Finding the Winning Edge - Head Coach

We covered last time why we need to work in teams, because teams can achieve greater success than any individual. And the way to put a team in the best position to succeed is by leadership. We talked about how a leader should foster a spirit of overcoming adversity within their team, define roles, create systems, and utilize leverage.

Now we turn to Bill Walsh’s description of the role of Head Coach, and how the leader of an organization executes on overcoming adversity as a team. This section will be split into two episodes, this week we’ll talk about teaching and communication and next week we’ll discuss how to implement those lessons.

Initially we talked about a core principle of Finding the Winning Edge being viewing coaching as teaching. Here’s how Bill Walsh describes the most important part of coaching:

No aspect of coaching is more important than teaching. While the actual teaching is often delegated to one of your assistant coaches, the primary responsibility for ensuring that it is done, and done well, is yours, and yours alone.

It is absolutely critical that you do not neglect your responsibility in this area. If you cannot or do not teach your players and staff the things they need to know, even performing the rest of your responsibilities well will not be enough to guarantee that the team will be successful.

The admonition "for the want of a nail in the wall" is as true in football as in any other situation. Without properly executed fundamentals, the entire system can break down. Accordingly, you must ensure that every player gets the information and hands­on instruction that he needs to develop and refine those skills that are required for his position.

In this regard, several steps are involved in the teaching process, including deciding how (i.e., preparing a plan) the material will be taught, explaining the information to the player, demonstrating (showing) the skill to the player, having the player practice the skill, critiquing the player's performance, and having the player continue to practice under your supervision.

You should recognize that individuals often have distinctly different responses to the learning process. As such, you must adjust your teaching approach and methods to account for individual differences. 

Just last week I mentioned how the three key steps to establishing common purpose, as relayed by Mack Brown, were communication, trust and respect. Communication has to come first.

Here’s Coach Walsh’s advice on communication:

• Use a straightforward, broad based vocabulary that allows you to communicate in very specific, descriptive terms.

• Employ clear, concise language that ensures that your explanations to and exchanges with other individuals will be clearly understood.

• Ensure that the information you provide and the instruction you offer on a given topic accounts for a wide range of knowledge and comprehension among the members of your intended audience.

• Ensure that your approach to teaching a particular subject matter accounts for the fact that some members of the group to whom you are speaking may be more receptive and more ready to learn than others. The critical factor in this regard is how important an individual perceives the information to be, relatively speaking.

• Demonstrate enthusiasm and passion for the material you are presenting. What you say and how you say it can help display your steadfast concern for a particular subject. As the head coach, one of your responsibilities is to generate interest in and excitement for a given matter among your players. The most effective way to accomplish such an objective is to utilize a high level of energy and show ardent enthusiasm for the subject when discussing it with your players.

• Ensure that your relationship with the team has a light, relaxed side. Keep in mind that while humor can bring people together, it must be self effacing and not at anyone's expense.

• Observe the members of the group while you are speaking and determine whether they are paying attention. If, for any reason, the attention span of the group is not what it should be, take steps to remedy the situation.

• Employ a somewhat unpredictable presentation style. Varying your delivery can help enhance or at least maintain the attention level of your audience. It can also be used to place a specific level of emphasis on a given topic.

• Ensure that members of your audience have confidence in the material that you are presenting to a point where their desire to learn the material and to be better prepared to achieve their (individual or team) goals is enhanced.

• Educate your athletes to the highest levels possible. Far too often, the "art" of coaching is lost when coaches fail to realize the depth to which the game should be and must be taught. Keep in mind the thoughts of Sun­Tzu, the renowned military strategist, in his classic work—The Art of War—who concluded that with more sophistication comes more control. Furthermore, with sophistication occurs a visualization beyond common concepts and progress toward the path of perfection.

Let’s also keep in mind why communication is even being used here. As a Head Coach you’re getting your team to buy into your vision for winning football games. As a leader of a team or organization, you’re trying to increase the level of buy-in by team members to your organization’s mission and vision. You’re not only communicating that vision, but communicating the standards that must be adhered to in order to achieve it. 

Here’s Bill Walsh writing about standards:

Setting a standard of performance and play often comes down to an attention to detail. The focus on details cements the foundation that establishes a standard of play. The simplest execution of procedures symbolizes the commitment of the players to the organization and the organization to the players.

Details, such as shirt tails in, never being seated on the field, helmets in hands (when not participating), control of profanity, no smoking on premises, etc., all contribute (if only symbolically) to the commitment to high standards that is visible to everyone. The image of the 49ers as a first class professional organization was nurtured and carefully developed in this way.

A commitment to high standards can influence how a team finishes a game—winning in a solid, cohesive, well coordinated manner or losing and keeping its poise, executing well and not becoming unraveled. Inappropriate acts of behavior were far less visible with the 49ers because of each player's commitment to his teammates to adhere to a standard of behavior that was fostered at all times.

This is a data point I often see in the football world, teams’ win-loss records in one score games. There’s a reason why it’s not 50-50 for all teams over a long period of time. This commitment, attention to detail, and extra gear you can tap into in crucial moments separate the good from great teams. 

This "standard" relates to the respect and sensitivity shown to others and to an appreciation of the roles that each member of the organization fulfills. Each player is an extension of his teammates. When Jerry Rice catches a ball, he is an extension of several players—those who are blocking the pass rushers, the receivers who are, precisely coordinating their routes with his, and the quarterback who is taking a hit after throwing the ball. When Roger Craig broke through with a big run, it embodied the fierce execution of the offensive line, the timing of their blocks and the execution of the down­field blocks by the receivers.

One of the most important steps that you can undertake to make certain that a valid standard of performance exists is to ensure every practice session is conducted in an appropriate manner. 

Every player must have an appreciation for and take great pride in his performance during practice. He must concentrate fully and exert a maximum effort at all times.

In addition to teaching practical football issues, you should also teach your players about your philosophy—the team's big picture. In addition, you should take advantage of opportunities to teach and reinforce to your players the attitudes and values you believe are important in football and in life.

These beliefs—values such as respect, loyalty, responsibility, self discipline and cooperation—should be an integral part of your philosophy. Football is not an individual sport; you must teach each of your players and staff members to work as a team.

Having a belief system as a leader is something we talked about in the first episode, because it’s a building block for what you’re teaching to your team. 

Setting the standard for performance also begins with the expectations the head coach sets. It is crucial that you expect all individuals in the organization to possess the highest level of expertise in their particular area of responsibility, to continually refine their skills and to be physically and intellectually committed to do whatever is necessary to make the team successful.

Accordingly, you would not be fulfilling your responsibilities as the leader of the team if you did not attempt to make the people involved with the team give the "extra effort" needed to achieve the organization's most noteworthy goals. To do otherwise would simply be inappropriate on your part.

The key is to keep the bounds of "extra effort" in proper perspective. On one hand, you want to do everything possible to enable the team to reach its goals. On the other hand, you don't want to unduly exhaust individuals to a point where either their effectiveness is diminished or their health is impaired.

Whether you are a CEO or a football coach, finding a relative middle ground between the well-being of the people who work for you and the achievement of a goal is one of the most difficult aspects of leadership. We have all known leaders and managers who drove people mercilessly, simply to reassure themselves that they could do it.

If you have a staff that is always working on adrenaline, nothing may be left (energy­wise) for the extra effort necessary when a real emergency arises. Worrying too much about your staff is more humane than worrying too little, but that approach is burdened by its own load of problems.

The art of leadership requires knowing when it makes sense to take people over the top. No one will love you for failing because you asked too little.

One concept I continually addressed with my staff was taking observations or requests on my part to their logical conclusion. If I gave a project to an assistant, it was his duty to follow it up to a point where it was completely carried out. In this regard, this completion might mean something as immediate and simple as turning right around and suggesting another course of action at the time I issued the order.

In some cases, I might agree with the assistant's assessment of the situation and rescind my request. In this instance, he has taken the project to its logical conclusion.

If I decided that the problem needed further action, the assistant had to follow up on the request and take whatever time was available to either come up with a suggested plan or implement whatever course of action was needed. He also had to be willing to take the initiative in bringing the topic up with me again, even if a considerable amount of time had passed (i.e., weeks or months).

This is not only a great example of increasing your leverage as a leader, but a way to establish Extreme Ownership within your team. In an ideal situation, every issue kicked up the ladder to a head coach or leader becomes increasingly higher leverage. What would this look like? Say you’re working in sales and you’re part of a small but growing team. The new members initially shadow you on sales calls, then maybe you’re both on a call pitching the client, then the newer teammate leads their own calls, and eventually maybe you’re only brought in for high profile calls or critical issues. If you broke down how your time was spent before hiring new teammates vs after hiring new teammates, you should see an increase in leverage for each unit of your time. 

Now, that comes from teaching and managing your teammates. Here’s a section Coach Walsh writes on managing people.

You must establish a framework that structures the responsibilities and performance priorities of both your coaching staff and your support staff. In this regard, you should develop a work schedule that is realistic and manageable, yet produces the desired results.

It is also important that you establish clearly defined job profiles that are continually evolving and being revised, based on the demonstrated performance capacity of each individual.

You must ensure that all staff members understand their roles within the organization and your expectations of them. When I joined the 49ers, I recognized the critical need to clarify the responsibilities of everyone within the San Francisco organization.

Accordingly, I decided to address the employees of each area of the organization regarding the requirements and responsibilities of their positions. Subsequently, I established policies and procedures involving each individual's role and held meetings to discuss those roles with the various groups.

Each person was given an outline of my presentation. We then discussed each point. An effort was made to establish an atmosphere during the meetings where individuals could ask questions and lines of communication would be opened. Whenever appropriate, new guidelines and policies were discussed and set up. 

Here’s a piece of advice I heard a few years ago on how to give any form of presentation. Tell them what you’ll tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them. Peak behind the curtain, it’s a huge factor in all these podcast outlines.

We talked about teaching, setting the standard, outlining roles, next time will be how to work with the people in your organization to implement the above.