A Coach's Diary

Great teams have three things in common: Great leadership Great people A great culture Culture is the glue that holds everything together. Culture is what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. Anytime I work with a team, one of my biggest goals is to help them become the most connected team they can be by helping them create a stronger, more defined culture. Daniel Coyle wrote one of the best books on culture that I have ever read titled The Culture Code. He says culture is living relationships moving towards a goal together. How do you create a championship culture where everyone can thrive? Daniel Coyle says you have to have three things: Direction Connection Shared information Direction is defining where we want to go, what we want to do, and how we want to do it. Direction is defining the kind of culture we want to have. The leader defines the direction with the help of the team by learning what everyone wants to get out of working together and combining it with the goals and valu...

Great teams have three things: Great leadership Great people A great culture Culture is the glue that holds everything together. Culture is what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. Anytime I work with a team, one of my biggest goals is helping them become the most connected team they can be by helping them create a stronger, more defined culture. Daniel Coyle wrote one of the best books on culture that I have read titled The Culture Code. He says culture is living relationships moving towards a goal together. How do you create a championship culture where everyone can thrive? Daniel Coyle says you have to have three things: Direction Connection Shared information Direction is defining where we want to go, what we want to do, and how we want to do it. Direction is defining the kind of culture we want to have. The leader defines the direction with the help of the team by learning what everyone wants to get out of working together and combining it with the goals, values, and expectati...

Every coach searches for ways to build that special chemistry that all great teams have. In The Culture Playbook , Daniel Coyle calls the warm sense of cohesion, the shared willingness to speak up, and the team thinking and feeling as one entity,  psychological safety - being able to be yourself without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status, or career. Team chemistry, or psychological safety, is built through the exchange of belonging cues - small, meaningful, and impactful, behaviors that say: "You belong here, you are valued here, you are safe here, we share a future together, we care about you, you have a voice, and you matter." Our brains are wired to search for both danger and safety. When we join a group, we scan for potential dangers. This keeps us from locking in and performing at our best. If we have to waste our time and energy trying to belong, we won't have enough left to do our job at a high level. Amy Edmondson of Harvard says, "When peopl...

In both education and sports, we are seeing an exodus unlike anything we have ever seen before. Teachers are leaving   the profession at higher rates than ever before, and the transfer portal in college sports is filled with more athletes than ever as well. HOW DO WE GET PEOPLE TO STAY AND ENGAGED? Now more than ever, leaders and teachers in coaching and education could benefit from creating a culture shift that keeps people happy, hopeful, engaged enough to come back. Gallup is a global analytics and advice firm that helps leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems. They have  done studies that show that engagement and job satisfaction increases when we are able to do what we do best every day. SKULL SESSIONS Before the Georgia Bulldogs defeated Alabama to win the 2021 college football national championship, they talked about how they use what they call Skull Sessions to create the deeper relationships that they needed to get an edge to get them closer to t...

When I get up and speak in front of people, I get nervous. I question whether they are going to buy what I am selling, or if they are going to see me as a fraud. It could be in front of a classroom full of students, in front of my team in a pre-game speech, or in front of a group of educators or coaches, but that nervousness and anxiety never really leave. I don't expect nervousness or anxiety to ever fully leave. Getting rid of them is not my goal; my goal is to learn how to control and direct anxiety when needed. Tennis legend Billie Jean King said, "Pressure is a privilege - it only comes to those who earn it." I have earned the privilege to speak in front of people in different capacities, but I still want to be seen as competent and for people to 'buy what I am selling.' In The Talent Code, author Daniel Coyle wrote that the content of our pitch doesn't matter as much as the set of cues with which the pitch was delivered and received. Three things play a ...