“A coach is someone that sees beyond your limits and guides you to greatness.” – Michael Jordan***
My daughter joined her high school dance team in her sophomore year of high school. She had been trained in studio dance since she was four years old. She transitioned from dance teachers in studio dance to a dance coach in high school. She respected her dance coach but the girls on the team often felt Courtney (not her real name) was hard on the team as she pushed them towards excellence for the competitions they were in. Her drive and determination caused her to push dancers who were good to become dancers who were great!
I watched my own dancer blossom; all because of a strong, unapologetically driven coach…. a coach that led her dance team to win state and national championships!
Just like the football coach, the dance coach and any other coach, leaders have to coach, guide and teach. So I ask you as a leader, are you a coach?
What is a Coach?
A coach is an experienced individual who helps someone learn, develop and achieve specific goals by providing training and guidance. Coaching is not the same as mentoring. Coaching targets specific tasks or objectives, while mentoring focuses on more general goals or overall development.
When Leadership Serves as Coach
In developing ourselves as better leaders, we should see ourselves as coaches. I have often stated my distaste for the word “boss.” When I worked in management, many of my staff referred to me as such. No matter how I suggested they say otherwise they wouldn’t identify me any other way when they referred to me and the role I held in the department. To them it was simply respect for the title. For me it was an implication of a state of being or a mindset… you know, boss… bossy! I in no way wanted to act nor be viewed as bossy. In my mind, if you keep calling someone “boss” they might start to like it and begin acting that way. There are enough leaders in the world who believe themselves to be bosses. Whether we are leaders in the high school, in our homes, on the job or on the football field, if we see ourselves as coaches, the world will be better off.
I can’t help but see leadership as being comparable to the role of a coach. I see leaders as coaches who target specific tasks or objectives with the intention of helping the coachee develop more, achieve greater and obtain better.
The role of team members is to accept, listen and learn understanding that the student is never greater than the teacher. When we see ourselves as coaches we might be more inclined to see those we lead, as individuals as capable, talented team players in need of the knowledge and expertise that only experienced coaches can give them.
1. Coaches Develop
Coaches serve as teachers. They teach the fundamentals of the game, task or work through demonstrations and practice drills. In other words they train the players on the rules, regulations, techniques and specific of the road before them. There’s no time to entertain intimidation, fears or insecurities. The goal of the teacher, coach and ultimately leader, is to prepare the team for success. That leaves no room for Baptism by Fire. The coach leaves nothing to chance but prepares and develops the team on all they need to know and do.
2. Coaches Motivate
They speak words of encouragement, even in their correction to motivate the team to always do their best, even during practice. They teach strategies to win with high performance and sportsmanship.
They run through all possible scenarios and educate the team on how to handle the possibilities of each with clarity, familiarity and skillfulness. Come what may, they are prepared for what the opponent throws their way.
3. Coaches Evaluate
A coach will initially assess the strengths, followed by the weaknesses of their team and team members. They evaluate the fitness and skill of each team member to determine where they can improve and further develop. They share feedback and recommended changes with each person for their improvement.
4. Coaches Provide Focus
Coaches study and stay abreast of new developments and strategies including past wins and losses of the team to identify improvements then works with the team to make those improvements. Their goal is to keep the team focused on the end goal – winning…as a team!
Coach them up or coach them out, but be a coach for your team. See them as workable clay. Now mold them into the form and fashion they were design to be.
5. Coaches Provide Safety
In order for the team members to function effectively and stay focused, a coach ensures the safety and proper use of tools and equipment. This helps the team members to be confident in their surroundings and stay focused on producing the best results. When team members are worrying about using faulty equipment necessary for winning, it throws them off their game.
Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? (See 4/24/20 Post, “Things No One Told You About Minimizing Others”) The lowest levels of that pyramid consist of our most basic needs, with our more complex needs being displayed at the top of the pyramid.
Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements like food, water, sleep, and shelter. His theory is that when our lower-level needs are met, we are able to move on to the next level of needs. The subsequent, levels in hierarchal order are “Safety and Security,” followed by “Love & Belonging,” “Esteem” and finally “Self-Actualization.”
A coach naturally wants their team to reach self-actualization. A winning team is most definitely a self-actualized team.
Closing Thoughts
I don’t think I need to spell out the case for leaders to act as coaches for the people who follow us. I have had the privilege of being led by coaching leaders. I have also had the experience of being led by those who were not. I have even had the honor of watching one who was not a coach who transitioned into the role of a coach. So I saw the difference and watched the change in real time, so to speak. She then took her leadership to another level.
If you are not a leader who coaches but you do otherwise, you might be interested to know that the antonyms (that means the opposite) for one who coaches would be described as one who misguides, misdirects, misinforms and misleads!
So I ask you as a leader, are you a coach?