Create a positive environment based on love and see your players excel
Vince Lombardi is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in
the history of sports. What he did with the Green Bay Packers is legendary and
today the NFL Superbowl trophy is titled the Vince Lombardi trophy. He was a
man who taught many what great coaching was. He is a man known for great speeches, an inspiration to many. And there is one aspect of his coaching philosophy
which I wish to focus on in today’s article. And that is love.
Lombardi said “You, as
a leader must possess the quality of mental toughness. This is a difficult
quality to explain, but in my opinion, this is the most important element in
the character of the leader. Mental toughness is many things. It is humility.
It is simplicity. The leader always remembers that simplicity is the sign of
true greatness and meekness, the sign of true strength. Mental toughness is
Spartanism, with all its qualities of self-denial, sacrifice, dedication,
fearlessness and love.
Yes, love. “Love” is
not necessarily “liking”. You do not need to like someone in order to love
them. Love is loyalty. Love is teamwork. Love is respect for the dignity of the
individual. Love is charity. The love I speak of is not detraction. I’m not
advocating that love is the answer to everything. I am not advocating a love
that forces everyone to love everyone else. Rather, I am advocating a love for
the human being.”
This passage from one of his wonderful speeches taken from
What it takes to be #1 | Vince Lombardi on leadership. The book is an education in to what is
required to succeed as a coach. Lombardi worked with college athletes as well
as professionals and gained the respect and loyalty of his players through his
principles, character and the relationships he forged with them all.
Tactics or relationships the key to success?
There are many who look at coaching and see the ‘X’s and O’s’
on a tactics board and think that this is the key for successful coaching. It
helps for sure. A deep knowledge of the game, an ability to understand, dissect
and know how to change/adapt a tactical style can be regarded as great
management. The word ‘tactician’ is afforded some of the greater coaches in
sports. Without a deep knowledge of the game it will be hard to become great as
a coach.
However, attend a coaching course and the majority of the time will
focus on delivering a session to players constituting of the set-up, the
organisation and the key points required. Yes of course this is important. But as
I’ve said before, the first time I experienced something other than technical detail
of drills and practices was on the A licence course. Yes this is the highest qualification,
the degree version of coaching, and therefore the depth and quality should be
higher, granted. However there are not enough coaches of players in the game attending
this course, yet alone achieving the qualification.
The problem here is
simple, the key aspects of coaching are not taught until the final stage of the
coaching pathway. It is lunacy for me. And here’s why; the quality of a great
coach lies in their ability to forge relationships with their players while
being able to persuade and convince the individuals to enhance their
development.
This idea of relationships and persuasion fall under the realm of
psychology, sociology and communication. These three areas are for me the key
to successful coaching. This blog has talked often about Phil Jackson’s coaching philosophy and the incredible success he had with the Chicago Bulls and LA Lakers. His belief is in the spiritual bond of the group. He focuses on the need for selflessness in the way they play, giving their self to the team and achieving a greater strength as one. He builds his philosophy on one of Zen Buddhism. The periods of meditation of a team may have been embraced more so than others in Jackson’s teams yet that deep sense of togetherness brought a group closer together and made them stronger as a team. Jackson believed in a different way to coach, he believed in building strong relationships with his players and his success proved his methods worked.
Let us take Jose Mourinho. Mourinho is a very
intelligent man who understands the game of football and has a very in-depth,
analytical mind to tactics and game management. Yet his biggest strength is the ability to forge a squad of individual players into a committed and unified team. He builds some of the
strongest bonds with his players which continue well after their relationship
as player and coach ends. What Mourinho does is work on personal relationships
to enhance the players quality on the pitch, as well as his willingness to
sacrifice and work for the team.
While Mourinho’s persona in public seeks to convince
us all that he is cold and callous, the the truth is he is one of the most
open, honest and friendly men and coaches in sports. His success is down to
this. Mourinho loves his players, and they in turn love him back. And through this
bond they succeed together. His career is defined by these relationships, by
the bond his teams possess. His method is not necessarily what he does on the training
ground (although he is as detailed a coach as there are) but more about his
relations with players. It is psychology and communication skills which build
trust and respect and which generate a togetherness which makes the team very
hard to overcome and defeat.
And what about Pep Guardiola, the picture at the top of this article is of Guardiola's final game at Camp Nou with Barcelona before left. The bond he forged with Messi was a key reason as to why Messi has become of the greatest players ever in the game. I genuinely believe this. He nurtured him to become the best. Busquets and Pedro would perhaps not have the medals they have was it not for Guardiola and his coaching methods when coach at Barca B.
This is a coach who has seemingly revolutionised
the game both in training and game play methods. He is seeking to push
the boundaries of the game, trying to evolve it constantly. Yet the key to his
success as a coach is down to his relationships with his players. In the book Pep Confidential it discusses Pep’s time
in New York and how he would attend lectures of Colombia University on
innovation and social economics. He was extremely interested in individual
communication – far more so than group communication. Guardiola believes in personalised
communication – in finding ways to get his feelings and beliefs across to his
players. He is always seeking to enhance his relationship with individuals.
What a great message for coaches.
Communication is perhaps the most essential element of
successful coaching. In the book Guardiola gives insight into his ideas
on communication “What’s utterly vital is getting the means of communication,
the content, the amount and the precise timing of every such conversation just
right. Without that a coach can’t develop his tactical ideas adequately with
his players.”
Many coaches treat each player the same. However every
individual is different and every player will require a different type of
communication, of treatment. As the author Martà Perarnau “The trick is working out how to interact with
each individual. Their boss (Guardiola) is learning and improving the way he
communicate with each of them”.
Guardiola is one of the best at forging relationships with
his players, yet he is adamant that the player must want to improve and listen,
this two way sense of communication and relationship has led to the breakdown
in relations with several players in the past few years. However, what is for
sure is that Pep loves his players, his obsession in his work, his passion to
achieve and constantly improve is insatiable and energetic yet exhausting too.
He expects so much from his players that burn out of both coach and players
seem inevitable, yet the journey is sublime. A constant enhancement and evolution
of ideas and tactics, of personal growth and relationships. This is what
football is about.
Coaching young players - lessons to learn
After looking at some of the best coaches in sports let us consider
the impact or difference these kind of methods have on young players. There is
a common saying that young players are not adults and they should not be
treated as such, I totally agree. However when we look at what these coaches
have achieved with their methods of building relationships, of harnessing trust
and respect from their players, then is certainly a crossover between the two
levels.
The problem unfortunately for many coaches of young players is that
their role models in terms of coaching have been autocratic, command based
coaches. The shouters, swearers and in truth flat out bullies. Too many young
players are subjected to this kind of ‘learning’ environment, one which is led
by fear over love.
Now fear will ‘work’ to an extent, players will work hard
and do their best, yet only because they worry about the consequences if they
don’t. The fear of being shouted at or of being subjected to ridicule if they
make mistakes. This culture of fear is detrimental to the development of future
talented players because the player will never feel comfortable enough to relax
and try new things. What ensues is the rigid and simplistic style of play which
banishes skill over functionality and which promotes a safety first approach
over braver and innovation. This may lead to short term success but the long
term development of those players are suffering.
This is the problem with a
culture of fear over one of love. Love is a word which is not used or promoted,
either as it does not resemble the ‘toughness’ of the sport or it is
misunderstood for other definitions of what love is. Love in the sense of coaching
is the environment which a coach produces to allow a player to flourish and
develop without fear of consequences if the player makes a mistake. It is the bond between player and coach where the players feels he has the complete backing and trust of his coach. It is essential for development.
By creating
a culture where players know they can express and try things without the worry
of being shouted at, they will thrive and develop. It may affect short term
gains, it may mean the conceding of goals, yet if the environment is positive
and the coaching seeks to develop and nurture the talent of the individuals,
then the long term learning will not only improve the players skill levels, but
also their confidence and their mindset.
A culture of love will generate a
growth mindset, whereas one of fear will develop a fixed one. This influence
will transcend the lines of the football pitch and will have a major impact on
how this young player approaches challenges in school, work and life in
general. Therefore the environment a coach creates for their players, the positivity, the
challenges, the freedom to express and create, to try and to fail, are much
more important than a coaching course which simply educates key factors.
Modern society requires modern coaching
Unfortunately
we have too many coaches who have level 1 award and regard themselves as a
coach yet base their methods on what their upbringing as a child was. Society has
moved on, both in schools and sport and the way young people are in todays
world is much different than the past.
Unconditioned respect has gone for the majority
of young people in todays world. This can be argued to be a bad thing and there
are those who worry about future generations. Many believe discipline has gone.
Yet the problem is that educators; teachers and coaches, need to evolve and
adapt to a changing world. Respect has not gone, it has changed.
Young people
now are cuter in how they act in teacher-pupil relations, they believe they
have more ‘power’ yet in truth what they seek is respect from those above them.
It may sound wrong and seem may not agree but todays youth expect to be
respected. Yes those in the past may have expected this unconditioned respect yet was this
not built on a culture of fear? Were young pupils adhering to the rules because
they were scared of the consequences?
Modern society has less of these
consequences and so the fear has left, and in its place young people want to feel
important. They do not want to be looked down or treated with dis-respect.
So what
does this have to with coaching? Well for me its simple. If coaches respect their
players, if they include them in the learning process, if they focus on the
individual, help their development and show a genuine care for their
progression, if they love them, then they will have a player who will give
their all to that coach, who will love them back because they respect them.
It
makes me smile when teachers and coaches (and even parents) bawl at these
youngsters and wonder why they put up a shield. They wonder why they no
longer listen. Young people want to be talked to, not shouted at. They want to
be respected. Yet above all they want to be loved.
The modern world is scarier than the past. There is more uncertainty in the future, more fear of what the future will hold. And the kids of today are more
complex, more emotional than youngsters in the past. Many hide this with
bravado and arrogance, yet underneath the majority of these youngsters there is
a need to be loved and a wish to improve.
As a coach you have such a great
influence over your players, what you do, what you say and the environment you
create can help or hinder the person (not the player). The role of the
coach is more than X’s and O’s, more than results, it is the personal
relationships with each individual. By gaining a greater understanding of the
person, by improving the bonds and forging deeper relations, you can have a great
influence over that person’s future. Love is not just a silly word, it is a necessary
aspect of coaching and teaching.
The Whitehouse Address @The_W_Address
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