By clicking on this link, you can read some excerpts from her book. Reach for the Summit. I hope these thoughts Pat Summitt quotes will be a useful resource for the team building and leadership aspects of your coaching.

There is no such thing as self respect without respect for others.

Individual success is a myth. No one succeeds all by herself.

People who do not respect those around them will not make good team members and probably lack self esteem themselves.

Being responsible sometimes means making tough, unpopular decisions.

Admit to and make yourself accountable for mistakes. How can you improve if you’re never wrong?

Loyalty is not unilateral. You have to give it to receive it.

Surround yourself with people who are better than you are. Seek out quality people, acknowledge their talents, and let them do their jobs. You win with people.

Value those colleagues who tell you the truth, not just what you want to hear.

Communication eliminates mistakes.

We communicate all the time, even when we don’t realize it. Be aware of body language.

To make sure that they are getting her message, Coach Summitt has asked her players to respond to a correction in practice by saying “rebound,” and to being praised by saying “Two points.”

Make good eye contact.

Silence is a form of communication, too. Sometimes less is more.

Discipline yourself, so no one else has to.

Self discipline helps you believe in yourself.

Group discipline produces a unified effort toward a common goal.

Discipline helps you finish a job, and finishing is what separates excellent work from average work.

Do the things that aren’t fun first, and do them well.

See yourself as self employed.

Put the Team Before Yourself.

When you understand yourself and those around you, you are better able to minimize weaknesses and maximize strengths. Personality profiles help.

Success is about having the right person, in the right place, at the right time.

Know your strengths, weaknesses, and needs.

Be flexible.

Teamwork doesn’t come naturally. It must be taught.

Teamwork allows common people to obtain uncommon results.

Not everyone is born to lead. Role players are critical to group success.

In group success there is individual success.

Make Winning an Attitude.

Combine practice with belief.

Attitude is a choice. Maintain a positive outlook.

No one ever got anywhere by being negative.

Confidence is what happens when you’ve done the hard work that entitles you to succeed.

Competition isn’t social. It separates achievers from the average.

You can’t always be the most talented person in the room. But you can be the most competitive.
There is nothing wrong with having competitive instincts. They are survival instincts.

It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts the most.

Change equals self improvement. Push yourself to places you haven’t been before.

Handle Success Like You Handle Failure. You can’t always control what happens, but you can control how you handle it.

Sometimes you learn more from losing than winning. Losing forces you to reexamine.

It’s harder to stay on top than it is to make the climb, Continue to seek new goals.

By Juan Pablo Favero, Head Coach, Women’s Soccer, Oakland University

Traditional leadership models, often hierarchical in nature, are changing and evolving.  One of these models is the captain model, which tends to be too rigid and centralized, especially for modern-day athletics.  Even the military, where the shift to special operations teams is prevalent in fighting today’s wars, is not organized with a traditional commanding officer, top-down hierarchical model.  Instead, a group of leaders giving input and making joint decisions is the way that these elite teams have the required flexibility and synergy to make them successful in high stakes situations. Yes, there is an ultimate decision maker, and there always has to be, but many trained and competent voices are better than just one solitary one.

The key is to develop many leaders in a team who can be incrementally given more responsibility and decision-making ability as they are exposed to leadership principles.  Given ample opportunity to apply these principles and grow in confidence to make decisions, they are then able to take action in critical moments.

Most athletics teams start developing leaders in their junior or even senior year, depending if they are a fall or spring sport, often expecting these captains to have learned by osmosis and with limited training:  maybe a book or two and some conversations with the coach.   It is presumed that with this limited information, they will be able to carry the burden of knowing how to best influence their teammates and lead the team.  In most cases in my experience, this is just too much responsibility for one young person to have.  Yet, the model of having multiple captains does not make sense either because it can actually cause the opposite effect than intended by creating a type of bystander effect of sorts. .  Shared leadership on the other hand is not exclusive or limited in its numbers and creates increased buy-in and commitment.  Think of it as leaders in different areas of strength who can pass the baton to each other and support one another’s leadership efforts.

According to Jeff Spahn of the Leading Leaders consulting group, “the emerging question in leadership today is not about how to develop leaders, but rather how does a team of leaders lead each other.”  He goes on to say that this goes beyond collaboration and is more how people actually lead and follow simultaneously. This sounds like shared leadership.

What is it?

In his best-selling book Linchpin, Seth Godin shares the example of the fast and complex Japanese transit system.   It operates on schedule and on budget, not by top-down directive, but by a large pool of empowered employees making the best decisions as the challenges present themselves. “Letting people in the organization use their judgment turns out to be faster and cheaper—but only if you hire the right people and reward them for having the right attitude.”

It’s not rocket science; it is basically a way to include ALL your players and personnel in the leadership development and implementation processes.  Why limit it to just a few hand picked players, who will undoubtedly be looked upon as favorites?  Why leave it to chance?

If you wait until players are upperclassmen, they will graduate before they can learn their leadership craft through both successes and mistakes, and unfortunately, your program will miss out on the full impact they could have. We need to start to expose, train, and encourage all of our players to lead, yes, even as young freshmen.  What is the worst that could happen? Even if they choose to pass on the call to lead, at the very least they may become better followers since they will better understand the difficulties and challenges associated with leading.  In other words, this is a clear way we can not only teach leadership principles but also create buy in and a higher level of team cohesion and common purpose.

The idea that there can be too many “chiefs and not enough Indians” or too many “cooks in the kitchen” is a common objection to this model.  Part of the key in teaching shared leadership is exactly that they can also learn how to become better followers and more supportive team members when it is not their turn to lead or in an area of someone else’s strength.  Personally, I would rather have too many leaders on my team, all pulling in the same direction, than not enough.

The Traditional Hierarchical, top-down athletics captain model vs. Shared Leadership model:

How does Shared Leadership fit in to this?

SINGLE LEADERSHIP: One leader figure (coach and/or captain) and many followers results in control and predictability.  Also creates average results, and high risk of monotony and burnout.

FOLLOWERSHIP: All as followers results in lack of initiatives, no or few new ideas, limited forward movement and lack of buy-in/shared ownership.   Also creates low energy, apathy, burnout and average results.

MULTIPLE LEADERSHIP: Many leaders attempting to lead all the time (coaches and/or captains) results in a power struggle, perpetual chaos, work never gets done efficiently. Also creates poor performance, conflict, and bad results.

SHARED LEADERSHIP: Leading and following simultaneously in a true shared responsibility model, leveraging the depth of experience, expertise, and oppositional points of view of every member required to truly create and execute at a an optimal level. The openness and humility of all involved to lead in this way creates a higher level of performance, team unity, and better results.

Why is it better?

The traditional leadership hierarchical model is quickly becoming archaic.  Today’s athlete wants to know the why behind what they are being asked to do.  When we let them in behind the curtain and start to show them the inner workings of team life and what is required to lead, some of the following benefits can occur:

• Increased commitment and buy-in
• Increased team unity and cohesion; improved team environment
• Developed future leaders
• Implemented successfully=less stress
• Better “followship” is created
• Shared leadership work load, diminishing the burden
• Increased performance on the field due to creating more confident decision makers
• Increased enjoyment of the process
• Higher resilience to face challenges, obstacles, and failure: Losing teams panic and are paralyzed, winning teams with shared leadership raise their performance making up for a deficit in talent
• Improved synergy which comes from using everyone’s strengths
• Easier leadership transitions when leaders are absent (injury, suspension) or when they depart (graduation).
• Minimized impact when mistakes are made

Challenges in implementation

Like any change in paradigms, the most difficult aspect will be to navigate the team through change.  You may receive some resistance from your players, especially from those who believe it is their “due time” and have an expectation to be captains.  Of course, these are the people who need to learn the most about true leadership principles, including the servant-leadership model and not the self-serving leadership fallacy (the difference between these two is stark: being a leader is not about what I can gain, it is about how can I serve as a leader for the benefit of others and the team).

You may have to overcome the biggest obstacle of all which may be your own leadership dogma.  It usually sounds like this: “This is the way it always has been done” or “I was a captain” or “my team had captains, and it is the right of passage to seniors.”  I just want to encourage you to ask yourself … is this the best model for today’s athletes and for their current and future development?  Even if it has worked for you in the past, is it working now?  Will it work in the future?

Ideas on how to implement it

• Leadership Education
• Small Leadership Groups
• Allowing your leaders to make leadership mistakes and learn from them
• Self-Discovery assessments: Personality assessments, TAP (Troutwine Athletic Profile), leadership styles assessments, 5 love languages, et al.
• Discussion on what they believe leadership is, and what a shared leadership team should look like
• Reward independent thinking, enveloped within a team-first concept
• Recruit the right kind of people for your team, not just the most talented players. The value of positive, responsible, accountable, and team-first members who are confident to make decision is critical in competitive athletics and in the world
• Team sessions to create mission statement, team goals, and team process to achieve those goals
• Reinforce any of the aforementioned behaviors and attitudes
• Encourage player-led initiatives and projects

Shared leadership is not about competition, ego, or jockeying for position.  It is instead about collaboration, cooperation, and a shared purpose and direction.

It is about servant leadership and doing what is best for the team, even when it may not seem like it’s in my best personal interests.  It is servant-like, team-first oriented, but it is also driven, focused, and purposeful action.  Finally, it also requires the attitude of knowing when and how to follow as well as when and how to lead.  This ying-yang type of balance is what makes this type of leadership environment difficult to attain but so powerful when it is reached.

To find out more about and order Sport Leadership Books from the Academy for Sport Leadership, including a Leader in Every Locker, Click this link: The Academy for Sport Leadership Books

© JPF Coaching & Consulting (Posted on the Coaches Toolbox by permission)

Cory Dobbs, Ed.D.

Founder, The Academy for Sport Leadership

I want the truth!

You can’t handle the truth!

So goes the memorable dynamic exchange between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson in the 1992 movie A Few Good Men.  We, at least most of us, sympathize with Cruise’s character as he pushes relentlessly, risking his reputation and career in, pursuit of the truth.  But do we really want the truth?

The Galileo Effect.   Aristotle was smart.  Considered by most historians to be a genius.  But he was wrong about one thing.  He taught that that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones.  Galileo proved that wrong.  We now know that the equivalence principle proves all objects fall at the same rate in a gravitational field.  A-dog was big time wrong.  Galileo also challenged the Catholic Church.  Yes, he dared to contest the church’s position of a geocentric world.  He too proved that to be wrong.

What about the team captain principle?  You know, appoint or assign several players to the role of team captain and you’ll have your internal leadership problem solved.  Or, at least somewhat solved.

Dead wrong.  Those, coaches and leadership educators that cling to the team captain model are on the wrong end of the 21^st Century practice of peer leadership.  Dead wrong.  Some educators are compelled to defend their models built in the 20^th Century.  But today we know soooo much more.

Today, we know that everyone can, and will, become a leader; even if it’s simply in their own household as a parent.  Simple example, but if you feel the need to put down the idea of everyone learning to lead you are dead wrong.  And I’m willing to deal with the backlash.

Let me reply by saying that modern science—neuroscience—proves that peer-to-peer interactions produce higher quality solutions to problems than  alone or even peer-to-superior relations.  And get this; the solutions are produced at a quicker rate than when the challenge is taken on by a lone wolf.  Oh, let’s not forget that anxiety inhibits learning.  And our studies show anxiety is greater when people don’t know how others will respond to their leadership.  Yes, a leader in every locker solves this.

That said…

Mankind has proven resistant to change, regardless of the evidence.  We favor “facts” that conform to our views, even in the face of conflicting information or outright contradiction.  Genuine challenges to established wisdom cause turmoil, because they impeach the establishment and its undeniable “truths.”  So in a world of constant change, we paradoxically find a recalcitrant world.  The traditional practice of team captains marches on.

A leader in every locker (see www.aleaderineverylocker.com) is heresy.  I’ve presented my findings and suggestions to many coaches, and audiences are quick to hark on the past.  “If it worked for Bob Knight, it’ll work for me.”  But what if everything you learned is wrong?

Remember, when Galileo and his telescope publicly challenged the geocentric view of the universe—established and accepted as Catholic dogma—the outcry was fanatical.  He was eventually arrested, tried, and imprisoned for this act.  Heresy said the masses.  Sadly, he died while under house arrest.

Fortunately, objecting to poor theory or unfounded knowledge is far less dangerous today.  My research findings are clear; a leader in every locker trumps a few leaders in a few lockers.  However, this only happens when the coach takes responsibility for creating a learning environment in which every student-athlete feels accepted in their leadership role.

But have we really overcome our tendency to condemn those who challenge a new view of the world.  The unfortunate reality is that even with overwhelming evidence to the contrary, there are many who perpetually lay faith in existing truths—which are no longer, in fact, supported by scientific investigation.  My guess is it will be about another decade before the mainstream coach is ready to accept the role of leadership educator and educate every student-athlete to become a leader.

To find out more about and order Sport Leadership Books authored by Dr. Dobbs including Coaching for Leadership, click this link: The Academy for Sport Leadership Books
About the Author

A former basketball coach, Cory’s coaching background includes experience at the NCAA DII, NJCAA, and high school levels of competition. While coaching, he researched and developed the transformative Becoming a Team Leader program for student-athletes. Cory has worked with professional athletes, collegiate athletic programs and high schools teaching leadership as a part of the sports experience and education process. Cory cut his teeth as a corporate leader with Fortune 500 member, The Dial Corp. As a consultant and trainer Dr. Dobbs has worked with such organizations as American Express, Honeywell, and Avnet.

Cory has taught a variety of courses on leadership and change for the following universities:

Northern Arizona University (Graduate Schools of Business and Education)

Ohio University (Graduate School of Education / Management and Leadership in Sport)

Grand Canyon University (Sports Marketing and Sports Management in the Colangelo School of Sports Business)

Visit www.corydobbs.com to read Cory’s leadership blog.

This is the next post in a series of posts that come from some ideas I have on coaches being teachers. The majority of this post comes from a section in an upcoming course on coaching that I will be offering later this year. I will have more information on the course as we get closer to its release later this summer.

Teachers and coaches both use a variety of communication methods when dealing with their students and athletes. While most teachers don’t yell too much at their classes, we do see this happen more often in sports with coaches yelling at their teams. Today, I want to talk about the concept of yelling in coaching. Should we or shouldn’t we?

There are some people who believe we should never yell at children, and there are some who seem to make it a daily habit. As with most things in my life, I believe moderation is probably the best course to take when it comes to this. Unfortunately, too many coaches seem to believe that this is the only way to communicate with players.

Think of the long-held stereotype of a coach or the concept of an “old-school” coach. There is a good chance that part of your thoughts have a coach barking at players in some fashion, trying to “motivate” them to perform. Many of you are probably seeing a specific face in your thoughts, too. That face is probably either a coach you had in your life or a famous coach. Is the image you have of this coach one where s/he is yelling?

While yelling in and of itself is not necessarily good or bad, some of the keys to consider when deciding to do it are the audience, the timing, the purpose & intent for your yelling, what you yell, and how you yell.

Audience

When considering yelling at a team, you must first consider who your audience is. If you are coaching high school boys on a football field, chances are they expect you to yell at them. I’m not saying that is necessarily right, but it is an image that many kids have of being on a football team. However, if you are coaching 3rd graders in any sport, you really need to be re-thinking your method if you are yelling at them.

Are there moments when you need to yell, no matter who the audience is? Sure. If you need to get a large group’s attention that isn’t paying attention to you, and they are somewhat spread out in a gym or on a field, yelling at them (or more likely to them) is an acceptable method to get their attention. But for the most part, you need to consider who you are communicating with before you start raising your voice at them.

Timing

Along with the audience, another critical thing to consider is when to yell. Have they just gone through a very frustrating time in a game where they lost a lead or lost a big game? Have they had an extremely difficult, physical or mentally draining practice? Are they being lazy? Are they not paying attention? Are they being poor teammates to one another?  Are they getting in trouble in school? Did the team suffer a tragedy recently?

You need to consider each of these questions and hundreds more like them before you choose to yell at your team or individual players. In other words, what is the team going through at this particular time? Is yelling at them an appropriate response to bring out the best in them, or could it have the opposite effect and basically crush their spirit? Understand their psyche at this particular time and choose your words and methods for conveying those words wisely.

Along with this, consider how much you yell. The greatest chance for success for a coach who yells is if s/he only does it occasionally. Too many coaches make yelling at teams such a common part of their approach that the team tunes them out when they start yelling. This is not good, for there may be a very important message in the words, but because they have learned to tune the coach out when s/he yells, the team never picks up the message.

For the greatest impact to occur, it is better to pick and choose your moments when to raise your voice and yell than to deliver a steady diet of it to your teams. That way, when you do yell, your teams will subconsciously think, “Uh-oh. This must be really important because we never hear coach yell at us like this.” Again, moderation is a good guide when it comes to the amount of yelling you do.

Purpose & Intent

Why are you yelling? What is your purpose in choosing this form of communication? Is it the best method to elicit whatever it is you want as an outcome from your team? Are you yelling because you believe that this will benefit your team or this player with some motivation to perform, or are you yelling to benefit yourself because it makes you feel better to “get it off your chest”? In other words what is your intent when it comes to yelling at your team?

If you truly believe that it is an appropriate way to communicate to your audience, the timing is good, and your purpose is genuinely intended to help bring out the best (or stop the worst) in your team, then by all means yell. But always keep in mind that you can’t “rewind the tape” and take it back. So if you are yelling to help you feel better, or you are yelling while you are not completely in control of your words and emotions, you need to re-consider this method of communicating at this time.

What You Yell

When most people think of a coach yelling, their first thought is that the coach is mad and that s/he is scolding the players. However, there are lot of things that coaches yell at players that have nothing to do with being upset at them. Sometimes, it is based on the arena in which they compete. To communicate across a large field or in a loud gym requires coaches to raise their voices, so they yell. At other times, they are merely yelling instructions or words of encouragement. Of course, there will be times when coaches are upset and they will yell. When doing so, though, they must choose their words wisely so as not to hurt, belittle, demean, or embarrass their players.

How You Yell

Along with the words that you yell, you must also consider how you yell. What is your body language, facial expression, and tone like when you yell? Are these non-verbals expressing what you want expressed? You must consider how you yell what you yell. In fact, you should consider this dynamic even when you are not yelling. How one says what one says speaks volumes to the audience to whom one is speaking. Choosing your words carefully is important; choosing how you communicate those words can be monumental.

The idea of coaches yelling at their teams is ingrained into our image of being involved in athletics. However, there are some parameters that all coaches should consider and abide by if they choose this method of communicating with their teams. When done incorrectly, it can create a real disconnect between player and coach, and the team’s chance for success and the athletes’ chances at having a great experience can suffer. However, when it is done with the right intent and in the right way, yelling can be a part of the team experience that actually leads to some moments of inspiration, motivation, and success.

Do you see a place for yelling in coaching? Do you yell at your teams? I would love to hear your thoughts on this in the Comments section below or on the Coach with Character Facebook page.

About the Author of this Article

Scott Rosberg has been a coach (basketball, soccer, & football) at the high school level for 30 years, an English teacher for 18 years, and an athletic director for 12 years. He has published seven booklets on coaching and youth/school athletics, two books of inspirational messages and quotes for graduates, and a newsletter for athletic directors and coaches. He also speaks to schools, teams, and businesses on a variety of team-building, leadership, and coaching topics. Scott has a blog and a variety of other materials about coaching and athletic topics on his website – www.coachwithcharacter.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

Scott is also a member of the Proactive Coaching speaking team. Proactive Coaching is dedicated to helping organizations create character and education-based team cultures, while providing a blueprint for team leadership. They help develop confident, tough-minded, fearless competitors and train coaches and leaders for excellence and significance. Proactive Coaching can be found on the web at www.proactivecoaching.info. Also, you can join the 200,000+ people who have “Liked” Proactive Coaching’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/proactivecoach. Scott can also be reached through Proactive Coaching at [email protected]

Submitted by by Cory Dobbs, Ed.D., The Academy for Sport Leadership

You’ve likely heard the proverb that reads, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”  From this lesson it follows that teaching a player to lead will feed her leadership growth for a lifetime.  However, teaching leadership is far more complex than teaching someone to fish.  So what do you do when there are no seven habits of this, or no five rules for that?

The truth is, the teaching and learning of leadership in a student-athletic environment is a messy pursuit.  Peer-to-peer leadership is a demanding venture.  For young emerging leaders tackling tough problems, even when the student-athlete is willing and able, is fraught with risk.  When attempting to lead, student-athletes are likely to encounter a range of emotions that include, fear, uncertainty, and doubt. How you help them learn through these emotions will, in part, determine their effectiveness and success as a team leader.

Do you consider your responsibilities as a coach to include the role of a leadership educator?  I hope you do.  You have the perfect leadership laboratory for developing leaders.  So what gives?  Why do many programs fail to produce highly qualified leaders—for the immediate moment as well as life beyond sport?

It’s been my experience as an observer of many teams over the years that often what’s lacking for the budding leader is simply opportunity.  Most coaches appoint team captains or assign the role based on some type of criteria (such as seniority).  And likewise, a great many coach will in the final analysis suggest that they either had effective or ineffective internal (player) leadership.

Deep down, it’s one thing to say you value leadership from your players.  It’s another thing to give them extensive opportunities to lead by creating developmental culture.  If you had to choose, which would it be?  Would you want a very successful season in terms of wins with a player or two along the way learning how to lead at a very elementary level, or a season where every player experiences deep leadership growth and development while winning half your games?  Thankfully this doesn’t have to be an either or question, but it does require you to reflect deeply on what you’re doing as a coach.  Hence the dilemma: how does a coach modify his or her coaching orientation to affect the leadership experience of their student-athletes?

Let me take a moment to separate leader from leadership.  A leader is a person, and leadership is a process.  Now, let me go out on a limb: leaders need leadership opportunities (processes) from which to learn and grow.  So, if you find yourself saying at the conclusion of a season that you didn’t have any leaders, don’t focus solely on your players.  Take a hard look at the process—the real opportunities your environment provided for your leaders to grow.

To develop effective team leaders a simple way of looking at performance will help. Leadership performance is a function of the interaction of ability and willingness; that is Leadership Performance = f(A,W). If either is inadequate leader performance will be underwhelming.

However, to maximize a leader’s growth and development you need to add opportunity to practice and perform to the equation.  The revised leader development formula becomes Leader Development = f(A, W,O). Even though a student-athlete may be willing and able, they need opportunities to connect with the purpose of leadership in your team setting.

Anyone wanting to lead or become a team captain will gain a solid foundation through the various (variety and quantity) leadership activities available to them.  So give your young athletes lots of opportunities to gain the experience of leadership.

To find out more about and order Sport Leadership Books authored by Dr. Dobbs including Coaching for Leadership, click this link: The Academy for Sport Leadership Books
About the Author

A former basketball coach, Cory’s coaching background includes experience at the NCAA DII, NJCAA, and high school levels of competition. While coaching, he researched and developed the transformative Becoming a Team Leader program for student-athletes. Cory has worked with professional athletes, collegiate athletic programs and high schools teaching leadership as a part of the sports experience and education process. Cory cut his teeth as a corporate leader with Fortune 500 member, The Dial Corp. As a consultant and trainer Dr. Dobbs has worked with such organizations as American Express, Honeywell, and Avnet.

Cory has taught a variety of courses on leadership and change for the following universities:

Northern Arizona University (Graduate Schools of Business and Education)

Ohio University (Graduate School of Education / Management and Leadership in Sport)

Grand Canyon University (Sports Marketing and Sports Management in the Colangelo School of Sports Business)

Visit www.corydobbs.com to read Cory’s leadership blog.