Community, Players, Game: Part 2
For part 1 on community… Click here
Today we go in a different direction but on the same topic of community.
We’re a team.
What’s the other word most coaches use to describe a team?
What is a team most like?
Miracle anyone?
Not a Family…
But teams are not a family. They are not even “like a family.”
The “Old Way” operates teams like a family. The coach is the father who slams his fist at the dinner table and tells the kids what to do.
This is the antithesis of what Adam Grant states above:
“His values” not shared values
Talked “down to” not valued as an equal
No voice or devalued opinion not voice in the matter
A Community Culture
The “New Wave Coach” operates teams like a creator who leads a community.
This coaching community has a shared vision to view the industry as a blank canvas, to buck the status quo, to reverse the inefficiencies, and to actually lead.
When you reach out, I respond thoughtfully, even if you challenge me. Even if you don’t agree, you still get respect. You have a voice in this community, as does every other member.
And if you stop receiving value, you are free to unsubscribe.
Maybe we would treat our players with more respect if we treated them like subscribers to our community instead of “our kids.”
The Anti-Goal of Player-Coach Interaction
If you haven’t learned yet… I’m a big inversion guy. Avoiding disaster is often better than aiming for perfection.
The anti-goal when a player and coach talk is…
Don’t take away their self-determination. Any interaction that takes away or ruins their:
autonomy
competence
relatedness
is considered a disaster situation. This is the one we are looking to avoid.
Some people treat their family worse than they treat their co-workers or in our case, the members of the community.
If you’re impulsive with your own kids but patient with a member in the online community you operate, then you are a better version of yourself to members than you are to your own kids.
This is why I caution the “family culture” most coaches aim to create. If you treat your interactions with community members with more intention, curiosity, and skill than your own kids, then create a “community culture” in your team.
Being a Copy Means… Copying Errors Too
Lastly… Everyone is trying to be a family culture. Do the same things they do, get the same results and copy the same errors.
Where is the competitive advantage in that?
Avoid the disaster, operate as a community.
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