Most coaches fail. By this I mean that most coaches fail to perform to their highest standards as leaders of athletes. Coaching is a multi-faceted, ever-changing role. In today's society of instant gratification, instant messaging, and instant results, the scope of the tasks assigned to coaches is expanding. Coaches are expected to be leaders, mentors, disciplinarians, sources of support, and counselors-simultaneously. The combination of the pressure of today's instant-results society to perform and the difficulty of juggling the many coaching roles can result in mixed or sub-par results. What follows are some suggestions for increasing your effectiveness as a coach. The end product of increasing your effectiveness will be better team performance.
- Start first with a destination or mission.
Most people in today's society are so busy attending to daily, mundane tasks that they forget to figure out where their lives are headed. They get caught up in the "current" of daily life. What happens, then, is that most people (and coaches fit into this category as well) fail to plan their lives accordingly. As a coach, what this means is that it is essential to your team's success that you have a destination in mind. A mission. This mission may take many forms, from end results (having a winning record, leading the conference in statistical categories, getting a bid to the tournament) to end-processes (winning with integrity and sportsmanship, becoming fearless, competing passionately every minute of every game). However, the important aspect is that you and your team and working toward something. A clear and compelling future gets us out of bed in the morning. A day without goals does not.
- Invest in knowledge
Most coaches understand that they need to be proficient in the basics of their sport. What most coaches do not understand is that sport-specific knowledge comprises at most a third of the important knowledge that coaches must seek. Coaches must also invest in becoming knowledgeable about their assistant coaches. A greater understanding of their assistant coaches' discipline styles, sport strengths and weaknesses, and personal goals will greatly enhance the overall team performance. Too often coaches hire assistants, only to give them a role defined by meaningless duties and tasks. Assistant coaches become tomorrow's head coaches, and as such are seeking new opportunities for leadership, responsibility, and risk. Player styles-or personalities-are the final area that coaches must become fluent in, not only with regards to sport strengths and weaknesses, but also in relation to personal tendencies. Understanding that your star player values academics more highly than sport, for example, will allow you to better understand certain decisions this athlete makes during the course of the season.
- Learn the value of consistency
Just as your teams' results will be judged (by other coaches, fans, AD's, etc) on their consistency, you will be judged (by your assistant coaches, players, and team personnel) on yours. Many coaches trip over the fine line between being consistent and being inconsistent. Consistency means having team rules that are enforced (within reason-there are always situations which require exemptions due to extenuating factors), having coaches that understand your actions, and having players that feel comfortable that what you say has value. Allowing yourself to fall into the trap of setting different standards for star players (most sports are, in fact, team sports), or failing to consistently discipline players results in loss of credibility. Just as children crave the protection and consistency of their parents' discipline, so too do players. They crave an environment that is structured, has roles and rules, and is "safe". Inconsistency isn't safe-it creates anxiety and uncertainty. Teams that are uncertain and anxious always fail to live up to their combined potential.
In the first part of this two part series, we discussed methods for improving effectiveness as a coach. The first three principles (start with a mission, invest in knowledge, and learn the value of consistency) are central to becoming a more effective leader. What follows are the remaining principles that, if followed, will allow you to achieve greater results in a shorter period of time.
- Teach commitment
One of the most glaring problems with today's coaches is that they fail (often miserably) to teach the value of true commitment to their players or team. True commitment goes far beyond taking care of obvious responsibilities, such as showing up for practices on time or making certain that players attend to their academics. True commitment means doing that which is most beneficial to the player or team member as often as possible. For instance, what is the expected difference in results between a coach whose practices seldom change in format or intensity and a coach who changes practice priorities weekly, or even daily? The difference is in the amount of attention paid to players or team members and their individual or group needs. These needs are not static-they fluctuate accordingly. Cultivating attention to these needs is the most obvious way in which to show your players that you are committed to extraordinary results rather than mediocre results. John Wooden, the famous UCLA basketball coach, used to keep daily practice notes on EVERY player he ever coached. He would consistently review these notes, and alter practice teaching priorities accordingly. You as a coach do not need to keep notes, but if you want to get the most out of your players, you will need to be sensitive to their changing and individual needs.
- Expect the best
The "Pygmalion Effect", a longstanding social psychology principle named after the play that became known as My Fair Lady, states (in short) that people will rise to the level of the expectations around them. This simple principle should be the basis for all the work you do as a coach. In everything you do, expect the best-and convey this accordingly to your assistants and your players or team members. "Positivity", for lack of a better word, is a virus, and you want to infect all those around you. What you will discover is that your assistants and players or team members will adjust their attitudes accordingly to fall into line with yours. No longer will mediocrity become acceptable; it just isn't an option. Your goals will be higher (though hopefully still within reason) and your results will be better merely by learning to expect the best, no matter how difficult the situation or environment in which you find yourself or your team.
- Learn to delegate accordingly
Being a great coach or person of influence means knowing when to delegate. As a coach, this means knowing when to lean on your assistants, and knowing that your time can be better utilized by assigning less meaningful tasks to others. Things such as paperwork, travel arrangements, or daily tasks should be delegated accordingly. Otherwise, you will be spending valuable time (which is a commodity of which we have limited resources) that could be better utilized doing individual instruction, recruiting, or spending quality practice time with a player.
- Walk the talk
Finally, to become a better coach, learn to walk the talk. What does this mean? It means become that which you strive to have your players become. If you expect your players to take responsibilities for their mistakes, you had better learn to acknowledge yours (because we all make mistakes). If you expect your players to be in shape come pre-season, so should you. Failure to follow through on this principle leads to only one outcome: mixed messages to your team members or players. Mixed messages ("Do what I say, not what I do") only serve to confuse, and when we are confused, we cannot move forward. Confused players fail to live up to their talent.
