Institute for Sport Coaching

I came across this Harvard Business Review article, http://web.hbr.org/email/archive/managementtip.php?date=090109 It crystallized my thoughts and worries about present coaching. “3 Things You Didn’t Know About Marine Corps Leadership”

 

“Communicate the mission. Marine officers are evaluated by how well their soldiers understand their mission and their role in it. Instead of dictating how things should be done, explain the mission and challenge your people to figure out how to accomplish it.”

 

“Earn your respect, don’t expect it. Formal authority has little value in today’s world, even in the Marines. To lead effectively, you must earn the respect of your people. That’s the only way your mission will be carried out when you’re not there.”  (Training Marines to always “do the right thing, even when no one is looking” is a Corps basic)

 

Trust your soldiers. While there are strict rules of engagement, one of the fundamental principles of Marine leadership is to push decision-making to the lowest possible level. Trust your people’s expertise and decision-making and empower them to do what’s right.

Coaching and leading a team require the same three tenents.

Communicate

Communicate the mission, daily I see and speak to coaches. I watch practices and with my own children have been privy to parents meetings, coach player interactions and my own coaching. 

Day 1 – awards night, this what we believe in, this what we are going to accomplish and this is how we are going to do it to staff, players and parents.

Where we are going, what is your job & how does it interact, how we going to get there, where are we at this point of time, and what do we need to do reach to our next goal and our final objective.

Earn your respect, don’t expect it.
The days of wearing the whistle = respect are over. I have heard many old timers lament for the days when you gave an order and it was carried out. I was watching a game at Dilboy Stadium and I met the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Football Coach, and I asked “how is it coaching smart kids? He responded “they ask lots of questions”

Many children get out of sports by age 13 because of lousy coaching. Disrespect, physical, mental and sexual abuse. Bullying is always brought up – but if a coach disrespectful to a player – does that signal the rest of the team to pounce? Think about every interaction. My father always told me think before you speak.

Trust your players.
At every level, coaches are playing the game from the sidelines. The constant screaming, signals and shouts of direction is creating a generation of robots.

Watching a player on the field in a critical situation, looking for direction at the moment that he should be reacting is painful, but it is becoming common place.

The development of leaders. Not just captains and quarterbacks but in everyone. Dr. Joe Raelin, author of Creating Leaderful Organizations, has four points, Concurrent, Collective, Collaborative and Compassionate, see http://www.leaderful.org/leaderful.html.   Raelin deserves an entire post of his own. Develop everybody and people will step in critical moments when need.

Everyone’s leadership potential has to be developed and used. Develop players minds as well as their bodies. my son Brendan as a line man recovered a ball and ran over 50 yards to change the tide of a game. My beefy son running for his life because he was a thinking.  Situation chalk talks and simulated play on the field, blow the whistle and asked players what they should do in this situation or that.  They don’t give the right answer, give it to them, get them some tools to use, “this happens – do that”.

Conclusion:
As the father of two Marines and one going into the Navy in 2012. Despite the inherent dangers of military service, my children will come out with communication and leadership skills that will place them head and shoulders over their civilian peers.

Communication, earning your people’s respect and trust them to do their job. Put it in your play book.

Paul McCaffrey