EVERYONE WANTS TO BE LIKED BUT AS A COACH IT ISN'T THE ESSENTIAL THING, AT THE START ANYWAYS.10/1/2018 Leadership is a massive part of any sport. Whether you’ve been a coach for 20 years plus or you recently decided to take up coaching for the first time, leadership should always be at the forefront of your thinking.
It does come with a lot of pressure and the coaches are constantly under scrutiny; that’s why it’s important to incorporate certain values into your leadership to allow your team to reach its full potential and ease the overall pressure. The bigger the stage or level of competition, the more scrutiny and second guessing a coach will face. Even at the youth recreational level, there will always be at least one parent who somehow feels he or she could do a better job. Leadership in all its forms whether in sport or in the workplace are very much the same and comes with the responsibility to make decisions that will affect a group of individuals who can all have different expectations, objectives and perceptions about what is considered good leadership vs bad leadership. Once you step into a role of leadership, or for the purposes of today's blog post , a role of coaching, there a few very basic realities that in my humble opinion all coaches should keep in mind. -It's not about you ! Without athletes, there would is no need for coaches, so if you are coaching for your own validation or personal rewards, get out, you won't last. -You run the risk of disappointing someone each time you make a decision. You can't make everyone happy all of the time. -You have to be willing to make the tough decisions, that is part of the job description for being a coach. You can't gloss over decisions or avoid them in order not to disappoint. - As a coach, your decisions will often be judged not on the quality of the decision or the thinking that led you to the decision but simply on the outcome. Any coach or manager knows that you can make a great decision based on the information available to you and yet the outcome doesn't quite go the way you planned. Sometimes outside observers won't care about how you made your decision, simply about what happened once you made it. And often, their evaluation of YOUR decision will be based on how it affects THEM and not what was best for the group. Sports coaches are responsible for getting sporting teams or individuals ready to compete, and even guide them through their competition. Extra duties may include recruiting players, developing game strategies, and teaching the skills of the sport. A coach requires good planning and organization skills. They need to be able to relate to their athletes and coaching staff, and get the best out of the people around them. No where there does it say that a coach needs to be liked to be successful. Of course, let's be honest, everyone wants to be liked. I doubt there are too many people who openly are ok admitting that they don't care if no one likes them. Some people have that false bravado about boldly stating that they don't care but....... I'll let you draw your own conclusions. However, one could say that if the best thing everyone of your athletes can say about you as a coach is " he/she is really nice, we all really like him/her", it could mean that you aren't doing a very good job. Why do I write that? Well, as I stated in my 4 realities up top, each time you make a decision, the risk of upsetting or disappointing someone is there. The higher the competitive level, the bigger the rewards, the higher the expectation level of the athletes. Athletes want to play, they want to compete and be on the field. If as a coach you have an athlete who is openly content to be on the bench constantly, then ask yourself how motivated are they really? So assuming all your athletes feel the burning desire to be on the field and believe they deserve to be on the field, well then you as the person who decides who gets to play will surely disappoint at best or royally piss off at worst , one or some of your athletes. Back to the coaching responsibilities, coaches come from a wide range of areas, from ex-competitors, parents, teachers and even fans just interested in that sport, all with one thing in common - a passion for coaching. To get into coaching, you can start off gaining experience in a club or school environment. This way your skills can develop as your team develops, and over time you can learn and grow your own style of coaching. In addition to getting first hand experience, you should also be completing coaching courses. Most national coaching bodies run or accredit courses that can be done to give you coaching skills and knowledge. These courses usually follow a level system, from junior introductory coaching to top level elite coaching qualifications. They also advance from generic basic coaching to sport specific courses. It is also possible to gain qualifications from university level courses in sports coaching, as well as exercise physiology, psychology and biomechanics, which can only enhance your coaching knowledge. Mentoring is another a great way to move forward in your coaching. Many great coaches were once assistants to another great coach, where they were able to use their mentor as a sounding board for ideas and questions on coaching, and to mold some of their coaching style and skills into their own. All this is great, you can learn a lot about the theory of coaching, how to be a good coach, but nothing really prepares you for coaching like practical experience. In additional, I think it is essential that as a coach, you don't try to emulate anyone's specific style of coaching but take the best of all possible resources and then find you own way to coach. I am a firm believer that one's coaching or leadership style should reflect one's personality. If you are by nature a fairly relaxed and laid back individual, being a coach you is very vocal, excitable , loud , etc might not really work. You may be seen to be playing a character rather then being a coach. So do coaches need to be liked ? I think being liked is a bonus, like I said, everyone deep down wants to be liked. However what I think is most important as a coach is to be respected and trusted. Your athletes should be convinced that you are always doing what is best for the group. So how do you get there ? Well regardless of your coaching style, there are a few basic leadership concepts which might help. Be a positive leader. We’ve all been there. A string of defeats, a crucial match up against a big rival, a difficult training session they’re all challenges that require strong leadership. A massive part of leadership is to be able to deliver message with positivity. Without a motivational pre-match team talk or a bit of encouragement from the sidelines, you’re going to struggle to keep team morale high, which in turn could affect your performance on game day. To the opinions of some, a good leader will bark orders at people and focus on what people are doing wrong, rather than what they’re doing right; but the best leaders will be aware of the needs of every player and understand that a more positive approach can be required at times. As a leader, you should be able to judge when to use a firm approach to spark a member of the team and when words of encouragement are a better call. Let's be clear, this doesn't mean being a cheerleader constantly telling the team how great they are, how all their errors are ok. Athlete's are not stupid, tell them after a harsh defeat that it's ok, that they did their best, they will question if winning is really important to you. Rather, it is about always communicating in a way that the focus is on making the individual and the team better, learning from mistakes and setting expectations. Top down communication. As a leader, you need to be able to clearly and succinctly explain what you need from your players. This could be one-on-one, or to the entire team. That’s where top communication comes in. Strong communication is a solid foundation for all great coaches, captains and successful leaders. The main aim for a captain or coach is to find a way of communicating to players which inspire them to listen. Anyone can communicate but not every leader is blessed with the ability to press each player's motivational buttons and influence change. Leaders should establish a way in which they communicate their message effectively to their player. Having this ability sets apart the great leaders from the mediocre one. As a coach, you can't be patronizing and you can't be seen as not wanting to upset anyone. A good communicator is clear, consistent and transparent. Their is no room for misunderstanding or for different individuals to interpret the messages as best suits them. Communication is crucial. People can’t always see what effect their efforts have had and don’t feel they share in the reward. It's about being able to ensure that every member of a team buys into the group objectives and clearly understand what their role is within the group. Feedback is key. Coaches bound to lead in different ways. Some coaches may have a philosophy of speaking negatively to players in order to keep them determined and on their toes, some may take a softer, more informal approach. Whichever style you prefer to communicate with, leaders should always be constantly looking for opportunities to deliver useful feedback to players about their performance. Overall feedback is about balance; knowing the correct ratio of giving negative feedback but reinforcing it with a positive contribution on what they’ve done well. Feedback that’s heavily critical and negative runs the risk of not being listened to and could prove a little pointless for certain players. Individual feedback is also really important. You should have a good system in place to provide players with constructive, useful feedback. There are some questions every leader should ask themselves. What motivates players to play sport? What does the player enjoy/not enjoy? How does each player learn? What are the best practices to suit every player? You could draw up an individual player plan for personal development to help them progress and organize continuous reviews with them throughout the season. It’s also a good idea to set targets for players to give them more of a purpose and another form of motivation. As a coach, you have to remember that there might be 20 or 25 athletes to you as the one coach. It's easy to get caught up in the day to day coaching and not get around to providing timely feedback. So use your assistants, create the understanding that you are always available to meet players for feedback sessions. Feedback can be done in both formal and informal ways. Creative decision making. As a leader, you'll have to make a number of decisions that don’t always have a clear answer; so the ability to think outside the box is crucial. If something isn’t working well, you should be keen to switch it up, throw some new ideas out there and have faith that your decisions are going to pay off. Without the confidence to explore new ideas and the personality to get the whole team on board with them, it could affect the overall performance and success. A coach's confidence can be very contagious. If the players know a coach believes in the team and it’s potential, they might start believing in it too. Similar to if the leader has the confidence in a player, it can have a big impact individually. Desire to win, but not at all cost. A good leader will always have the desire to win no matter what the circumstances are and will want to drive this attitude into the team. This ties in with positivity. Being negative and pessimistic isn’t going to do team morale any good. Even when things are tough, you should lead by example and get everyone motivated in training, during a half-time team talk and after any win or defeat. It’s crucial not to lose focus as you’ve got the responsibility as a leader to hold the fort and keep the players in the winning mindset. This will often come naturally to a leader and good leadership will always come hand in hand with a burning desire to win. Wins and losses are consequences which are affected by a multitude of factors, many of which you are a coach have no control over. It is ok to want to win, in fact in competitive sport it is essential, but you can get tunnel vision and just think about winning. Focus on the process, give your athletes the tools and create an environment where the athletes can express themselves and perform at optimal levels and then you give your team a chance to win. Your level of commitment. It’s important for leaders to go above and beyond for the team. You should be willing to put in the extra hours to review a match, talk to a player or even plan an extra training session. Ultimately, players (and by extension your team) are going to benefit from this hard work. Lead the pack with a attitude of dedication, and you'll see a positive response from your players on matchday. This can even extend to social events and dinners. Create a team ethos of dedication, commitment and passion . By putting in these hours, you’re going to gain a lot of respect and endeavor from the team. It also might mean adapting to your athlete's needs. There may be some moments when you are called upon to do something that you can't really understand why, or really don't see any value in, but you have to remember that if it is important to your team then it should be important to you. Team respect. Finally, a discussion on good leadership goes hand-in-hand with respect. Respect is massive in sport. If you’re a leader, gaining the respect of your players is vital to gaining their commitment on the field. If you don’t have it, there’s no point in having your title of coach. Respect will allow people to listen to you and take on board what you’re saying. For example, if you’ve got a new tactic at half-time or a drill in training you want to try, with no respect people won’t buy into it or put it into their play. To gain a good level of respect, you need to be able to relate to players, be approachable and open to feedback yourself. Without these things, you’ll struggle to strike up relationships with players and it will cause issues when it comes to the big day at the weekend. Respect is two-way street. Offer it to your players, and you'll be one step closer to earning it yourself. It is often said about respect that you must work very hard to earn it but can lose it very quickly. There is so much truth to this. Leadership is hard, not everyone is suited to be a leader and certainly not everyone is willing to be a leader. Some people want to be leaders without being willing to accept all the aspects that go along with it. From experience I can tell you that as a coach, you will encounter times when your athletes don't like you and will have no problem being very open in telling you. If you get down every time you feel disliked as a coach whether real or imagined, then I can tell you that you will not enjoy yourself. Being a coach requires confidence in yourself, a thick skin in dealing with complaints and criticism but also the ability to accept that you aren't always right and that you can always learn. If you are respectful, consistent and focused on the best of interests of your athletes, over time you will earn their respect and if you are lucky, they might even like you.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
Categories
All
|