Geno Auriemma On The Balance Of Leadership

This is a great video on how you have to adapt as a leader in terms of how you drive performance. 

As a coach, you want to drive your kids as hard as you can to get the most out of them everyday and to help them reach their full potential as athletes and people.  The trip is trying to get to know and understand your players as individuals, learning what they are capable of handling, and learning the best ways to affect their performance.  Every person is built different, every person has a different threshold, and every person can handle different levels and pressure.  You have to know how much a player can handle and what is the best way to get the most out of that player, which sometimes isn’t driving them as hard as you would like.  Sometimes that means meeting them halfway so that you can keep them motivated growing.

He takes Brianna Stewart for example: if he meets her halfway, she might become half the player she is capable of.  However, she might not be built to do things exactly how he wants them done, and the stubbornness of driving her to that might cause her to break down.  There is a constant struggle and tug of war between trying to drive performance the way that you want, and trying to meet the athlete where she is so that you remain in a space where you can still motivate and impact performance positively.  It’s a constant juggling act, but there is a fine line in that balance that, as a leader, you are always jumping back and forth over that line.

Towards the end, he says that a huge question that coaches have to grapple with every year is whether its easier for a team of 12 completely different players to try to adapt to meet the needs of one coach, or is it easier for one coach to adapt and meet the needs of 12 players.  I think that you have to have your certain ‘non-negotiables,’ a value(s) or characteristic(s) that you demand from your team.  Mine is ‘when its time to go hard, you have to give me everything you have and being willing to fight for me, and me for you.’  I can’t coach without that.  I think that is the essence of competing: competing with yourself to become the best version of yourself, and competing with your opponent.  There is a lot of gray area in other places, and that is where the tug-of-war takes place, but I draw a line in the sand in that area.

What are your ‘non-negotiables,’ and where are you willing to give some ground and meet your athletes half-way?