Coaches Needed

 I am always amazed when you consider professional athletes who are paid millions of dollars a year and perhaps have been in the profession for years, that there is always a coach there to help guide, motivate and correct their mistakes. You may have observed however, that there are many different coaching styles exhibited at all stages of the game from public schools to the highest levels of professional sports.  Some have a leadership style that is called in your face and that is exactly where they are.  It’s confrontational and shows what some might term a tough love (Bobby Knight).  While others utilize a different style of motivation and are seen as low-keyed individuals who practice a type of Zen and mental approach to the game (Phil Jackson).  Either way can be a successful way of producing winners.  But one must be willing to buy into their philosophy and follow their system. 

Just look at what happened to Kobe Bryant when he first came into the NBA and was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team.  Phil Jackson, who had produced championships with the Chicago Bulls and coached Michael Jordan to multiple championships, was Kobe’s head coach now.  As a young kid right out of high school, Kobe had an extreme amount of self-confidence knowing that he would be the next Michael Jordan. That is not a bad thing at all and most champions see themselves that way. But, what he didn’t realize that he had to be part of a system now.  The system that Phil Jackson used, coupled with his coaching style was completely different than the way Kobe saw it.  Kobe thought he had a better way and could do it all by himself.  He was a great player, but lost sight of the team concept and how important it could be to involve the team and follow Phil’s system.  The results was that the Laker’s went through a lot of trial and error before they learned how to work as a team and not just a lot of good players doing their own thing. 

The Laker organization tried many ways to make it all come together but you notice they didn’t make the coach change his ways to please the star players.  There was a reason they hired Phil Jackson and it was precisely to mold and develop a team based upon his system.  He was a proven winner.  Now, fast forward to today and you see that Kobe has learned to play within the system and so have all the other players as well.  Kobe is now a team player and listening to the coach and inspiring the younger players to follow the system as well.  The results, the Lakers are a team that has gone through some challenges but is once again becoming a success based on a winning system and a key leader – Kobe Bryant.  What can you take away from that example for yourself?

You should be looking to find the right coach and system that you want to be part of.  Is it one that is going to help make you a winner if you do your part?  Is it leadership and coaching from someone who is in touch with you as a person and can provide you with the type of coaching style that fits what you need?  Do you need a Bobby Knight style? Someone who is in your face and micro-managing your development or someone who practices a more subtle form of leadership by teaching and then sits back and lets you do what you’ve been coached to do while making suggestions and corrections.  Sometimes letting people fail and yet learning from their failures and helping pick them up and then teaching and growing from those experiences. 

You chose. 

Jordan Crouter
cell: 949-310-6998
www.jordancrouter.com
jordancrouter@gmail.com