Have you wondered how a sport coach becomes an effective leader and builds unified championship caliber teams? I have been around coaches for many years and involved in the sports world on some level. I have seen coaches who demonstrate this ability with great ease and are consistently successful. I have also seen coaches who struggle with this.
I have seen talented teams do poorly and average to above average teams succeed beyond what anyone would have imagined. Without a doubt in order to have success there has to be a certain level of talent or skill which applies in all areas of life. You won’t have a high performing salesperson if they are not good at working with people or get many customers for a service oriented business like plumbing if your plumbers are not knowledgeable.
How do these successful leaders build unified teams? I have been reading a book that answers that question through looking at the lives of nine high level sport coaches. In his book Getting to Us Seth Davis shares the stories of the lives of coaches such as Coach K, Coach Urban Meyer, Coach Izzo from Michigan State and others. Each of these coaches demonstrate what he calls a PEAK profile to develop unified teams.
Persistence – in the classic book Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill spends an entire chapter discussing the importance of persistence in success in any area of life. When an individual has persistence combined with a burning desire to accomplish their dream they can attain great accomplishments.
Empathy – one individual who brought this concept to the front of our minds was Daniel Goleman in his books on Emotional Intelligence. This is the ability for us to not only understand our own feelings, but also the feelings of the person we are relating to. Davis states it as “feeling whatever that person is feeling.”1
Authenticity – the ability to be appropriately genuine and honest with those we lead helps increase trust and therefore builds greater cohesion among the team. The individual leader’s style may vary because some are intense while others are more relaxed in their style. No matter the leader’s style, if they are consistent, honest, and transparent in the right ways this will demonstrate authenticity.
Knowledge – no one follows a leader who does not know what they are doing . . . at least not for long. Davis reminds us that even if the doctor is really empathetic, persistent, and authentic if they do not know what they are doing there is no way we will let them operate on us. Without an appropriate level of knowledge leaders will not be able to maintain the credibility that will keep the team unified.
When you look at the four principles in Davis’ PEAK profile where do you need to grow? Do you easily give up as the climb gets challenging? Do you take time to understand and feel what those you lead feel? That may seem unproductive in the short term, but I wonder if the return is exponential in the long term. Are you authentic with your team members and continually growing in your expertise of the industry you are in whether through formal or informal education? At times I have found people need a coach to help them think into this process so they can see what they may not have seen on their own similar to what these sport coaches do for their athletes. Whatever you need to grow in, take the first step so you can become a better leader both at work and home.
- Davis, Seth. Getting to Us. New York: Penguin House, 2018 p.3.
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