A Coach's Diary

Intent-Based Leadership One of the most important lessons from David Marquet’s Turn the Ship Around! is that great teams don’t need more people giving orders — they need more people taking ownership. Marquet took command of the USS Santa Fe , a struggling nuclear submarine, and recognized that the traditional leader-follower model was limiting his team. Instead of being the person with all the answers, he worked to create a culture where people were expected to think, communicate, and take responsibility. That meant changing the language. Instead of asking for permission by saying, “Can I…?” , sailors were encouraged to say, “I intend to…” The difference seems small, but the message is powerful: I have thought this through, I understand my responsibility, and I am prepared to act. This is what intent-based leadership is all about. In a healthy culture, people shouldn't have to wait for the person at the top to make every decision. Leaders create clarity around the mission, value...

When I moved into my first leadership role, the most eye-opening thing that I learned was how few people were willing to do what I was willing to do as an individual performer. I thought everyone tried to go above and beyond as fast as they could like I tried to, but I was wrong. In his book, Move Your Bus , Ron Clark uses a simple metaphor to describe the different ways people show up on a team: Runners, Joggers, Walkers, Riders, and Drivers. Runners are your all-stars who consistently go above and beyond without waiting to be told what needs to be done — they see it, act, and go above and beyond. Joggers are dependable. The do their jobs well without pushing themselves too hard. Walkers get pulled along and need more direction, encouragement, or accountability to increase their impact. Riders hold the team back because they pick up their feet and slow down the whole process. And then there are Drivers — the MVPs responsible for steering the bus. They create the vision, set the d...

What if being a great teammate isn't just about what you contribute to the team, but also about the energy and well-being you bring to the people around you? Psychologist Martin Seligman developed the PERMA model , identifying five elements that contribute to well-being: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. The “+” is often used to recognize additional factors that support well-being, such as physical health and vitality. Think about what happens when a team has these elements. People experience positive emotions. They become fully engaged in what they're doing. They build meaningful relationships. They understand that their work matters. And they experience the satisfaction that comes from accomplishing difficult things together. That is more than happiness. That's a healthy team culture. And here's the important part: You don't have to be the leader to influence the well-being of your team. You can bring positive energy...

One of the most important lessons Nick Saban has taught through his career is the power of The Process . The idea is simple: Stop focusing on the outcome and focus on what you need to do today to give yourself the best chance to succeed. Saban often emphasized that teams can become distracted when they focus too much on championships, records, rankings, or the opponent. Instead, great teams focus on the next task, the next practice, the next meeting, and the next play. That matters because great teamwork isn't built on one big moment. It's built through thousands of small moments when everyone does their job. The best teammates don't constantly ask, “How are we doing?” They ask, “What does the team need from me right now?” You don't control the final score. You control your preparation, your effort, your attitude, your communication, and your willingness to do your job for the people around you. The Process is about trusting that if everyone consistently takes care of ...

What makes a team successful? Is it talent? Leadership? Chemistry? Richard Hackman’s research suggests that great teams are less about finding a magic formula and more about creating the right conditions for people to succeed together. Hackman identified five conditions that increase the likelihood of team effectiveness: A Real Team — Team members know who is on the team, understand their roles, and depend on one another. A Compelling Direction — Everyone understands where the team is going and why the goal matters. An Enabling Structure — Roles, responsibilities, expectations, and team norms make it easier—not harder—for people to work together. A Supportive Environment — The team has the resources, information, support, and systems necessary to succeed. Expert Coaching — Teams need coaching that helps them solve problems, improve their teamwork, and take advantage of opportunities. The important lesson for coaches and leaders is this: Your job isn't simply to motivate your p...

Susan Wheelan’s Integrated Model of Group Development (IMGD) explains how teams mature over time. The key idea is simple: great teams aren’t created overnight — they develop through predictable stages. Stage 1: Dependency & Inclusion. Team members are figuring out where they fit, what is expected, and who is leading. People often look to the leader for direction and may hesitate to disagree. Stage 2: Counterdependency & Fight. As people become more comfortable, differences emerge. Team members challenge ideas, roles, processes, and sometimes the leader. Conflict isn't necessarily a sign of a bad team — it can be a necessary step toward becoming a better one if managed effectively. Stage 3: Trust & Structure. The team learns how to disagree productively. Trust increases, communication becomes more open, and members clarify roles, responsibilities, goals, and expectations. Stage 4: Work & Productivity. The team is operating at a high level. Members have greater a...

Most teams spend a lot of time asking, “How can we make this plan succeed?” Dr. Gary Klein suggests asking a different question: “Imagine this plan has failed. What went wrong?” This is the premortem strategy . Before launching a project, making a major decision, or beginning an important initiative, the team imagines that it is several months or years in the future and the project has been a complete failure. Then, instead of defending the plan, everyone identifies the reasons they believe it failed. This approach is powerful because teams often become overly optimistic once they commit to an idea. People may hesitate to point out weaknesses because they don't want to be negative, challenge the leader, or slow things down. A premortem gives people permission to identify potential problems before they become real problems. For leaders, the goal isn't to create fear or convince everyone that the plan will fail. It's to uncover blind spots, risks, assumptions, and unintended...

Great teams don’t become great overnight. They develop through stages, and understanding those stages can help leaders know what their team needs at each point. Psychologist Bruce Tuckman described four key stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, and performing. Forming is when a team first comes together. People are learning about one another, figuring out expectations, and looking to the leader for direction. The leader’s job is to provide clarity and create a strong foundation. Storming is when differences begin to surface. People challenge ideas, roles, and sometimes each other. Conflict can feel uncomfortable, but healthy disagreement is often necessary for a team to grow. Leaders should help the team navigate conflict rather than avoid it. Norming occurs when the team begins developing shared expectations, trust, and accountability. People understand their roles and begin taking greater ownership. Finally, performing is when the team operates with trust, clari...

In the season 2 episode 5 of Lioness , there’s a line that says roughly 5% of people are saints, 5% are evil, and the other 90% are sheep who follow whoever has the upper hand. Whether those numbers are literally true isn’t the point. The leadership lesson is. Most people are influenced by their environment. Think about your team. There are athletes who will work hard no matter what. There may also be athletes who resist doing the right thing no matter who is coaching them. But most athletes are watching. They’re asking: What matters here? What gets rewarded? Who gets respected? What behavior gives me status? That is where coaching becomes leadership. Every team has an upper hand. Sometimes it belongs to the coach. Sometimes it belongs to the best player. Sometimes it belongs to the loudest voice, the negative attitude, or the fear of failure. Your job as a coach is to decide what gets the upper hand. If preparation has the upper hand, athletes prepare. If accountability has the upper ...

What do you do when something isn't working? Most of us immediately ask, “How can we fix it?” Chris Argyris believed there is a deeper question we should sometimes ask: “Are we solving the right problem?” Argyris called this double-loop learning . Single-loop learning focuses on correcting an action while keeping the same goal or assumptions. Double-loop learning goes one step further—it questions the assumptions, beliefs, strategies, or goals that created the problem in the first place. Think about an athlete who keeps missing free throws. Single-loop learning might mean practicing more free throws. Double-loop learning asks: Why am I missing? Am I rushing? Is my routine inconsistent? Am I focusing on the outcome instead of the process? Is the way I'm practicing actually preparing me for pressure? The same principle applies to teams. A team that loses might ask, “What should we do differently next game?” A learning team also asks, “What assumptions did we have about our prep...

Liz Wiseman’s Multipliers explores a simple but powerful question: Do you make the people around you better? Wiseman identifies two types of leaders. Diminishers tend to believe they need to have the answers, solve the problems, and be the smartest person in the room. Multipliers , on the other hand, create an environment where other people can think, contribute, and grow. Multipliers don't make themselves less important. They make everyone else more capable. They ask questions instead of immediately giving answers. They create challenges that stretch people. They listen to different perspectives. And they give people ownership rather than taking control of every decision. This matters because a team's potential is limited when everyone is waiting for one person to have the answer. Great leaders don't simply build followers. They build thinkers, problem-solvers, and leaders. Think about the people you lead. When they leave a conversation with you, do they feel like they h...

One of the most important lessons from Marcus Buckingham’s work is that great teams are not built by making everyone the same. They are built by understanding what each person naturally does best — and finding ways to use those strengths together. Buckingham argues that we often spend too much time trying to fix weaknesses and not enough time developing strengths. That doesn't mean weaknesses don't matter. It means that our greatest opportunity for growth often comes from investing in the things we already do well. This matters in teamwork because your strength might be someone else's weakness — and their strength might be yours. One person may naturally create relationships. Another may organize details. Someone else may see the big picture, solve problems, communicate ideas, or bring energy when the team needs it. The goal isn't to build a team where everyone can do everything. The goal is to build a team where everyone has something valuable to contribute. That requi...

Drama is a fire, and coaches and leaders add oxygen to the fire every time they react to it emotionally. Business leader and consultant Mark Murphy says these four words can put out the fire and put you in problem-solving mode: Just the facts, please. These four words — or your own variation of them — can help you bring everything back to what you directly see, hear, or receive instead of the stories that we make up about it. Drama needs an audience — it isn’t a solo act. It’s a performance. If you take away the reaction, the fire has nothing to burn with or on.  Instead of fueling the fire by reacting, learn to respond strategically and intentionally. Start with yourself. Ask yourself, “What are the facts? What’s real, and what is not?” Then, find a way to say it to the room. We are wired to react emotionally, and the drama counts on this to live, breathe, and grow. Don’t. Here is the 4-step protocol I use to slow myself down: 1 - What happened — facts only? I start by asking mys...

We often think great teamwork is built on chemistry, communication, or shared goals. But organizational psychologist Tasha Eurich discovered a deeper, hidden foundation: self-awareness . According to Eurich’s research, while 95% of people think they are self-aware, only about 10% to 15% actually are. When a team lacks this trait, project success rates cut in half, stress skyrockets, and collaboration plummets. Eurich breaks self-awareness into two critical types: Internal Self-Awareness: Understanding your own values, passions, and reactions. External Self-Awareness: Understanding how other people see you. Great teams require both. If team members only have internal awareness, they remain blind to how their communication style impacts others. If they only have external awareness, they become people-pleasers who sacrifice their true potential to fit in. The breakthrough happens when teams build a "collective self-awareness" culture.  This means swapping defensive reaction...

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits , teaches a simple but powerful idea: You don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems. This matters because great teamwork and culture aren’t built through one big meeting, one motivational speech, or one team-building activity. They are built through small behaviors repeated consistently. If you want a culture of accountability, what does accountability look like every day?  If you want a culture of trust, how do people communicate when things get difficult?  If you want a team that works together, what habits encourage people to help, encourage, and challenge one another? The goal is to create systems that make the right behaviors easier and more consistent. A team’s culture is really the collection of its repeated behaviors . What you tolerate becomes normal. What you reinforce becomes repeated. What you repeat becomes culture. So don’t just ask, “What do we want to accomplish?” Ask, “What do we need to ...