We’re Looking for Leaders!
It’s a phrase one of my assistant coaches often booms at our 11 & 12 year old Pee-Wee football players during warm-ups and drills. I love this phrase. Coach unleashes it when the the team isn’t organized in straight lines, trying hard enough in drills, or generally not paying attention. Yet instead of highlighting the negative, he has issued a positive challenge.
We’re Looking for Leaders!
Lately I have been reading some inspiring works about how to build great organizations, and sharing them with you. If you don’t have time to read them all, or my blogs for that matter, just commit to consuming Jim Collins’ Good to Great and you will be well equipped. But what I didn’t realize was that while I have been striving for professional improvement in leading my company, my volunteer football coaching (it’s my 11 year old son’s spring team), was also providing me with some valuable team building lessons. They resonate loudly through my coaching colleague’s words.
We’re Looking for Leaders!
Building a youth football team is much like building an organization. However, there are some critical differences between the two, besides not paying the Pee-Wee’s to play! First, I didn’t recruit the players and they didn’t apply. They just signed up. We don’t have enough bodies to cut anyone, so the interview is really our pre-season practices/training camp. The second is that, for the most part, at work I don’t have to manage the employee and their parents. But with youth sports, the volunteer boss (coach) has to be prepared to deal with the parent-agent. So far this season that has included a 6:00 AM call (true, but to be fair I texted the player’s Dad first to say I was free to talk!). Lengthy post-game emails from parents that made me suspicious that some were constructed pre-game. Practice field chats after the parent circles me like a crow discovering a corpse. Post-game tempers that violate the golden rule of wait 24 hours to deal with game issues. And everything else you can imagine. Yet I relish it. I truly do love working with the parents to help set expectations for my players and their children. So bring it on I say! Engaged parents are much better than disengaged. Besides I now have a simple message for them.
We’re Looking for Leaders!
The hardest part about coaching pre-tweens in rep sports is managing their expectations. Most conversations with my young charges and their loving guardians is around playing time, position assignments, and roles on the team. It’s a subject I am particularly sensitive to; both of my own children have endured some ill-managed experiences with other coaches in the last two years. The impossible balancing act is managing the player’s/parents’ assessment of their skills with the coaching staff’s. Like any situation where opinion is involved, there are bound to be immense differences. Youth sports teams often mirror our workplaces, with the player playing the role of the employee who often feels unappreciated by the coach, or boss figure. The reality in the parallel arenas is both sides are probably correct. The mandate for me as coach is to objectively identify the gap and positively communicate this message for my both my young players and young employees. I now have some powerful words to do so!
We’re Looking for Leaders!
The players on my team who aren’t being placed in the role they want isn’t due to lack of skill. It’s Effort. Commitment. Focus. My role as the coach is to build my players up to their maximum potential to create the best team possible. I can provide motivation, clear instructions, and a well-structured environment. But only the individual can provide the heart. That’s what will earn them the coveted position on the field. It’s the same at my office. The interns who stampede out at 5:00 PM don’t realize they are in the midst of a four month job interview. The account manager who emails a client about a sticky issue, versus calling them, doesn’t realize I am writing their annual performance review 365 days a year. The exec from one of our suppliers who is disrespectful to my team needs to know I am my own best headhunter prowling for talent that will help us grow as an organization. They should always pay heed to these words.
We’re Looking for Leaders!