Coaching the Coach - Balancing the 4-Spoked Teeter-Totter!

Coaching the Coach

Balancing the 4-spoked teeter-totter!

By Shauna Grinke

In his popular You-Tube distributed, press conference rant of 2002, The NY Jet's (then) Head Coach Herm Edwards effuses, "The greatest thing about sports is that you play to win the game! When you start telling me 'it doesn't matter', it matters!" Is that it? Is that all there is? Is being a coach just about winning the next game, the next match, the next round? Maybe. Maybe not.

How a coach views his or her role as a coach ultimately impacts the way he or she behaves in that role. If the coach has a fundamental belief that 'it's only about winning the game', this will be a very different experience for the coach- and the athlete - from a coach who has a different belief about their role. The best coaches look at their role from a broader perspective.

I suggest that having the role of coach - whether in a full-time paid capacity, or in a part time volunteer capacity - is a role that transcends winning or losing a game. Given the impact that this role has on others, each coach needs to decide, "Since I've chosen this path, how do I be in this role in such a way that I am authentic ... that it works for me and those who I am influencing and impacting?"

A model for consideration is a balanced approach to coaching borrowed from a four-quadrant leadership model - focusing on the four approaches : Centred; Visionary; Relationship; and Results. This model honours that each Coach has a unique and authentic 'way of being' - a preference based in one of these quadrants. Each of the quadrants has unique strengths that can be of value in a coach's behavioural toolkit. This model is valuable in looking at the role of the coach as a leader, a role that needs to balance on a 4-sided teeter totter.

If the balance of the quadrants is out of alignment, the teeter-totter will be stuck on the ground on one side. Not a fun game for any player! Only when the teeter-totter is in balance, is the game fun!

Centred Leadership:

The first spoke of our coaching teeter- totter is Centred Leadership. This spoke requires the Coach to have Self-Knowledge. Self-knowledge requires curiosity and being able to be truthful with yourself. Who are you? What do you stand for? What do you value? The centred Coach lives authentically, nurtures self-worth, and is guided by his or her own values and integrity. A Centred Coach is comfortable "in his or her 'own skin'".

Viktor Frankl, the author, teacher and Holocaust survivor, was the quintessential example of someone who embodies Centred Leadership. He advised, "don't aim at success - the more you aim at it, the more you are going to miss it." Instead, he suggested that leaders ground themselves in their values. He advised, "listen to what your conscience commands you to do, and then carry it out to the best of your knowledge."

Visionary Leadership:

The second spoke of the coaching teeter-totter