Monthly Archives: November 2011

M Is For Mistakes: The Value Of Taking Risks

Female athletes, Team chemistryTeam chemistry

Please join me for a fun series. My mission, and I’ve chosen to accept it, is to write a post based on each letter of the alphabet. The English major inside of me is very excited about this project…and my inner nerd is even more fired up! Keep checking back as I tackle the intangibles of sport…from A to Z.

“Trust me, if you aren’t making mistakes, you’re not learning — or, at least, you’re not learning enough.”
The Miracle of Making Mistakes

I’d suggest you click on that link above…it’s a great article. The basic premise is that we flourish when we’re given space to make mistakes, or to “innovate” in business terms. I figured I’d do something a little different with this post and find some cool quotations about mistakes. Enjoy!

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L Is For L.E.A.D.E.R.S.H.I.P.

LeadershipCoaching philosophy

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I believe it’s important for us to model quality leadership for our student-athletes. We have an amazing opportunity to show our young people what it takes to lead with integrity, focus, and success. Check out the things that will make us great leaders…and prepare our players to do the same!

L…learn. I’m a big fan of reading business magazines, blogs, and books. What I read time and again is that business leaders are voracious readers. And if they love to read, maybe we should be too since we’re the CEO’s of our programs. Reading forces us to think critically, follow our mentors, and find different perspectives on how to solve problems.

E…enthusiasm. As I’ve said before, we’ve got to love what we do…and that passion should be contagious to our teams. I’ve caught the volleyball bug and my goal is to infect my team with it. I want the passion I have for my sport to go through my team like a cold in a kindergarten classroom.

A…advocate. For the noun version of this word, we should be advocates for our student-athletes on our campuses. Whether it’s with professors who may not understand or value the time commitment required to excel at our sport or an apathetic student body that may not appreciate with athletics brings to the campus community. For the verb version, I believe that it’s the coach’s job to always advocate for awards for our players…both athletic and academic. It’s always sad to hear that an athlete would have won an award if only their coach had taken the time to nominate them.

D…delegate. I know we head coaches are crazy control freaks, but we’ve got to let some things go…for the benefit of the team and our sanity. We hired our assistants because we believe they are capable and knowledgeable…let them be those things!

E…effective. Ineffective leaders are unreliable, take no ownership, are resistant to change, and have a negative attitude…read more here.

R…relevant. A great leader will stay up to date on all of the newest innovations with their profession. Whether it’s reading books, attending conventions and seminars, or even just watching a webinar…effective leaders keep up with all things relevant to excelling at their job.

S…servant. 10 characteristics of a servant leader: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the personal growth of people, and building community…read more here.

H…humility. We’ve all been around that coach who blames her team when things are going poorly and takes all of the credit when her team is rolling…don’t be that coach.

I…integrity. It basically comes down to your moral code, whatever that is, and how well you stick to it. Will you treat your star players the same as those who will never get off of the bench? Will you bad mouth another coach in order to get a prized recruit? Will you fudge the numbers to make sure that your budget is balanced?

P…purpose. I believe that God created me to coach. Not because I think I’m some sort of baller coach, but because I believe in what sport teaches young people. I feel privileged to be able to teach life lessons (disguised as athletics) that these young ladies will be able to use out in the real world.

If we believe that coaching is more than the X’s and O’s, the wins and losses…then we’ve got to be intentional about creating a respectful environment that is conducive to leadership.

The 3 K’s Of Coaching Philosophy

Coaching philosophyCoaching philosophy

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K’s were admittedly a bit harder for me than the previous letters up until now, so I went back to kindergarten and brought phonics back… “k” is just going to have to go with coaching.

Coaching philosophies are the guiding post that each of us must continually go back to…whether it’s after a tough streak of losses, or recruiting, or practice planning. Essentially, our coaching philosophy is there to remind us why we do what we do, why we love what we do, and why we won’t stop doing what we do.

K is for coaching philosophy

Knit. If our coaching philosophy doesn’t permeate throughout everything we do as a coach, then we’ve got to come up with a new philosophy! My philosophy is based on the cornerstones of John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success: work hard, have fun. That philosophy is omnipresent…as I scout opponents, recruit new players, chat with alums, develop new teams, and even as I cultivate solid work relationships. I don’t mind working hard, because I get to do something fun: coach volleyball!

Keep. We’ve got to keep our philosophy somewhere that we see it. Mine is short and sweet, so I know it off of the top of my head. I’ve gone to my share of professional development events, though, where I’ve come up with a personal mission statement or coaching philosophy. Those are a bit longer…I keep the latest and greatest taped to my computer screen so that I can always see it: I will inspire my team to excel and be successful through my example as a leader. I promise to be available to them and to support them to the best of my abilities. That’s a lot longer than “work hard, have fun”. (Read about 8 words or less mission statements here.)

Knowledge. In my opinion, our coaching philosophy is a map that takes us where we’d like to go. I believe that if we use it in recruiting, coaching, and general interactions with folks…those types of people will want to play for us. For example, a coach with a philosophy of “win at all costs” will attract a different type of athlete than a coach who says “victory with honor”. Not a worse athlete, not a less moral athlete…just a different athlete. So as you come up with your coaching philosophy, think of the kind of athlete you’d like to draw into your program.

As we create the vision for ourselves, our program, and our players, having a coaching philosophy that we believe in will help guide us as we go. I wrote How Great Coaches Leave Their Mark a while back, check it out to get more in depth with coaching philosophies.

J Is For Joy: 6 Things I Love About Coaching

Coaching careerCoaching career

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I believe in coaching. I think it’s a great profession that enables me to be around young people who aren’t afraid to chase their dreams. For all of you coaches out there, I believe that what we do makes a difference, that it has an impact, and that our student-athletes are better for their interactions with us.

Lest you think I’m as altruistic as Mother Teresa, I receive a lot from coaching as well! What is it that propels me to action in the morning even though I’m dog tired and worn out? The love of coaching! In fact, I spent all of July talking about how much I love it…check it out here.

Here are the 6 reasons I can’t get enough of the coaching profession

Female athletes. What a great opportunity to give our young ladies a leg up for their future lives after they’re finished playing! They learn leadership, team building, managing different personality types, winning and losing with grace…and all sorts of other things that will help them in their future. As a sidenote for the moms out there *stepping onto soapbox*: I think you’re doing a great thing! You’re showing your athletes (and your kids) that they can coach and still maintain a family. That’s a relatively new thing and I think it’s invaluable. *stepping off of soapbox*
Impacting lives. During my TEDtalk series, I wrote about a Tony Robbins talk called, Why We Do What We Do, where he spoke about the six human needs. Basically, they’re the six things that everyone requires to feel whole and happy. The sixth need is “the ability to contribute beyond ourselves” and I believe that’s what the coaching profession provides…and it’s pretty awesome!
Like-minded coworkers. How many people get to go into the office each day knowing that they’re surrounded with people who value what they value? I’d guess, not many! Whether you’re at the highest levels of collegiate Division I or a middle school coach, you know that preparing students for the future is everyone’s number one goal.
Motivation to stay fit. While I know that I can’t perform at the level I did as a collegiate athlete, I can find ways to stay in shape so that my athletes know that everything doesn’t fall apart after your competition days are finished. Besides, the fact that I can workout when I go to work prohibits a lot of the excuses I’d like to use (too busy, too tired, out of the way, no time) to skip a workout session.
Game day! I wrote about it during the I Love Coaching month series…check it out. Here’s a taste: After the warmup music is turned off, lineups are announced, and the teams tell each other good luck…it’s time to see if it all worked. If the preparation was adequate and if we can respond to the moves being made by our opponent. I love watching my team execute the game plan, and seeing their faces when things goes well, and their fortitude when they don’t.
Success. Building teams, giving them the tools they need to be successful now and in the future, winning on the court, advocating for my student-athletes, a commitment to lifelong learning (for myself), good working relationships with my coworkers and administration, collaborating with campus folks outside of the athletics department, alumni who are proud of their experience with me and like to come back to visit, being a helpful member of the greater community. All of those things sound like success to me!

I’m sure you love coaching too…or you wouldn’t read this blog! Don’t forget why you do what you do and hold your head high. The coaching profession is a wonderful thing!

The 5 I’s Of Greatness

Coaching philosophy, Goal settingCoaching philosophy

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Is greatness a nurture or nature thing? Meaning, can we teach greatness…or is it something that we’re born with? According to Daniel Coyle, author of The Talent Code, we can teach it. I’d highly recommend you read the book, it’s a little sciency, but a very good read…I wrote about it here.

Without further ado, here are five things which are essential to teams in order to be great.

Initiative. The first thing great teams conquer is fear of failure…because they know that failure is a step to success. As John Wooden said, “If you’re afraid of failure, you will never do the things you are capable of doing.” I often tell my team that they never would have learned to walk when they were toddlers without initiative. Those little kids aren’t worried about falling over again and again, failure doesn’t bother them. They don’t focus on the failure, but rather the goal in front of them.
Intentness. Great people don’t give up. They set goals and pursue them relentlessly. They are determined to pursue their goal…they understand that they may not reach the goal. Yet they push on. They are persistent in consistently practicing to the peak of their performance…they are tough.
Identifiable. Greatness can’t be disguised, it can’t be hidden, and it can’t be mistaken for something else. It could be the player whose words can motivate and inspire her teammates to do what they didn’t think they could. Or it could be the player who keeps working hard even though they are physically and mentally exhausted. Or it could even be the player who has earned the respect of her teammates…even though she doesn’t get tons of playing time.
Inspiration. Great teams inspire one another to perform at their best level…they want to be the best, not for personal glory, but for the success of the team. The coaching staff gets after it with recruiting, practice planning, and scouting their opponents. Meanwhile, the players study video to make themselves better and learn their opponent’s tendencies…not to mention inspiring one another to push themselves just a little bit harder than the day before.
Imaginative. Great coaches, players, and teams can see success before it happens. Success is not a surprise to great teams, but rather something they’ve played over and over again in the tape that runs in their heads. Great teams visualize their success in vivid detail and then go about the work of making it happen.

There is something empowering about knowing that you are in control of your greatness and it should be exciting to your team as well. Greatness isn’t something you’re born with…it’s something you can learn over time.

H Is For Harmony: Team Chemistry 101

Team chemistryTeam chemistry

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I’m a marketers dream. I remember all commercial jingles and regularly sing along when they come on television or the radio. My husband laughs at me because I can recite them whether the song is for the local assisted-living home (“Peterson Meadows…make a better tomorrow, today”) or a cola commercial from back in the ‘70s.

When I first came up with the idea of “harmony” on teams, I thought about that Coke commercial (“I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony”) with people of all sorts of ethnic and racial backgrounds. If you don’t remember it, click here.* The commercial shows musical harmony…but what does harmony on a team look like?

What is harmony?
Agreement in feeling or opinion;
A consistent, orderly, or pleasing arrangement of parts;
A pleasing combination of elements in a whole.

So often, when we think of harmony, we think of getting along. But it’s much more than that. I love the last definition the best. If I could describe my team as “a pleasing combination of elements in a whole”, I’d be pretty fired up!

What will harmony look like on a team?
On the court, players will know their roles. The stud won’t shrink under pressure and the supporting cast won’t try to be the stars of the show. Over the course of the season, we all (coaches and players alike) learn how our puzzle will fit together. Reserve players understand that they are valued by the starters and the starters accept the burden of always representing the team…good, bad, or ugly. The coaches learn how each player is motivated: who to yell at and who to put an arm around. It’s not that there is never a disagreement on the team, but a harmonious team will know what is and is not fair game for disagreement.

How does harmony affect the team?
Obviously, I think that harmony has a positive effect on teams. I think that harmony assumes we have a common goal and that each player and coach will do whatever it takes to propel the team in the direction of our goals. Harmony is self-sacrificing. I like that first definition from above which states that harmony is an agreement. Everyone has to hold up their end of the bargain for harmony on teams.

So harmony isn’t something we can’t put our brains around. In fact, I’d say that harmony (arranging parts together as a whole in a pleasing manner) is a must for successful teams.

*By the way, I wasn’t actually alive when this commercial came out. Just sayin’.

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G Is For Goals: Setting Attainable, Challenging, and Assessible Goals

Goal settingCoaching philosophy

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If you typed “goal setting” into an internet search engine, you’d get over sixty eight million results in less than a second. Life is all about goals. Whether it is to graduate from college within a certain time period, to get married by a particular benchmark, or even earn your first million dollars at a specific age…life truly is all about setting, achieving, and resetting goals. I think can be a great gift that we give to our student-athletes which they’ll use in both their professional and personal lives for years to come.

Here’s a 3 step process to successfully set goals

Attainable. I’m sure a lot of you have heard of S.M.A.R.T. goals. The letters stand for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based. These are the criteria that all of our goals should have. Setting goals without having a process to assess whether or not the goals have been met isn’t productive. And isn’t that the whole purpose of goals…to make us more productive? While researching this post, I found out that someone has already thought of that and came up with S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals, with the E standing for evaluate and the R standing for reevaluate.

Challenging. I typically have my team leaders run the goal setting session. A few of the guiding principles are: everyone contributes to the conversation, the goal has to require “the team” to accomplish, and it has to be measurable. Those rules apply whether they’ve got three goals or twenty. I’m sure you’re reading that and thinking that’s not very challenging…I’d disagree! Getting a team of opinionated individuals to all voice their opinion, agree on what “challenging” is, understand the difference between personal and team goals, and make the goal measurable is a task in itself.

Assessible. Our college has been pretty focused on assessment lately. If your institution is anything like mine, a common phrase is, “oh, we already do that” when asked. Are you recruiting a diverse student body? Oh, we already do that. Are you putting the students first? Oh, we already do that. Whatever the question, the answer is always: oh, we already do that. The big dogs on campus answered quite simply, “that’s awesome…prove it!”. Hence the assessments. I can say I’m the queen of England, but no one is going to believe me unless I’ve got some concrete evidence. Setting measurable goals will make assessing their viability much easier.

Athletes and coaches are goal driven by nature. Let’s be sure to inform our athletes about the goal setting process so that it’s a skill that they’re able to use after their time with us is finished.

F Is For Female Athletes

Female athletesFemale athletes

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I’ve always talked to my teams about being process-driven rather than outcome-driven, of course believing that if we adhere to the process…the outcome will be one in our favor. If I’m successful, they will focus less on the scoreboard or the wins and losses, and more on the path to get there: hard work, focused practices, being competitively great.

I have the same viewpoint of working with female athletes. Much like we give the team a game plan (process) for shutting down an opponent’s strongest player (outcome), we’ve got to have a strategy for equipping our female athletes for success. So that’s what I’ll talk about here with you today.

What’s our desired outcome? What goals would we like to achieve with our players?

Four fabulous outcomes of working with female athletes

Teamy teams. Teamy is a word I made up to describe the state of an individual who values their teammates and enjoys being in a team environment. The teamy player puts their teammates first and is willing to sacrifice personal glory for the good of the team. Teaminess is what occurs when a group of people come together with a common goal, a common purpose, and a common level of dedication.
Confident players. Confidence is essential to any sort of success your team may have…and it’s got to be consistent. Situational confidence is based on a specific performance and is short-lived, to be crushed by the next loss or poor performance. But genuine confidence? Now that’s the good stuff! It is a belief the athlete holds deep down within themselves that they will ultimately be successful.
Mentors. Little girls need to see that sports are for them too. They need to see that women can be aggressive and competitive and achievers…that’s where our teams come in! I believe in the power of sport to teach all sorts of life lessons, but first they’ve got to get in the game.
Success. The 10 Essential Characteristics That Winners Must Possess is one of my favorite posts…it’s also one of the most popular on the blog. We all want our players to be winners. Not just on the court, but in the classroom…and later on, in the board room. When my players walk across the stage at commencement, there are many life lessons I hope they’ve learned from their time with me. Some of those lessons are contained in the Winners post…I hope you check it out.

So how do we get to this place? Or, in other words, what’s the game plan?

Three thoughtful ways to plan for the success of your female athletes

Leadership. It’s got to be okay to have captains with power and influence who feel comfortable exerting that power with their teammates. I believe that it is critical to shape your team’s and your captain’s view of what a captain should be, what she should do, why she is doing it, and that it is okay to exercise power in her role as captain.
“Girl drama”. If you bought my book, you know that I don’t believe in girl drama. I understand that conflict is real…but I don’t believe conflict is gender based. When you bring up “girl drama”, folks usually chuckle, with an eye roll thrown in for good measure, and shrug in an “oh well” manner. I don’t think it has to be that way, let’s have higher standards for our female athletes.
Competition. Women are very competitive and will rise to any occasion…together. Studies show that women join teams to be a part of something and to socialize, then once they realize they’re good, they’ll keep playing. That’s exactly the opposite of guys who join teams because they’re good and happen to make friends along the way. So, the moral of the story is, if you want to motivate your female athletes to greatness, remind them of their teaminess.

I’m sure that if you follow this plan, or one of your own, you’ll be happy with the end result: confident, successful female athletes who excel on teams!

E Is For Effective: Coaching More Than The Game

Coaching strategy, Connections, Work/Life balanceCoaching career

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We know that we’ve got to be effective in practice and on game day…I’m sure at the beginning of our coaching careers, we all thought that was all we had to worry about! Then we learned the truth, there’s more to coaching than the X’s and O’s.

On the surface, these topics may seem awfully close to tangibles…don’t worry, I can find the intangibles in the most concrete subject! Let’s look at six areas where we must be able to carry our weight as coaches.

6 areas that require effectiveness from coaches

Recruiting. Whether you’re a high school or college coach, recruiting will be your team’s life blood. Having a well thought out coaching philosophy is essential in order to recruit new student-athletes onto your team. Why do you do what you do? What do you expect to accomplish? What skills should your student-athletes expect to receive after their time with you is complete? Knowing the answers to these questions will help your current players be advocates for you with their future teammates. Check out this post: The 1 Thing You Need To Be A More Effective Recruiter.

Athletes. As those NCAA commercials tell us often, most of our athletes aren’t going to be professional athletes. So why should they play? If the only goal is to become a professional at the sport and we’re telling them ahead of time that more than likely they won’t be…what’s the point? I’d say that the intangibles they receive from sport are invaluable! They learn to win and lose with grace, leadership, deal with various personality types, they’re high achievers, they understand how to put other folk’s interest ahead of their own. That sounds great, right? Check out this post: 5 Reasons Why Athletes Are More Prepared For The Real World.

Administration. As coaches, we have to advocate for our players, our teams, and our programs. That Advocacy will require us to do our homework. Do the other teams in your conference have full-time assistants and you only have a part-timer? Does your team travel in vans while the other teams get fancy wifi busses? Does your locker room look like an middle school disaster while other teams have rooms with gorgeous wood-paneled lockers and big screen tv’s? Are your facilities comparable with your competitors? These are all conversations we should have with our administrators. Check out this post about what administrators should want for their departments.

Alumni. Alums are not only powerful because they have the loot, but because they have a voice with our institution’s leadership. They’re the folks that can put in a good (or bad) word about us as the coach and the direction our programs are going. They can also be a resource for us. Are you playing in a big game against an old rival? How about asking your alumni to email the team about their recollections of their days on the court against that team? Our alums want to help and to be involved, let’s give them space to do that! Check out this post: The Making Connections Series: Alumni.

Faculty. I think it’s pretty important that faculty respect what our athletes do every day in our gyms and on our fields. These athletes choose our school not only for the great education that they’d receive, but also because they’d be able to compete athletically…that gives athletics an importance on campus that we don’t always feel. Creating relationships with a few faculty members can go a long way to creating good will between academics and athletics. Check out this post for more: The Making Connections Series: Campus.

Balance. Finally, let’s show our teams that we can do our jobs with a bit of balance. Of course there’ll be times when we’re in the office late making calls or watching video, but wouldn’t it be nice if because our athletes watched us…they wanted to coach? If we can show them that we’re still able to work out, or knit, or hunt, or make dinner for the family, or whatever it is that we like to do…wouldn’t that be an awesome display of work/life balance for our teams? Check out this post: How To Take Care Of Yourself And Give The Best To Your Team.

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The 4 D’s of Teamwork

Team chemistryTeam chemistry

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I visited a friend’s church the other day and the pastor said, “It takes teamwork to make the dream work.” I love that! Every team, all around the world, comes into the season with goals and dreams. And those goals will only be accomplished alongside their teammates. So how do we give our players the tools they need in order to work together seamlessly and efficiently? Read on to find out!

4 things we must have that will promote teamwork

Definition. What does teamwork mean to you? Odds are, you’ll think it means something different than I do. Those same discrepancies happen on our teams…unless we define it for them. If you’ve been a reader for a while, then you know where I’m going with this: the Pyramid of Success. I like the Pyramid because it gives our teams a common definition of success…and a roadmap of how to get there. The foundation: enthusiasm, hard work, friendship, loyalty, cooperation are all things that sound a whole lot like teamwork to me. Without those things, I don’t think a team will experience success…no matter how talented their players.

Dedication. A successful team will be dedicated to building a solid foundation of teamwork. That means having enthusiasm for practice and one’s teammates even when schoolwork is beating them down. That means working hard in each practice even when they were up late studying for an exam. It means maintaining friendships with players on the team who have been grumps lately. It means that teammates know they have each other’s backs…no gossiping, sniping, or eye-rolling. It means understanding that everyone has a role, that it truly does take a cooperative village to achieve success. That just covers the foundation of the pyramid…there are eleven more blocks! Teamwork and success require sustained effort.

Delegation. The head coach can’t do it all. While we know building a solid foundation of teamwork is critical to our success, empowering the other leaders on the team will lighten our loads. Maybe this is something our assistant coaches would like to take on. Or perhaps our captains would like to lead the way toward solid teamwork. There are too many places where we aren’t (locker room, training room, on campus) to assume that we don’t need our team leaders to take a major role in our teamwork efforts.

Demonstration. Movie clips. Letters from alums talking about their team experiences. Watching other teams work together. These are just a few of the ways that we can demonstrate teamwork to our players. I’m always amazed at the amount of young ladies who have bad high school team memories and I think we’d be incorrect to assume that our players know how to work positively with their teammates.

Teamwork is hard work, but worth the effort in the end. If your team is committed to staying focused on building a solid foundation and holding one another accountable to it…the sky’s the limit for them!