Coach, You're Always Leading
When it comes to teams, short term results are easy to manufacture. Simply collect the best talent possible and manipulate them however necessary to get them to perform.
Achieving long term results is far more difficult. You can’t always rely on your team being stocked with the best talent. You can, however, rely on your culture — the attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and shared purpose which guide you and your team.
Good team culture starts with the leader, includes everyone, and is forever a work in progress.
It requires vision, clarity, and constant attention. It requires establishing a code of behaviors that must be followed and providing accurate feedback. It requires delivering consequences — both positive and negative — based on the decisions and behaviors team members express.
Coaches, everything counts when it comes to your leadership. If you think ignoring a problem doesn’t matter, you’re wrong — you’re always leading. What matters to your team is what you do, and do not do. Everything matters to your team because your team is always watching and depending on you. This is the responsibility coaches have.
Confucius said, “To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice.” But living the ‘do right rule’ is tough because it requires discipline, commitment and courage.
Ignoring issues puts your own integrity at risk. When you lose your integrity, you won’t be able to develop and sustain trust, the very basis of all relationships. Guard your integrity as if it’s your most precious leadership possession, because it is.
Culture drives everything. Leaders drive the culture. And the degree team members are willingly steered by the leader depends on trust they’ve earned.