job. You can fire NFL people at any second. And there are way more applicants than jobs. Get new employees if the ones you have are not self-motivated. The end.
As for the cupcake camp, you must be reading very different things than I do about the Steelers. The only universally reported facts about this organization have been that they are owned by the Rooneys and Tomlin runs a tougher, more rigorous, and physical camp than almost any other team in the league.
For me leadership has always been about setting clear expectations, providing the tools needed to achieve those expectations, and then getting the heck out of the way and letting people do their jobs.
If some TE or OL can not consistently make meetings on time or study their playbook...cut 'em.
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Najee needs to do less talking to the media. If he has issues, he needs to keep them in the locker room.
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Other than she might be able to get twice the work done as other more punctual employees. Management is a lot of gray.
That’s a good point. Well worth considering.
And I think we can align statements here. Rigid structure is just kind of ill suited to the grown up world.
If I have to motivate you, I will cut you. - Chuck Noll
We want volunteers. Not hostages. - Mike Tomlin
For me, these are the same statement. Maybe that’s not how they were meant. Not sure. I barely remember Chuck Noll.
I agree there are a lot of management and supervisors that are a waste. That was very evident in the corporate world both times i ventured into it. I'm sure you would agree that the corporate work world is vastly a different animal than working elsewhere.
My main point to all this was and still is that you can't count on humans to be good employees or great employees on their own. Some will excel which will be the outliers, some will do a average job and then some will just get by doing as little as possible. The ones that are doing as little as possible just enough to not get fired will eventually rub some of the better employees the wrong way and it will start to affect your culture. Like a disease once that manifests its almost impossible to get rid of it without a cleaning of house.
Yep and that is why Belichick would cut players regardless of their talent levels. If you didn't toe the line, you were gone regardless of who you were. The veterans like Brady bought into that philosophy and held others accountable.
A good manager can read his/her people and learn what motivates them. If the woman Born2Steel spoke of was constantly late but doing all the work you would never want to blindly fire her. I worked with a guy who constantly came in late and people bitched about him all the time. But as it turned out when someone finally brought it up to the manager, the manager said, "Well John works off hours a lot and gets a ton work accomplished, his clients love him." People didn't see the whole picture and just assumed. Once the manager communicated that people didn't judge John so harshly anymore. Now if John is holding up group meetings that's different but managing isn't always an exact science.
When I was first out of college I worked in a group where we administered computer systems in a huge company. Our manager was a paper pusher that had NO technical idea what his employees did. There was a group of guys in our group that knew that and would constantly take advantage of him by lagging on projects and making shit up. Well that manager left and they hired a guy that worked for Sun Micro-systems to replace him. When they tried that on him and called them out on the spot and said that task should take you a few hours and if you can't get it done by then, I'll find someone who can.
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