Coaching a sports team is no different than being in a leadership position with any group of individuals working toward a common goal. The work place, social organizations, community groups and sports all use teams to accomplish goals. The dynamics of teams determine if these goals will be met in an efficient manner. Identifying team dynamics and understanding both the positive and negative aspect within a group and preparing accordingly will increase the chance of a group being able to achieve the desired outcome.
Every group or team is different. It is a collection of individuals, each with their own qualities and weaknesses, individual objectives, motivations and personalities. In the specific case of sport, Tte environment in which a team finds itself can also determine and affect the team dynamic. Things such as age, level of competition, male vs female teams, experience of the group, the nature of the competitive cycle ( a short tournament with select teams, vs a club season over 6 months vs a university season condensed in 2 moths) and various other factors can affect how a coach must work on ensuring that they team dynamic is such that it allows the individuals to perform to their own potential and in a manner which contributes to the overall group success. In my years of coaching, one complaint I have often heard from players is that " there are too many cliques in the team" . That somehow there are mini groups of players bonding together which somehow prevents the team from succeeding. By definition, a clique is " a small group of people, with shared interests or other features in common, who spend time together and do not readily allow others to join them". So in my view, a team, is a clique, that within a team, individual with common interests or backgrounds gravitate to each other is normal. A coaches role is to somehow make all these small cliques, work together for the benefit of the bigger clique. So what is team dynamic? The dynamics of a team depend on each team member. Unseen forces that exist in a team between different people or groups are called team dynamics and can strongly influence how a team reacts, behaves or performs. Many factors influence team dynamics, such as personalities of team members, how the team operates, how the team views itself and the team's organization. There is a saying that any group takes its personality from the leader, I disagree, I think the group takes its personality from the collective of the group, but a leader's role is to find the common threads that will bring everyone together. So how does one do this ? The development of friendship within a team can have both positive and negative effects. Friendship can foster communication among members of the team. This may lead to a positive social feel within the group and make members enjoy being a part of the team. This good feeling can increase motivation and commitment to the team. However, a strong friendship within a group can leave other team members feeling excluded and make them less likely to include the friends when decisions are made. These friendships can split the team into sub-groups and lead to a lack of communication leading to unsuccessful efforts to accomplish team goals. Hence the important of a coach being able to keep the whole group working towards the "larger picture". And sometimes as a the leader, tough decisions have to be made when individual's action hamper team success. It is important to identify team goals as early on in the process (or season) as possible. A common mistake teams make is to assume that team members see tasks the same way and understand how everyone should be contributing. Avoid conflict and conserve resources by developing a plan and communicating as a team. This discussion should identify team goals, and their how each team member fits in within the plan. Each member of the team should be aware of his or her individual talents and weaknesses. This identification will allow the team member to contribute to their maximum potential. When team members learn about their teammates, individuals can tap into other team members' strengths and talents, thus creating a stronger team. When we meet with our teams, we are clear to explain that while there will clearly be players who play more than others, that as with any high level team, their are starters, subs and reserve players, for the success of the team, everyone is important. Reserve players have the role to push the starters to work hard in training, to make them force competitive situations so that when we step on the field in a game, we are prepared for it. As coaches, it is then important to provide feedback to each member as to how they are fulfilling their role within the group and to work with them to minimize factors that might affect their performance. Social loafing is when team members do not work to their potential, with the assumption that other team members can make up for their laziness. Emphasizing the importance of individual contribution and pride within the group can avoid this phenomenon. Making members accountable for their effort by identifying individual contributions can deter laziness. Breaking the team down into smaller groups when possible is another way to avoid social loafing. It is important to understand that a team cannot be a peak performance levels at all times, games and practices. A coach has to be able to manage effort and intensity. Find moments to lighten the atmosphere with fun drills or game, but also tighten the screws when needed to keep the players on tasks. It isn't easy, and as a coach it can be hard sometimes to see a group not responding to direction and performing as you think they can. The important thing is to insist on individual accountability and make each team part of the process, allow them to contribute ideas and suggestions, seek out feedback knowing that you might hear something you aren't ready for. If athletes feel they have an active part in making the team better ,then they will buy in.
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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
January 2023
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