Have you ever looked at a professional football game and observed the coaches on the sidelines?
I love to watch their prowess and how they move up and down the sidelines; how they overreact, the animated gestures they make to emphasise the decisions and actions that are taking place on the field. As a leadership coach and trainer myself, I pay particular attention to how they are able to communicate with their players from the sidelines; how they correct players, how they celebrate with their team, and generally how they keep the team focussed and motivated, even when things aren’t going entirely to plan.
Belief. It is a quality they all share and something I believe to be a critical factor to their success as a leadership coach in their own right. Without this belief, they would not be able to inspire their teams and the people who work around them.
What Makes a Great Coach?
- Communication
- Knowledge
- Understanding the Individual Team Members
- Leadership
- Motivation
- Consistency
- Passion
- Integrity
There are many different qualities that individually contribute to being a great coach. There are also many different styles of leadership coaching and philosophies that can be adopted by individual coaches. As an Executive Leadership Coach and Trainer, I study Athletics Coaches for a living. In my opinion, there is no single method of leadership coaching that is proven to be more successful than others.
Whatever leadership style you adopt, one of the most essential character traits of great coaches is that they all have the audacity to believe they can galvanize a diverse group of individuals who may have different abilities, experience, personalities, backgrounds, and motivations; and cement an understanding within them that they can collectively perform at a level to win the national championships. What’s more, they can effectively impute that belief into each and every player they coach.
Where business leadership is concerned, we can learn so much from these great sports coaches. While there are many leadership traits and skills that can be taught or picked up over time; the power of belief can inspire, it can unite, it can motivate, and it can prove to be one of the most powerful leadership tools you have in your arsenal.