As part of Postern’s partnership with Transform, I’ve had the opportunity to experience their approach to leadership and professional development both through our work together and as a participant in Transform’s development programs.
So naturally, when I watched Ted Lasso, I found myself connecting a lot of the show’s lessons back to the workplace.
Spoiler alert: This article discusses moments from Season 4 of Ted Lasso.
At its core, Ted Lasso has never really been about football. It’s about the growth of people, trust, and what it means to lead others well. And of-course, not taking yourself too seriously along the way.
Here are my favorite takeaways from this season:
Sometimes You Just Have to Let the BBQ Cook
Or, in business terms: more pressure does not always produce better performance.
One of my favorite moments this season is Ted’s barbecue analogy. He talks about how, when he was younger, he would constantly check on the meat, poke at it and turn up the heat because he wanted it to be done faster. And later to find out…the more he tried to rush the process, the more he interfered with it.
Just like in business, sometimes we don’t need more pressure. We need clarity, coaching, and maybe the opportunity for more practice. And sometimes…just more time.
People aren’t projects. You can’t always accelerate development by turning up the heat. So, as Ted would say, “Let the BBQ cook.”
Winning Can Hide a Team Problem
Let me take you back. The Lady Greyhounds are winning. On the surface, everything looks great.
But underneath that success, the team has divided itself into cliques, and those divisions are beginning to affect how the players communicate and work together. (And yes, they’re totally still winning.)
Results matter. Of course they do. But results alone don’t tell us whether a team (or a workplace) is healthy. Season 4 puts a bow around the idea that strong performance can mask deeper culture problems.
A lesson from Ted: He didn’t just pay attention to what the team was accomplishing, but how they were accomplishing it, too.
Not Every Problem Needs a Ted Lasso Speech
Episode 8 was pivotal for me because as an Enneagram 2 (The Giver), I have a natural tendency to want to help. If someone has a problem, my brain is already working on the solution. So this moment really stuck with me.
Ted — the guy who always seems to have the words for things — doesn’t need to have the words, at all.
Alice is struggling internally and her struggles have just made an appearance outwardly. What does Ted do? He doesn’t give her a motivational speech. He doesn’t have a strategy. He doesn’t tell her how she should feel.
He just sits beside her. Silent and present. And that was everything.
It is a helpful lesson that listening isn’t passive. It helps us understand the problem we’re actually trying to solve. The problem someone brings to us isn’t always the problem truly, beneath it.
Don’t Build a Team Full of You
Oh, the character development of Season 4…
One of the things I’ve loved watching is Ted and Alice’s relationship develop. Ted isn’t trying to turn Alice into another Ted Lasso. He doesn’t need her to lead exactly like he does.
Alice has her own experiences and instincts. Some of those instincts need refining, yes, but Ted’s role isn’t to erase them. Instead he helped her understand them and become a better leader in her own way.
And we see that same idea play out with Coach Beard, too. Those gloves…Finally, Boots is wearing gloves!
You Can’t Just Put “Believe” on the Wall
Can you picture the blue sign with gold writing? Did you also grow up seeing this sign posted in your school’s locker room too?
For the Lady Greyhounds, simply being told to believe doesn’t address the very real challenges they’re facing. Their experience as professional athletes looks different. They’re balancing financial pressures, outside jobs, education and other responsibilities.
“Believe” can’t just be something a coach tells them. It has to mean something to each of them.
A vision statement doesn’t create culture and saying, “This is who we are,” doesn’t automatically make it true. A helpful lesson that culture isn’t what you put on the wall. It’s what people experience.
At its core, the Ted Lasso has never really been about football. It’s about people and what happens when they are given the opportunity to grow, and what happens when leaders recognize that their job isn’t just to get results, but to help the people around them become better.
Guest Writer
Sierra Stults
POSTERN