Very early on in my career, I was fortunate enough to climb the ranks from individual contributor to manager. I was learning on-the-fly and stumbling daily. I was extremely good at being an individual contributor but was new to a formal leadership role. One of the things I found which steered me in the right direction was actually an extracurricular activity which I was involved in, coaching a hockey team consisting of 4-6 year olds. My son was to play so I was somewhat roped into doing it but it was the best thing that I was ever ‘voluntold‘ to do.
The lessons I learned during my years of coaching youth hockey have stayed with me to this day. I will NEVER forget them. I have utilized the knowledge acquired consistently over the years in every leadership position I have held to date. I taught the kids so many things but I feel I learned so much more from them than I ever could have taught them.
I learned how to identify and harness strengths and weaknesses, the importance of feedback, how and why to celebrate wins, what to do with losses, how to be more empathetic and humble and their importance in a leadership role. What I learned was invaluable. I was able to transfer the knowledge directly to my new role and continue to tweak and refine my technique. While I highly recommend taking opportunities like this for any new leader, hopefully I can save you some time with what I learned.
Strengths/Weaknesses – Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. While we don’t like to admit to the weaknesses a lot of time, they are there. As an effective leader (and coach incidentally,) identifying these early on is crucial. The most important reason is that you can ensure team members are aware of those weaknesses so they can (with your guidance and assistance) work to improve those areas where they are lacking. Knowing team members strengths is equally important. As an effective team leader, knowing your team members strengths and weaknesses allows you to more effectively assign roles and tasks, develop mentor/mentee relationships, and position the team more accurately to complete projects with the greatest efficiency and more often produce the desired outcome.
Importance of Feedback – No one likes bad news whether they are on the receiving or delivering end of that news. Being told your weaknesses or areas of needed improvement is often viewed that way. Early on I hated giving negative feedback. My resources (or I personally) often suffered as a result. When coaching the kids, I found they wanted to get better. They wanted to meet my expectations. They wanted to win! At work, it was the same. Regardless of how uncomfortable the conversations got, it always ended in a team member being grateful they were told of their deficiency and appreciative of the opportunity to improve and be assisted and guided in that improvement. Like the kids, they just wanted to be better at what they did and be part of a successful team. They too wanted to win.
Celebrating Wins – With a sports team of any kind, it is easy to see why celebrating wins is important. It reinforces a behavior or accomplishment. I found that the practice of celebrating does just that in coaching any type of team. Publicly recognizing accomplishments, successes, new sales, team members gaining new skills, or even team members personal accomplishments achieves many positive things. First, the practice does in fact encourage the same behavior or repeated progress along the same path. Secondly, it encourages others to strive for better for the same recognition or result. It is crucial that you celebrate success to ensure continued success.
There are no Losses – It’s certainly not as easy to swallow, but with the kids it was critical to ensure they understood that even if the scoreboard didn’t have the team on top there was always something they could learn. Maybe we know what not to do, maybe we learned something we could do like the other team; but we always learned something and always used it as an opportunity to learn. The same is quite obviously a lot more important to apply in leading any teams. If the team didn’t deliver a project on time, why? What can be done to improve the delivery time next time? Quality not up to par on a deliverable? What tests or baselines can be put into place to ensure quality is improved next time. The important thing is to discuss it as a team, and come up with a solution together. Foster an environment early on where open communication about mistakes or less than ideal situations can be improved. Getting team members to think this way consistently will ensure a constant improvement environment. You’ll find people, process, and products will all gradually improve in this environment.
Empathy – At first with the kids, I didn’t understand why they couldn’t do certain things, why they felt certain ways that I didn’t, or why they didn’t understand basic things I already did. It was very frustrated until I really put myself in their shoes (well skates really!) It really took me understanding that these were children and young ones at that. I was throwing too much at them and didn’t consider they were all feeling self conscious, overwhelmed, and were probably even more frustrated than I was. I quickly adjusted my approach to account for their feelings. I encouraged, I remembered the priorities I had when I was that young. Those changes in my approach were all it took. Me approaching each child (or team member) from a filter of what they felt and needed, allowed me to grow closer to each team member, build more trust from each team member, and ultimately get more productivity out of each team member. The same was true with teams I led at work. Approaching resources, co-workers, or even clients with the understanding of where they were coming from, what preset notions and beliefs they had, and what their ultimate goal was allowed me to more easily combine that with the corporate goals to ensure everything was as close to a win-win as possible.
Humility – Almost immediately I realized no matter how much I taught the children, I was learning much more. I was learning how to be a better teacher, a better friend, a better coach, how to get the most out of individuals, how to encourage people to and how to get that group of individuals to perform at continually growing levels. I always took the same approach everywhere. I don’t judge people based on looks. I don’t judge people based on attire. I don’t judge based on title or job role. I approach everyone and every situation with an openness to learn. I have learned from some great leaders which I have been lucky enough to report to. I am extremely grateful to have had those experiences and for the knowledge I gained under their mentorship. Even with all of that knowledge acquired, it is dwarfed by what I’ve learned by others due to my attitude and approach to interactions. I have learned from everyone and continue to do so! We all play a role.. No one is any better than anyone else and we can all help each other. I have learned so much from my kid, my team members, the security guard, the maintenance men, the cafeteria staff. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care who you are or what you do. I can learn something from you. I maintain intellectual humility and it has served me well. It allows me to continually learn and grow. I always encourage anyone who will listen to have the same approach and it all started when I was taught so much by kids barely tall enough to see over the boards.
While these lessons, traits, and practices may seem basic to some of you, they were crucial to me at a time where I was being molded into the leader I am today. The experience kept me humbled and ensured I understood that I should be on the lookout for lessons I could utilize in my roles everywhere in my life. I encourage you to do the same.
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