Not Star Players: The Leader as a Coach
A Leader and a Coach: The Similarities
As an avid sports fan, I often find myself seeing the world in sports-related metaphors. This is especially true in business, and for good reason. Throughout history, those 2 worlds have always been closely connected. Take for example the connection between CEOs and athletics.
Recent research by Psychology Today found that 66% of Fortune 500 CEOs had a sports background. This is not to say that other hobbies and interests can’t lead to career success. However, there is something about the discipline and values instilled in athletics that lends itself well to the boardroom. So to circle back, it’s easy for me to see workplaces as a court or field, with the employees as players and coaches running calls and showcasing their different talents.
Years back this perspective led me to one of my most profound insights that I share with many clients. You see over years of coaching leaders and high performers in organizations, I started to notice a pattern. What I saw was that many leaders believed they had to have all the answers and solve every problem their team faced. As a result, they got caught on a hamster wheel of operational activities and had no time for vision and strategy. Furthermore, this would create an over-reliance on the leader because their team was not getting the development reps they needed to grow. It’s the classic example of spending too much time working IN the business, rather than ON the business.
Does this conversation sound familiar?
Client - “I am just SO swamped with work. I know there are other things I should be doing, but I just don’t have the time.”
Me – “Have you tried delegating some of the tasks you are doing right now?”
Client – “I can’t because…
My team doesn’t know how to do it
I can’t trust them to do it right
I can do it faster
Insert any number of excuses you want here. This is how leaders get stuck in a vicious cycle. Deep down they know they should be delegating more, but certain fears or beliefs hold them back. To stay with the sports metaphors, one of the reasons this behavior persists is what I call the Star Player Mentality. Let me explain.
Seeing the Leader as a Coach
Wayne Gretzky during his coaching stint with the Phoenix Coyotes (2005-2009)
One common pattern we often see in sports is that the best players rarely make good coaches or executives. Take Wayne Gretzky or Magic Johnson for instance. Both were legendary players in their sports, and both had horrible track records as coaches. If you are curious to learn more about this, you can read this article. One very interesting quote on this comes from Sian Beilock, a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago:
“As you get better and better at what you do, your ability to communicate your understanding or to help others learn that skill often gets worse and worse.”
This is where the Star Player Mentality comes in. Many leaders I have met see their role in the organization as being not just an individual contributor, but the highest individual contributor. As a result, they strive to be the smartest person in the room, make the most sales, and be the answer to every problem their teams face. The problem is that many of the skills and mindset needed to achieve this run counter to what makes a great leader. Leaders need to be able to develop and mobilize the talent they have; and put other people in the right place to succeed. An individual contributor can attain a certain level of success, but only a good team achieves the level of exponential results needed to help an organization thrive.
Does that mean leaders shouldn’t endeavor to be the best version of themselves? Certainly not. However, leaders need to make a mindset shift to see their team’s growth as coming before their achievement. Otherwise, we start to see the problem that Beilock mentioned, where leaders lose the ability to communicate their understanding and impart their skills to others. Furthermore, I have also seen this cause leaders to lack empathy for their team. So the question is, how do we remedy this? That is where adopting the perspective of a coach can help us.
How a Leader Can Make the Shift
Just as we looked at how star players sometimes struggle in coaching positions, the inverse is true as well. Often, the best coaches were not incredible players, some were not even players at all. Take the current GM of the Boston Celtics, Brad Stevens. While Stevens did play college basketball, he never played professionally. In fact, he was actually a marketing associate at Eli and Lilly before joining the basketball program at Bulter University. Eventually, he went on to coach the Boston Celtics to multiple playoff appearances before transitioning to the front office as GM where we had even more success. His shrewd player acquisitions were part of the reason the Celtics are the current defending NBA champions.
Making the mindset shift from a star player to a coach, can help leaders reprioritize their efforts and get the most out of the talent they have. Some questions I like to present to leaders to help them begin this process are:
What does success in my role look like? At the end of a long work day, what makes me feel accomplished?
What do the answers to those questions say about my priorities?
Am I doing things for my team that they could be doing themselves?
How do I currently invest in my team’s development?
What is currently holding me back from delegating and/or developing my team more?
Those are just a few to get you started. Chances are you have a huge well of untapped potential on your team, just waiting to be unleashed. As a leader, your job is to give them the tools and empowerment they need… then get out of the way.
Help on your Coach Journey
Yes, I know the thought of making this shift can be unsettling. I like to encourage leaders to think of it as an investment. You are making a payment now, with the promise of a future return. Your team will make mistakes at first, and it won’t be as efficient as you would like. However, as the adage goes:
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.”
If you are looking for some other great resources to help you develop as a leader, I recently wrote a blog article on my favorite leadership books. So give it a read if you would like to learn more.
Furthermore, I also offer a comprehensive coaching program called Leadership Lab. The vision behind this program is to equip senior leaders and executives to create a strong culture and drive healthy growth in their organization. We help participants do this by equipping them to:
Deepen their understanding of their current individual and organizational leadership behaviors
Understand and apply strategies for casting an inspiring vision
Effectively build and maintain alignment in their organization
Utilize several tools for championing execution and improving structure
If you would like to learn more about this program, or any of the other solutions I offer to help organizations grow their leadership and optimize performance, go ahead and book a free discovery call with me.
