coachmccormick
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Authoritarianism - 2006/08/25 14:11
My friend Steve Finamore from East Lansing sent me an article from the Salt Lake Tribune discussing coaches as authoritarians.
Personally, I am not an authoritarian; I am or at least stive to be an empowerment coach. And, I think it is a better way.
Some highlights from the article:
More than any other group, outside of junior high vice principals, the Marine Corps, and the nuns at every parochial grammar school I ever heard of, coaches are an authoritarian bunch.
It is their calling, they believe, to be masters and commanders.
It is their place to rule over their realms, to bark out their orders, to have things done just so, for no other reason than because they say so.
However, the amount of authoritarianism needed to win games varies. There have been winning coaches who have treated players like dogs. In the cloaked confines of practice, those coaches call players obscene names, they tear away more than reticence to learn, they sheer off personal dignity, they go out and win games, and they are hugely remunerated and heralded.
Discipline is necessary in sports, an obvious key to winning and, at least when it is applied appropriately, a virtue. How that virtue is administered by coaches, particularly by those who stay in one place for a long time, is what matters most.
The authentic winners, at all levels, are the coaches who understand the relationship between authority and its proper use with those it is used upon, first and foremost, not for the benefit of soothing one's view of oneself, but in effectively teaching football.
I ask questions of players. I encourage players to ask me questions. I don't want robots. I like it when a player challenges me and asks why he needs to do something I say he needs to learn, as long as the player is respectful. I don't understand coaches who will not answer questions or immediately make a player run if he challenges a coach. I've been around situations where the coach makes a player run for "insubordination" when the player was simply sharing an idea and the idea had a great deal of merit and was probably better than what the coach was doing. In these situations, it seems the authoritative coach is often using his authority to protect his insecurity.
I don't think any coach needs to demean a player to get results. I don't see how that brings out the best in a player.
Post edited by: coachmccormick, at: 2006/08/25 14:12
Post edited by: coachmccormick, at: 2006/08/27 06:14
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coachmccormick
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Re:Authoritarianism - 2006/08/27 13:20
On the other side, I found an old newsltter from Brian Grasso which offers for different ways to approach athletes with different needs:
your coaching style can be offered in one of four ways depending on the athletes needs –
Delegate
Athletes who have high motivation and skill level will be best served by a coaching approach that gets them involved in the decision making process.
Inspire
Athletes who have high skill levels, but low motivation will require a measure of calculated inspiration from you. This is not to be confused with the ‘rah-rah’ motivational coach, however. Instead, this involves speaking to this athlete on a level that speaks directly to what makes them proud, content and eager to participate.
Guide
Athletes who have high motivation, but low skill levels need to be lead well. They have zeal and attack exercises, but often perform them incorrectly or with much haste. Take your time to guide these kids through a deliberate style of coaching that demonstrates the importance of slowness and attention to detail.
Direct
Athletes who have low motivation and skill levels seldom want to be talked to in front of the group. They are looking for direction, period. In a calm and easy manner, tell them what to do and how to do it – this lessons the burden they feel of not knowing how to do something well.
www.developingathletics.com
Post edited by: coachmccormick, at: 2006/08/27 13:21
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GAtwood
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Leadership - 2006/08/29 17:18
I have often speculated that more often than not, an overly-authoritarian style may actually be a defensive reaction used to compensate for shortcomings of subject matter knowledge, or to hide poor teaching skills. I wrote a short story about a coach I'm very familiar with who clearly discourages questions by insulting or otherwise humiliating the player who dared to ask the question. So his players usually just don't ask, sometimes even to say, "what, I didn't hear you?" Then of course he is soon angry because they didn't listen/execute. 
I've mentioned already that I'm only in my 6th year as a coach, but it's year round for me. I’ve packed a lot into that 6 years- worked camps in the summer, attend 2 clinics a year, accumulated a good size book and video library, coach school teams, rec league teams, women’s league teams, run a year round open gym, and now I’ve started to work with individual athletes. I was fortunate to be able to retire early, and basketball has taken the place of my career, or maybe it is my career now. Before I started coaching, I worked for the US Forest Service for 22 years. I worked my way up from firefighter and spent my last 8 years as fire engine captain, and a hand crew captain. During those 8 years, I focused on learning to be an effective leader. Leadership skills became a real passion for me, I read a lot of books, went to literally hundreds of hours of relevant training, and was living it as a supervisor in a frequent high stress and sometimes dangerous job. The reason for my passion was safety; over the years it became apparent that in fire line fatalities, and near-miss incidents, breakdown of leadership was a common theme no matter the other conditions of each incident. In '96 we lost 14 highly trained and experienced federal firefighters on 1 fire in Colorado, and that hit me real hard. Those FF got trapped by conditions of pre-heated & highly combustible fuels (gamble oak), very steep terrain, and high winds. Those conditions combined to kill them, but if it were not for failures of communication, supervision, oversight & monitoring by management, and more effective on the ground leadership- those 14 FF wouldn't have even been on that spot on that slope at that time of day. Leadership broke down and 14 died, including the 1st women to die fighting fire in the US.
I believe I became an effective leader, my people liked working for me, I ran a tight ship as far as procedure and protocol, and our performance reviews and readiness inspections reflected that. And most significant to me- my crew’s safety record was spotless year in and year out, both on fires & projects. As a leader I wanted my style to be firm fair and friendly. We had fun when it was appropriate, but when we had work to do, I made sure my crew understood that the finished product told the world who we were and what we believed to be true about us.
I got into coaching because I learned that nobody was stepping up to coach 8th grade girls, as a result they weren’t going to have a season at all. I’d just retired, and the no coach / no team news really bothered me. So I applied, and next thing I knew I was the coach. I quickly found that my leadership style seemed to be very conducive to coaching. During that first basketball season, it was very clear to me that my commitment to what I understand to be "principled centered leadership" in my interpersonal and organizational interactions is what helped me to be an effective coach; far more than any knowledge I had of basketball, or physical development training.
And that's really my point in this long winded diatribe  This topic is about leadership. The coach who is overly authoritarian may not be just on some kind of power trip, it could also be poor communication skills- which fall under the "umbrella" of leadership. And if it is just a control freak type, well that's a result of poor leadership too.
An authoritarian style is actually common in fire suppression, after all it's a risky job and discipline can be critical to safety. But if the significance of discipline is understood by each member of the unit, and the adherence to and trusting of discipline becomes a part of each individual- the unit becomes more effective because the sum of its parts are working together more effectively to achieve the common goal. This observation holds true for a basketball team too. We can make the team disciplined by our authority alone, or we can teach them the rewards of being disciplined so they want it for their selves- which then becomes a life pattern
I have primarily coached girls, but at the start of each season I tell them that I coach players, not boys or girls; and when they are on the court they are players- I explain to them that I treat players different than I treat boys and girls. I explain that I'm very passionate about the game, and sometimes I get excited and might raise my voice, or even yell, but that's it's not personal and I'm just trying to help them become better players. I try to never admonish individuals in front of others, and when I have done that, I've apologized to the individual in front of the team.
I learned this off/on the court tactic from coach Fred Crowell of Spokane WA. He also taught me that you can never coach a player "tough" or "hard" until that player knows you love him or her (which is clearly why Bobby Knight is so effective despite the fact he can be a world class ass). Coach Crowell also believes you can NEVER be effective coaching a female athlete "hard" if she has a poor relationship with her Father. And of course most often, how would you know? So you have to be careful. fyi- I use terms like coaching "hard" or "tough" not to condone insults, or blatant humiliation. I don’t push them to win. I push them to play hard, play smart, and play together. If they do that, winning will happen.
Authoritarianism ("my way or the hiway") always rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't like it when I encountered it as an athlete, and I didn't like it when I encountered it as a firefighter As far as I'm concerned, if I can't answer a question about something I'm teaching or trying to get a player to do, then maybe I'm not ready to be trying to implement what ever it happens to be. And it was the same way with a tactical decision on a fire.
For me, basketball is a metaphor for life. And I’m sure that’s true of others here, or we wouldn’t be here in this site.
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coachmccormick
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Re:Leadership - 2006/08/29 17:56
Great post. Agree 100%. I, too, believe the most insecure coaches are the first ones to yell and scream at a player. There is a local high school coach who I have watched a couple times who will yell, loud enough for the whole gym to hear, "I told you not to do that. We worked on that at practice yesterday." Things like this do not help the player in the middle of the game and he did not even explain the mistake or the way to fix it. All he did ws embarass the player and make sure everyone in the stands knows it is not his fault.
While working clinics last week, an inexperienced coach kept putting a kid in front as an example and told all the kids to do what he was doing. Now, every kid had been doing the same drill. However, some were doing it correctly and some incorrectly. However, every kid thought he was doing it correctly. When the coach put the kid in front and said, "Do it this way" I wasn't even sure what he was talking about, especially since the example was not 100% perfect anyway. However, too many coaches coach in this manner, where they do a drill, give an example and then go, yet players do not know why they are doing it or what is the important part of the drill or what they should feel if they are doing it correctly vs incorrectly. Without any frame of reference, other than a player who looks incredibly similar to myself, especially to the untrained eye, how do I know if I am developing the skill correctly or just building a bad habit through multipl repetitions?
Anyway, I was wondering if you could share some of the best leadership references you studied, whether books, articles, conferences, etc. Any topic, not just related to sports or coaching. Thanks.
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GAtwood
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Re:Leadership - 2006/08/31 19:22
I like using a kid who has good form to "model" correct movement, but it's not enough by its self, and I just bring a kid up to the front without saying "watch him." As I'm sure you know, a lot of young athletes don't know what they look like while performing a specific movement- be it their jump shot, or a lunge. I've found, and you mention that a lot of them believe, or feel like they are in fact performing the movement correctly. And putting someone up front who IS doing it correctly will have no effect on those kids. I also like to use different kids in front of the group from one weeekend to the next. It rewards them for doing it right, and I think kids learn better from observing each other than they do from observing me.
I am fortunate to have a coaching partner. One thing we like to do with a group -even a small group- is to start with them all together, then divide them after observing them briefly. For example, if we are working on shooting we would begin with a quick form shooting exercise for maybe 3-5 minutes, then go into shooting the ball. While working on form they may not seperate themselves, but once they start shooting... you know. One of us will take the less experienced shooters down to the other end of the gym and start over on form with them- taking more time. After a little while we will put the two groups back together and move on to the next movement or skill. And then we will again divide them, and coach the same specific movement or skill at 2 different speeds or levels.
The topic of leadership is something I studied a lot, mostly because I felt like I needed help with my leadership skills. My own Father was not a strong leader, and as a result, he wasn't much of a male role model for me. It wasn't until I became a supervisor that I realized not having that solid role model as a child and young man had actually handicapped me. It didn't just dawn on me either, it became apparent to me after a conversation I had about how our Fathers helped shape us with another much more senior and highly respected fire crew supervisor. It became apparent to me that something significant was missing from my "tool box." So I started studying everything I could get my hands on.
What I learned about developing my own leadership ability can be summed up in two primary subjects. First, that real leadership isn't necessarily defined by a position (boss, coach, etc). It's defined by what we say and what we do- our personal integrity, sense of honor, committment to loyalty and honesty, by our courage, by our intentions and our moral character; our core values. I learned there is a difference between a "boss" or supervisor, and a leader; that real leaders are at every level but tend to rise to the top. Some distinguish this as Leader/Manager. The second thing I learned was that I felt unsure about my leadership ability because I didn't know myself well enough. Like a lot of us, I hadn't thought about, or set about to discover how my Father's influence, and my childhood and teenage experiences had combined to influence who I was- my personality.
Most of my books are still in boxes, but I have some suggestions.
Are you aware of the Servant-Leader concept? There's a small pamphlet that a guy named Robert K. Greenleaf wrote, it's called "The Servant As Leader" There's a web site that you can find by googling his name. I'm not sure if the pamphlet is available for sale. I got mine years ago. I really liked how his ideas showed where leadrship occurs regardless of one's designated position in the organization.
Of course Sun Tzu's, "The Art of War" is a must read. It was discovered years ago that many of Tzu's philosophies are applicable to the competetive business world. They are certainly just as applicable to the competetive sports world. If you don't have any, and go looking for a Tzu book- be careful because there are tons of books available and I'm pretty sure not one was written by Sun Tzu, becasue he lived 3000 years ago. So they are all translations, and then adaptations. The thinest Tzu books are best in my opinion because they are closest to original form, without as much adaptation and input from who ever the modern author is.
"Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Goleman has become somewhat of a must read over the years.
This is from a web site-
"The Basics of Emotional Intelligence include
knowing your feelings and using them to make life decisions you can live with. Being able to manage your emotional life without being hijacked by it -- not being paralyzed by depression or worry, or swept away by anger. Persisting in the face of setbacks and channeling your impulses in order to pursue your goals. Empathy -- reading other people's emotions without their having to tell you what they are feeling. Handling feelings in relationships with skill and harmony -- being able to articulate the unspoken pulse of a group, for example."
That excerpt was from here-
http://ei.haygroup.com/resources/default_ieitest.htm
Steven Covey's books are good. "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" is probably his best known book. My own favorite though is, "Principled Centered Leadership."
http://groups.ucanr.org/ANR_Leadership/Book_Reviews/Principle-Centered_Leadership.htm
I really appreciated Larry Donnithorne's, "The Westpoint Way of Leadership." I'm not a military guy, nor do I care for the militaristic style, but this book isn't about regimentation, it's about making the right choices- even when no one is looking. Here's an excerpt-
"This brief moment represented a giant step for me. In that instant, I had the profound realization that when individuals agree to behave with a prescribed set of high values they can have a much finer life then if they merely follow orders only becasue they have to, always looking for what they can get away with. This giant step was toward the autonomous adoption of those high values, and internalizing the concept of the harder right." From here-
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0385417039/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-8855046-5343047#
Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" about the climbing tragedies on Mt Everest in '96 has proven to be an excellent study of critical components to leadership and decision making that is broadly applicable beyond the narrow scope of mountaineering. That book has become a "must read" for fire line supervisors because it contains many of the same factors as a fire does, such as- incomplete or incorrect information that you can't verify first hand, time constraints, multiple inputs or threats that must all be monitored, and a constantly changing environment.
I probably have more good reccomendations if I had my books on a shelf instead of in boxes.
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