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The role of a coach has as many layers as an onion. You’re there to impart wisdom, you’re there to listen and you’re there to mentor with confidence. It’s a selfless task, one that promotes the best in others. That said, the best coaches become better through listening, learning and constantly seeking to be better themselves. This will, in turn, reflect on those they coach.
This article digs into a few handy tips I have learned as a pro athlete, a former national coach, a military officer and more recently as an entrepreneur. I hope you find at least a few takeaways to apply for yourself, regardless of your industry. The first part will discuss coaching oversight, overcoming fears, imposing rest, knowing your team members and guiding and protecting.
Coaching Oversight
The goal of a coach is to bring out the best in everyone. Trust me, I know. During my years as a national track coach, as an Army officer and now running my own company, I have realized that you must use all the tools in your toolbox. This includes gaining wisdom from wins and losses, focusing on mental and physical development, acting with humility and clarity, and learning to deal with the pressure of meeting a deadline. You may want your team to perform at peak levels all the time, but they won’t and that’s OK. It’s your job to ensure that everyone, including yourself, can maximize the now. Coaching oversight can be critical in building a resilient, thriving team.
Overcoming Fears
There are two primary areas in which your team members will likely always need coaching oversight. The first is overcoming fears. In most cases, you can lay fears to rest by training your team and providing them with the tools they need to execute a solution if a plan changes at the last minute. Doing so means training your team early on to put themselves in the environment they will be working in. For example, if they have an upcoming sales meeting, it is important to arrive early, take a look around, do the research on the individuals involved in the meeting, practice one’s pitch and essentially remove as many uncertainties as possible. In short, it’s time to invoke Nike’s slogan and “Just Do It.”
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Imposing Rest
The second area is rest and recovery. You always want your team members performing at the highest levels and that requires times of rest and rejuvenation. My crew at SOS has been working over and above recently, which prompted me to essentially order my team to take a break. While many people believe rest decreases performance, I believe the reverse is true. In my experience, sustaining peak performance continuously is impossible. It makes sense that taking a break or period of rest can increase performance since everyone needs mental and physical breaks to rejuvenate.
We implemented a trial where we gave everyone a week’s leave with no email or work during that time. Teams were divided into pairs: One member of the pair takes a week off, while their pair partner works, then vice versa. The result was refreshed team members and higher performance levels from every member of the team. Look for ways to give your team members a break so they can perform their best. Coaches know when to spot signs of burnout and are be able to address the trend before it becomes an issue.
Know Your Team Members
To bring out the best in your team members, you must know them well. You need to learn what they like and what they don’t. Asking about their family, what sports they enjoy and what they enjoy doing in their spare time is a great start, but you also want to know how they learn. Familiarize yourself with the different learning types — visual, auditory, kinesthetic or linguistic — to get a sense of your team’s preferences. A personality test, like Myers-Briggs, can also help you understand your team members better. In general, as a coach, you want team members who don’t have the exact same personality traits/types as you because diversity brings a more dynamic environment to the team. A variety of personality types will not only complement and challenge you but also the team as a whole. Operating in a dynamic environment makes everyone perform more effectively.
Guide and Protect
Part of getting to know your team members is finding their skill and experience baselines. It may mean doing a series of practical tests to give you feedback on what they are ready to achieve. Testing helps ensure you get the performance and production needed, but feedback from those your team members interact with can also guide you in assigning tasks. Your team can’t learn if you do all the work for them, so the key here is you can let them sink, but you never let them drown.
In my experience, the slightly out-of-control feeling of sinking can aid learning and performance. If they screw it up, as the coach, you can pick them up, make sure they don’t lose confidence or get embarrassed, and protect them. Don’t get the wrong idea — this isn’t about being warm and fuzzy. If they messed up, you need to find out why and help them fix it. If they need a bit of a reprimand, be constructive and direct, but do so in private. Once the meeting is done, don’t hold grudges. Put up a united front for the outside world, and as the coach, take the responsibility for the screw-up to protect your team member.
In part two, I’ll discuss the importance of developing performance and team building, as well as cover the rewards of coaching.
