ReThink Coaching

A Coaching Lesson From the New Hampshire Primary

Coaching lessons are everywhere. Sometimes we just need to look . . .

As Tim O'Brien explains in his blog, Mitt Romney has many great character traits that would make him appealing. However, he was not able to sell his brand to the New Hampshire voters. They saw and listened, but many did not feel that Mitt Romney was right for them.

Carry that over to what you do as a coach.

When you talk to athletes, parents, staff, and especially recruits do you come across as someone that they want to associate with? Do they feel that you can do the job and that they want you to do it?

Much of this comes down to this thing called branding. Very simply, how you make people feel is incredibly important.

Often—as we see in politics—this power of feel/branding is more important than talent.

                                                                                                                        Image: Boston Globe

6 Forgotten Tools that Can Help Your Coaching in 2008 (part 2)

Continued from last post—3 more forgotten tools . . .

#4 The Tool of Reading. You don't have to look too far to find evidence—lots of it—about the power of reading. Want to be smarter? Read. What to have a better job? Read. What to look like a rock star?  Read (Well at least two out of three). And, be a better coach? You got it—read.

Reading today can be more dynamic and engaging than just a plain book. Blogs, podcasts, websites, emails, video blogs. More information about more things are more accessible than ever before in human history. An exciting time to be a reader. (But also an overwhelming one with so much info out there.)

Use this tool to improve your skills as a coach.

#5 The Tool of IDKBIWFO (I Don't Know But I Will Find Out). Coaches dislike (greatly) saying "I don't know." We are supposed to know—everything. But we don't. And I am not sure about you but I hate it when someone fakes an answer to a question—instead of saying, "I don't know, but hold on, I'll find out."

A critical trait of leadership is honesty. And saying the above, "IDKBIWFO" when you don't know is an honest reaction, and a refreshing one. We need more of that in coaching.

Tom Peters had espoused about IDK and he is spot on when he says it gives us permission to explore—and be honest.

Use this tool when you just don't know what the answer is. Really—try it.

 

#6 The Tool of Why The Heck Do You Coach? I've written about this before, and think know that it is worth repeating . . . . Knowing WHY you are coaching is one of the most important pieces of information you can/should have at each practice/competition/moment-of-insanity.

Get in a car and start driving without knowing why you are driving? No. Go to the store without knowing why you are there? Nope. So why the heck would you coach and not know why? You wouldn't, and shouldn't.

Use this tool when the pressure is building, you are faced with a difficult decision, or you are questioning your sanity.

Once again, here are all six tools:

1. The tool of Stopping
2. The tool of Giants
3. The tool of Gut Instinct
4. The tool of Reading
5. The tool of IDKBIWFO (I don't know but I will find out)
6. The tool of Why the heck do you coach

Six very simple tools. Give them a try. You have little to lose—seriously— and a lot to gain—a certainty.

6 Forgotten Tools that Can Help Your Coaching in 2008 (part 1)

A friend of mine spent time in the US Army Special Forces. When we were chatting one day he told me that while in the service, whenever he would find himself—or his team—in a challenging situation he would turn to his toolbox. This, he noted, was his metaphorical stash of tools (some mellow, some very, very nasty) that he could call up depending on what the situation called for.

You, as a coach, also have a toolbox, filled with a variety of different and helpful gadgets. The longer you've coached the better selection of tools you will have. Yet, it often happens that the more time you've spent coaching the more of these tool you forgot you have.

As a new season rolls around in 2008, it might be worth looking at six tools that seem to often be forgotten quite often but that could be very helpful.

#1 The Tool of Stopping. According to Seth Godin, the ability to abandon a plan when it doesn't work is a critical skill for small businesses to succeed. I would suggest the same holds for coaching. You may want to read his book about this topic.

So often as coaches our solution to a problem is to worker harder. It might turn out that stopping what you are doing and trying a different tactic might be a better solution.

Use this tool when it seems you are beating your heading against a wall.

#2 The Tool of a Giant. There are the coaches who have come before you. Many of these coaches have been pioneers—coaches who have shown insight, foresight, and/or remarkable vision. I call them Giants.

What is interesting is that many of these Giants enjoy giving back to the profession—to help others succeed. If you can stand on the shoulders of one of these Giants, as Sir Isaac Newton noted, you might be able to see farther than others.

Use this tool when faced with an especially challenging situation, or you need guidance with your career.

#3 The Tool of Gut Instinct. For some reason, especially in my sport of rowing, coaches are shying away from using their gut instinct to help with decisions, and are relying on analysis, in-depth study, and critical thinking. Yes, all are important, but not as important as common sense and using your gut instinct. Recent research indicates that your gut instinct might serve you better that agonizing over a solution.

Use this tool when a decision needs to be made, especially a complicated one.

Three tools to help you. Three more in the next post . . .

Bill Nye The Science/Coach Guy

Over the holiday break I read an insightful article about Bill Nye. To most of us with young kids, and cable, Nye is known as The Science Guy. In the book with the interview, Success Built to Last, Nye was portrayed as someone who was doing what he loved—and doing it well.

His trek into becoming who he is known as today (big star, nice office, gets to do many cool things) is what made the article so interesting. Typical college graduate who took a job at big corporate America, Nye came to realize that he was after more, and had some needs not being met at his workplace.

He entered a Steve Martin look-a-like contest—won it—and then started doing local comedy. Next thing he secured a grant that helped him turn his three passions, science, silliness, and humor into a second career—and a Disney personality.

Two things struck me about what a coach can learn from Nye (besides how to do some cool experiments):

The Power of Passion
Nye's journey—a round-about-way-to-success—is the same way so many coaches get into coaching. With little training and even less preparation many coaches get into the profession because of passion.

The passion may be to help their five-year-old play soccer, and someone needs to be the coach. Or the passion may be that an athlete isn't done with the sport after graduation and is looking for more. Or there are kids that need something to do and the passion is to help them stay on the right track. Or it could be just to “give back.”

Regardless, passion is what drives so many coaches into coaching, and it is certainly what drove Nye towards his success.

The Power of "So What?"
On his way to success Nye had to make some difficult career choices. He wanted to do a TV show that would combine his passions (science, education, silliness). He told the interviewer that his friends thought he was nuts. He also probably thought himself nuts—trying to do something others had not done before (while jettisoning a money-making career).

But he didn't stop. He persisted. And today many of us benefit from his ability to say “So what?” to the prospect of his failing in his quest.

Bill Nye does what so many of us love to do, to teach. Because of his passion and persistence he made something out of nothing. Two traits coaches need.

I bet Bill Nye would make a darn good coach.

Image Wikipedia

30 Ways To Zoom Your Coaching #1: Why X 2!

At the start of a recent seminar I gave, I asked participants two questions. I wanted to know the answers but more importantly I wanted them to know.

Each question was simple and had a purpose of getting these budding coaches to think. Think about what they are doing, and to figure out ways to help them do their job better. To zoom their job—to Improve their performance without sacrificing their values.

Here are the questions and the top answers (answer along if you dare):

Question #1: Why did you get into coaching? What prompted fine people to dedicate themselves to teaching someone else a sport. What drove them to stop what they were doing and start coaching. Most common answers (top three):

(1) to give back to the sport,

(2) because it looked like fun, and

(3) because they were not done competing yet.

(One person did note he got into because of the money. He was promptly booed.)

Question #2 Why do you stay in coaching? Most of the participants had been coaching 2 to 4 years, some longer. My question, "So you are still here in coaching—why?"

Most common answers (top three):

(1) wanted to complete what they started,

(2) it was fun, and

(3) not sure.

Yup, a good many of the coaches were not sure why they kept coaching.

A follow-up—I asked several of those who answered "they were not sure." This brought out that many were looking to move on soon. To leave coaching and do something else. That pretty much jives with several recent studies that suggest that upwards of 60% of workers today are looking to either change jobs or places of employment.

That is also a huge number of coaches who are most likely not engaged in their job, and not doing it well. Are you one of those coaches? Are you the stereotypical worker hanging on, reading the paper behind the desk, counting the minutes?

That's not zooming. That is . . . a waste.

So what to do if you're one of the 60-some-odd-percent? Two suggestions:

1. Find some way to put the passion back into coaching
2. Stop doing what you don't like, and start doing what you do like.

What the heck am I talking about?

Simple. First, go back to the reason you started in coaching, and find that passion again. And what if there is some part of coaching that is driving you nuts, bringing you down, annoying you to no end. Find someone else who can do it.

I know. It wasn't easy, but I've done it. And it helped.

As Seth Godin wrote, "Survival is not enough."

Zoom on!

 

Image: My Office Online

The Mitchell Report . . . What If?

A lot of interesting reading these days about sports, drugs, and competitive advantage. From bike racing (Floyd Landis) to track and field (Marion Jones) to professional sports. A busy time.

One of the most interesting readings of late is Senator George Mitchell's investigation of steroids and other performance enhancers in Major League Baseball. Called the Mitchell Report, Senator Mitchell's report has generated a lot of attention, buzz, shouting, and media frenzy.

And a lot of controversy.

In essence, the report concludes the following:

1. Major League Baseball's 2002 response to steroid use resulted in players switching from detectable steroids to undetectable human growth hormone. 
2. The use of performance enhancing substances by players is legally and ethically "wrong." 
3. While players that use illegal substances are responsible for their actions, that responsibility is shared by the entire baseball community for failing to recognize the problem sooner. 
4. An exhaustive investigation attempting to identify every player that has used illegal substances would not be beneficial. 
5. Major League Baseball should adopt the recommendations of the report as a first step in eliminating the use of illegal substances.

But what if the powers-in-charge (whoever that might be) decide that action needs to be taken, and they focus on conclusion #2. They decide that performance enhancers are now okay.

If suddenly they were legal how would that change the wild world of sports? Make it better? Safer? Deadly/ier?

Would the players be better off? Would a coach's job be easier? Would the fans know/care?

Would you let your child grow up to be a professional athlete if performance enhancers were the norm?

A lot of questions, but sometimes if you look at problem (and drug use is a problem in so many forms) from a completely radical viewpoint of the status quo, maybe a solution appears.

photo My Office Online

Coaching and Commitment

As coaches we do a lot of talking about commitment. We want everyone to commit to the goal—give it your all.

Most of us (coach types) are very committed individuals, but every-once-in-a-while a coach will do something that makes it just a little bit harder for the rest of us to be taken as seriously as we wish.

In this case I'm talking about commitment—coaches being committed—to their job, and to their word.

Here is an example of what I mean:

Football: Does The Word Commitment Mean Anything To College Football Coaches?

Should I not be surprised? Should we not expect more—a lot more—commitment to our word?

Do You Floss?

I don't mean dental floss, I mean Mental Floss.

Mental Floss is an extraordinary web site and magazine with some very interesting insights. Every once in a while they have some engaging sport posts, such as this one:

7 Medal-Worthy Stories You Haven’t Heard About the Olympics  

It might not make you a better coach, but it might give you a laugh or two.

In that case, it just might make you a better coach.

30 Coaching Tools, a start

I'm in Miami, making a presentation at the USRowing National Convention. My talk: Administration and Professional Development, or APD as we sometimes call it.

Difficult talk—for two reasons (neither having anything to do with the intent of the excellent audience). First, the talk was on Friday afternoon, at 3pm, after several full days of clinics that went on during the week beforehand, and after several nights of coaches doing Miami nightlife research.

Second, because the subject of APD usually stirs up about as much excitement as the topic of the ramifications of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty on the life span of chunky peanut butter in the late 20th century. People glaze over at the shear mention of the subject.

So what I did, realizing that the battle for the crowd's attention was an uphill one, was to break the talk down into really short segments. Small tidbits of stuff that they could walk away with, to help their coaching. Tools they could use.

It seemed to help, and they were a great audience that politely suffered through an old coach waving his arms and standing on chairs espousing about his passion—getting better.

So what?

A series of posts on these tools, that you can use. Entitled 30 Coaching Tools.

Firing up soon at a computer screen near you. Stay tuned.

What Were They Thinking? (Or Were They Even Thinking?)

Okay, stuff happens. Smart stuff happens, and stupid stuff happens.

I would probably file this story under You Have Got to be Kidding!

Coaches under fire after teams of 8-year-olds brawl on ice.

And here are a few blog comments about it:

Most Pathetic Sports Story of the Year

Is This Slapshot?

Not exactly a high point in coaching evolution.