Wooden Wins! - Reliability
Our Pyramid of Success focus this month will be on Reliability. At American Heritage Charter Schools, we celebrate the core value of “Honoring One Another”.

How to Be the Person Others Can Count On
By Craig Impelman

On the right side of the Pyramid of Success, below patience, there are four additional pieces of mortar: sincerity, honesty, reliability and integrity. These are qualities that, together, encompass the genuineness, strength and impact of human character.

In his book Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, with Jay Carty, Coach Wooden defined reliability and its importance in the following manner: “When we are reliable, others know they can depend on us. They know we will make the effort to do our best, whatever the situation might be. They know we won’t run, cower or become paralyzed by fear. They have learned to count on our consistency and trustworthiness. We’ll still be there making the effort to do our best long after the weaker ones have faded. People can bet the farm on us and still be able to sleep at night. Reliability earns the respect of those around us.

“Capability doesn’t have anything to do with reliability. Some people don’t have as much capability as others have, but they make up for their lack by being reliable.”

Under each piece of mortar on the Pyramid, in parentheses, there is some brief application advice for that mortar. In the original version of the Pyramid, Coach had suggested that reliability was an important trait because “others depend upon you.” After revising the Pyramid years later, Coach changed the application advice for reliability to read, “creates respect.” Coach had an important motivation for this change. He wanted to make certain that we understand that reliability is necessary for us to be successful because it earns the respect and trust of others.

Coach also emphasized reliability as an important personal trait for any coach in his book Practical Modern Basketball: “Your players must know that they can depend upon you and so must all of your co-workers and neighbors.”

Although he coached basketball at UCLA for 27 years, Coach never took a shortcut in his preparation for each daily practice. In his 27th season, he was still spending two hours to plan his two-hour practice session. He earned the respect of all of his teams because they knew they could rely on him to be prepared and give his best effort every practice.

Reliability is a trademark of good character. As Coach liked to say, “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.”

When we are reliable, we are consistent in our efforts regardless of previous achievements. Coach put it this way: “It’s so easy to relax, to cut corners, to let down after you’ve reached your goal, and begin thinking you can just ‘turn it on’ automatically, without proper preparation. It takes real character to keep working as hard or even harder once you’re there.”

A reliable person follows two great pieces of advice from Coach Wooden:
“Discipline yourself so others won’t have to.”
“Earn the right to be proud and confident.”

Key Idea: “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.”

@Home 
Kids can make a lot of promises. They give their word they'll take care of a pet, do their homework, do the dishes, take out the garbage and be responsible for other basic chores. Chances are most kids will have a tough time keeping their promises from time to time. As parents, it is easy to feel frustrated, disappointed and angry. If we shift our perspective and see the challenges as opportunities, we can teach and inspire our kids to be their very best. Let’s teach our kids to be:

-Dependable
-Make promises they can keep
-Treat agreements seriously
-Plan ahead
-Do their best to finish on time
-Find ways to keep their word even when obstacles occur 
Learning to be reliable can make such a difference in our children’s lives. When kids follow through on making promises, and see the positive impact of keeping commitments, their confidence and self-esteem grows!

On Campus

Activity: Watch this video about being a reliable leader.

Staff Response: Why is it important to be a reliable leader? Even though this video is intended for CEOs in the business world, how can it be applied to a school setting? How can we teach students to become reliable leaders around campus and at home?

In the Class

Both teachers and students are held liable for their responsibilities on a daily basis. 

Activity: How Reliable Am I? Worksheet

Make a list of 5 different things you are reliable for in class. Then, give yourself an evaluation of how reliable you are in those areas on a scale from 1 to 5. Lastly, identify an area in which you could be more reliable and explain how you could be more reliable in that area. 

On the Field

Reliability and trust go hand in hand. Lets try a exercise to work on our reliabiltity and trust!

Trust fall:
This is well-known trust building activity. Have someone stand in the middle of a circle of their teamates and close their eyes. They then announce that they are ready to fall, and the circle will respond that they are ready to catch them. When the person in the middle falls, the circle will keep them upright/catch them. This builds trust for your teamates literally and metaphorically having your back. 

 "Commitment is a big part of what I am and what I believe. How committed are you to winning? How commited are you to being a good friend? To being trustworthy? To being successful? How committed are you to being a good father, a good teammate, a good role model? There's a moment every morning when you look in the mirror: Are you committed, or are you not?" -Lebron James