Written by I had a coach recently reach out to me to ask if I had any suggestions for her, as she felt stuck in her coaching journey. Upon some great discussion and learning for both of us, it was identified that she was not stuck in her coaching journey, but she was just stuck in the status quo. She was comfortable where she was, what she accomplished during her time with the organization by turning a small team into an extremely competitive national organization, and kept her athletes continuously engaged during COVID-19.
Being comfortable in where you currently are is easy to do. Athletes are individually improving, your team is succeeding, sponsorships, advertising, and ticket sales are improving, and your front office, general manager, athletic director, or board of directors are happy with everything. Being comfortable and safe like this could not only be a short-term phenomenon but can turn into a long-term phenomenon as well. However, once everyone starts getting comfortable, that most likely means that learning is not occurring, and the status quo is good enough for everyone.
If learning is not occurring, that means that coaches, support staff, and athletes are not continuously getting better, they are just maintaining whatever the minimum requirements are to keep things going as they are. The team’s culture is obviously fine too, even if it is not the healthiest, which means that people in the organization could be adversely impacted with or without the organization even realizing it. Leaders are not leading; they are just maintaining what needs to get done so success continues.
But if you want your team to continue to grow, being comfortable is not good enough. Change must occur, which means you and others have to become uncomfortable. Change and not being comfortable are extremely scary. Who wants to be scared?
Most likely, you do want change and are willing to brave the unknown that comes ahead. You want to learn, become a better coach or administrator, get the athletes and team to heights never previously achieved. You do want to improve your team’s culture and make everyone, athlete and support staff, feel that their efforts are valued. You want to learn, whether it is by reading, listening to other coaches or athletes, or watching or listening to training materials, you do want to take that knowledge and apply it to they way your team does everything.
You want to change, even with how scary going into the unknown is! You really want to do all of this so your athletes become better in practice and competition and become the best versions of themselves. The only way this will happen is if you become the best version of yourself. You can only become the best version of yourself if you are will to get really uncomfortable and embrace change…or at least open the door wide enough to let change enter!