Philosophy lesson Final

Tue, May 23, 2023 8:17PM • 22:00

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

coach, philosophy, players, coaching philosophy, coaching, people, athlete, explaining, work, good, environment, builds, leadership, great, decisions, young, team, winning, idea, sports

SPEAKERS

Rohan Taylor, Neil Craig, Heyneke Meyer, Jens Lang, Slavomir Lener, Gary Kirsten, Mark Coles, Rob Beveridge, Paul Barnett, John Buchanan, István Görgényi, Eddie Bolger, Jenny Boucek, Steve Bann, Charlie Walsh, Lisa Fallon, Brenda Kirkpatrick

Paul Barnett  00:00

Welcome to the lessons from the great coaches podcast.

00:04

I've learned that you don't do it alone, you learn so many different things from so many different coaches. That's an elite learning environment.

00:13

How you deal with how to be resilient, how important it is to infuse joy in the process of learning. To be

István Görgényi  00:20

a good candidate, you got to do more than you take. What an interesting way it is to be a leader.

Paul Barnett  00:28

My name is Paul Barnett, and you are listening to the great coaches podcast, where we explore leadership through the lens of high performance sport, by interviewing great coaches from around the world to try and find ideas to help all of us lead our teams better. We started this podcast because we wanted to have better conversations with our families around the dinner table. In a social media world, where the goal is often to be the star of the show, we wanted to change the conversation and talk more about selflessness, leadership and responsibility. And the people we knew who best exhibited these qualities were great sports coaches. As the podcast has grown, the great coaches we've interviewed have shared so much insight and wisdom that we decided to create episodes dedicated entirely to the lessons that have resonated with us the most. Today's episode is on the topic of coaching philosophy. And it features audio quotes from a large selection of coaches that we have interviewed from around the world. The lessons from the great coaches podcast, we often ask the great coaches we interview about their philosophy, and with such hard won wisdom behind them, the answers are always fascinating, from a focus on helping the individual to be the best version of themselves through to approaching life through the lens of being marginally better every day. One common theme that many of them mentioned, though, is that before you can articulate your philosophy, you need to understand your purpose. the why behind your decision to coach here is basketball coach, Brenda Kirkpatrick brown explaining this?

Brenda Kirkpatrick  01:59

Well, I think in any profession, in any industry, your philosophy has to be first connecting with your purpose of why you're there. You're there for a reason. And I fully believe that in any situation, why am I here? What am I supposed to learn? How am I supposed to impact

Paul Barnett  02:15

once they have their purpose, their philosophy can be grouped into key areas to guide their coaching. Here is the boxing coach Eddie Bolger explaining the key areas of his philosophy.

Eddie Bolger  02:26

The four key areas in my opinion, are my philosophy, or is what I always focus on is to be a world class boxer, you need to be mentally strong, physically strong, a good lifestyle, and technically and tactically developed. Now, as a club coach, and as a young coach, you think you must do all this, but it's so much better when you when you can avail of experts. And when you lead the program, get these experts in to help you lead the program and help everybody push in the right direction.

Paul Barnett  02:56

The golf coach Steve Ban also explained the key pillars of his coaching program to us,

Steve Bann  03:03

philosophy are high, I would pride yourself on saying that I'm a Holistic being that golf is made up of technical, physical, mental, tactical, and life skills, outside of all that, so there's the big, there's the big five and, and I've never tried to lock myself into being a method coach, where this is the method that I coach and everyone has to fit and hence swing it the same way.

Paul Barnett  03:36

The iconic cycling coach Charlie Walsh, explained that your philosophy defines you as a coach and guides the decisions that you make.

Charlie Walsh  03:44

Not said there's other guys that are starting out on their coaching career, get your philosophy, right, because that will define you as a coach, all of the decisions you make and what you achieve will come from your philosophy. And you need to be very careful. Don't let people take you away from that philosophy.

Paul Barnett  04:10

The coaching legend, Neil Craig builds on this idea by saying that you need to be firm in your coaching philosophy, so that you don't become inconsistent when under pressure.

Neil Craig  04:21

And so the scrutiny of the job and the results. So, you know, it's all of a sudden, I mean, you work for a big, big company, but I don't get to read about your performance on the back page of the times, you know, whereas I do about Eddie Jones. And so it adds another layer to your capacity to you know, to better perform your role and to be clear thinking because there's there's a justification you have to justify about why you do things and sometimes that's, you know, the role of the media, you know, is is really interesting, diverting from your your question a bit but in a lot of ways the media can keeps you accountable. Because I'll ask the question, Why did you do that? Why is your team not performing? Or why is this individual player being allowed to do what he's doing? And this is where initially know yourself as a coach. And you know, the common term now being, you know, unless you have a really clear philosophy, you'll get caught out really quickly, you'll become you'll be, you'll be seen as very wishy washy because you haven't thought things through.

Paul Barnett  05:27

When it comes to developing your coaching philosophy. Many of the great coaches we have interviewed talk about learning from their mentors, here a swimming coach, Roland Taylor.

Rohan Taylor  05:37

I think at the time I was really trying to find a philosophy around what's my coaching purpose, or when I work with an athlete, what am I trying to achieve. And really, what he gave me is the advice around to look at the athlete as an individual, to look at their strengths. And we basically, you try to develop a program that's going to enhance their strengths and work on their weaknesses, but enhancing their strengths was really important. And not every athlete was the same. So what it made me do is look at my program from a more dynamic point of view that if I had 10 athletes in the pool at the be having 10, roughly 10 programs operating within one, which is which is a very big challenge.

Paul Barnett  06:18

But many of the great coaches also stress that while it's important to surround yourself with good mentors to learn from, you can't imitate another coach, you have to be authentic to your own style. Here is NBA coach, Jenny Buzek.

Jenny Boucek  06:34

I think one of the things about all the great leaders that I've been around is that they have a great sense of, of self, you can lead a lot of different ways with a lot of different personalities. I've seen a lot of different leadership styles be successful. But you have to be true, first and foremost to who you are, and not try to be anybody else. And I think that's a tricky thing, especially for young leaders, because you've been influenced probably by a very good leader. And it's a tendency to just want to be like them, but it may not be who you are, and, and actually, Mike and Tony shared something with me. And when I was getting ready to go into my first head coaching job, and I was young, I was 3031 years old. At that time, I was going to be the youngest head coach and professional sports in the United States. He was coaching the great Phoenix Suns team with Steve Nash, and they were on a great run there, and happened to connect with him through some interesting circumstances. That's another story. But he really took me under his wing, and he said some things to me and partisan things to me, especially in regards to leadership that stuck out. He was a player's coach, he was known for that. And his style was very different, especially at that time to most NBA coaches. He said this to me, you have to know who you are. I'm a player's coach. I'm a relational coach. And but when you are different to the norm, you have less margin for error, but it's still critical that you are true to who you are. And so it made me think really going into that first head coaching job for the first time like really, really think like, Okay, who am I what has been my leadership style up to this point as a player as an assistant coach? And how can I commit to being intentional and staying true to that through thick and thin just hearing from him how critical that was been that consistency, self awareness, so that will be a big one.

Paul Barnett  08:24

Gary, Kirsten was both a champion cricketer, and a World Cup winning coach. And he builds on this idea of authenticity, by explaining his philosophy was built from his own experiences as an athlete.

Gary Kirsten  08:37

Coaching for me is you're dealing with human beings, there's so much of an art rather than there's a set of principles or a set of rules that you need to abide by. I've been fairly well researched in a lot of great sports leaders of our time, and really take a lot out of each one of them one way or another. That could be a value to me as a coach. But the one thing I realized in doing the kind of research is every story was a different story. I mean, the way Alex Ferguson led Manchester United compared to the way Pep Guardiola led Barcelona, are very different, but very equally powerful stories, which made me realize you've actually got to formulate your own way. And my way it's got to link up to my value system. It's got to link up to my personality and my style of leadership. A lot of my philosophy was built along my own personal journey and experiences as a player, and I always thrived in an environment where there was safety.

Paul Barnett  09:32

Your coaching philosophy becomes the very essence of what you stand for as a leader. And with the best coaches. It can be distilled into a simple sentence or paragraph. Here is the South African rugby coach Heineken Meyer, describing his philosophy.

Heyneke Meyer  09:47

So my coaching philosophy was that I was in the army and I was a PTI instructor. Just after I've studied, we had to go to the army. And a lot of the younger guys, I was a little older, a lot of the younger guys at 19 years old, I was 2324. A little bit more mature. Yeah, they couldn't wait to get into the new recruits and kill them and just let them run. And one of the generals said something that always resonated with me. And I always remember he said, You know what? You working with somebody else's kid. And those days, we were young. But then later on, I had three boys. So my coaching philosophies is very simple. Players are not always going to love you, they're not always going to like you, obviously, the guy that you pick is going to like you more. But my coaching philosophy is more that you have to handle players the way you want people to handle your kids. And sometimes I dropped them just to get them back on track. But I think that you have to have a coaching philosophy as a young coach and as a leader, because if you stand for nothing, you're gonna fall for everything. And that's what I believe in, you have to really serve and help people to make their dreams come true.

Paul Barnett  10:43

One common theme that emerges when great coaches describe their philosophy is the principle of their coaching program, being athlete centered, and Coach driven. Here is basketball coach, Rob Beveridge expanding on this.

Rob Beveridge  10:57

And when you look at the really successful organizations, generally speaking, and I've done research into Google, you've looked into to really successful organizations, they, they look after their staff, so they recruit really good people that are really good at their jobs, and you empower them to do their jobs. So I believe that you put your players in a really good positive, fun, healthy X culture that they're going to thrive. Were on the other hand, if there's going to be the players walking on eggshells, or your staff where they're getting micromanage, they're getting questioned. All of those things, if you're looking over your shoulder all the time, it's really hard to perform to your optimum. So that's why I believe that you've got to have a real positive, healthy culture environment for them to thrive. And that that's that's the success that I've had is that when I've had organizations that back me support me, and we work together, it's really important that my philosophy is athlete centered. It's Coach driven, and it's a ministry of support.

Paul Barnett  12:12

Another common theme that comes through is philosophies that are centered on building responsibility, ownership and accountability, particularly in programs that have a large number of athletes. Here is the Australian National table tennis coach, James Lange, talking about this.

Jens Lang  12:29

That was that certainly, if you asked me if you asked me the question, okay, what's the backbone of your philosophy in coaching, then it is definitely something where the above the line and below the line behavior, or you say above the line, responsibility, ownership, accountability below the line is blame, excuse denial. And that's also what I've always tried to really instill into, in particular, my junior athletes, throughout your career throughout your life, not only in table tennis, but also in life, you try to always stay above the line, you know, take responsibility, and ownership for your own actions. That includes your performance on the table, and all other aspects in life.

Paul Barnett  13:14

The soccer coach Lisa Phelan builds on this idea, by talking about her philosophy of trying to create a coaching environment where the people in the team are empowered to make decisions for themselves.

Lisa Fallon  13:26

I've worked in different environments where they were really empowering, where people could make decisions, and be trusted, and be accountable. And I've been in environments where it was very prescriptive, and it was very set. And there was not really any room for creativity. And I personally found that being in an environment where you could be creative where you could apply things suited me better. So what I learned about that was, is that it My style is a more creative and decision making as opposed to prescriptive. And prescriptive leadership works really well in certain environments, and it's needed in certain environments. And sometimes you have to apply that in your own environment. But, but certainly from from my natural style, what it did was it taught me to understand that when players are on the pitch, it's their decisions, they have to be able to make the decisions, so I can't make the decisions for them, nor should i. So my philosophy is that to try and create environments where they make the decisions for themselves and believe in the decisions, and then if the decision isn't the right one, can they learn from that, that the next time they have to make a decision?

Paul Barnett  14:42

The idea of a coaching philosophy that empowers people is also expressed as helping them be the best version of themselves, a phrase that we have heard repeatedly added in furs and approach to coaching that is tailored to the individual. Here is Jenny Bostick, again, expressing this idea

Jenny Boucek  15:00

The better you are, the better we are, as long as your pursuit of me is for the weak, but it was just about how it's not mutually exclusive. Like, we all should be striving to be the best version of ourself. But that the greatest of the greats understand that everything that we've been given, is to give away for the greater good. And that's where the beauty and life really comes. Because it's not about being better than anybody else. It's about being the best version of themselves. And there's a strength and a freedom that comes in that motivation.

Paul Barnett  15:36

Learning to appreciate the people in the team, and not feeling like you need to micromanage everything is also a theme, many coaches discuss the gold medal winning water polo coach, this fan good again, he sums this up? Well, when asked about his philosophy,

István Görgényi  15:53

I think everywhere the role is the coach to prepare the players, you were asking about philosophy, you have to prepare the players for long, long time, and also to help them through a competition. But they have to play the game you can you can see coaches screaming and yelling at the side of the beach, but the players don't hear it. So if you don't tell the team they have to react in in seconds even very short times and immediately. So you can you have to teach patterns they understand. So they all play the same. They all know the same language of the game, I used to say to my players that the game is like jazz, everyone has to play the the tune and one player can always improvise. But if everyone improvise is is like a cacophony. So so what you do you really teach, or you work hard choose together with the team, I say record because the players are your partners, they know extremely well, their their craft, and you have to appreciate their knowledge, and then they will appreciate you. That's That's my philosophy.

Paul Barnett  17:32

The final coaching philosophy that has been most prevalent with our guests, is the idea of marginal gains, when you try to create a coaching environment, where people are getting better every day, here is the cricket coach, Mark Coles, who explains his approach to being 1% better every day.

Mark Coles  17:50

There is no such word as failure, no such word. And every day, if you can be 1% better, then you're going to be a better human being and you're going to be better at your sport or whatever you're lovers. And I just think that that's probably a really important message. You never wish that you could go back. But I've got an 11 year old young lady now and a 17 year old daughter as well. And I look at them and I they're starting to get into some sport. And sometimes you hear them say I can't do that, or I'm not. And I just say no, there's no such thing as can you take away the T shirts can, you just got to be the best that you can be, and try and be 1% better every day. And I think you know, if you're trying to be well, and everybody know when people will say 1% better, I can be 5% better, you know what great only asked for 1%. And most people can do 1%. And I just think that that's such a great message to give to the kids and adults and teens and everything.

Paul Barnett  18:52

And another cricket coach, the world record holder, John Buchanan, talking about creating a challenging environment to help people improve.

John Buchanan  19:00

So for me just being certified, always trying to make sure that there's room for improvement, creating environments so before that are really challenging and stimulating and take people outside of their comfort zone. So that the inner sense setting them out to be a better player in the future, as well as obviously trying to deal with today. So all those things were wrapped up into, I guess, philosophy and approach.

Paul Barnett  19:24

And perhaps the final thought on coaching philosophy is that it is not something that will be rigid over your whole career. It is something that will grow and evolve as both you and the expectations of your team develop. Here is the World Championship Winning ice hockey coach Slawomir letter explaining this.

Slavomir Lener  19:44

But my philosophy had to change because the last decade a lot of players they just play hockey. They start when they are 567 years old and they're mums. They drive them to the arena. They carry their bags, they tie their skates and then they skate for 15 minutes. You If it's not a good coach, then he's standing in the corners for 40 minutes. So all the kid does all day long for from 24 hours is maybe 15 minutes moving on the ice somehow. And that's why we are preaching right now to and we are strongly recommending all the buyers and the parents to let the kids through some other activities, other sports other games, because the previous generations, there has been a lot of spontaneous movement because three times a week, we run our practice maybe one game Saturday or Sunday. But other than that for 567 hours a day, every day, all those jaegers and rifles and a routine skis and you name it has shakes. They've done everything on their own. I know we cannot get that back. It's not that anymore.

Paul Barnett  20:52

We hope you enjoyed our episode on coaching philosophy, and found one or two things that you can bring to your own dinner table, locker room or boardroom table for discussion. The key lessons I've taken away on the topic of coaching philosophy from our interview guests are that the first step in articulating your coaching philosophy is to understand why you want to coach in the first place. Your philosophy then becomes the main pillars of your coaching program and helps guide you as the team develops. And lastly, you should be able to summarize your coaching philosophy in a sentence or two as a way of communicating to others the essence of what you were trying to build with the team here at the great coaches podcast we are always trying to learn so please let us know if you have any feedback. Just like badminton diary, who kept it simple by saying Keep up the good work. Thanks badminton diary. The interaction with the people around the world who listen gives us great energy. And so if you have any feedback or comments, please let us know. All the details on how to connect with us are in the show notes or on our website, the great coaches podcast.com