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Hi Coach,
Today, we’re diving into driving extraordinary performance on your team.
I hope these newsletters serve you on your coaching journey!
QUOTE
“Leaders of great companies have faith in the ability of ordinary people to perform extraordinarily well. They know that there are very few lazy, uncaring people and that, given the right environment, most people will deliver outstanding performance. Poor performance is usually the result of poor hiring decisions, poor training, lack of clear expectations, poor leadership, inadequate appreciation, poor job design, or some other failure of the company, not the employee.”
NEWSLETTER
How can we get ordinary people (or players) to perform at an extraordinary level?
This is the quest of every coach.
I recently wrapped up reading Jim Collins’ book, B.E. 2.0. Collins is a prolific writer and researcher who has spent his career studying what makes great companies great.
He’s written some classics such as Good to Great, Great by Choice, and How the Mighty Fall.
I believe coaches would be well served to read his work and apply his findings to how they build and lead their teams. After all, companies are just collections of teams attempting to perform at high levels.
In B.E. 2.0, Collins shares five basic conditions under which people tend to execute well:
People execute well if they’re clear on what they need to do
People execute well if they have the right skills for the job
People execute well if they’re given freedom and support
People execute well if they’re appreciated for their effort
People execute well if they see the importance of their work
Let’s dive into each of them within the context of coaching…
#1: People execute well if they’re clear on what they need to do
Define their role
Be clear on what success looks like for them
Share the metrics or key stats that track the effectiveness of their performance. My friend Tyler Coston says, “Measurement is magic”
#2: People execute well if they have the right skills for the job
Put players in right spots to be successful. This includes on the court/field, and also as a leader/teammate.
Identify their strengths, play to those
Help them develop new skills to succeed at a higher level in their current role or a future role
#3: People execute well if they’re given freedom and support
Freedom — Autonomy, choice, and agency. Trusting players to make the right plays at the right time to help the team. Coaches must fight the urge to over-coach and give players the space to make decisions on their own.
Support — Unwavering belief in their ability to succeed at the job at hand. High doses of positive reinforcement, and lots of encouragement and teaching after mistakes.
#4: People execute well if they’re appreciated for their effort
Catch people doing it right and praise them!
Celebrations/shoutouts (verbal encouragement) are essential — they must be a habit in your culture. They should flow from coaches to players and players to players.
Award cultural artifacts for players that live out your values — i.e. Award a “Golden Plunger” for the player that “does the dirty work” (effort plays) during games or practices
Write players a handwritten note and/or find time to give them 1-on-1 praise
#5: People execute well if they see the importance of their work
Explain the why behind the what for athletes — the why behind the play, their role, your strategies, etc.
Players need to understand how their job/role will help someone else/the team succeed
Continually highlight and praise those things that lead to success but don’t get praised very often — i.e. effort and unselfishness (back to #4)
Share examples of athletes that weren’t the star but played a vital role in a team’s success
Ordinary people perform at extraordinary levels when these five things are present.
For a long time in sports, we’ve called this “chemistry.”
It’s typically viewed as this mysterious force, or secret sauce, that some teams have and some teams don’t.
In reality, it’s more likely a reflection of leaders who create an environment where those five conditions are present.
Then, the whole suddenly becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
A team achieves beyond what anyone expected or believed was possible.
When you find one of these teams, you’ll likely find a leader that created those five conditions, which allowed each individual and the team as a whole to flourish.
CLOSING
Thanks for reading, I hope this serves you on your journey.
To your growth,
Luke Gromer, RYG Athletics
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