authenticity lesson final

Tue, May 23, 2023 8:12PM • 12:31

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

coaches, team, authentic, relationship, athletes, people, person, authentic relationships, great, shared, meant, needed, authenticity, insight, group, leader, lessons, dinner table, led, individuals

SPEAKERS

Paul Barnett, Rohan Taylor, Jan Stirling

Paul Barnett  00:00

Welcome to the lessons from the great coaches podcast. I've learned that you don't do it alone,

00:06

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 a

00:20

good candidate, you've 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 coach's 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 was 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 have 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 brought to you by the world record holding Australian cricket coach, John Buchanan. And it's on the topic of authenticity, which is something that I often experienced as the desire to be my true, genuine self, but at the same time in a way that is consistent with the role I have to fulfill, and the values of the group that I'm part of. It's a tension that I often reflect on when I have to decide how to communicate, and engage with people in the wider organizational team. And just before we go to John, if you're a first time listener, you can check out our library of interviews at our website, the great coaches podcast.com. And while you're there, if you'd like to help our podcast, which is fully independent and free from ads, you can follow the link to our Patreon page, where we offer exclusive content to our supporters. And now over to John,

02:05

the lessons from the great coaches podcast. One of the key elements to lead or coach any team or organization is establishing strong relationships with those closest to you which in the case of a sporting team has had coach, that's the athletes and the support staff. It was where I spend a lot of my time wanting to get to know the person not just as an athlete or as an assistant coach, but to get to know the whole person. In order to do so I would look to understand more of their personal goals, the outside cricket interests, their family, whatever helps. Of course, some were quite open to sharing a lot about themselves and others not so, for instance, Adam Gilchrist was a very open person very engaging, all of which made him a wonderful connector within the group. If I needed to get a gauge on the team, the mood gelly was a good person to ask. It meant during the course of nearly eight years that we were together in the Australian team, we shared plenty of thoughts and ideas away from Cricket. On the other hand, Stephen Moore was a very private person. I always felt my conversations with him needed to be very precise and concise, something I was not noted for but tried to improve in company. My wife Judith became quite friendly with Stephens wife, Lynette and so that provided me a little bit more insight to the man. Also someone like Matthew Hayden, who was a really good friend of Stephen also helped relay more about Stephen or the person. Steer and I shared similar philosophies and vision for the team, which led us to take the team to Gallipoli on route to England in 2001, the Ashes series, but it also meant we walked through slums and red light districts of Calcutta in India. And we really saw the true value of the baggy green cap as a true symbol of what it meant to be a member of that particular team. For those that I needed to get a better or deeper understanding, meaning that I wasn't quite as close to them as others, I would talk with their partner, their family, or their athletes and the team manager, their friends away from Korea, or to gain a better appreciation of the person and what made them tick. It's sad at the moment to reflect on Shane Keith Warren who just died in recent days. But he was one of those whose background to me was completely different. His belief that you needed to applied for Australia to be a coach of Australia, and that data and sports science only complicated the game and did not enhance performance. These are all things that in a sense became barriers to our closer communication, our closer relationship. Not that again. I'd Do that for all other members, I just simply made sure that for those whom I did not know, as well or could not get as close to establishing that relationship, these things were always in front of my mind. Jen Sterling spoke about this authentic relationship, a deeper understanding of the person in her interview with us. For the record, Jan played for Australia, in the Women's National Basketball team during the 70s. And then went on to coach the team to gold in the 2006 world championships, and a silver at the Beijing Olympics, making her Australia's most successful basketball coach.

Jan Stirling  05:43

And the other thing I'll say, too, and I'm certain no matter who, which coaches I talk to, you have to be authentic with you care for the people, not only just your athletes, but also for your staff. And also understand that the athlete and a staff member have an extended family unit who share the journey. And having an appreciation of that, I think it's really, really important because then you're able to manage the what ifs that happened throughout any athlete's life, the injuries or the, you know, family hiccups or the relationship bus sucks, or whatever. So you really need to have that authentic care. And be aware that an athlete comes to you that they have an extended family unit that will play a major role. They will have significant people in their lives that you need to know who they are not necessarily intimately or anything like that, but just to know who they're going to turn to in their time of crisis. And I think most great coaches are pretty good at grasping the holistic development of athletes and their staff are

06:52

part of an authentic relationship is that which is built upon honesty and accountability as we understood from Jan. And they are good insights from Jan in terms of that authentic relationship which is built upon honesty and accountability. And coaching requires giving good news as well as delivering bad news. Bad news generally revolves around telling players they were not selected or dropped for teams or taken away from or removed from contract lists, reprimanding them for behavior that is not acceptable to the status of the team or relaying use of an event that can have an impact on the individual or the group. This is where the saying crossing the line has some definite meaning. While it is somewhat intangible and undefinable, every coach knows where and when this line is and is crossed. It basically means though, that you are not only part of the group, but also you become one of the boys, one of the group, by your actions and your behaviors. Once that line is crossed, it's very difficult, almost impossible to regain it are referred to it as my buffer zone, this invisible distance of engagement in my relationship with a person over which I maintain the control. That is I could draw that in where I needed to, so that I could get very close to the person. However, when I needed to increase the distance, for whatever reason might be disciplinary or authority or some sort of role delivery, I was then able to dial it out. So I was in control of my buffer zone. And as a consequence, there was no confusion over me, the coach, what I expected my principles, my values, what I stood for. There were many occasions with individuals where I was required to exercise that distance with a player or a group and At those times, I was certainly not popular. However, once the matter had been resolved, we're able to share a live B and have a very good open relationship once again. So when we listen to Rowan Taylor, he does express somewhat of a similar view rounds, the head coach of the Australian swim team, the dolphins, and led the team to record all of 21 medals, nine gold, three silver non bronze, at the Tokyo Olympics, the most ever by an Australian swim team.

Rohan Taylor  09:32

think they're great coaches, they build the relationships around that mutual partnership, but they also maintain that leadership within that relationship. And I think for me, the ability to pull people up enough to hold them accountable at the right time. And the great ones do that very consistently. So I think that's the same. One thing is when you're leading any any group of people, whether it be athletes or staff As you need to be able to hold people accountable, but to get to that point where you're able to do that, you need to be authentic. You need to trust these people that relationship. And also, you don't just pull that card out every time you feel like you're not happy, you have to pretty switched on emotional intelligence.

10:18

So I'd like Jan round again gives us some really deep insights into how he sees authentic relationships has been a key driver, a key tool, a key skill of coaches and their athletes. So whether you're a leader of an organization, or business or team authentic relationships are in play almost every moment of every day. Even in these times of increased remoteness due to the impacts of COVID and results and lock downs. The need to spend time getting to know your people with whom you interact is crucial, both for the health of the organization, and also from the performance of the individuals and the organization as a whole.

Paul Barnett  11:10

We hope you enjoyed our episode on authenticity, 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 authenticity from our interview guests. Being authentic helps you establish and build relationships that allow you to know the person beyond their ability to deliver a required skill or task. As a leader, you need to be able to show authentic care for individuals and have at least a rudimentary understanding of people's extended family and lives away from the group. However, it is also important to maintain a buffer zone as the leader so you can give people objective feedback that may be difficult for them to hear. Hear at the great coaches podcast we are always trying to learn. And this was our first lessons episode, so please let us know how we went. And if there are any specific areas you would like us to explore in future episodes. The interaction with people around the world who listen gives us great energy. And all the details on how to connect with us are in the show notes or at our website, the great coaches podcast.com. And if you'd like to learn more about authentic relationships, and how to build these as a leader or coach, you can contact John Buchanan through his website, Buchanan coaching.com