When I speak to my athletes at the start of the season, I lay out my expectations for the team and the upcoming season. At the foundation of my coaching philosophy is two words that I share with the team.
"Individual Accountability" For me, these two words and the attitude that goes with it sets the standard for everything we do as a group. No matter what kind of organization you belong to, there must be accountability for the organization to survive, let alone thrive. People within an organization must be able to hold themselves and each other up to the standards of the organization. If you are not willing to be held accountable by teammates, you cannot grow and develop as a team member the way your team needs you to. Accountability is about being responsible. You must be responsible for your words and actions, but you must also be responsible to the team. Responsibility to the team means being responsible to teammates, to the team’s leadership, and to the mission and standards that the team has established for membership. You know you have achieved accountability when people expect the best from you even when no one is watching. This should be the goal of all team members. When team members are accountable to one another and to the core values of the team, true progress can be made because everyone is willing to do what needs to be done and then fix what needs to be fixed when they are not getting it done. Accountability requires clear, honest communication. If there has been a violation of a team standard, people need to clearly state what the violation was directly to the person or persons who violated it. They need to be able to say exactly what needs to be done to change the behavior and to move forward in a positive fashion. This will only work, however, if there has been clear, honest communication from the start. That starts with one of the earlier team themes I discussed in an earlier post – Trust. When trust is present, then open, honest communication works because people do not feel like they are being attacked. They trust the message and the person delivering the message. But this can only happen on a consistent basis if leadership has fostered a climate of trust There are two levels of accountability - accountability to yourself and accountability to others. The first way to establish accountability is to hold yourself accountable. While all members of a team need to do this, the first people who must do this are the leaders of the team. This starts with the head coach. If the head coach is willing to hold himself accountable and be held accountable by others, he sets the proper tone for the team to be a team that is based on accountability. From here it spreads to the rest of the coaching staff and then to the team captains or team leaders. If all of these people are on board with holding themselves accountable, the team has a chance to be a team that functions as one accountability unit. If there is no accountability at the top, however, how can they expect the rest of the team to ever hold themselves accountable? The other level of accountability is accountability to others. Within this level there are two types of accountability to others. The first type of accountability to others is when people on the team are willing to have other people hold them accountable for their words and actions. If a player is not working her hardest and a teammate calls her on it, the player who is accountable will listen, recognize, acknowledge, and then adjust her actions to show that she is now holding herself accountable. She is basically saying, “You’re right. My bad. I will pick it up right now.” And then she will do just that. When this player behaves in this way, she has moved from being held accountable by others to now holding herself accountable. The second type of accountability to others is in many ways the tougher one of the two. This accountability is when team members have the courage to confront a teammate who is not handling his responsibility to the team. This is accountability in action, but it is not easy. It requires the ability to confront people directly. While any team member may sometimes do this (and that is often the mark of a highly accountable team), more often than not it is the leadership that has to do this. Whether it is the head coach, assistant coaches, or team captains, the leadership MUST confront violations of team standards, or the team will fray and eventually self-destruct. You cannot be a leader if you are not willing to confront people who are violating your standards. It does not mean you have to be harsh. You can be tactful and respectful when confronting. However, you must confront the person directly and firmly. The team member must know that what he is doing is unacceptable on this team, and the behavior must change or there will be consequences. Strong teams have strong leaders who are willing to step up and say what needs to be said when it needs to be said in order for change to occur for the benefit of the entire team. For your team and program to thrive and become the best it is capable of becoming, there must be accountability – accountability to yourself and accountability to others. Coaches and captains must always set the example for how to behave within their program, and accountability is one of the best ways to lead by example. Hold yourself to a high standard and let your team see that. By doing so, they will have a much better chance of following suit. Incredible heights can be achieved when all of the team members are willing to be held accountable to high standards.
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AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
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