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Steering Into the Skid: How Leaders Handle Crisis Without Making It Worse
When leaders come under fire, the first mistake is often the one that compounds the crisis. In this episode of Leaders Under Fire in Sports, Bob Boland, Jeff Chatterton, and Dr. Jeremy Piasecki unpack how coaches, executives, and public figures should respond when they’re under investigation, facing allegations, or dealing with public scrutiny. From the…
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Identifying How My Strengths Support the Team
As a sports coach or leader, understanding your strengths and leveraging them to support the team is crucial. Coaches need to understand why it’s essential to identify your strengths and how they can significantly impact your team’s overall performance. Research suggests that leaders who know their strengths can perform more effectively. Leaders who invest in…
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Aligning Personal and Coaching Goals: The Journey to Team Success
Many coaches grapple with differentiating their personal aspirations from their coaching goals, and how these two facets can be harmoniously intertwined. While personal goals tend to revolve around the coach’s individual development, coaching goals are generally linked to the team’s progress and achievements. Personal goals can vary widely amongst coaches—ranging from expanding their professional knowledge,…
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Facilitating Goal Achievement: The Role of the Coach in Sports Organizations
As coaches, we strive to lead our teams to success, but what role do we play in helping our sports organization reach its broader goals? This article discusses the multifaceted role of the coach in facilitating goal achievement within a sports organization. Coaches serve a critical function as the conduit between an organization’s goals and…
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What Is the Best Version of Myself? A Self-Exploration in Sports Coaching
Lao Tzu, an ancient philosopher once said: “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power”. In coaching, the journey towards self-improvement and personal mastery is not just beneficial, it is crucial. This journey starts with a critical question: What is the best version of myself?…
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How Do I Help the Organization Reach Success? A Coach’s Guide
Being a sports coach is more than just guiding a team to victories on the field. It involves building a culture, fostering resilience, developing athletes’ skills, and driving the success of the entire organization (Mallett & Lara-Bercial, 2016). It begins with creating an environment conducive to growth and excellence. As a coach, you play a…
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Understanding Your Role in Driving the Organization Forward
Being part of a sports organization is more than just taking up a position; it’s about embodying a role that influences and shapes the direction of the team. As a coach, your role is instrumental in guiding the organization towards its desired future. This article aims to help you understand the integral part you play…
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What Do I Bring to the Organization? Harnessing Your Unique Contribution to Your Sports Team
“Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.” – Simon Sinek In any sports organization, the individuals involved contribute to its culture, performance, and overall success (Reiche, Bird, Mendenhall, & Osland, 2017). A coach’s role is particularly crucial, offering guidance, motivation, and a strategic vision that…
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Why Am I Here / Why Are We Here Together?
Unpacking Individual and Collective Purpose in Sports Leadership Understanding one’s purpose in any venture can be the defining factor that determines success or failure, joy or discontent. The same holds for sports coaching, an occupation where the stakes can be high, and the payoff is often more about personal fulfillment and team achievement than mere…
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Beyond Winning: Defining Success in Sports Organizations
Success – a seven-letter word that drives organizations, individuals, and indeed, our societies. Yet, this concept varies widely based on individual beliefs, cultural nuances, and organizational goals. Especially in the context of sports organizations, success can be a multifaceted and complex construct to define. Traditionally, success in sports has been associated with victory – winning…
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Shaping the Future: What Kind of Organization Do We Want to Be?
Defining the future of an organization is a fundamental strategic process that underpins the direction, purpose, and values it aspires to uphold. In sports coaching, determining the kind of organization we want to be, shapes not just the broader institutional framework, but also the coaching practices and the experiences of athletes. A well-defined vision shapes…
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Understanding Your Organization’s Values: The Foundation of Effective Coaching
Coaching in sports goes beyond the realm of performance metrics and winning strategies. It shapes the culture of an organization and profoundly impacts athletes’ lives. At the core of this influence are the organization’s values, the guiding principles that help to navigate the complexities of the coaching role. Values of an organization provide the framework…
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Identifying My Preferred Leadership Style
Effective leadership is a crucial aspect of coaching. By identifying and understanding your preferred leadership style, you can lead more authentically and make a greater impact on your athletes and your team’s performance. Understanding Leadership Styles Leadership styles are distinct methods of guiding, motivating, and influencing others. Recognized styles include autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, transformational, and…
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The Vital Role of Emotional Intelligence and Self-Awareness in Coaching
Emotional intelligence and self-awareness are essential elements in effective leadership, including sports coaching. Defined as the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions and the emotions of others, emotional intelligence has emerged as a key factor contributing to effective coaching and leadership (Goleman, 1995). The Components of Emotional Intelligence Emotional intelligence encompasses four…
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The Influence of Personal Values and Beliefs on Coaching
In the arena of sports coaching, personal values and beliefs act as an invisible guiding hand, shaping our interactions, decisions, and coaching practices (Hardy, Jones, & Gould, 1996). The Role of Values and Beliefs in Coaching Values represent the principles we consider important, guiding our behavior and decisions (Rokeach, 1973). On the other hand, beliefs…
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Understanding and Honoring My Moral Compass
Our moral compass is a critical part of who we are as individuals and leaders. It comprises the personal values, ethics, and principles that guide our actions and decisions (Shao, Aquino, & Freeman, 2008). A moral compass is extremely influential in a team’s culture. The Essence of a Moral Compass A moral compass is a…
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Envisioning and Becoming the Best Version of Myself
The journey to becoming the best version of oneself is a personal and unique path that requires introspection, understanding, and a commitment to self-improvement. This journey is not about reaching a state of perfection but embracing constant evolution and growth. Unpacking ‘The Best Version of Myself’ The concept of the ‘best version of oneself’ is…
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Embracing Authenticity in Leadership and Coaching
Authenticity has emerged as a critical aspect of effective leadership and coaching. Leadership researchers often cite authenticity as a key characteristic of successful leaders, linking it to improved leadership effectiveness and employee engagement (Banks et al., 2016). Understanding Authenticity Authenticity involves aligning actions with inner values and beliefs, embracing one’s true self, including strengths, weaknesses,…
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What Are My Perceptions and Biases? The Unseen Factors in Sports Coaching
In the realm of sports coaching, this insight from da Vinci always holds true: “All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions”. Our perceptions and biases, often operating subconsciously, can significantly positively or negatively impact our coaching practices and decisions. Understanding Perceptions and Biases Perceptions refer to the way we interpret and understand the…
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How Do I Communicate? Exploring Communication Styles in Sports Coaching
Interaction with others is part of the human connection. However, many will spend an entire lifetime refining their communication skills. As a coach, communication is essential to athletes, the team, and reaching success. Effective communication is critical for coaching success, influencing everything from team dynamics to performance outcomes. Understanding Your Audience One of the first…
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Why Do I Love Coaching?
“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their growth,” said legendary business coach, Sir John Whitmore. This sentiment rings true across all coaching domains, including sports. The passion for coaching sports goes beyond winning games; it is about nurturing talent, fostering personal growth, and inspiring others to achieve their potential. The Thrill of the…
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Why am I here? The Importance of Coaches Knowing Their ‘Why’ in Education and Training
Education and training are extremely important. There are so many different trainings and reasons for the education, many times it is a requirement for working for a company, being a coach or athlete on a team, or as a student, teacher, or professor at an educational institution, and other times the training or education is…