Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch - Part 4 - Awards

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch - Part 4 - Awards - You Improve what you Measure

Published: Fri, 07/22/16

Yes!! You are making winning the right way your habit by filling your mind with fresh, new, positive momentum!

First of all - I am on a bit of a high right now, after going to 2 different coaching conferences in the last 2 weeks. And neither of them were about X's and O's - they were both about being a Transformational coach instead of a transactional one. At both conferences we were challenged to start each day filling your mind with positive thoughts. One way to do that is with a 3x5 self-affirmation card. To create this - think of a role-model or mentor in your life. Then write down 3 characteristics of that person you admire. Now replace the words 'he or she' on that card with 'I.' The fact that you value those characteristics in that person means that you probably have those values yourself, although they may be a bit dormant. Now you have your self-affirmation card, start each day by looking at it and look at it repeatedly throughout the day.

Here is what mine looks like:

Also - I got to hear and meet the person who fueled my calling to change the landscape of youth coaching, Joe Ehrmann. If you haven't read either of his books, they need to be at the top of the list!! Inside-Out Coaching & Season of Life

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch

Part 4 - Awards - You Improve what you Measure

One of the easiest places to start when you are establishing a healthy, positive, championship culture is to look at what you are rewarding. In fact, if you and your coaching staff do nothing else but simply start focusing on recognizing and rewarding the right type of behaviors you see in practices and games, the culture of your team will improve dramatically:

If your team needs to quit being selfish - then reward the kid who gives the most high-fives during a practice

If your team needs to be tougher - then reward the kid who plays to the whistle and dives for the most loose balls

If your team needs to work harder - then reward the first kid back from water breaks and who doesn't cut the corner or short the line when running

6 paradigm-shifting awards you can put in place to have a championship culture:

Year-end Award Banquet – Instead of MVP – reward the MVT – Most Valuable Teammate. Or even better – have 6 awards: Most Improved, one for each of your 4 core covenants, and one for who best exemplified all 4 core covenants. And the same kid can earn multiple awards. Great podcast episode on this: Scott Rosberg (link)
Celebrate a lot! Kids will work harder when they are having fun! And spend most of your energy ‘Catching them being good.’ If you are focused on teamwork, and one of your big offensive lineman helps a scout team tiny defensive back up after a play and pats him on the butt – stop everything and acknowledge that action and celebrate like crazy!
Levels – Establish levels that require mastering certain skills to move up – then celebrate like crazy when someone advances a level. 2 great podcasts on using this are Melody Shuman (link) and Robert Murphy (link).
Living by numbers
1. Praise progress instead of purely praising results
2. Lee Miller from Elite Hoops Basketball - They have created 15 core drills that can be measured numerically. The focus is on improvement.
3. Quality at Bats – Instead of keeping on-base % or batting average – Keep the stat that rewards the behavior you want – a hard hit ball – Then set your lineup based on the highest Quality-At-Bat %
Daily/practice awards:
1. Hidden victories in a game: taking a charge, diving for loose balls, assists more than goals
2. Leadership award – Who is serving the team? – Trophy passes around each week.
3. ‘Best communicator of the day – talk your actions, especially on defense’
4. Do awards in groups as much as possible – offensive line, etc.
Postgame – spend the time having kids recognize teammates, not talking about all the things you have to fix

Remember, anything you see on the field - you either taught it, or you allowed it. So reward what you want to see!

Next week we'll discuss the role of captains in building your championship culture.

Team first - Link to post
Team Cornerstones - Link to post
Positive Environment - Which dog are you feeding? - Link to post
Recognition & Rewards
Captains
Parents
Building Trust
Seek First to Understand
Coaching your own kid
Perspective & Giving Back

NEW WYC PODCASTS

On Monday we'll be releasing the audio excerpts podcast from the Way of Champions Transformational Coaching conference, so be looking for that.

I love hearing your stories and experiences, both the positive ones and frustrations you're having - just reply to this email and it goes straight to my inbox.

Make winning the right way your habit starting today,
Craig

Craig Haworth is the founder of Winning Youth Coaching, a site dedicated to helping coaches and parents make youth sports an awesome experience for the youth and the parents. He interviews coaches from around the world and posts them on his podcast, which currently has over 85 interviews and has been downloaded over 80,000 times. He writes a weekly note to coaches and parents. He is married to his high-school sweetheart and they share the blessing of 3 children and live in Franklin, TN. You can sign-up for his weekly note here, find him on twitter at @craighaworth1, or visit his website winningyouthcoaching.com.

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men"

- Frederick Douglass