Written by I recently had a colleague reach out to me about a coaching issue that she was having. She was hired as a head coach of a youth sports organization during the pandemic and was waiting for the government to allow sports participation. Once the government gave permission for practices and competitions to resume, everyone was extremely excited. Athletes were ready to have real practices, parents were enthused to have their children out of the house and in an organized activity, and the organization was itching for some semblance of normalcy. While the government has not allowed a full return of sports, this team can safely hold three short training sessions per week.
However, there was one problem that this new coach had, which was trust. It was not her trust in her athletes, something that I touched on in a previous article: Trust is a Two-Way Street. This trust was not her not trusting her assistant coaches. This lack of trust was the board of directors and the head coach that they hired! The board of directors dictates this coach’s every move, directs her to do tasks that are way outside of the scope of her duties, and to focus on a small group of developing athletes at the expense of the rest of the team and organization. This board of directors never gave this coach any trust or the opportunity to make decisions.
Obviously, this coach is extremely frustrated and feels that she cannot support her athletes in this environment. But what can she do? This coach can easily quit, as her position is not being respected and this board of directors just wants to run everything, including the coaching process. Or she can ask the board of directors to trust the person that they hired. After all, she was approached by the organization and went through multiple interviews in order to obtain this position. If the board is unwilling to trust this coach, obviously she knows what she needs to do as no good will come from a board of directors having no trust or confidence in their new coach.
It has been an extremely difficult time since the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted the world and its sports. Large sports organizations were brought to a standstill. Many people felt that they lost control in their personal and professional lives, waiting for a virus to come under control. However, everyone in a sports organization has a role and the organization needs to facilitate an environment of trust and positive culture that enables each person to execute the duties of their roles. Without trusting people to fulfill the roles that they were hired or appointed to do, why were they brought into the organization in the first place?
The pandemic created an opportunity for many organizations to start fresh and ditch old ways that were ineffective and toxic. With some parts of the world now opening up to what society considers “normal”, please do not bring poor culture and lack of trust with it. Athletes, coaches, and support staff deserve better.