A Coach's Diary

Have you ever noticed how a player can be great for one team, and struggle or be a headache for other teams? Culture plays such an important role in the success of athletes. Owen Eastwood is a performance coach who has worked with some of the most elite teams and groups in the world, including Gareth Southgate's England Football team, the Command Group of NATO, the South African Cricket Team, corporate leadership teams, elite ballet, and the British Olympic team. He said The English Institute of Sport shared with him that 70% of behavior is determined by the environment that you are in. Our behaviors, mindsets, and performances are fundamentally affected by the environments we are in. He said that culture can be too abstract, but it is actually the most practical thing in the world: it is the environment we are in at any point in time and how it’s making us feel. Is it giving us confidence, do we feel like we belong, and do we feel like we are connected with the people around us? T...

I ran across the idea of Leading Like a Farmer from a post on X (Twitter). Why lead like a farmer? In the book, The Leader Who Had No Title, Robin Sharma writes: "A leader should be like a farmer because he has patience and trusts the process. He just has the faith and deep understanding that through his daily efforts, the harvest will come. And then one day, almost out of nowhere, it does." The post, titled Think Like A Farmer, listed 7 things a farmer does to help their crops grow: 1 - Don't shout at the crops. 2 - Don't blame the crops for not growing fast enough. 3 - Don't uproot crops before they've had the chance to grow. 4 - Choose the best soil and environment for the crops. 5 - Irrigate and fertilize your crops. 6 - Remove the weeds.   7 - Remember you will have good seasons and bad seasons - you can't control the weather - only best prepare for it. After reading this, I thought about the kids I coach, my own kids, the teams I lead, and how I lead...

The transfer portal is affecting sports at all levels. There are so many options for today’s athletes and parents, so retaining your top talent should be one of your top priorities. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 11 million open jobs at the end of October 2021, while there were only 7.4 million unemployed people. This huge gap provides employees with leverage in demanding great workplace experiences. According to SHRM , companies must deliver outstanding employee experiences if they want to attract and retain desirable talent. It is incumbent on every company that values skilled employees to find a way to offer the employee experiences that our 21st-century workforce demands. The same can be said for coaches and their programs. There are so many more options for athletes, from the youth through the high school levels. To attract and retain the best talent, coaches need to look at how they can provide the best experience possible. Performance Enablement is a fr...