How to GROW as a coach

Sometimes you need a shot of healthy greens to get better, something quick to boost your immune system. I sat down with my friend Jordan to share just that. Think of this as a quick, actionable boost to help your coaching. You can watch, listen or read a summary (or Twitter thread) below.

Investigate.

• When you enter a space with the eye of an expert, you are blind. Be a detective, be curious and wonder why. You will be bored less and learn more.

No silo.

• Get out there and watch as many coaches as you can. Whether you see things you like and steal, or things you hate and need to eliminate - stop coaching in a silo.

Be a leader first.

• Improve your touch, timing, tone and treatment of people. Lead first. This will determine your success much more than your strategy and tactics.

Redefine your players’ comfort zones.

• Adversity strengthens. Is your gym complacent or are you consistently raising standards? If you go through a full practice without challenging your team to enhance something, you haven’t coached them well.

Be vulnerable.

• Perfection is the enemy of improvement. You don’t need to have everything figured out. Your team will love you when you share your weaknesses. They will reflect your honesty. Only when you create a space for honest conversation can you improve. Perfection is the enemy of improvement.

Start with why.

• In film, why is this important? With drills, why are we doing it? Before games, why are we playing? High clarity leads to high performance. After your next drill, ask players why you did it. Cold call, can they tell you? Is it what you wanted? Start with why.

Measure it or don’t do it.

• You will only get limited returns on things you don’t measure. Most time is wasted. If you don’t know if you’re getting better, you’re not. If you don’t know if what you’re doing is making you better, you’re wasting your time.

Don’t be boring.

• What you say is important, but is useless if you don’t improve HOW you say it. Your communication is a skill set. Shooters shoot and coaches communicate. Get in the lab and become a better speaker, communicator, and teacher. Knowing the what matters, but it matters a lot less if you’re not an engaging communicator.

Use names more.

• When you say someones name, you engage their mind. I’ve been in practices where I hear NO names for two hours. The best coaches say hundreds of names each practice. Name for encouragement. Name for correction. Name for question. Improve this immediately.

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

• Show some restraint. You don’t need to teach everything you know or everything you see. Simplicity wins. Observe more, don’t teach the first thing you see. Teach the main thing that will have the highest leverage on your team’s success.

Don’t mail it in.

• Fight for your culture every damn day, don’t get comfortable. Greatness has a sense of urgency. Fan the flames of urgency in your heart and commit to the fight before you show up. You show you care by how you prepare. You have complete control over how prepared you are.

I'm here to help,

Tyler