Pressure Tactics: Be the Hammer or Be Adaptable?
There is a difference between what I'm about to describe and "tough love."
High standards and high empathy are acceptable...
Always being a hammer and only having one tool in the toolbox is not.
The Way You Were Coached(Probably)
Okay, so should we just do away with the fear-based pressure tactic only coach?
You know, the way you were coached as a kid?
Where some guy just yelled at you and demanded you do stuff for him without proving for a second that he cared about you?
Demands, threats, persistent reminders are what make up pressure tactics.
You know the coach...
Well, unfortunately for a whole host of reasons, that coach is still coaching, sometimes at the highest level in sport. Some are getting fired from D1 sports as I'm writing this. They are out there, it's not just reserved for the youth sports coach that went to one coaching course so he could coach his son in little league. These men and women are coaching high-level athletes all over the country.
So the pressure tactic does 2 things:
1. It creates a state of fear which leads the athlete to see less on the field, feel worse in their own head and body. They get tight, their decision-making suffers, they don't play as well. Not a very desirable outcome for the player or the coach.
2. It builds compliance, not trust.
In terms of the 2 outcomes, we are looking for when coaching someone: task and relation. We want them to get the job done but present it in a way where we also improve the relationship with the player, that's skillful coaching.
The pressure tactic might get the task done for the coach but it doesn't build a stronger relationship.
We should aim for task and relation, not just task.
Just getting the task done without improving the relationship builds compliance from the athletes who are just doing things because the coach wants them to. And there is no connection.
Buy in= trust + commitment
If you don't have both, do you really have anything?
If you don't have both, what values are you really broadcasting to your players?
If you don't have both, adapt, or step aside...
We don't have to lower the bar. You can have high standards and high empathy at the same time. The deepest levels of commitment on the players’ end to uphold the standards you want to require the deepest levels of trust to be built before that end result happens.
Take an approach that begins with the end in mind. Netflix is among the many that ask their teams and leaders this one question. What does exceptional success look like?
If we are operating at the highest level possible in 7 months when playoffs start:
What does it look like?
What does practice look like? Feel like? Sound like?
What does the locker room look like? Feel like? Sound like?
What do I as a coach sound like?
Are my players stopping by my office or avoiding any contact with me?
Are my players noticeably tight during games and afraid to make mistakes?
Are they relaxed and playing free?
Do my players engage in meetings or are they just waiting for them to end?
What does the bench sound like when we are down 2 goals in a game?
What does an off-ice training session look like?
What does a team meal look like?
I'm guessing only being a hammer isn't the answer to any of these.
You might be better served to teach your athletes to manage their own state, scan their options, commit to a choice without fear of failure and review that choice immediately after to take an additional mental rep.
Coaching is hard.
Driving compliance is easier.
Choosing who you want to be and if you want to change might be the hardest...