5 Key Aspects for Exceptional Coaching to Produce Champions

As a coach, you want to be on the cutting edge of your field. You strive to learn and integrate the newest technology in the field of speed, strength, and conditioning into your programme. You work to develop the very best qualities in your individual athletes and team with the intent to escalate them closer to the avatar of their potential. In addition, you’ve probably invested in, then committed countless hours to study what the best coaches do, their methods, approaches, drills, and progressions.

I ask every athlete and coach this question. In competition, how much of the outcome is attributed to physical skill and how much is attributed to mental aspects? Usually, the answer ranges from 50/50 to 80% mental and 20% physical. Then I ask them, as I now ask you, what do you do to train the psychological side? 99% of the time they stare at me, searching for an answer. Here is the answer! If you haven’t tapped into the mental side; you are at best, at 50% of your potential. This same principle goes way beyond competition and into the improvement of performance in everything we do, including coaching!

The thing is, we really aren’t taught how to effectively apply mental performance tools in past education. Coaches studied the finer points of anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, and exercise science, and we try to understand the strategic approaches and essentials of the sport we coach. But, other than a few psychology classes, we simply aren’t exposed to how to apply the base principles, let alone a comprehensive application of mental performance techniques we can use in athletics.

The Olympics got us thinking: how do we as corporate managers and leaders become coaches who elicit greatness in others? A study of the coach-athlete relationships that yield successful performance, released by the Canadian Olympic Committee in 2010, has some findings worth adapting to the coaching of corporate performers. Authored by Penny Werther, an Olympic athlete herself, the reports reveal that, to produce Olympic champions, coaches must deliver in five critical areas:

1. Help the athlete cultivate self-awareness (Improve their emotional intelligence (EQ) through a self-concept. Remember, you are who you think you are!)

2. Build a strong coach-athlete relationship (Built on a solid foundation of a mutual purpose, trust, and respect)

3. Create an optimal training environment (Raise both the physical and mental standards of performance)

4. Provide financial and other support systems (You get what you focus on, so to transform potential to performance)

5. Manage the Olympic environment (Guiding the' Strategy’ path and driving the ‘Culture’ path)

In the corporate milieu, we can leverage these findings to encourage strong showings among our employees. Our experience suggests that as a manager/coach, you can help your employees live up to their promise by adapting the five Olympic coaching principles in the following ways:

Build your employee’s development plan on her natural talents and interests.

Truly get to know the employee you are charged with developing, from her temperament to her motivators. Work with everyone to encourage honest self-assessment of her strengths and areas of challenge. Resist the urge to create development targets based solely on the needs of your organisation. Rather, be creative and think of how you can get the best out of your employee while still fulfilling corporate needs.

Stars are built on strengths, not on remediation of weaknesses.

• What really excites and interests your employee?

• How does she like to be rewarded?

• How does she like to challenge?

• How can you help her become a star?

Create a relationship of trust and respect.

This is the foundation of all the work you will do together; without it, both of you are on shaky ground. Demonstrate the willingness to listen and an open mind to hearing whatever is shared. Create a pattern of honest, two-way communication. Don’t be afraid to show weaknesses and be who you are. Authenticity is key to building trust and respect. And remember, good coaches win by creating winners. Be willing to “share” your coaching role with others as needed: leverage your vantage point as coach by pulling in additional individuals who have expertise you may lack but your employee needs.

Audit your employee’s world at work.

• Is he connected to key players who can help him?

• Does he know what their motivators are and how he can influence them?

• Does his role encourage visibility that can propel his career?

• Are there individuals in the organization who are less than helpful in advancing his agenda?

• What changes in his work content, setting or other variables would integrate her development goals into her daily work life?

Remove obstacles to success.

• Is there time in her schedule to devote to pursuing her development?

• Are there financial resources to underwrite her efforts (and is she aware of them?)

• What other obstacles might preclude her successfully executing on the plan that you and she have co-created?

Your job as coach is to clear the decks so that your employee can focus on working on—not getting access to—the development she needs; it is also a vote of confidence if you articulate your willingness to ensure that she has the requisite resources.

Provide the perspective on the organisation that your employee can’t possibly see from her position.

It’s a simple organisational truth: some things can only be seen from sufficient height. An important element of coaching is one ring out from simply communicating good information: helping your employee to see the organization in new, more sophisticated ways is a key component of “value added” coaching activity. Your knowledge of key players and organisational history and politics is truly valuable. But your ability to help your employee learn to make sense of your organisation in new ways or to reframe her understanding of his situation in the company so that he sees new alternatives and strategies—that is invaluable.

Earlier this year, we had the pleasure of listening to a panel discussion on lessons shared between business and sport at London Business School. One of the panellists, Ralph Kruegar (Associate Coach, Edmonton Oilers), mentioned two particularly inspirational lessons we took home.

1. First, he noted that winners are born in difficult times.

2. Second, that sports coaches are tough on their athletes, but they never stop believing in them.

In our experience, this is just as valuable in organisational settings, but sadly not always practiced. So, it begs three critical questions:

• How often do we give our employees enough freedom and trust to battle through tough challenges without our meddling?

• How many of us walk into the office and exclude a genuine belief in the success of our employees … and,

• How are we committed to helping them get there?

There have been numerous articles written about how difficult it is to manage the new generation of employees and managers (Millennials/Gen Y), but at the heart of it, is it not this authentic belief and dedication to the betterment of not only the company but also the individual and society that’s challenging traditional management thinking and practice?

One final lesson from the study of coaching winning Olympians relates not only to what the coach does, but how she does it. And, in a wonderful turnabout, this behaviour will encourage coaches themselves to stretch and develop. Good coaches don’t shoot from the hip. They are thoughtful and deliberate about their style in each situation. To do this, they must capitalize on their understanding of the employee they are coaching and communicate with them in the way that will be most effective at conveying their message. One scenario may benefit from a directive approach, another from self-revealing sharing. Or inspiration may be what’s required. Ultimately, the coach needs to make this call, and to do so effectively, she must be able to get outside herself and view the situation through the eyes of the person she’s coaching. In this area, great corporate coaches and great Olympic coaches must be similar: they must truly know and understand the individuals they seek to coach.

These key aspects are but a few ways to unlock the potential of your future champions.

September, 2020

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