Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
Communication is perhaps the most important skill you can possess. It can make or break your relationships, friendships, and partnerships — and it’s the difference between your team reaching their potential or not.
Billionaire businessman Richard Branson says “Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.”
There are no small parts — only small actors!
This phrase has been uttered countless times when it comes to acting, but it also applies beautifully to your team. You could easily say there are no small roles, only small athletes.
A car is made up of many parts, from the chassis to the motor to the tires to the lug nuts. Even though some may appear more important than others, each component of a car plays a vital part to its’ operation. An expensive luxury car doesn’t get very far if the $5 spark plug isn’t working properly.
The leadership expert and author John C. Maxwell says, “We all need someone to help us in our pursuit of intentional growth and the right mentor helps you take massive leaps forward.”
Even coaches need coaches. Maxwell talks about “intentional growth”. This is when you make the conscious decision to make yourself better.
One of the best ways to do this is with a mentor.
The College of Saint Mary athletic director Robbie Shay has announced they are partnering with Bechler Leadership in its’ search for a new women’s basketball coach.
“We believe there’s a lot of potential here,” said Shay. “With our revamped scholarships, first-class facilities, and beautiful location we wanted to maximize the opportunities available to us to get the right coach in place. Bechler Leadership has had great results filling positions at other schools and we’re excited to work with their team.”
A strong culture requires trust and chemistry among all the team members. As coaches, we usually think of this in terms of our athletes. We look at team-building as something they do, as opposed to something we do.
If you’re trying to maximize the potential of your athletes, the coaching staff must be a cohesive unit that’s on the same page. You can’t expect our athletes to trust one another, communicate effectively with one another, or support one another if you’re not doing that as well.
As a coach, you want to be successful and do all you can to achieve positive outcomes. However, sometimes you unknowingly block your team’s success.
Great teams have great teammates. No disagreements there, but it isn’t easy to find great teammates. Not everybody that makes your team will come in as a great teammate — and that is where your presence and team culture kicks in.
The clearest signal that you have an athlete that is a great teammate is their desire to serve others. When athletes have the mindset of serving other team members, the entire program benefits. Legendary basketball coach John Wooden put it well when he said, “It’s amazing what you can achieve when you don’t care who gets the credit.”
Serving others is at the very core of sports — and it’s paramount to your team’s success.
Basketball was everything to me. It was my favorite sport. When I was in 7th grade, I was riding the bus home after school. My brother, who was three years younger than me was acting up quite a bit on the bus that particular day.
As a coach, you’re constantly trying to lead your team as far as you can each season. This is true regardless of your resources or talent.
However, some coaches are blessed to be a part of programs that have high-performing individuals. High-performing teams usually have individuals that are more talented than most, but as coach, your role is to get the most out of them.
The Dos Equis guy might be called “the most interesting man in the world” but to me, Frank Bechler held that title.
This weekend is special for me.
December 10, 1943 was my dad’s birthday.
Even though he is no longer here physically, not a day goes by that I don’t think of him. His impact on me has been what you’d hope a dad’s impact would be.