Article Index
3. Explain your decisions. One thing that I learned during my coaching tenure was that I had to clearly present why I made a decision. Too often I would make a decision that I thought was right for the long-term success of our program without communicating why I had made such a choice. These decisions were related to: practice times; playing time; what position a player was playing; why this pitcher was pitching more than another girl on the team; why a player was on JV instead of varsity; and on and on. Leaders must understand that every decision he or she makes is being evaluated and you don't want your players or employees guessing at your reasoning.
I wrongly expected the other players and coaches to know why I was making decisions, without telling them. Instead, they were often confused as to their role on the team, or possibly even something as simple as why we practiced on a particular time on the weekend. I created confusion that wasn't necessary.
If you don't tell your players or staff why you are doing something, don't expect them to figure it out. Be specific, explain your reasoning, seek feedback and make an informed decision that will benefit the team over any individual.
4. Don't make promises. Managers and coaches should be very careful not to make promises. Too often, especially in my first two seasons, I told a player that she was going to be in the starting lineup next week (or a manager may tell an employee that she is going to get a promotion at work). Immediately after I made that promise, the player didn't practice up to her ability and then I was stuck in a very difficult situation. I could either put an under-performing player in the starting lineup, or renege on the promise that I had made. A manager or coach can't be in a much worse position and it will undermine his or her ability to lead.
Coaches can't worry about being liked, by players or their parents. If you are worried about being liked, coaching is probably not the best profession to pursue. Even worse, if you are making promises in the pursuit of being liked, it will come back to haunt you.
5. Don't sacrifice long-term growth for short-term wins. Arguably the worst decision I made during my three-year tenure of poor decisions was to strongly encourage an injured player to pitch in a game. Paige Huizenga, one of my favorite players (yes coaches do have favorites and it's usually those who work the hardest and do what they are supposed to do when they are supposed to do it) had badly injured her ankle. She was convinced she could pitch, and I wanted her to pitch, but I was the adult coach and I should have never let her step foot in the circle.
Our No. 2 starting pitcher was unavailable for the game as well but I should have tried anyone else that afternoon. Paige pitched well on one ankle but it was a horribly selfish decision on my part. We did not allow her to pitch for two weeks after that game but it was one game too late. I was looking at short-term wins over long-term growth.
Along those lines, another mistake I made was that I became very inflexible with my starting lineup, especially defensively. Because the high school season is so short, I didn't feel as if I could move girls around to different positions and still attain a high level of consistency and performance. My shortsightedness limited us in the long-term because players because very attached to one position, at the expense of learning others. It really became a challenge when we had injuries. My lack of long-term planning by limiting opportunities to play different positions had short-term consequences as well.
This shortsightedness can have a negative impact on businesses as well, especially when employees leave organizations and a great deal of intellectual capital and training walks out the door with them. If that person was assigned tasks that no other team members knows how to complete, catching new employees up to speed will be a significant challenge.
Summary
To be honest, I could write pages of mistakes (mishandling my reaction to a junior pitcher who told me the day before a regional championship game that she was going to her cousin's wedding the next day instead of the game was not one of my better moments).
But even with all of those mistakes, my most significant takeaway is this: If you care deeply about what you are doing, and love the people you are doing it with, you will overcome short-term failures and disappointments and your team and organization will prosper.
Todd Starowitz is the public relations director at Tyndale House Publisher and the CEo at ProScoutSports, LLC. For the original article, visit linkedin.com.
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