It had been a long time since I was nervous before a sporting event.
I was coaching the U12 girl's soccer team in the Coast Cup final. We were the underdogs. The winner had the top birth in the provincial championships.
The game was a tense back-and-forth contest, and the other team scored late in the first half.
The halftime speech was simple: "Work hard for each other." All year, these girls played hard as a team; that was the key to our success.
With minutes remaining in the game, we were awarded a free kick. Our striker struck the ball beautifully to tie the game and send us into overtime. PK's were to follow if overtime did not produce a winner.
The message to the team was the same: "Work hard for each other."
In a poetic sequence of events, the ball moved through the midfield, out wide to the wing, the cross came in, and "BOOM" the ball was in the back of the net.
We won!
That was several years ago, but the memory still gives me goosebumps.
Upon reflection, keeping the message simple during the intense competition was critical. It would have been easy to use the whiteboard and draw Xs and Os, but it would not benefited the players on the field.
Predictably, this experience was one of many that helped form my coaching philosophy. Unexpectedly, it dramatically shifted my business leadership style.
Is it possible that coaching youth sports is one of the best ways to hone your leadership skills?
More on that below, but first:
A Quote:
"In sports, the only thing a player can truly control is effort. The same applies to business. The only thing any entrepreneur, salesperson or anyone in any position can control is their effort." - Mark Cuban.
There is an essential distinction between the process you follow and the outcome generated. The process is controllable, but the outcome is not. Even the best processes can sometimes lead to suboptimal outcomes.
Focus your team on the daily discipline of executing your process. Doing things you control with high quality shifts the odds of significant outcomes in your favour.
Coaching Moment:
My business coaching conversations often focus on preparing for "crunchy" conversations, a term I learned from a colleague, Erica.
I start with, "Tell me about the situation."
My coachee will quickly and enthusiastically launch into a detailed description of the other person.
I then ask, "Tell me about you." There is usually a pause.
Success in navigating challenging conversations starts with reflection and management of self, not judgment of others.
We get anchored on our version of the truth and look to blame others for the situation instead of questioning our version of the truth and staying curious.
Sometimes, an objective, non-judgmental partner is required to reframe the situation, open the aperture and suggest alternative interpretations.
The conversation can net a great outcome only through a broader view considering the other side's perspective.
Codifying a repeatable process that helps you be clear about your feelings and actions, curious about the other person's perspective and focused on mutually beneficial outcomes provides the best odds of a satisfactory resolution to the conflict.
Business, Coaching and Sport
I started coaching because my kids showed interest in playing a game I love, soccer. The parallels between sports and business were apparent immediately.
Both have teams, complex interpersonal dynamics, high-stakes moments and hierarchical power structures.
The nuanced characteristics of youth sports are interesting because the incentives for performance and participation reasons differ from an employee.
In business, leaders have the perceived power to compel employees to perform. In youth sports, most players are there by choice, and most coaches and managers are volunteers.
If I could get the kids to perform, could I translate the tactics into my corporate role?
Here is what I learned:
Why Coaching is more potent than managing,
Why keeping score is crucial,
And, why Simplicity is paramount
First, Coaching versus managing:
In North America, the person in charge of the team's performance in youth sports is called a coach. In business, we call them a manager.
The mindset in business needs to change.
A manager typically organizes the work and processes to deliver the results.
A coach drives individual and team performance, and the results stand for themselves. Coaches are curious guides shepherding individuals and teams toward a common goal.
A manager focuses on holding people accountable to finish their tasks. A coach creates an environment for their team to be successful.
Keeping the Score:
Have you noticed kids know the "score" even when the adults are not keeping track?
Understanding how to keep track of the score is essential. The score indicates who is winning. Each match's results are an inflection point to review the strategy and tweak the process.
What happens in business?
Too often, teams and individuals need clarification about how they are measured. More concerning, they need to learn how their contributions lead to organizational success. Sometimes, organizations still need to put measurements in place to begin with.
With measurement, coachable moments are preserved because there is a connection between activity and outcome.
Without measurements, months, quarters, and years roll by with few inflection points to reflect on, creating a listless, unengaged workforce.
For individuals to perform, they must know what good looks like, what success is for the team and how the organization wins.
Set simple measures that are reviewed often to achieve desired results.
Simplifying the Game:
Soccer strategy can be complex. My role as the coach was to simplify the game. I wanted to give the team tools they could use on the field during the game.
We did this by:
Announcing the starting line-up and positions always ended with this simple phrase: "Our offence starts from our defence." The team knew we controlled the game through our backline, who had to join the attack.
We had 3 simple keys to the game, they were always the same:
First, Have Fun: we are here for the love of sport.
Second, Work Hard For Each Other: the best players have the ball for less than 60 seconds a game; your play is defined by what you do without the ball. Defending and attacking in soccer is a team game.
Aggressively Pursue the Ball: the other team can't score if they don't have the ball. If we lose the ball, winning it back as quickly as possible is the highest priority.
We coached the process of focusing on things we could control, our enjoyment and our effort.
We never talked about outcomes like scoring a goal or winning.
Halfway through the season, the team could recite the keys to the game themselves.
Business strategy should be approached the same way. Create a few simple phrases that instruct the organization. Your strategy won't get executed if it's buried in a slide deck or on the shelf in a thick binder.
The team needs simple tools to interpret and apply your strategy daily. Articulate it in simple terms and plan to repeat them often.
3 Things to apply in the business now:
If you believe that Coaching, measurements and Simplicity can help your business, here are a few suggestions to implement:
Coaching: engage a direct report in a growth conversation; try questions like:
What could we do to fuel our customers' success?
What gets in the way of you doing your job at the highest level every day?
What can I do to help?
Measurement: Create or refine one metric for your team and start measuring it daily. Make sure it is aligned to a core business outcome; it should not be vanity-oriented, and keep it simple. Some examples:
If you run a sales team, the number of daily prospecting activities or customer touch points that aren't email
If you run a service delivery team, number of billable hours/day
Simplifying: Create the key simple messages for your team related to your strategy and start a business rhythm to repeat them. A successful rhythm I have used:
Quick Alignment = daily huddle
1hr Problem Solver = weekly team meeting
Strategy Alignment and Results = 1/4ly all hands
Don't worry about perfection; just get started. Use every interaction as an opportunity to reflect and refine. Ask for feedback, and celebrate the wins.
Coaching has been an enormously gratifying part of my life, and I have learned lessons that will stick with me forever. It has also honed my corporate leadership style.
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