Five Characteristics of Exceptional Coaches
My studies of exceptional coaches have revealed five characteristics that enable them to ignite the Third Factor.
• Self-awareness, which equips them to assist, not inhibit, the igniting of Third Factor
• Ability to build trust, so that the first steps toward gradually attaining self-direction can be taken in a relatively safe and secure environment
• Ability to use imagery to help the person “see” what is possible and thus to encourage the process of belief in the self
• Ability to identify blocks when they occur and to help the person take responsibility for dealing with these temporary barriers
• Recognizing the importance of adversity, which is critical at some point to determine the strength of the person’s commitment to themselves and their performance. Learning to embrace adversity and focus on what can be controlled is essential in developing the Third Factor in the performer—a preparation for moving out of the performance laboratory and into the bigger arena of life.
Over years of involvement in the corporate world and the world of Olympic and international sport, it has become obvious to me that a developmental bias is the foundation for effective coaching. The exceptional coaches I’ve had the good fortune to spend time with have all had an incredibly strong developmental bias. Without exception, they have also been very practical people. This book has the same focus. It’s a practical “playbook” that you can use to get much better at developing others.
This book, though written particularly for use in the workplace, is ultimately a practical guide to using coaching as a tool in any realm where the principles and techniques are applicable. You will hear a lot about what exceptional athletic coaches do, but as leaders in the business community you should know that when I talk to athletic coaches, I talk to them about what great business leaders do! When I’m training them, I routinely ask them to review a business leadership book and tell me what they learned from it that they can use on a daily basis. They never fail to discover valuable skills and techniques that help them become better athletic coaches. This book, in a way, turns those tables. You will find here lessons from these exceptional Olympic coaches that will be of value to you in your day-to-day responsibilities as a leader.
Leaders with a strong developmental bias spend a great deal of time playing out various scenarios and imagined consequences. They take leading and developing seriously and are open to new learning. As Coach Wooden puts it, “It’s what you learn after you know everything that matters.”
For those with a strong developmental bias, the line blurs between work and play, person and profession. Their impulse to develop is evident everywhere, with everyone. I never see Wally Kozak, former Canadian national team ice hockey coach and currently a scout for the women’s team, without walking away with something: an idea, an article, a question, a book, some reinforcement, a quote, something to reflect on. (On at least two occasions I’ve also walked away with a toasted tomato sandwich made from tomatoes that he had grown!) Marlene Rankel, an education-psychology professor who introduced me to Kazimierz Dabrowski, was the same—I always came away from encounters with her feeling somehow enriched. Leadership for these people truly is a mantle, a cloak they put on that transforms others. The very good ones can’t help themselves. They are people who make a difference.
Are You a Leader?
Is this something that interests you? Can you, or do you, get caught up in the puzzle that is another person—and how you might encourage that drive you see in them, or unlock that resistance, or deal with that lack of confidence, or curb that overconfidence without breaking the person?
Here’s a simple but practical way of beginning to see the challenges involved in developing others: a diagram that plots “confidence” (from low to high), on one axis, against “know-how” (also from low to high), on another, producing the following four quadrants:
How could you best lead and develop people in each of these quadrants? Which group would be the hardest to coach? You might ask me at this point: “What do you mean by ‘hardest’?” Good question. Some of you may relate very well to the low-confidence and high-know-how group because perhaps you were like that, or your best friend or one of your children is like that, so you have some affinity for these people and their issues. Other readers, those of you who came out of the womb confident, are probably thinking, “I can’t relate at all. If you’re afraid or fearful, so what—just do what I do: focus on what you have to do and don’t worry, because worry is a waste of time!” Clearly, the degree of difficulty will vary depending upon the leader’s background, experience and confidence level.
Do you like to ponder over the various people in your work world and the diversity of challenges they present? Do you think of yourself as a leader with a strong developmental bias? You may not even have considered this approach because the experiences that led you to become a manager or leader haven’t prepared you for the job.
I spend a lot of time working with leaders and managers in the oil industry, most of whom are engineers or geologists. A few years ago I was working with a major company in the industry in the middle of its third downsizing. I asked the engineers in the room how many articles they had read during the past year on engineering or issues related to it. Their answers ranged from a low of 15 to a high of more than 100. I then asked them how many articles they had read on managing people through difficult change and transition. Not a hand went up in the room, and yet this was the very leadership issue they were tasked with. This was now their job. They were no longer solely engineers; they also had the responsibility, as leaders, to help their people through this difficult time.
A novice’s view of leadership can be very restricted and based primarily on what they see on the organizational chart. When I was a young coach, I thought coaching was all about the Xs and the Os. I focused on creating the best strategy and designing the best plays. It took me a few years to discover that when you put a name on every X and O, things change dramatically, and suddenly the need for developmental skills becomes obvious.
Here is a diagram of the perfect executive team from Corporation B.
As the leader of this executive team, what will be your biggest challenge? That depends a great deal on who will be representing each of these functions. If it’s Sally from sales, it’s a breeze—she brings terrific team and communication skills to every team on which she is placed. Shawn, on the other hand, who also works in sales, is outspoken and at times too domineering in group situations. The point here is that the executive team works perfectly—on paper—until we start bringing the people into the equation. Then everything changes for the leader.
It’s All About the People
Early on in the two-day corporate coaching workshops that my company, Performance Coaching, offers, we emphasize that there are three things that make coaching unique as a management style: a strong developmental bias, personal contact and caring. I then ask, “Why coaching? Why now?” In other words, why would a leadership style that emphasizes developing people through personal contact and caring be right for your organization, given what it is going through? In every single workshop, the first response on the flip-charts is some variation on “People are our primary resource.” In the end, it’s all about the people—and the relationship between the leader and his or her people.
What I’m suggesting is that the very best relationship you can establish with your people is a developmental one—one where, through your own drive and desire, you’re igniting their Third Factor. You’re inspiring them to want to be the best they can be (salesperson, accountant, cus- todian, CFO . . .), and also to continue to grow and develop as a person. There are many good organizational reasons