Great coaches and elite athletes understand that performance is a behavior, not an outcome. It is doing the little things correctly, moment to moment, day after day. But how do we do this in our teams?

By John O’Sullivan, founder of Change the Game Project.

Last week I received the following email (edited for anonymity). We get calls and emails like this quite often from amazing, passionate coaches who are trying to make a difference. Take a read:

Dear John,

I’m currently a head football coach…I took over the program last January after being on staff for the previous 10 years. We had a great offseason and a solid summer. We started the season off with a come from behind victory. Everything was going well. However, these past 10 days have made me question everything. We had a below average week of practice last week and got crushed by our arch rival. Our best player got ejected for fighting and…his brother also received a personal foul and cursed me on the sideline when I tried to reason with him. We have had an equally poor week of practice this week.

Since I took over, my main concern has been trying to change the culture here. I am at a low socioeconomic urban school. Many of my players have no father figure in their life. Many of them are poor. Many of them don’t eat lunch. Many of them aren’t disciplined at home because their single mothers are just trying to survive. I knew all this coming in, so my main goal has been trying to get them to be better humans.

I have seen several of our kids grow on and off the field but I feel like we’re starting to slip back into the abyss. Our practices have been flat. The kids are starting to seem uninterested. They are so used to being the ugly duckling of our district and the perennial loser that I don’t think they know any better. It’s like they are okay with it because that’s the way it’s always been. What can I do to turn this around?”

Sincerely, Coach B

Wouldn’t you want a coach this dedicated to your kids to be their coach? I know I would. Coach B cares about the person, not the athlete. He sees sport as a vehicle that will give them the life skills to better their life situation. For him, it is not about the wins and losses, but the willingness to compete the right way. This is a great coach. So how can we help?

Recently I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, “The Talent Equation” with Stuart Armstrong. Stuart’s guest was his coaching mentor, Mark Bennett, M.B.E. Mark is the founder of Performance Development Systems Coaching, and a mentor to high-performance and professional coaches across the globe. Mark is a former British Commandos trainer and originally developed his PDS system as a way to shape the behavior of elite soldiers. Since then he has worked with professional coaching staffs from the NBA, professional rugby, golf, and elite NCAA teams, shaping coaches so they can shape their athletes.

His wise words during the podcast were the exact advice I needed to pass onto Coach B:

Performance is a behavior, NOT an outcome.

We get so focused on scoreboards and standings that we lose sight of the foundational element of coaching: shaping behavior. When we get the behavior right, when we get our athletes to take ownership of the standards for each and every little thing they do, the magic happens.

Athletes rise to the standard.

They hold each other accountable.

They define what are acceptable levels of focus, effort, and execution.

They train more effectively.

Great results follow.

When you get the behavior right, the scoreboard starts to take care of itself. Athletes control the controllables, make more effective plays, and those small plays add up to big wins.

Coaches, first and foremost, we are shapers of behavior. When we get the behavior to the required and agreed upon standard, results start taking care of themselves. This is my advice to Coach B: focus on behavior first.

This seems simple, but in reality, most coaches do it backward. They focus first on the outcome and hope that the behavior will follow. They install new defenses and trick offensive plays, they teach tactics and technique, they up the fitness expectations, and then come game time, they roam the sidelines yelling “But we went over this in practice!”

They have no idea if learning took place. Just because we taught it, doesn’t mean they learned it. The coaches have no idea if the athletes were listening. And often, when the game gets tight and the pressure ramps up, their teams crumble under the stress of focusing on the scoreboard. They revert to the old norm. Players fight the opponent. They yell at officials. They argue with each other. They stop controlling the controllables, and eventually they lose regardless of talent.

Great coaches and elite athletes understand that performance is a behavior, not an outcome. It is doing the little things correctly, moment to moment, day after day. But how do we do this in our teams?

First, you must clearly define your core values, your standards, the list of “this is how we do things here.” In conjunction with your athletes (as we have written about here), you take the time and define the standards of effort, focus, execution, respect, humility, selflessness, and more. You allow your athletes to define who they want to be and how they want to do it. You get them to sign their names and commit to being the type of teammate described by those values. I recently did this work with a team I am coaching, here are our values:

Next, before every practice, you must get your athletes to own the level of performance – the behaviors – for the day. Mark Bennett recommends that his coaches have the athletes define what acceptable, unacceptable, and exceptional looks like for the chosen activity. This includes not only values based things such as effort and communication, but tactical and technical elements such as spacing, movement, speed of play, and whatever else you are trying to teach. The athletes define and own what is good enough, what is great, and most importantly, what is not good enough and warrants a stoppage of play and a reset.

Bennett challenges them by asking “how long can we sustain acceptable and exceptional,” thus giving the athletes a goal to shoot for. The activity starts and continues as long as the behavior level is acceptable or exceptional, and stops when the level becomes unacceptable. Usually, your players will overestimate how long is sustainable, but over time, with consistent reinforcement, their behavior – and thus their performance – starts to change. Most importantly,  the athletes own this process. They define the standards, they define acceptable behaviors, and when it all clicks, they identify unacceptable, call each other out on it, and hit the reset button and do it right.

Within your culture, you may have individuals that still do not buy into the behavior, even as the team as a whole progresses. This is the situation with the coach I wrote about above. In this case individual intervention is warranted. Sit the athlete down and follow these three steps:

1. Have the athlete define the team values, and identify which one he or she is not adhering to. Many coaches do this in front of the team for the benefit of 1 or 2 kids. Do it individually so that the specific kids know you are speaking to them, and their teammates don’t think they are being called out for the actions of a few.
2. Help the athlete see their behavior through other people’s’ eyes. “How do you think it makes your teammates feel when they are giving maximum effort and you are going through the motions?” “How do you think it makes your coaches feel when we rely on you as a leader and you disrespect your teammates?” Most kids never think of this.
3. Help your athlete change by asking “Is that who you want to be?” If the answer is no (which it is 99% of the time) ask them “how can I help you change?” When you see their new behaviors, catch them being good. If you want the good behavior to continue, you have to acknowledge and reward it.

Sadly, you will from time to time have individuals that will not get on the bus, and you have to make a decision whether it is time to let them off and move on without them, regardless of talent. You must understand culture trumps talent in any environment, and even the most talented players will slowly destroy an entire culture if they are not a good fit and they are behaving counterintuitively to the cultural standards.

Finally, shaping behavior is not a sometime thing; it is an all time thing. As Bennett says “Changing behavior takes time, and the quickest way to change behavior and make progress is to do it every time you step on the field, not just once in awhile.” It is confusing for kids when failure to meet the standards is ignored by coaches time after time and then when coach is having a bad day, he loses it and yells at everyone for the same behavior that was OK the previous week. If it is not OK, we must say so. If we let it go today, we are saying that it is not really a standard. You condone what you do not confront. You must intentionally cultivate the right behaviors and you must intentionally confront the wrong ones.

Coaches, our team’s performance is a behavior, not an outcome. This is my advice to the coach who wrote us last week. How we play is shaped by our standards and our accountability. Identify your standards, agree upon them and define them with your team, and agree upon what happens when we fall below the standard. Hold everyone accountable, and get them to hold each other accountable. Identify the individuals that still don’t get it, and either get them to change their behavior or get them off the bus.

When do you do this?

Every. Single. Day.

When you realize that performance is a behavior, the result takes care of itself.

Good luck Coach B, and to all of you as well.

 

Changing the Game Project was founded John O’Sullivan. Coach O’Sullivan is a former college and professional player as well as a high school, club team and college coach. He is offering a FREE video series that is part of his Coaching Mastery program. For more information about gaining access to that program click the link above or in the image below. The video series includes a wealth of coaching education including some motivational and team building ideas used by some of the most successful coaches.

By taking a transformational approach to coaching, you are more likely to get athletes to buy into your coaching style because they will see that you are there to support them. To take this approach ask yourself 4 Key Questions.

This article was provided by Coaches Network

Having a “common language” in your program means that everyone shares the same goals and values when it comes to the success of the team. When you establish clear expectations and get everyone to buy-in, you will put your athletes in position to be their best. Troy Urdahl of the InSideOut Initiative provides a guide for making that happen.

According to Urdahl, it starts with being a transformational, rather than transactional, coach. Having a transformational approach means being a teacher and developer of character, first and foremost. A transformational coach views winning as an outcome, not a priority, and puts the focus on helping athletes grow and reach their full potential, beyond just sports. On the opposite side, a transactional coach is someone who makes winning the ultimate goal and is less concerned about the overall experience.

By taking a transformational approach, you are more likely to get athletes to buy into your coaching style because they will see that you are there to support them. In order to do this year after year, you will have to keep striving to be the best coach you can be. Urdahl points to four key questions that you should ask yourself each season: Why do I coach? Why do I coach the way I do? How does it feel to be coached by me? How do I define success?

Success can mean a lot of things. Winning is a worthy goal to strive for, but there is also a lot more that can be gained from athletics than a number on a scoreboard. Urdahl suggests considering some of the following questions when defining what success means to you and your team: Did you have fun?  Did you learn anything? Did you improve? Did you help a teammate succeed? Did you conduct yourself well? Did you do your best? Did you appreciate your opponents? Did you develop any life skills?

Keep these in mind when talking to your team about the goals for the season. They will help guide your athletes as they work each day to get better and will help them identify what the priorities should be. If they are able to answer ‘Yes’ to all of these questions by the end of the season, then they have certainly succeeded.

Along with defining success, Urdahl also suggests defining character. If you want your athletes to develop as people, it’s important that you articulate the types of traits you are looking for. Urdahl splits this up into two categories: performance character and moral character. Performance character traits are those that will help athletes succeed in competition, which includes grit, persistence, and hard work. Moral character refers to ethical behavior and building positive relationships. This requires qualities such as empathy, respect, and integrity.

Once you know what success means to you, it’s time to start setting some goals. But Urdahl explains that it’s important to distinguish between goals and purpose. Working with your athletes to establish team goals is great and it gives everyone something to strive for, but it’s also worth noting that purpose is the true difference maker. When a team has a shared purpose, they will stick together and fight through whatever adversity comes their way.

As you help young athletes grow, be sure to have a clear understanding of your core values. These are your guiding principles that help you dictate priorities and make decisions. When you are able communicate these values with your words and actions, your athletes and the rest of your coaching staff are likely to follow your lead and speak the same language.

Click Here to read the full article.

Do Your Personal Goals Take a Back Seat to Coaching? Here are 12 ways to help you carve out more time in you busy schedule.

This post was provided by Busy.Coach

By Mandy Green

Carving out time in our busy schedules to accomplish things outside of our coaching lives isn’t easy. After all, we coaches are all too versed in the multi-role lifestyle. We’re coaches, we’re significant others, we’re parents, we’re colleagues, and we’re friends.

Whatever your goals are outside of coaching–starting a coaching blog, running a 5K, losing 10 lbs, and so on–if you’re not working toward achieving them, you probably have a long list of excuses which purportedly explain why you’re still in stand-by mode. And lack of time because of your coaching job is very likely to be at the top of that list.

Coach, do you sometimes feel like you are “sacrificing” your work for personal goals?

I found this definition of sacrifice: “to give up something for something else considered more important.”

If what I am saying rings true for you, you need to stop using a lack of time as an excuse and start making the time to pursue what you want. But how do you find time when you’re incredibly busy?

Below you’ll find 12 ways to make time to achieve your goals.  Obviously, there are more but I just wanted to give you a few ideas to get started.

1. Can you spend less time in front of the TV or playing games (sorry Chris Logan J?
2. Can you enroll the kids in an after-school program to give yourself after-work hours to work on you and your goals?
3. Go to bed at the same time as your kids so you can get up earlier.
4. Go to bed forty minutes later and work on your goals at night.
5. Use Your Lunch Hour.
6. Use Your Commute.
7. Block out the time for when you are going to work on your goal. By scheduling time to work on your goal, you know exactly when you’ll be working on it, instead of just leaving it up to chance.
8. Use Scraps of Time. Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily need to have a large chunk of time to work on your goals. If all you can carve out are fifteen minutes here and there throughout the day, use that time.
9. Can you negotiate with your employer that you’ll work longer hours Monday to Thursday, and then take Fridays off?
10. Work On Your Psychological Discipline. Keep in mind that making time to work on your goals is, to a large extent, about psychological discipline. A lot of the reasons that we use to explain why we don’t have time to work on our goals are just excuses that we’re using to avoid the hard work of writing, exercising, learning a new skill, and so on.
11. It’s not so much about how much time you have to work on your goals, as it is about the quality of your goal-achievement time. That is, when you’re working on your goals, are you completely focused on the task, or are you trying to answer emails and catch up on Twitter as you write? Work on your goals with laser-like focus.
12. Give Yourself Permission to Work on Your Goals. When the world around us is swirling in chaos, we often feel that taking the time to work on our goals is a luxury that we can’t indulge in at the moment. However, working on your dreams isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. Write yourself a permission slip if you need to; but get to work on your goals.

No matter what goals or aspirations you might have, no doubt there is at least some form of sacrifice required for progress. And the only person who can determine whether or not it’s worthwhile is YOU.

So I encourage you to look at what’s really important. When you are making a decision between your personal and work goals, carefully evaluate the risks and rewards. What will be left behind? What will take its place? What do you really want, and what are you willing to give up in return? What price are you willing to pay? And how much is too much?

These aren’t easy questions. They force you to look at the whole picture and how your career impacts other areas of life. It’s not just about the money, or the title, or the lifestyle. It’s about ALL of these things and what they mean as a whole—to you, your family, and your future.

This article was written and submitted to me by Björn Galjaardt. The article has application to coaching regardless of the sport that you coach.

With a flirt to water polo…

Game [noun]: 1) A form of competitive activity or sport played according to rules; 2)An activity that one engages in for enjoyment.

By focussing on the above explanation we don’t need to go ‘hunting’ and using it as an adjective or verb. We then need to define understanding and awareness. In sport and business due diligence will help to gain knowledge about the tactics of our competitors. Therefore, different strategies can be implemented or adjusted. The understanding of the game can be seen in the word comprehension, the ability to understand. For example, a certain system is set in place, the people executing a system must understand how they operate and what their tasks are. That’s the power of abstract thoughts or intellect. In water polo it could be a tactical system like an ‘extra’ situation. In business it could be a finance model or assembly process.

Awareness is knowledge or perception of a situation or fact. Timing of action and actual adjustment must cross each other at the right level in order to anticipate. This is where awareness comes in play. Another definition of awareness is; a concern about and well-informed interest in a particular situation or development. In this case some may argue that experience is needed. However, one must first understand the foundation of the system, the tasks and its purpose.

“When well executed, that’s where game understanding meets game awareness”.

Taking initiative and adapting to a certain situation requires some skills. First, one must read the situation and then go quickly through a library of options. Secondly, a decision must be made instantly to apply and execute. In water polo a defensive play could go from press to a simple zone (game understanding). The timing could be an initiative to react upon a certain move from an offensive play (game awareness). When well executed, that’s where game understanding meets game awareness.

Comparing a theory from Chris Argyris, in a 1977 published article, that describes double loop learning. In a simple example explained: “A thermostat that automatically turns on the heat when the temperature drops below a certain degree, is an example of single loop learning. A thermostat that could ask why it’s set to a certain degree and whether this is more economically to achieve the goal of heating the room, is an example of double loop learning”.

“Double loop learning is the process that narrows down both paths until they cross”.

While a thermostat is a single apparatus, a team will work together as one. Game understanding, purely the execution in a certain situation, set by continuously practice, observation and perhaps experience could be seen as single loop learning. Gameawareness would then be the timing, adjustment and anticipation to a certain situation that may require ‘more’ than purely the execution of a certain system. Double loop learning is the process that narrows down both paths until they cross. Providing feedback and higher level thinking in a process to reach a certain outcome eliminates mistakes and improves the result. This is no different in sport or in business. Sometimes people come up with bright revolutionary or innovative ideas in business. In a water polo game for example, an athlete decides to steal a misplaced pass in a full press system.

With double loop learning the process for a positive or negative outcome must be clear. An employee shouldn’t fear that his job is on the line and an athlete shouldn’t fear being permanently substituted. Everyone interpret or view something in a particular way. Once the criteria are set there is still opportunity for self-initiative. Clear rules and expectations in the process will see businessmen and sportsmen achieve more than they are capable of. This is where game understanding successfully meets game awareness in conjunction with double loop learning.

This article was provided by Coaches Network

 

By Dr. Wade Gilbert

A great way to learn about quality coaching is to listen to coaches and athletes talk about the coaching styles they believe are most helpful for achieving success. Coverage of recent sporting events such as the women’s World Cup, and the NBA and NHL finals, provided many opportunities to hear some of the world’s most successful athletes and coaches share their insights on this topic.

Whether coaching females or males, and regardless of differences in coaching styles, these championship coaches all share one thing in common: they make building relationships with their athletes a top priority.

U.S. women’s national soccer team coach Jill Ellis, who led the American team to their first World Cup championship in 16 years, has been lauded by current and former players alike for her open and honest communication style. Moreover, she places great emphasis on learning how to connect with players in ways that are uniquely meaningful and relevant to each one of them.

Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quennville has gained the trust of his players, and led them to three ice hockey championships in the past six years, by keeping an open-door policy and showing a genuine interest in listening to his players.

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, in just his first year of coaching the team, built a culture of trust and engagement by making relationship building a regular part of his daily routine en route to the team’s first basketball championship in 40 years.

A quote from coach Kerr perhaps best summarizes the emphasis these championship coaches place on relationship building with their athletes: To me, the X’s and O’s … they’re an important part of coaching but a relatively small part. Eighty percent of it is just relationships and atmosphere.

Successful coaches have long known that the time and energy invested in building quality relationships with their players pays huge dividends. For example, one of the winningest college football coaches of all time Eddie Robinson proclaimed that showing genuine care for each of his players was the cornerstone of his coaching approach. More recently, Cameron McCormick – longtime coach of the world’s hottest golfer Jordan Spieth – revealed that building quality relationships with athletes was at the top of his the list for becoming a successful coach, based on his study of the world’s best golf coaches.

The surest way to show players that you care about them is to ask them about their lives and then give them your undivided attention. Never forget that you are coaching people first, and the sport second. Keep a file for each athlete to record notes about things and people that are meaningful to them. Regularly check in with each athlete and update their ‘life’ file.

Some high coaches like to give their athletes a survey to complete at the start of the season, with questions about their dreams, passions, favorite subjects in school, and family. Other coaches find that setting aside a few minutes before practices for ‘social time’ allows them to speak with athletes about their lives while athletes are starting to warm-up.

However, for relationship building to work, coaches must also be willing to share information about people and things that are meaningful to them. If you want your athletes to share with you, you must share with them. Ultimately, building relationships with athletes is an act of courage – both for the coach and for the athlete. Each must show the courage to be vulnerable.

Coaches show courage, and build relationships, when they create emotionally safe environments. Giving frequent encouragement and helping athletes pull the lessons from performance failures creates an environment where athletes feel safe to risk failure.

Ask any championship coach to reflect on what they cherish most from their career and they’ll tell you it was the relationships they built with their athletes along the way. Take a page from the playbooks of the world’s most successful coaches, and set aside time in your daily routine to make a personal connection with each of your athletes. This simple strategy not only leads to better performance, but makes for a more enjoyable and enriching sport experience.

 

This article is adapted from an article on the Human Kinetics “Coach Education Center” website.  Click here to read the full article.