Leadership as a Coach
Lessons Learned from Coach Saban
“I used to a transactional coach. It was all about winning and losing. When I won, everyone had your back, but when I lost, everyone turned on you. It wasn’t until I starting becoming a transformational leader…one who the players knew cared about them and made everything about process and teaching that things turned around…and my record was actually a lot better after that moment than before”
- Nick Saban
I was watching a clip from college game day this last weekend and heard coach talk about leadership. At the core of his message, leadership really breaks down into how you manage relationships. Leadership models in sport psychology can be nice on paper, but there are far more rich, robust ways we can help teach leadership in team dynamics that hit at the core of what Coach Saban was talking about.
Below are a couple examples of important concepts that don’t fall in line with the traditional “leadership” approach that can help us teach transformational leadership more easily:
Principle #1: Observation
You have no chance of being a transformational leader without having skills of observation. Observation is the bedrock in which we develop empathy and communication skills. Observation is what helps us break down power dynamics on teams and how to create an inclusive environment.
This is a powerful principal from social psychology and can really lead to insightful and thoughtful conversations.
Principle #2: Establish learning routines
This is one I picked up more recently. I’m sure many of us try and teach mindset topics to coaches; however, in my observations (no pun-intended) there is no way to change a mindset faster than to create a team culture around how they learn. This helps athletes and coaches change how they assess performance. Creating a culture of process and learning.
This is also a powerful concept from attribution theory, implicit person theory (precursor to fixed and growth), and habit development. Just to name a few areas worth exploring if unfamiliar.
THE PATH AHEAD
We can really elevate how we teach leadership by keeping perspective on what leadership is all about, which is the relationship. From this perspective, we have a wealth of education and strategies to help coaches and athletes strengthen team dynamics and leadership capabilities. Hopefully today, gives you a few ideas to run with when working with anyone looking to improve their leadership capabilities.
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