Coaching Learning Communities

We are always pushing our kids to continue to work hard, to continue to get better, and to find ways to learn and grow all the time, but the best coaches do the same thing.  We need to model what it means to be lifelong learners.

Coaches who want to continue to get better find value in examining what effective coaches do.  Anytime you have two coaches comes together about talking, their coaching improves instantly.

Schools have popularized an idea called Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs.  School coaches/teachers might know them as one of those meetings that they go to once a week, but when done effectively, understanding what a real PLC is can completely change your teams and your career.

The idea behind PLCs is that schools are a building full of professionals who should work together to become better teachers for their kids.  Teachers engaged in the PLC process use each other and each other's experiences to get better.  They talk about teaching methods, best practices, classroom management, dealing with parents, and anything else involved the teaching and education process.

The same idea is used for coaches.  Anytime we go to coaching clinics or coaching conventions, or when we attend another coach's practice or even talk to another coach about what offense or defense we run or issues that we are having with players or parents, we are creating or involved in a PLC.  Anytime you talk with another professional about your work and how you can do better, you are involved in a PLC.

The power comes from being intentional about talking to other coaches about how we can be better for our athletes.  When you are struggling with something, having a couple of coaches that you can reach out to for guidance can really help you.  On the flip side, if you are doing something that has positively impacted your team, your coaching, or your experience, share that with other coaches.

One of the founders of the PLC process, Richard DuFour once said that whenever you get two or more teachers together to talk about teaching, the teaching gets better.  The same can be said for coaches.

In the intro of his book, What the Great Principals Do Differently, Todd Whittaker wrote, 'The difference between more effective leaders and their less effective colleagues is not what they know.  It is what they do.  Clarifying what the best leaders DO, and then practicing it ourselves, can move us up the ranks (xi).'

He went on to write, 'If every teacher in a school were like the best teacher, would it be a great school to send your kid?'  What if every coach on your staff were like the best coaches in the world. Wouldn't parents love sending their athletes to you? The athletes would face each practice, each game, each season with confidence.

Start building your PLC of coaches, start sharing what works and doesn't work, and we can all grow together.