Episode 480: How to Create a High-Performing Coaching Team

Podcast accessible on: iTunes | Spotify | YouTube | tocculture.com

Most coaches I talk with have a staff that gets along. They are polite, they work hard, and they show up. But getting along is not the same as being a team, and a lot of us can feel the difference by midseason.

Part two of JP's conversation with Patrick Lencioni gets practical. Pat shares the 10-minute exercise he opens every offsite with, explains how the Working Genius shows a head coach which work to hand off, and closes with how to balance grace and truth with players.

If you want your staff to trust each other enough to be honest with one another, and to stop expecting the head coach to be great at everything, this episode gives you a place to start this week.

TOC 3-2-1

3 QUOTES WORTH WRITING DOWN

"Iron sharpens iron. And if you're willing to be sharpened by your teammates, then you've earned the right to sharpen them."

- Patrick Lencioni

"Just because you're the head coach doesn't mean you're good at all that stuff."

- Patrick Lencioni

"When you give them grace and truth, that's actually love. But we live in a world where people think love is just being nice."

- Patrick Lencioni

2 QUESTIONS FOR YOUR TEAM

Q1: What is one part of your job that drains your energy, and who on our staff would get energy from doing it instead?

Q2: When a teammate calls you out, what would help you hear it as someone holding you to our standard instead of someone attacking you?

1 RESOURCE TO GO DEEPER

The 6 Types of Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni

Pat's model names the six kinds of work every team needs: Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, and Tenacity. The 10-minute assessment and team map show your staff who should own which part of the job and where your gaps are.

https://www.workinggenius.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Trust is built on vulnerability, not history.

Pat separates predictive trust, knowing someone long enough to guess how they will react, from vulnerability-based trust. Great teams say things like I made a mistake, I need help, or you're better at this than I am. When a player turns to teammates and says my bad, nobody wastes energy assigning blame. Project confidence to the other team, but inside your own team, nobody should think you are pretending to be something you are not.

2. Vulnerability earns the right to hold others accountable.

Peer-to-peer accountability is the strongest kind, and it only works when people know their teammates would own it if they were the ones called out. This is not soft. Pat points to a Golden State Warriors halftime where players were in each other's faces and came out and won, because that was how they held each other accountable. Like a healthy marriage, a great coaching staff is willing to be messy.

3. Start with ten minutes of stories.

Pat opens every offsite the same way. Each person takes 30 seconds to a minute to share where they grew up, how many kids were in the family, and the hardest or most interesting challenge of their childhood. Every time, every hand goes up when he asks who learned something new about a teammate. Titles stop mattering and respect goes up right away.

4. Your staff is a leadership team first.

The Working Genius shows each coach the work that gives them energy and the work that drains it. Pat galvanized his company every day for 20 years and was burnt out until he handed daily stand-ups to someone who loved it. Some coaches should not be calling plays or running practice, and the head coach does not have to do it all. A leadership team shares responsibilities based on each other's strengths and weaknesses.

5. Fill your gaps on purpose.

If your staff map shows nobody with galvanizing, plan and structure the motivation that will not happen naturally. If no one on offense has invention, borrow the defensive backs coach for a meeting. Pat notes that great coordinators often struggle as head coaches unless they adjust the people around them, while coaches like Nick Saban and Bill Belichick knew what they were and hired people to fill in the rest.

6. Talent is permission to play. Character builds the team.

Pat would hire and draft for fit and attitude nine times out of ten, once a player clears the baseline of talent. With a struggling player, err on the side of grace for their potential, but hold them accountable, and if they still will not change, helping them find a new place to play with kindness and dignity may be best for everyone. Grace without truth demoralizes your best players, and truth without grace means nobody takes a risk.

ACTION ITEMS

SHARE YOUR STORIES

Open your next staff meeting by giving each coach a minute to share where they grew up and the hardest thing about their childhood.

MAP YOUR STAFF

Have each coach take the Working Genius assessment and lay the results side by side to find your biggest gap.

HAND OFF ONE TASK

Give one recurring job that drains you, like leading a meeting or warm-up, to the coach who gets energy from it.

PAIR GRACE WITH TRUTH

Pick one player you keep giving grace to and have a kind, direct conversation this week about the standard and what comes next.

Get notes and tools at tocculture.com | Join TOC Coach - community, courses, and live coaching for coaches who want to go deeper. | Better Coaches. Better Leaders. Better Culture.