10:10 Sport

Coaching is all about creating change.  As coaches we try to change skills, habits, behaviors, and mindsets to help players and teams achieve desired outcomes.

I have recently been reading the book Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath and highly recommend it http://www.heathbrothers.com/switch/ if you haven’t read it. 

Here are a few examples of concepts covered that are key for coaches:

• “We need to switch from archaeological problem solving to bright-spot evangelizing.”  -From Switch
  As coaches we need to focus our attention on identifying what is working and how we can do more of it; this starts by not letting something done right go unnoticed.  We need to spend less time deconstructing with players what went wrong; as that approach is not as effective at getting players to change.
   
• “To provide movement in a new direction, you need to provide crystal-clear guidance.  That’s why scripting is important — you’ve got to think about the specific behavior that you’d want to see in a tough moment” -From Switch
  Unless you have prepared players with a clear action plan for dealing with adversity don’t expect consistent and positive responses to tough times.
• “If you are leading a change effort, you need to remove the ambiguity from your vision of change. Granted, this asking a lot.  It means that you’ll need to understand how to script the criticial moves, to translate apsirations into actions.”  – From Switch
  The following link is to a great story on how coach Andy Fleming scripted out the moves to change his program http://www.coachad.com/pages/October-2011-Blueprint-For-Turning-Around-A-Struggling-Program.php