The Need for Coaching your Star Performers

When I was coaching Little League, I had a player named Lizzie who was the best player on the team. Highly skilled and a great teammate, great attitude, coachable, and never caused an issue. She was a true pleasure to be around.

Now, in a game that we needed to win to remain in the playoff hunt, we were in the field. We were winning by three runs at the time. The other team had players on First Base and Second Base with two outs. So, I yelled to my First Baseman, “If the ball is hit to you, step on First.” I yell to my shortstop and second baseman, “If the ball is hit to you, get the out at Second.” I don’t say anything to Lizzie who is playing Third Base because Lizzie is my best player and she knows what to do. She knows that if the ball is hit to her that all she needs to do is step on Third Base and we’re out of the inning.

So, what happens next is that the batter hits the ball to Lizzie. I’m thinking this is great because the ball was hit to my best player. Now Lizzie will take two steps back, step on Third Base, and we’re out of the inning, three run lead intact. Beautiful. However, Lizzie had other plans. Lizzie fielded the ball, and instead of stepping back to get the force out at Third Base, she threw the ball across the infield to get the out at First Base, and sailed the ball over the First Baseman’s head. So now, I have a player on second, and two runs in, and our three run lead has evaporated to one run. Luckily for us the next player for the other team struck out, and the inning was over and we were still in the lead.

At the end of the inning, Lizzie was running off of the field, she ran over to me and said, “I’m sorry Coach.” 

Now, a lot of coaches, would have viewed this situation as a player failure and reacted as such. But I saw it differently. This was my coaching failure. I didn’t tell Lizzie what to do in this situation if the ball was hit to her. I took it for granted that she knew what to do. So instead of telling her something trite like, “don’t worry about it,” or, “it’s ok, but don’t do it again,” I responded to her by saying, “No Lizzie, I’m sorry. I didn’t do my job as a coach. I didn’t prepare you to make the right play. This is on me.”

How many times have we as managers and leaders, took our stars for granted, and then wondered what happened when they messed up or did the wrong thing? Did we look inward to see what as managers and leaders we could have done to prevent what happened? Did we provide the right coaching?

Listen, our stars are stars for a reason. They’re committed, knowledgeable, and hard working people. That doesn’t mean that they don’t need coaching like people who may not be performing at their level. It is incumbent upon us as leaders that we need to set up our people for success. Don’t forget about your stars.

Finally, I apologize for not posting in a while, especially after I committed to posting each week. I understand that if I am going to commit to doing this I need to budget my time better in order for me to make the time to engage in this endeavor. Therefore, I do again pledge that I will post each week unless in advance, I let you know otherwise. Thanks for reading and your continued support.

Be well.

We need a policy...We need a rule...Really?

First of all, my apologies for the length of time between my last post and this one. between increasing responsibilities at work and the general business around the holidays, I found it hard to find the time to get to this. I sincerely apologize.

Around 15 years ago I was the Administrative Assistant for my local Little League. One of my first jobs as the Administrative Assistant was to re-create the League's Rule Book due to the fact that the 3.5" Floppy Disk it was on (remember those?), got lost. This was also a time before everyone had easy access to a scanner. Thankfully, I had a colleague who had a scanner, the only one in my workplace, and he scanned the 33 page document for me. By the way, that took four attempts and about 3 hours of our time. Once the document was scanned, then I had to use an OCR reader to convert it to MS Word. Once scanned, I had to compare the document to the hard copy of the Rule Book to make sure the language in all of the rules scanned over correctly. there were plenty of mistakes and a tremendous of edits I had to make to the document. In other words, for someone like me who is a limited typist at best, this was a huge project.

Doing this project, however, was also a valuable learning experience for me, and not just for the technical knowledge I gained during the whole scanning, OCR, and editing process. This was also a valuable learning experience from a people management perspective.

What I realized was that this rule book could have easily been reduced by several pages. Here's how. The first 12-15 pages of every Little League Rule Book is virtually the same across all Little Leagues in that those pages are filled with all of the mandatory passages that are required by Little League, Inc., the national organization. After that, the remaining pages are taken up by the rules that are individual to that particular league. As I was making all of the edit, there were some rules that just didn't make sense. Since one of my favorite questions is "why?", once I was finished with this project, I asked some of the more veteran volunteers of the league about why we had this rule, or that rule, and the responses I received began with one of the three following statements:

"That rule is there because a manager one time did......"
"That rule is there because a coach one time did.........."
"That rule is there because a parent one time did........"

Making rules and policies, because one person, at one time, did something not right, unscrupulous, not in the spirit of existing rules, etc., is not a reason to make a rule. No one has a rule in their workplace that states, "You are prohibited form picking up your desk and throwing it out the window." You just know, as a matter of common sense, that  you are not allowed to do that. Now, if someone were to do that, that person would be fired, regardless of the fact that there was not an explicit rule prohibiting that behavior.

From this experience, I learned that when someone says, "We need a policy.", or, "We need a rule." I use that opportunity to ask, "Why?", and before we go about formulating that rule or policy, my "Why?" question, needs to be answered. Here's an example of how all of these rules can be detrimental.

The League had a rule that a player could not be replaced at her position in the field as a result of an error or a misplay. This rule was enacted to prevent Managers and Coaches from further embarrassing the kids in cases of making misplays or errors in the field. This is something I have never understood with Managers and Coaches. I never yelled at a player after the player made an error. Don't you think the player knows that she just made an error? You really need to yell at her to make her realize that? So, the League, instead of communicating its expectations to Managers and Coaches on how the children were to be managed and coached, essentially, made a bunch of rules instead.

I had a player named Cara, who played shortstop for me. She was the best pure hitter I ever coached and she had a great attitude. However, her fielding at times, was not as strong as her hitting. One game, she made three errors on consecutive plays at shortstop. I tried to encourage her as much as I could from the bench, but there she was, at  shortstop, crying a river of tears. I called time out and trotted out to shortstop in order to comfort her. I felt so bad for her. Before I could say anything, she said to me, "Coach, I just want to sit on the bench. Please can I sit on the bench?" It broke my heart to have to tell her that she had to stay in the game, and she had to stay at shortstop. Thank goodness, no other balls were hit to her and we were able to get out of the inning with only two runs scoring and we did go on to win the game.

Now, I should have been able to replace her at shortstop. but I wasn't able to because some manager, coach, parent, etc., did something, dare I say stupid, at one time or another. As a result, an experience that is supposed to be challenging and fun, was turned into a miserable experience for Cara and her teammates.

This is a lesson for business too. We really need to stop with all of the rules and policies that are made because at one time or another, one individual did something wrong. Instead of making a rule, hold the individual accountable for not adhering to behavior expectations. Clearly communicate what your expectations of behavior and performance are. You want people who are committed to doing the right thing, not because there's a rule or a policy, but because they are truly committed to doing the right thing. When you have people who are truly committed, instead of compliant, that is when your organization is poised to move to the next level.

Be well.

Two Phrases you Hear Leaders Say

Leaders influence others through a combination of recognition and accountability. This thought struck me today as I was thinking about one of the times I heard Steve Gilliland speak at a SHRM Conference and he was speaking about his secretary Margaret. He recounted that on the first day they worked together, she told him that she had worked for managers, directors, and high level executives, but, she had never worked for a leader.

I thought about this as I was thinking about all of the people for whom I had worked in my 38 year career in health care and I sort of felt the same way. I have worked for all levels of supervision, but out of that bunch there were few true leaders. People who led through their ability to influence others. In thinking about these few people, I tried to think of what, if any, characteristics, they shared, and I came up with two things they said, when it was appropriate to say them.

The first phrase they used regularly was thank you. Thank you for a job well done, thank you for going out of your way, thank you for pointing that out. They delivered recognition to those people who deserved it and delivered it at the right times. This feedback was sincere in its delivery and never sounded perfunctory. These folks got more mileage out of those two words than I ever thought was possible and they have set an example for me that I try to live up to each day.

The second phrase they used whenever they needed to was, "I'm sorry. I messed up. What can I do to make this right?" When a leader uses this phrase, holding himself or herself accountable for his or her behavior, that leader sets a standard of accountability for those people who are led by him or her. These leaders show their people that they are not perfect, but, they are willing to correct their mistakes and make things as "right" as possible. That self-accountability, enables them to demand, and expect, that same level of self-accountability from their people. From this, a leader can build a culture of accountability throughout his or her entire team.

Two phrases, huge impact. Have you had the experience of working with leaders who used these phrases regularly? I would really like to hear about it.

Be well.

The Importance of Preparation

The Importance of Preparation

"Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail." John Wooden

When I coach and train managers, I tend to use a lot of sports analogies, and I reference John Wooden whenever I can. This quote came to me today as I was in my garage engaged in that annual ritual of getting the snow blower out of the back of the garage, checking my supply of ice melt, gathering up my shovels, and moving all of that to the front of the garage. We are expecting some snow later this week so it was good that I took care of this today. I also recently purchased a generator and I started that up for two reasons, to let the engine run and to make sure I remembered how to turn it on.

In thinking about this, I also thought about how Coach Wooden's adage very much applies to us as leaders,  not only in us being fully prepared for what we do, but also, preparing our people for what they need to do. This applies to most things that we do from on-boarding people, to creating that climate to allow our people to motivate themselves to superior performance, to orienting new managers, and many other aspects of how we manage and lead our people.

Serving as an example of being prepared is important for any leader. As leaders, the importance you place on preparation, will set that standard for your people that you, personally, place a high priority on preparation. Holding your people accountable for not only being prepared, but having that desire to be prepared, will build in them a commitment to preparation. Coach Wooden planned all of his practices down to the minute, even planning where the ball rack should be placed during drills, in order not to waste the time that players would waste if the balls were placed in a location that would have the players take extra time to retrieve and put back the balls after use.

Preparation also helps alleviate the stress of your people because being prepared for situations builds their confidence in themselves to face those situations and take confident action. So, how as a leader, can you assure that your people will place the necessary importance on preparation? Here are some things you can do:

1. Set the example. You as a leader need to emphasize the importance of preparation and walk the preparation walk.
2. Coach your people. People prepare differently. Some use lists, others use different tools and methods. Also, some have no clue on how to prepare. Your job as a leader is to coach your people and help them find the method that work best for them. Also, allowing them that freedom to prepare their own way, provided their way gives the needed results, empowers them and enables them to hold themselves personally accountable for their preparation.
3. Reward those who prepare well. Deliver positive feedback to those who excel at preparation. Also, have those who excel at preparation help those members of your team who are not as strong at preparation. By having your people who excel, help you "coach up" your people who need help, is a potential double positive outcome. The person giving the help has an opportunity to develop his or her own leadership skills, and the person receiving the help has the opportunity to improve his or her skill at preparation. 

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to reading your comments.

Be well.

Here I Am - Value your Victories

Here I Am

Well, after about a year of thinking about writing a blog, I finally decided to do it. I hope that you find what I have to share with you interesting and maybe makes you think a little bit. I will be respectful of my readers and I hope that you get some value out of what I have to say. I will be drawing on my experience being in HR for over 25 years and my life experience in bringing you my thoughts. I will also be drawing on my experience as a Little League coach where I coached Minor and Junior Girls Softball, hence the title of the Blog.

Thanks for reading.

Value your Victories

My experience as a Little League coach has been valuable to me giving me lessons that I have used in my Leadership and Managerial coaching.  One story I recently told a group of our Doctor and Nurse Practitioner leaders was about my last year in coaching. We started our season off well being 3-1. But, due to rain outs and needing to make up some games, we came upon having to play 5 games in 8 days. Also, if you have ever coached Little League, one of the challenges you face is planning out your pitching. During this stretch of games, I was going to have to have kids pitch who had not pitched all season. So, in our last practice before this stretch of games, I channeled my inner Vince Lombardi, and I told the girls, "We have 5 games, in 8 days. This is our season. If we win 2, we'll have some work to do to make the playoffs. If we win 3, we'll be ok. If we win 4, we'll be in really good shape to win the Pennant. We win 5, we clinch the Pennant!"

As I am giving this speech, I was getting more excited, and the girls were feeding off of my positive energy. I was thinking to myself, "I wish we could play the first game, now." So, sure enough, two days later, we win the first game, and then two days after that we win the second game. Then two days later, when I had two girls pitching who had not pitched all year, we won again. I'm thinking This is great! Then we had to play again the next day, but I had my two best pitchers pitching and we won again! Four wins in a row! This is awesome! I was excited, the girls were excited, this was great. 

Now, we play again two days later, and we lost that game. Also, not only did we lose, we lost playing sloppy softball and the team had no energy or enthusiasm. So, I would really like to say that after the game, I comforted the team, and told them that winning 4 out of the last 5 games was great and they deserved the next few days off and they should be proud of how they played during this stretch of games. But that's not what I did.

What I did was give my team a stern "talking to" about everything they did wrong during that game, instead of focusing on the truly great achievements they made over the past 8 days. It was one of the worst mistakes that I ever made in coaching. Afterward, I felt really bad and at our next practice, I apologized to my team, because they truly were owed an apology for how I behaved. Thank goodness my girls, including my daughter Alie, forgave me.

So, why did I tell my managers this story?

When coaching and managing people, we need to value the strides they make in their performance. Also, if you make a mistake in managing and leading your people, it's ok to apologize for it. Holding people accountable for their performance, or at times the lack of it, is important. However, it is also important that we, as managers and leaders, deliver that positive feedback and recognize the good performance that our people provide, when they provide it.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments.