Coaching: The Art of Getting Your Team a Leap Forward
By Gita P. Djambek
I am not a soccer fanatic nor am I an expert in this sport. But one thing for sure, I am always fascinated at how highly the coaches were regarded by the team, the nation and the soccer fans. The South Korean national soccer team shocked the world in the 2002 World Cup when they came 4th, while the youngsters of the German team took the fans’ breaths away by their fast paced and attacking style in the 2006 World Cup. The men behind their success were coaches Guus Hidding and Jurgen Klinsmann. They were initially criticized for their so called unorthodox but effective approach and style.
What made these two ordinary men became extraordinary? They coached not simply because they their job was to coach, but because they lived their role as coaches to propel their teams in a “great leap forward!”
In the business world however, the term coach just doesn’t have the appeal it has in the sporting world. Most managers would prefer to becoming task-achieving managers, selling stuff, making stuff, designing stuff, building, starting, finishing… focusing more on the technicality of meeting targets without truly engaging with their people to meet their targets. Managers are rarely identified as coaches. When was the last time you saw an internal Newsletter with the front page headline “Coach Builds Career Building Skills for her Team!”?
Maybe the terms coaching and coach are generally associated with the sporting world not the business world, but when coaching is defined the definition can be applied to any kind of team situation. I particularly like the following statements about coaching and coaches:
Coaching is the art and practice of inspiring, energizing, and facilitating the performance, learning and development of the team members (Myles Downe, 2001).
A coach doesn’t make too much fuss about technical details, but emphasized more on a higher order tasks such as vision, strategy, and planning (from David Rock in Bowers, 2003).
Putting the above statements in perspective, a coach inspires, energises and facilitates to focus on vision, strategy and planning, leaving the existing skills and self-development capability to take care of the technical skills. A coach engages team members, and inspires them to apply their energy to their needs for development.
But what does it take to become a coach? There are numerous ways to become a coach, but they can be grouped under the following:
A coach inspires and energises his/her team members to succeed by developing confidence to succeed.
Hiddink’s first goal was to make sure the South Korean players had the belief to take the initiative in games and not be afraid of failure. To do this, he allowed them to step over the line sometimes (Bouwes, 2007). Instilling this goal in the minds of the South Korean team gave the players a feeling of security and confidence. It is that growing confidence and the mentality of the players to break physical barriers in training transformed the team into a spirited fighting machine at the 2002 World Cup.
A coach facilitates the team members’ processes to result in learning, developing and performing.
This can be done through variety of ways such as planning, matching the job to the person, engagement and collaboration in producing strategies, and creatively using available resources to maximize development opportunities. Prior to the 2006 World Cup, Klinsman was contemplating on who was best to be the national team’s goal keeper, which at that time Kahn was both the captain and the goal keeper. With a change in strategy to be more attack minded and fast phased, after several trials and without being disrespectful towards Kahn, Klinsman decided to bring in Jehns Lehmann as goal keeper, which was a tough but right decision because under the circumstances at the time the job was more suitable for him. Furthermore, understanding the changed mindset of the German young players who were more focused and attack oriented, he involved the players especially the leaders in the planning process and this ensured engagement of all team members, build a sense of ownership to the learning process, planning and the development of the team.
A coach is able to break tradition without breaking the rule to achieve the teams’ objectives.
Every organization has a tradition they live up to, which most often no one would challenge even if it is proven that the tradition is not a good one. South Korean society is a hierarchic society which is embedded into their systems, including sports. With the backing from the Chairman of the Korean Football Association he broke the tradition by bypassing the selection committee to decide on the composition of the squad – which had never been done by a coach before. This was the beginning of his success in coaching the South Korean team as this move gave him the advantage to select the right man for the right job, and it was this initial move that leads to the victory that South Korean had never endured before.
Germany had always been proud of their soccer pedigree. When Klinsmann brought in physical trainers, and a sport psychologist he’d known from America – a country not known for its soccer, to support the team in their physical training and mental health -the national pride was hurt. But once again, the tradition had been broken but the result of breaking this tradition is one that the German nation is proud of.
Applying these two teams’ experience to the workplace, success is eventually inevitable if managers also put on their coaching hats. Coaching brings more humanity into the workplace according to Myles Downey (2001). Effective coaching brings:
· a sense of achievement of being able to deliver an extraordinary results both at an organizational level as well as a personal level;
· fulfillment that includes learning and development because they were engaged in the process of defining their goals and planning to achieve these goals;
· and joy because on top of their sense of achievement and fulfillment, they also enjoy an extended effect of their success as a team at an individual level
When managers take one step ahead, to become both coach and manager at the same time, then that is the time when managers will sure make a difference through their people. So managers… put on your coaching hat and transform your team to become the winning team!
----GD2010---
References:
Downey, Myles (2001). Effective Coaching: Lessons from the Coach’s Coach in Vadim Kotelnikov. www.1000ventures.com
Bouwest, Ernst (2007). Hiddink: Coach for Hire. http://soccernet.espen.go.com
Interview with Jurgen Klinsmann, 9 April 2006. www.leaguemanagers.com
Marcus, Barry (2002). The difference between a manager and a coach. www.helium.com
Spaxman, Angela. Will Coaching Make a Difference to My Effectiveness as a Manager. www.spaxman.com.hk
Bowers, Toni (2003). Be more than a manager: Coach your staff. http://articles.techrepublic.com.com
