Monthly Archives: February 2014

Culture Change: Evolution or Revolution?

Coaching strategy

culture changesource

A coworker of mine let me know about The Corner Office, which is a management/leadership section within the New York Times magazine. It has lots of interviews of hot shot management types that are very interesting and, I think, applicable to the coaching profession.

Changing a team culture needs to happen when you take over a new team, when your team is stuck in a negative rut, and sometimes when a new and dominant set of leaders take over. How should you go about it?

A model for changing a team culture:

  1. Evaluate the team. Sit down with your assistants and go through your team, player by player. What positives do they bring to the team? Negatives? Do you have the players you need to win?
  2. Figure out what needs to be changed. Do you have good team leaders? It’s easy to dust off old practices each year, but maybe you need to get to some clinics to learn some new ways to teach your old tricks.
  3. Figure out what doesn’t need to be changed. Similar to #2.



Decide:

  1. Evolution. Slow, steady change. Probably best for a team you’re currently coaching.
  2. Revolution. Fast, radical change. Probably best for taking over a new team.



Action plan:

  1. Set the strategy. Where will you start first? Staff improvements? Recruiting? Increasing the skill base of your current players?
  2. Come up with a structure/plan. Implementing the strategy.
  3. Identify the right players. We can’t anything without our players. Make sure you’ve got the right team leaders in place, the right players in the right positions, and the right recruits in the pipeline.



So that’s the coach version of the business turnaround plan from The Corner Office.

Teaching The Habit Of Excellence

Coaching strategy

source

“It’s a compliment to demand excellence from somebody.”
—30 Second Approach to Decision-Making

I’m sure everyone knows the Aristotle quotation, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” It’s perfect to use in the coaching profession and should be an accurate description of what our practices look like.

I would even hazard a guess that our athletes know and love this quote. But knowing it and loving it are separate issues from living in daily on our fields and courts! Truly embracing that quotation means signing up for getting their butts figuratively kicked by a coach. It means leaving their comfort zone and stretching to become the best player possible. Inevitably, there will be times when our athletes fall short. What to do then?

Demand the excellence we seek! The opening quotation is from a NY Times Magazine interview with the president of a compliance company. She (Shanti Atkins) outlined how she handles the achievement gap: the difference between where we are and where we want to be…perfect for us coaches!

Demanding excellence: The coach’s role

  1. Set a high standard. First off, Atkins says we’ve got to make sure that our teams see that we’ll apply the same standards to ourselves. We’ve got to demand excellence from ourselves and our staff first and foremost.
  2. Celebrate successes. Secondly, we’ve got to brag on ourselves. Whether it’s a great recruit or designing a great practice, we’ve got to make sure we keep our teams included.
  3. Acknowledge where you fell short. Finally, we have to make sure we keep it real with our players. If we don’t make the mark, there’s nothing wrong with telling them…there’s actually a lot right with it!



Demanding excellence: The player’s role

  1. Praise effort/skill. “Look, I think you’re a good player.”
  2. Express your belief in their potential. “When I first saw you, I knew you’d be a great player and you haven’t disappointed. You’re not where you want to be yet, but by the end of your senior year, you’re going to be a rock star!”
  3. Refocus their individual goals. “You’ve got to do these things (come in for extra practice, watch more film, get stronger in the weight room, etc.) to have your fairy tale ending. I think you can work harder than you have been, so let’s come up with a plan to get you where you want to be.”



I would assume this is just the beginning of the “demanding excellence” idea. If all we do is chat, but never put it into action in the gym, we won’t get the results we’re looking for.

Demanding excellence is a compliment, let’s not forget to do it with our teams.

Clear The Way For Excellence

Team chemistry

Negativitysource

“It’s not enough to accentuate the positive. You have to eliminate the negative.”
—Bad is 5X Stronger Than Good

How is your team doing? Are you stuck in a rut? Can’t figure out why you aren’t moving forward? What if you’ve got negativity going on? What if a select, but powerful, few of your players are sabotaging the success of the group with their Debbie Downer view of the world?

What to do?

Face it head on.

4 things we must eliminate from our teams to experience success

  1. Bad practices. This was from a business blog, so I don’t think he meant sports practices. Poor team culture and ineffective norms will hold even the most talented teams back.
  2. Nasty people. I strongly believe that our role as coaches is to help guide young people as they’re navigating the world of adulthood. That being said, there have been a couple of times in my career where I’ve waited too long to get rid of the bad apple. One rotten apple truly can spoil the bushel.
  3. Destructive attitudes. “Quickly deal with lack of cooperation, rudeness, laziness, or self-serving behaviors. When you see bad, shine a light on it.” Sometimes we coaches chicken out and take the easy road rather than having that uncomfortable conversation.
  4. Negative beliefs. Does your team really believe in your vision for the program? If they don’t, it’s time to figure out how to get them on board or how to replace them.



Negativity breeds negativity. One player quits, it opens the door for another. One teammate complains about the coaching, the rest suddenly think the coach is the real problem.

Eliminate the negative attitudes and people and clear the way to success.

Can Commitment Be Measured?

Team chemistry

Commitmentsource

As coaches, we think we have all the answers, right? That’s great, because I have no idea how to answer the question I posed in the title. There are some things that look like commitment, but they could easily be other things:

  • A player that comes to practice early. Could also be avoiding doing homework.
  • An athlete comes in regularly to get treatment in the training room. Everywhere I’ve been the training room is gossip and hangout central, maybe they’re just being social.
  • One of your players always finishes first when you have your team run. Some folks are gifted runners and the fact they finish first is more a result of genetics than effort.



I’m sure we could all come up with other scenarios that look like commitment…and maybe they are, but I’m convinced I can never be sure. I’ve been wrong on both ends of the spectrum. I’ve had athletes I was sure were committed, only to be wrong, wrong, wrong. I’ve also had athletes who I wasn’t convinced were in it for the long haul, only to realize I’d mislabeled them.

So what does commitment look like?

  • Is it being at practice every day?
  • Is it doing all the lifting?
  • Watching film?
  • Helping with recruiting?
  • Is it holding a leadership position?
  • Is it doing the off-season workouts?



Honestly, I don’t know. I think everything on that list is just a requirement of being on a team…nothing above and beyond there.

Is commitment a consistency of doing the right thing all the time? After all, the bare minimum of being on a team is a huge time commitment. Or can commitment be measured by the result? Is a mightily transformed athlete the result of a commitment to get better?

I think the essence of the answer to the opening question is in the heart of the athlete. Are they working to improve at each practice or just showing up? Are they watching film with a critical eye or just enjoying watching a game?

Perhaps we need to think of commitment on a continuum…

What do you think?

Maintaining Close Relationships With Your Team

Coaching strategy

mbwasource

I used to call this a “stop and chat”, but apparently there’s an actual name for this management technique called Management By Walking Around, or MBWA.

What is it exactly?

  • Stop and talk to players face to face.
  • Get a sense how things are going.
  • Listen to what is on player’s minds.



Why is it successful?

Years ago, I worked with a track coach who said it was his goal to talk to each athlete every day…even if only for a few moments. Connecting with our athletes is a win-win. We feel good about where our team’s mindset is and the players feel that we care.

If you do it correctly, you’ve been MBWAing all season, so the team won’t be startled when you stop and chat with them. This strategy will pay dividends when and if something big happens within the team that you need to get to the bottom of.

How to MBWA with your team

  • Make it part of the routine. The team should know when they come into the gym that you’re probably going to be talking to them, it shouldn’t be weird or awkward…just part of being on the team.
  • Just you, not the other coaches. If your whole coaching staff approaches one of your players, I’d imagine they’d start racking their brains, trying to figure out why you were coming toward her with a posse!
  • Chat with everyone. Seems obvious, but be sure to talk to each person on the team. Super stud and practice player alike. That way you can’t be accused of being unfair. Well, you can, but it won’t be true.
  • Ask for suggestions. This one is an easy one for a MBWA before a game, because you can always ask for suggestions for places to eat dinner. It’s super important for them (for some reason) and the team’s gotta eat.
  • Follow up with answers. If you’re doing a MBWA and one of the athletes asked a question you don’t know the answer to, you’ve got to be sure to get back to him with the answer.
  • Don’t criticize. There’s plenty of time for that! Keep it light…this is about relationship building!



If you want to read more about Management By Walking Around, check out this article. Investing our precious time into our players will reap benefits down the line.

The Power Of Mistakes

Mistakes

make new mistakessource

As I’m sure you can imagine, I love chatting with other coaches about our profession. I was talking to another volleyball coach and asked him what he’d want me to see if I walked into his gym during a practice. He said connectedness.

For him, connectedness looked like great communication between players, high energy from coaches, and players holding one another accountable. He said he didn’t want a mistake to go by without players communicating to make sure it didn’t happen again.

According to Daniel Coyle on his blog, talented groups create “a shared place where mistakes [aren’t] hidden, but discussed in the clear light of day.” Sounds a lot like my coaching friend’s gym.

So how can we create this atmosphere? Where players discuss mistakes rather than roll their eyes?

3 ways to create a space for athletes to learn from mistakes

  1. Talk about it. Let your players know that mistakes are okay. I always tell my team at the first practice of the season that they’ll make lots of mistakes over the course of the season…some big, some small. As long as they make different mistakes, we’re good.
  2. Be consistent. It’s helpful to have some sort of process for discussing mistakes. Figuring that out ahead of time will help keep feelings from getting hurt. If you’ve got an open policy in your gym, then freshmen should be able to critique a senior. Whatever your team dynamics, be sure that everyone is on the same page.
  3. Model it. Admit your own mistakes. Hopefully your story of mistakes has a positive ending you can use to motivate your team.



Let’s help our athletes connect by working through their mistakes together.

Challenging An Athlete’s Beliefs About Their Limits

Mental game

Test-Your-Limitssource

We can never know that we can’t do something; we can only know that we haven’t yet done so.
—Ellen Langer

I watched an athlete perform during the Olympics and after winning a gold medal, she revealed that she listened to the song, I Know I Can, before every competition. Here’s the chorus, which is sung by kids:

I know I can
Be what I wanna be
If I work hard at it
I’ll be where I wanna be

It’s a great song, positive and empowering. As is the quotation at the top, from 5 Mindfulness Steps That Guarantee Increased Success And Vitality. Often, our athletes are too quick to say what they can’t do and what Dr. Langer found out is it’s an impossibility to know you can’t do something. How about that? It’s a powerful message.

Of course, poor mindset—like thinking and verbalizing you can’t do something—can create an environment where success will be difficult. So that’s where we coaches come in to save the day. For an athlete to say they can’t perform a skill or a team to say they can’t find the success that’s eluded them is a falsehood. So how can we intervene to stop the negative self-talk and help our teams test their limits.

2 ways mindfulness will help our athletes challenge their limits

  1. Encourage dreaming. What if our athletes went beyond setting goals? Goals are great and motivating, but can be limiting. Perhaps they can be separate categories. Your team can set goals but also have “why not us?” sessions. Dream big. Why not?
  2. Redefine failure. I had a team that had a goal of winning the conference championship. We didn’t win, we lost in the finals and we were all devastated. We set a goal and we failed. I can tell you something, I’ve never had a more motivated team in the off-season. We won the championship the following year, in no small part, because of our failure the previous year.



Mindfulness means being present. Mindfulness means being aware of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.

Saying, “I can’t”, isn’t mindful because it lives in the future. We should encourage our athletes to stay present. Worrying about the mistake they’ve just made isn’t being mindful because it lives in the past. We’ve got to help our athletes fight and battle to stay in the moment…it’s the only thing they can control.

If we consistently challenge their mindset and mindfulness, our athletes will blow through any limits they think they may have.

From Apathetic To Peak Performer

Collaboration

PeakPerformancesource

I enjoy Twitter. I like reading great quotations, reading interesting articles, and seeing what people are finding interesting at the moment. I follow Lolly Daskal and she does these massive tweet chats…so massive that her hashtag (#leadfromwithin) sometimes trends globally. Daskal is a business consultant focusing on leadership, team performance, and culture change among others.

In one of her tweet chats, she asked her followers what makes peak performers different. She got lots of responses and these are the five things Daskal says make peak performers stand out.

Peak performers have H.E.A.R.T.

Honor. Peak performers hold their teammates in high regard. They are selfless, choosing to let others take credit for successes.

Excellence. They’re good at what they do.

Authenticity. The players are less concerned about what they’re “supposed” to do, but stay true to themselves. Their teammates never feel like they’re putting on a front for the coach and are well-respected by players and coaches alike.

Results. There should be tangible results if someone is to call themselves a peak performer. Either wins, faster times, records set…however your sport is measured.

Tenacity. Success requires a certain determination to push on no matter the circumstances. It also requires players to hold tight to the goals and dreams for the season.

Odds are, if you’ve got a peak performer or two, the rest of your team is drawn to them…the H.E.A.R.T. will draw them in.

Keeping Your Athletes From Wilting Under Pressure

Mental game

chokesource

“To choke is to wilt under pressure, to fail to perform at the moment of greatest importance.”
— The Relationship Between Anxiety and Performance

The antihero to the clutch player is the choker.

Here’s an expert definition: a “worse performance than expected given what a performer is capable of doing and what this performer has done in the past.”

I’m sure you’ll remember back to your playing days and recall that you were pretty nervous before every competition. For example, I ran the 400m for my track team in high school. Every race (three times a week), I stood at the start line and internally berated myself for choosing to do that event. Before every race (Every. Single. One.) I’d tell myself I was an idiot for choosing to run that race and that I’d never run it again. Then I’d run, it’d be fine, I’d run it again at the next meet.

Those are nerves…totally normal.

Choking is different. Something happens that prohibits a person from getting beyond their nerves. Choking is anxiety gone all wrong.

Why do people choke?

Quite simply, they’re so worried about messing things up…that they mess things up!

Helping our athletes beat the choke monster

  • Change their self-talk. As my assistant coach says, you’ve got to ask some players to think about what they’re doing on the court. Others, you’ve got to tell, “Don’t think!” I’d say our chokers fall into the latter category.
  • Don’t worry about the outcome, just the task at hand. Being present will help. Again, don’t think…just do.
  • Control breathing. I encourage my players to breathe in their nose, hold it for a moment, and then let it out. The article talked about some sort of nervous system reaction that responds to this, but I like it because it focuses their brain on something other than what they’ve got to execute.



Our players can’t always control the direction a game goes, but they can control their reaction to it.

The Key To Performing Under Pressure

Mental game

clutchsource

I’ve seen it happen in volleyball. A team holds a two games to none lead, then proceeds to give up the next two games and they head into a deciding fifth game.

Or in basketball, both teams exiting the final timeout and the game is tied with only five seconds on the clock.

Or in track and field, a sprinter has dominated their event for the entire season and now it’s time to go for the conference title.

Pressure is the running theme throughout all of these scenarios.

In Pressure Performance: Do You Have the X Factor?, Daniel Coyle talks about elite athletes and how performing under pressure is a myth. The good news (for the rest of us, at least) is that we’re not coaching the top 1% of our sport, so there is something to the whole “clutch” player idea.

What is clutch?

The clutch player is the person who executes a skill successfully when the team needs it. John Wooden called it competitive greatness. It could be a game point serve or a game-winning free throw…whatever your sport, whatever the scenario. Being clutch is just being at your best when your team needs you to be.

Being competitively great isn’t doing something outside of your skill set. It’s performing a skill that you’ve done a million times, except this time, the team needs you to perform. The team result will suffer if you don’t execute a particular skill. Now that’s pressure. That’s sport.

Value emotional control

A clutch player can have lots of great qualities—a great leader, best player on the team, excellent communicator—but they’re greatest asset is their ability to control their emotions when they need to execute.

Years ago, I coached an incredible player. She may be the most physically gifted player I’ve worked with—tall, long, fast, quick off the ground. She was really good. We made it to the conference final when she was a senior and, unfortunately, we were losing and the prospect of winning was slowly fading away. I looked out onto the court and this player, my best player, was crying. That’s right, she stood out there, while the game was still being contested, and cried.

Suffice it to say she wasn’t clutch.

Competitively great players—maybe not your best players, but your clutch players—rise to face the fear of “the moment”. They do it by figuring out how to manage their emotions.

Hopefully you’ve got time to check out both links, both posts have different things to say about performing under pressure and becoming competitively great.

Read about choking here, if you dare.