GETTING YOUR TEAM UNSTUCK

The following comes from Ken Blanchard:

Teams that are stuck, and don’t know how to get unstuck, can really stalemate innovation and growth. With a bit of training and skill-building on how to form and run teams, how to collaborate with others, and how to diagnose team development, people can get a whole lot more out of their teamwork. If your teams are stuck, chances are you are missing one or more of the following key characteristics of high performing teams:

Purpose and Values—Do your teams really know what their purpose, goals, and values are?

Empowerment—Are your people encouraged to take initiative?

Relationships and Collaboration—Do your people share ideas and respect each other’s differences?

Flexibility—Are your teams open to new ways of doing things?

Optimal Productivity—Do your teams consistently produce optimal results?

Recognition and Appreciation—Do you acknowledge each other’s accomplishments?

Morale—Are team members enthusiastic about their work?

Increasing the awareness and effectiveness in all of these key areas is sure to result in teams that actively engage in more collaboration, have higher morale, and produce stellar results.

Check out: http://www.kenblanchard.com/teams_gov/

LEARNING LEADS TO IMPROVING

Here is a great article from Jack Canfield that will hopefully motivated you to continue to improve at your craft. Especially in coaching, as we get settled in to a set philosophy, there are still ways to grow...better ways to teach...new drills to apply...alterations in our systems for improvement. Look for constant methods of learning, staying sharp -- don't get stale and rusty.

What kind of reading material is on your coffee table? Or do you not have enough time to read with all the television that you watch? OK, so what kind of programs are you watching on television? The sad truth is that most people spend more time being mindlessly entertained than they do developing their skills and learning their craft.

So what are you doing right now to further your education in what you’re passionate about? Are you waiting for the right opportunity to come knocking before you will develop the skills you will need for it? Get ready now! The more information you have, the more advantage you have over the people who don’t. Reading for just one hour a day will greatly increase your level of success! There are so many things to read to develop your mind, from finance to psychology, from economics to business writing, from health to computers. For one hour a day you could be studying the wide array of subjects that can help you live successfully.

Successful people did not wait for someone to call on them to be an expert before they gathered all the knowledge they could about their specialty. They were ready when the opportunities presented themselves. Spend your time reading and learning, too. Read biographies and autobiographies to study the ways of other successful people. Read often, review what you’ve read, and apply at least one thing from what you’ve learned.

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Attend conferences, trade shows, training seminars and success rallies. Remember to be teachable! You can’t learn a thing if you think you already know it all. Just allow yourself to let go of needing to be right and looking smart. Listen to those who have achieved success. Open yourself up to letting others help you create new ways of thinking. After all, you can try something out and if it doesn’t work for you, you can discard it.

Find out what you need to know and learn in order to be ready for your opportunity. Start now! Make a list of things you could be doing to prepare yourself. Do you need to take a class in your spare time? Do you need to ask your boss what it will take to get to the next level? Do you need to research the market to find out how to break into it? Will you need to gather a library of good reference materials? Tackle your list!

And when you are successful, don’t stop your learning habits. Keep up with your industry. Keep making improvements. Keep studying the masters. Be powerful by being as knowledgeable as you can be, by learning news ways to do things, and by being more effective and efficient in your life.

The more you know about your passion, the more money you will make doing it. The more you learn in advance, the better your chances of landing the opportunity when it comes to you, and the better your chances of creating the opportunity for yourself!

KEVIN EASTMAN TIPS FOR SHOOTING

1. Be ready on the catch.

2. Ten toes to the rim.

3. Only change his form if the shot doesn’t go in. Make him the best worst form shooter.

4. Two second rule: As soon as it’s 1 cm into our players fingers I’m counting one two. Players don’t have a great understanding of game speed when working out.

5. The better the shooter you are, the better your shot fake needs to be. Definition of a shot fake is a real shot that you don’t shoot.

6. When you chart your players’ shots give them percentages for free-throws, lay-ups, jump shots and three-point shots.

7. Break it down so they know what to work on.

8. Players can be receptive to stats.

JIM ROHN ON BOOKS & READING

Miss a meal if you have to, but don’t miss a book.

Some people claim that it is OK to read trashy novels because sometimes you can find something valuable in them. You can also find a crust of bread in a garbage can, if you search long enough, but there is a better way.

Most homes valued at over $250,000 have a library. That should tell us something.

Everything you need for your better future and success has already been written. And guess what? It’s all available. All you have to do is go to the library. And there’s probably a library in every neighborhood.

Some people read so little they have rickets of the mind.

I now have one of the better libraries. I admit that I haven’t read everything in my library, but I feel smarter just walking in it.

Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.

The book you don’t read won’t help.

Books are easy to find and easy to buy. A paperback these days only costs six or seven dollars. You can borrow that from your kids!

It isn’t what the book costs; it’s what it will cost if you don’t read it.

JON GORDON'S QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE

Forwarded to me via my mentor and junior high school coach Allen Osborne comes a great post from Jon Gordon:

This past month I had the opportunity to speak to the University of Texas football team and The Atlanta Falcons. In my talks I shared that the best of the best make their life and work a quest for excellence and that there is a difference between success and excellence.

Success is often measured by comparison to others. Excellence, on the other hand, is all about being the best we can be and maximizing our gifts, talents and abilities to perform at our highest potential.

We live in a world that loves to focus on success and loves to compare. We are all guilty of doing this. However, I believe that to be our best we must focus more on excellence and less on success. We must focus on being the best we can be and realize that our greatest competition is not someone else but ourselves.

For example, coaching legend John Wooden often wouldn’t tell his players who they were playing each game. He felt that knowing the competition was irrelevant. He believed that if his team played to the best of their ability they would be happy with the outcome. In fact, John Wooden never focused on winning. He had his team focus on teamwork, mastering the fundamentals, daily improvement and the process that excellence requires. As a result he and his teams won A LOT.

A focus on excellence was also the key for golfing legend Jack Nicklaus. His secret was to play the course not the competition. He simply focused on playing the best he could play against the course he was playing. While others were competing against Jack, he was competing against the course and himself.

The same can be said for Apple’s approach with the iPod, iPhone and iPad. When they created these products they didn’t focus on the competition. Instead they focused on creating the best product they could create. As a result, rather than measuring themselves against others they have become the measuring stick.

We have a choice as individuals, organizations and teams. We can focus on success and spend our life looking around to see how our competition is doing, or we can look straight ahead towards the vision of greatness we have for ourselves and our teams. We can look at competition as the standard or as an indicator of our progress towards our own standards. We can chase success or we can embark on a quest for excellence and focus 100% of our energy to become our best... and let success find us.

Ironically, when our goal is excellence the outcome and byproduct is often success.

COACH MEYER AWARD JOHN BUNN LIFETIME ACHIEVMENT AWARD AT NAISMITH HALL OF FAME

This past weekend, Coach Don Meyer received the John Bunn Lifetime Acheivement Award during the Naismith Hall of Fame weekend. In true Coach Meyer fashion he took absolutely no credit and passed it around to everyone else.

His very first comment on stage was to thank all the behind the scenes people that were responsible for putting the event on. Those that know Coach, knew this would be his first words on stage.

His second set of comments were for John Bunn, the name bearer of the award and he educated quite a few as to the accomplishments of Bunn.

Next he thanked his family and the coaches who had taught him his craft.

Fourth on the list was Coach John Wooden followed by his players and his staff throughout the years.

"My wish is that every coach would coach for the love of the kids and the love of the game. And that everybody would strive to be a servant leader. You're no leader at all if you're not servant to the people you lead."
-Don Meyer

Of course, his speech was sprinkled with his classic humor but you'll have to watch the video below to hear it -- it's well worth a few minutes of your time. Coach Meyer represents so many of us -- "make the big time where you are" -- and Coach Meyer this past weekend was on an extremely big stage!

DON'T WAIT!

"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right."

Start where you stand, and work with whatever

tools you may have at your command, and better

tools will be found as you go along."

-- Napoleon Hill, Writer (via Brian Tracy)

BRIAN TRACY ON LISTENING POWER

We've spoke several times here on the topic of communication. X & O's certainly vary -- regardless of sport of level. But when you look at the absolute best coaches in any sport they are all called "communicators." Certainly the spoken word is important when teaching but it is only of full value when listening comes first. Great leaders are great listeners. Here is what Brian Tracy has to say recently about the listening and how we can be better at it:

The art of good conversation centers very much on your ability to ask questions and to listen attentively to the answers. You can lace the conversation with your insights, ideas, and opinions, but you perfect the art and skill of conversation by perfecting the art and skill of asking good, well-worded questions that direct the conversation and give other people an opportunity to express themselves.

Ask Open Ended Questions
Ask open-ended questions that cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." Open-ended questions encourage the speaker to expand on his thoughts and comments. And one question will lead to another. You can ask open-ended questions almost endlessly, drawing out of the other person everything that he or she has to say on a particular subject.

Be Content to Listen
In order to be an excellent conversationalist, you must resist the urge to dominate the discussion. The very best conversationalists seem to be low-key, easy-going, cheerful, and genuinely interested in the other person. They seem to be quite content to listen when other people are talking and they make their own contributions to the dialogue rather short and to the point.

Share the Opportunity to Talk
In fact, good conversation has an easy ebb and flow, like the tide coming in and going out. Whether it is between two people or among several, the conversation should shift back and forth, with each person getting an opportunity to talk. Conversation in this sense is like a ball that is tossed from person to person, with no one holding on to it for very long.

If you feel that you have been talking for too long, you should stop and ask a question of someone in the group. You will be tossing the conversational ball and giving that individual an opportunity to converse.

Learn to Listen Well
Listening is the most important of all skills for successful conversation. Many people are very poor listeners. Since everyone enjoys talking, it takes a real effort to practice the fundamentals of excellent listening and to make them a habit.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, make a habit of asking good, open-ended questions of others in every conversation and in response to problems or difficulties. This shows interest and increases your understanding.

Second, take a deep breath, relax and let the other person talk more. Practice over and over until you become an excellent listener.

Be sure to check out www.BrianTracy.com

COACHES SHOULD WORK ON IMPROVEMENT JUST LIKE OUR PLAYERS

The following comes from the blog of Coach Brendan Suhr:

One of the biggest coaching points that I attempted to emphasize at CoachingULive was that as a College or Pro Coach you have spend time (minimum of 1 hour) per day in the off season on your own game! Just as you want your players to be working on their individual skill development, you need to do the same! I’ve had college coaches come up to me since Villa 7 on May 16th thru CUL say I’m recruiting, when am I supposed to find the time? Get up earlier, stay up later, on the plane, have your assistant drive you read. What should I be working on?

Check out Coach Surh's site: http://coachbrendansuhr.com/

COACH WOODEN ON "FIGHT"

A very special thanks to Scott Shepard for passing this onto me. It is a passage from Coach John Wooden:

"Fight is a determined effort to do the very best we can do. On the basketball court, fight is measured by hustle: diving to the floor for loose balls, sprinting to fill a lane on a fast break, taking a charge, picking up a missed defensive assignment or stealing the ball from an opposing player. It's digging in, gritting our teach, standing our ground. When we have fight, we are always ready to respond. We are quick, but we don't hurry. We make fewer mistakes, because we have the level of our intensity under control. A player with fight has a contained fire burning in his or her belly. This emerges as focused passion. Players with fight never lose a game; they just run out of time. Therese days, I hear a lot of talk about getting up for a big game. No game should be bigger than any other. People with fight can't get up any higher for an important game because they get up for every game. When people with fight step onto the floor, they always give everything they have to give, whether it's for practice, a scrimmage or a championship game. There's no such thing as losing when we've made the effort to do the best we can do. If we use our fight and determination to do our best, success will take care of itself."