Written by This week Sara Davis, in her article What Are You Afraid of? Your Fear May Be Keeping You From Your Destiny, we were reminded to not let fear limit our possibilities.
When there are unchecked egos and bullying and aggressive behavior prevail, there is a negative impact on performance. Far from inciting greater effort or improvement, hostile stand-over tactics and verbal abuse cause the individual’s confidence to waver and their loyalty to be challenged. True harmony in a team can only be achieved through empathetic leadership that champions successes and supports people through their disappointments. Recognition that a set-back is a learning opportunity and not a complete failure means that a culture of learning and improvement is established – this is an effective motivator.
This is the case in any organization, sports being no different. There are copious incidents in the media of intimidation, humiliation, and verbal abuse. In 2018 the University of Maryland launched an investigation into a football coach whose aggressive and abusive behavior was followed by a player dying from heat stroke after a training session in 106 degree F heat.
The relationships that form between the coach and the athlete, much like that between an employee and a supervisor or manager, set the tone for the culture that develops in the organization. Emotional abuse, humiliation, scape-goating, isolating, and threatening are just some of the tools employed by the abuser and these insidious practices quite often happen in private and are hidden from those that could prevent them.
Studies have highlighted that 50% of athletes suffer from depression or anxiety. Ex-professional cyclist Rochelle Gilmore describes the training program for female cyclists for a European competition relied on questionable ‘old-school’ methods.
“… they’ve got together to work out how they are going to mentally and physically break these girls down and get them to their breaking point, and that’s pretty much what the camp wants to do. It wants to see these athletes – see how they respond to things under pressure, under really, really severe fatigue.”
Many in power are oblivious to the negative impact they exert, in many cases it’s a misguided perception of motivation that drives their behavior. There needs to be clear guidelines on which practices are acceptable by those that lead, and a clear understanding of what constitutes ‘abuse’ if there is to ever be equitable and positive relationships between parties.
NBA player Stephen Curry and his former college coach Bob McKillop developed just such a positive relationship that goes beyond basketball, and this was emphasised in the words of Curry…
“He’s had such an impact on my life and on my basketball career, He instilled confidence in me, gave me a vision for what kind of player I could be, and he’s still impactful in my life.”
Adopting practices that encourage and uplift the individual will always be the more effective method of motivation over abuse and fear.
Unbreakable Bonds: The Player-Coach Relationship | Golden State Warriors (nba.com)