Every great transformation begins with a bold vision that creates a new possible future and motivates individuals to want to achieve it. Creating high performing teams aligned to that vision is no simple task. It’s complicated, takes time and tenacity, and is where leadership really matters.
At Innovative Connections, we work with leaders who are creating high performing teams. Despite their strong desire, most aren’t sure where to start, or what variables matter most.
In this article, we bring our model of high performing teams to life using a real-life example, one that you may already be reading about in the papers. It’s a story about a team who is redefining who they are and what they can do together. It’s a story full of lessons for any leader striving to build a high-performing team.
Let’s meet the team!
The Turnaround
This is the story of the Detroit Lions NFL football team and their Principal Owner and Chairwoman, Sheila Ford Hamp, the visionary leader behind the team. A team that has transformed before our eyes to become a repeat playoff contender for the last two seasons, and a 2025 Super Bowl favorite.
For decades, the Detroit Lions struggled to shed the label of perennial underachievers. Seasons came and went with few wins to celebrate, leaving players, coaches, and fans questioning the team’s ability to compete. But a turning point came under the leadership of Hamp when she took the helm of the organization in 2020. With a clear vision and focus on what matters most, she spearheaded a transformative journey rooted in principles that align perfectly with the elements of high-performing teams.
At Innovative Connections, we have developed a proven model of high-performing teams that focuses on four pillars: A Clear and Shared Vision, Right Relationships, Commitment, and Enablers. Let’s use the Lions’ turnaround story to bring this framework to life by exploring how their journey aligns with these essential elements.
A Clear and Shared Vision
Having a clear, compelling, and motivational vision is one of the first steps to building a high performing team. A clear vision includes elements of a positive future state, optimism, and pride. It ensures all team members are aligned and committed to something bigger than themselves.
Hamp’s vision is for the Detroit Lions to become the NFL’s “gold standard” of success in the next decade. Her vision is not only about achieving success in terms of wins and losses, but also about building a sustainable and thriving organization that consistently competes at the highest level of the NFL. Her strategic initiatives focus on creating a culture of excellence, integrity, and community engagement. Through this, she hopes to restore a sense of pride in the City of Detroit.
No sooner did she communicate this vision than she began putting steps in place to enable it, hiring key staff members to lead the rebuild who were committed to the vision, and building the culture necessary to achieve it.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson captured her impact perfectly: "Sheila Ford Hamp is a force to all who know her—and her leadership and vision are a large if not the largest reason the [Lions are succeeding]." (Source)
Hamp’s vision is not one that simply hangs on a poster in the boardroom or locker room. It is one that has become a rallying cry, galvanizing every player, coach, and fan to want to achieve it. In a scene from In the Den, the YouTube series documenting their 2023-2024 season, Lions’ Offensive Tackle, Penei Sewell, can be seen rallying his team with the words, “We are playing for the pride of the city of Detroit!”. The vision is embodied with emotion and energy. It gives the team a clear purpose, aligning every decision and every effort toward something bigger than themselves.
Right Relationships
No team can succeed without the right people who believe in the mission and each other. People whose actions and behaviors help move the team or organization towards their vision, not away from it. Hamp’s turnaround playbook put ‘right people’ at the top of the list. One of her first actions was to identify leadership who believed in her vision and wanted to bring it to life. With that in mind, in 2021, she announced Dan Campbell as the Lions new Head Coach, and Brad Holmes as the General Manager.
In Episode 3 of In the Den, Hamp announced Campbell as the new head coach saying, “I have talked about the importance of collaboration and chemistry, as well as ensuring everyone is aligned to the same vision. That is Dan Campbell. His football philosophy is founded on the principle of competition, identity, toughness, and operating with one heartbeat as a team. I look forward to seeing this come to light in his time as our head coach. His commitment will help drive us home. Our culture will be unwavering.”
Following Hamp’s introduction, Campbell speaks about his next step as a leader: selecting the right people. He shares, “You have to have people that have real humility, that are hardworking and who are all pulling in the same direction. It’s all about the team. There is no ego. I am going to put the right coordinators in place. I am going to put the right staff together with those coordinators that complement who I am and how we deliver this message.”
In interviews with Campbell about the Lions, he consistently credits and recognizes his players, coaching team, and staff – making the teams’ success more about them than him. The Lions’ leadership, starting with Hamp and Campbell, surround themselves with people who share their vision and values, cultivating a team with trust, tenacity, respect, and even a love for one another. The right people, aligned to the right vision, can make you unstoppable.
Commitment
Transformations don’t happen overnight—they require unwavering commitment. And that’s exactly what the Lions embody. Every player, coach, and leader on the team believes in the vision. They adopt it as their own. New team members, including players and staff, are identified and selected because their way of being aligns with the system the Lions are building and because they express commitment to the vision and values of the organization.
Following the team, you hear players talk about how they have created a place of belonging, where it was safe to make mistakes, showing their commitment to a key aspect of the culture envisioned by Hamp. The best example of that is their Quarterback, Jared Goff. Goff played for the Chargers, leading them to the Super Bowl, but afterwards the Chargers Coach determined he no longer had what they needed, and Goff was traded to the Lions, a team that hadn’t won anything in decades. Acknowledging the feeling of rejection, Goff brought his energy and talent to the Lions, where he was welcomed and wanted. He is one of the first to talk about the support he receives from the leadership, the rest of the team, and the fans, and he now calls Detroit ‘home’.
Even when faced with setbacks, the Lions stay the course. Resilience, grit, and commitment have become the team’s defining characteristics—proof that when everyone owns their role, extraordinary results follow. Watch any clips of the team together, and you don’t just see their commitment, you feel it.
Enablers
A great team with a clear vision, right relationships and commitment are powerful. But to keep them aligned and sustainable, you need the right systems, structures, and processes. Enablers are the mechanisms that reinforce the vision and culture you want to build. Enablers include ways information is shared, such as meeting structures, as well as processes for feedback, learning, recognition, and reward.
One of the first things Hamp did was to initiate an engagement survey of all members of the Lions organization. The survey identified what was working and what needed to change for them to achieve their vision. Actions from the feedback have guided changes the team has put in place and shaped the fan experience.
Watch any episode of In the Den and you see how the team's rituals have become enablers of their culture. For example, when new members join the team, they introduce who they are, tell their story, and in a moment of vulnerability, sing a song to the team on their first day. Another enabler is the immediate feedback following each game, when a hoarse coach Campbell praises the team for what they accomplished together, giving game balls out to team members who made the biggest impact on the day’s game.
These enablers keep a clear path for success, bolstering the culture and reinforcing what is important. And most vital, they are created intentionally to further the vision that serves the success of the team and the organization.
Results
The Lions’ transformation is undeniable, and their results show it. They went from a struggling team with a record of 5 wins, 11 losses in 2020, that hadn’t won a division championship since 1957, to making the playoffs two years in a row, and winning back-to-back NFC North championships this year and last.
Results can be seen in other measures too, such as ticket sales, revenue, and the economic impact of winning in the city of Detroit. Claude Molinari, President and CEO of Visit Detroit, shared, "Data shows a home game for the Detroit Lions usually generates $10 million in revenue for hospitality." (Source)
And don’t forget the pride! The energy of fans in Detroit is palpable, where the pride of being part of “the Pride” is as high as it has ever been. This high performing team is achieving results on all levels, bringing the team, the city, and the state together, celebrating what’s been accomplished, and what is yet to come.
Lessons for Leaders
There are many lessons we can learn from this story, including:
- Leadership Matters. It takes one bold leader, whose vision and character create the conditions for big things to happen. Hamp’s leadership is proof that transformation starts with bold vision and courageous action. Her decisions laid the groundwork for a culture of excellence that put this machine in motion.
- Prioritize people. The Lions' journey offers leaders everywhere a powerful blueprint: prioritize people. Research shows that 60% of a team’s effectiveness comes from a few key variables with one of them being that you have the right people. As leaders, be intentional in your selection of talent, ensuring the person aligns to the vision of your team. Then, create a safe space for learning, so people can make mistakes and still contribute. Finally, hold a high bar around the behaviors that team members need to demonstrate to achieve the team’s vision and desired culture.
- Be intentional. Envision the culture you want to create and develop structures all around that reinforce, recognize, and foster that culture. Think about what shapes commitment, culture and behavior on your team and in your organization. What’s in place that supports alignment? What gets in the way? Establish enablers to your culture intentionally.
- Don’t give up. The first season under Hamp and Campbell, the Lions went 3-13-1. Immediately following the last game of the season, Hamp reminded the press that this was a multi-year rebuild that would take time and reiterated her unwavering support for her head coach. The leadership team kept going, through hard losses and injuries, and their belief in what they could achieve together never wavered.
If the Lions can rise, so can you.
Greatness is possible—and it starts with leadership. It starts with you.
What are your takeaways from this story? We would love to hear from you. Leave a comment here or contact me at beth.stiner@innovativeconnectionsinc.com.
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Sources:
Bio: Sheila Hamp Ford: https://www.detroitlions.com/team/front-office-roster/sheila-ford-hamp
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson Quote and Photo:
https://x.com/JocelynBenson/status/1747463658840404247?lang=en&utm_source=chatgpt.com&mx=2
Scenes from Inside the Den, documentary on 2023-2024 Season on YouTube:
https://www.detroitlions.com/video/inside-the-den