I am sitting in an office with three coaches who have collectively earned four state championships and a state runner-up in the state of Indiana. One man is the head football coach, one the head women’s soccer coach, and one the head baseball coach. Each of these three men are excellent people,but this particular day I wanted to learn from them about leading championship teams.
To summarize succinctly what each of these coaches found as their principles is a challenge, but one concept they all agreed on and chuckled about when asked about building a championship team is the need for talent. Talent was key to each of them achieving their results combined with positive family influences. This was not the magic bullet though because each of them had coached teams with a lot of talent, but did not achieve the same results.
Top Three Leadership Principles
1. Vision. Each coach had a clear vision for what they wanted for the team and a plan. Coach Wimmer’s plan looked different as a football coach and was very dependent on the support of his staff and the administrators around him because of leading such a large team. Coach Beasley helps clarify vision from day one by providing clear expectations and teaching them technical, tactical, and behavioral expectations. Coach Cherry creates a family atmosphere and attempts to determine the “right leader” who may not be the most talented. Each of these practices are informed by their clear vision.
2. Equip players. A coach, or any leader, is only successful by developing leaders around him or her. Each coach expressed this whether it was through the support of player buy-in to what they were trying to accomplish,such as creating a certain amount of intensity at practice, or encouraging the players to actively lead each other by passing down expectations verbally and through modeling. No matter the method,each coach realizes they cannot be successful without the players being leaders and driving the team more than the coach.
3. Relationships. This concept also looks different for each coach. For one coach persevering by being patient with each athlete’s growth process honors the relationship. For another staying out of the way while setting realistic expectations and communicating clearly what the player’s role is honors the relationship. For a final coach,intentionally shifting from a focus on results to a focus on people created a family atmosphere and ultimately led to his team’s success.
Leadership Tips
When I asked these three coaches for some of their final thoughts on leading a championship team they said the following stand-alone learning principles.
- Use one on one coaching and individual conversations to clarify what a leader is.
- You and your players must have passion for the sport and being a great team
- Everyone has to be “on the same train” to create unity
- Listen to the right voices as a leader and do not be distracted by the negative noise
- Get out of the way and build into your people
So what about you? You want your team to excel at the highest level. Is your vision clear enough that your team knows what it is and is passionate about it? What can you do to grow your relationships with your team members and equip them? Did one of the stand-alone principles strike you as an area to work on? Whatever your action step is, do it now and build your championship team. Lead well and let me know how I can help you.
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