My goal through this series is to challenge you coaches to think of yourselves as more than coaches and grow yourselves into leaders.

I have had the pleasure of players, parents and colleagues referring to me as ‘Coach’ for almost 30 years now. In that time, I have had both failure and success, lost championships and won championships. All in all, it has been an outstanding journey. One in which I would not trade in for the world. 

People often ask, ‘Why did you start coaching?’ and because of this question I came up with the very simple fact that the number one thing I recognized early on, is that coaching is a very impactful pursuit, both on and off the ice.

As a young coach, I was busy making sure I was able to stay on top of the most recent trends and information on X’s and O’s and systems, in addition to padding my bookshelf with drill books and being a member of numerous drill clubs. However, what seemed to be insignificant at the time (we are talking mid-1990s, which is appearing to be a common thread in my evolution both as a coach, but more importantly as a person over this time), is the fact that when I picked up a book, or watched a movie, heck, even when I became a teacher, the premise of what I read, watched or said, was always centred on LEADERSHIP. 

As a recap, here are the 5 LEVELS OF LEADERSHIP we’ve introduced:

• Coach to Leader Series: An Introduction
• Level 1 – Position (Rights) – people follow because they have to
• Level 2 – Permission – (Relationships) – people follow because they want to
• Level 3 – Production – (Results) – people follow because of what you have done for the organization/club
• Level 4 – People Development – (Reproduction) – people follow because of what you have done for them
• Level 5 – Pinnacle – (Respect) – people follow because of who you are and what you represent

Whether this was showing my Gr. 7 class the movies Hoosiers, Rudy and Remember the Titans, to getting a copy of a Lou Holtz talk to executives about what the intersection of coaching and culture creation looks like, or reading autobiographies on people in all walks of life who have achieved a measure of success, I would undoubtedly connect it back to my organization, team and players.  It is at this time, I also picked up a book titled The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell, and it profoundly altered how I saw leadership and coaching. That book started a long-time affinity and association for me with Maxwell and his principles. 

I started to really study coaches in other sports. I studied their mannerisms on the court, in the dugout, and on the sidelines. I studied how they spoke to the media after a win, and after a loss. It became an unofficial Ph.D for me. 

One statement, by legendary college basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski hit me like a ton of bricks as to how I wanted to create a legacy for myself. He was asked how he wanted to be remembered. His response: “I don’t look at myself as a basketball coach, I consider myself a leader, who happens to coach basketball.”

WOW! That really resonated with me. I had always connected to ‘being a coach,’ but now I had what I thought to be higher aspirations, and thus my leadership journey began. 

It is through this journey that I have come to be writing this series at this time, and it is my intention to get coaches to view themselves as more than that, to really challenge you to up the ante in how you deal with people, and yourself in terms of personal and professional leadership.

As coaches, we get locked into the 1-3-1 power play, and the swarm D-zone coverage, zone exits and zone entries, faceoff percentages, and winning and losing streaks, and so much more. Very valid things to understand and try to deal with, no doubt. However, it is my sense that the number one thing coaches need to get locked into is their personal leadership.

Personal leadership is how a coach conducts him or herself both in person and when they are ‘coaching.’ It is how their comportment is carried through daily, how they foster the right and proper relationships with their players, and how they convey their messages through their communication. It was told to me once that a player or players are more in tune with how you, as a coach, act on a daily basis than you are aware. Kind of like being a parent, for those of you who are. You are always being watched by someone. It is not easy to expect more from the people on your team, or in your family than you expect yourself. So, what we say and do must be aligned, especially in today’s world, more than ever.

How we lead ourselves is everything. As the saying goes, “How we do one thing, is how we do everything.”

So back to Coach K and his quote. Leadership and coaching go hand in hand, as they should. However, it is easier said, than done. 

My goal through this series is to challenge you coaches to think of yourselves as more than coaches and grow yourselves into leaders.

Again, easier said than done. For me it meant, as I have mentioned, a deep dive into John Maxwell’s books, as well as others. I started to incorporate some of his principles into my coaching, especially creating culture and creating buy-in. 

Today, there are so many resources out there beyond books. Just on YouTube alone the resources are phenomenal. 

One of my all-time favourites is the famed Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz and his 3 Simple Rules for business, football, and life:

1. Do right – ‘Just do the right thing.’
2. Do everything to the best of your ability with the time that is given to you.
3. Show people you care.

He says these three rules lead the people in your care to ask the following three questions:

1. Can I trust you?
2. Are you committed to excellence?
3. Do you care about me?

I can guarantee you that if you think back to a person whom you love, admire, and respect, and then think about a person whom you may have some differences with, the answers to these questions are very different. Try it! Ask these questions about both people, with a simple yes or no answer.

I can say with a high degree of certainty that the person you admire and respect, you said yes to all three questions, and the person you have a problem with, either you can’t trust them, they aren’t committed, or they don’t care. 

Our job as coaches is to ensure our athletes think of us, as the former not the latter.

For me, coaching is about the X’s and O’s, leadership is about the people.

I’m looking forward to continuing this leadership series in the coming weeks and months. 

BE OUTSTANDING!!