By Mike Klockenbrink
How come a team with all the superstar talent fails to win, while another team with a bunch of good players ends up winning the championship? It’s not because they don’t know how to play the game, after all they’re superstars.
It’s not about just playing the game. It’s about playing the game together.
I’ve seen the motivational posters hanging up over the years like; TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) or (There is no “I” in Team). Hanging up a poster or a cool tag line doesn’t make a championship team.
You may have that individual with pure raw talent that just needs to be coached or instructed on what to do or how to do it: A coach’s dream. On the other hand you have someone who you may call a diva or prima donna that has all the talent in the world, but chooses to do their own thing: A coach’s nightmare. There is a time for both coaching and counseling, but there’s a fine line between them.
I think counselors tend to look at a glass as half empty, while a coach looks at that same glass as half full. As a counselor you put constraints on someone to correct their actions, while as a coach you try to remove constraints to free up those actions to what could be. Michelangelo once said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free”. As a coach you look for what’s inside and what the potential could be. Then you get the team to see what you see and what their potential really is. There is no greater joy than to see this potential come to life. It could be with an individual or the entire team.
One of my favorite movies is Apollo 13. There is a scene when Ed Harris playing Gene Kranz, head of NASA’s mission control (who I view as the coach) and the NASA Director are having a conversation;
NASA Director: This could be the worst disaster NASA’s ever faced. Gene Kranz: With all due respect, sir, I believe this is gonna be our finest hour.
As a coach you must believe in your team first and foremost. If you don’t, neither will your team. When you’re winning the game, coaching is easy. When you’re behind and everyone is looking to you, put on your big boy pants, pull up your boot straps and coach.
Mike Klockenbrink is chief of staff at Lakeside Church, Folsom, CA.
[ www.lakesidechurch.com]
