Improv(e) your Coaching
Create the Space for it to Take Place
This is a 2 part collaboration with Greg Revak. These articles can be read in either order. To read his related post on Improv(ing) Team- Play… Click Here
Coaches are environment creators. They build and teach systems that over time make them redundant. When players have the permission to use their creativity and create the masterpiece on the ice, magic happens. Much like great coaches, great improv groups create environments to:
Explore what is possible
Give the game back to the players
Support and serve teammates
Make the game fun
Improv has given us the blueprint to create better players which creates a better team.
What is Hockey?
Hockey is a chaotic sport. Unlike American football, hockey doesn’t have defined breaks in the action other than intermission. You never know when a pause in the action might come. Plays in the NFL last about 7 seconds, but out on the ice, the game may not be interrupted for 14 minutes. Players must make decisions on the fly and cannot rely on coaches to dictate what everyone will do.
The pace of a game also leads to chaos. Unlike basketball where most teams let you dribble down into their end, slow the game down, and then call scripted offensive movements… In hockey, you’re almost always getting pressured by a primary forechecker.
With these constraints, we can’t control our players with Xbox controllers. They need room to improvise solutions to the problems in high-pressure moments. The game is for the players. Let’s give it back to them.
Why Does the Environment Lead to Success in Improv and Hockey?
Outstanding improv and coaching environments share 2 main ideas:
Create Psychological Safety
If players don’t have permission to take risks and create, they won’t. The leader must create these permissions.
Improv sends signals that:
It’s okay to take risks here
It’s okay to fail/look stupid
We will cover your mistakes and “make you look good”
Great coaching is much of the same messaging:
Avoiding all risk will stunt your creativity and player development
Mistakes are part of the development process
The staff and your teammates support your attempt to “make a play”
Send signals of psychological safety and watch your improv group or hockey team create a masterpiece. Create the space for it to take place.
Improve Chemistry in the Group
The mindset shift towards “service to others” instantly makes your group better on the ice.
The player now feels a responsibility to the puck carrier and vice-versa. You’ve increased the skin in the game for everyone on the ice.
Ex: With this newfound personal responsibility environment where service to others is above all, it’s no longer acceptable to say…
“Johnny didn’t send me a good pass.” Instead, we flip blame to ownership and the player asks…
How can I help you make a better pass? Should I have taken a better route? Did I arrive too early/too late? Did I arrive with too much speed? At the wrong speed for the situation? Was my stick not presented well?
How can I make my teammate “look” better?
How can I help them succeed?
Now we are solving instead of blaming.
We are together on the mission instead of dividing.
How to Use the Improv Blueprint?
This environment isn’t just going to happen. As the coach, you must create this intentionally.
One way to create this environment is to use Brett Ledbetter’s system:
Define: What “service to others” or “everyone else is most important” (or whatever soundbite you want to use) means in your culture.
Manage: Call out and recognize when the behavior happens, converse and convert when it doesn’t happen up to standard.
Model: Making sure you are creating and behaving up to the standard yourself. You are the model as the coach.
Define, manage and model it. Create the environment so your team can create the masterpiece.
Now the only question is… How will you take your first step?