Motivating Your Coaches to Greatness
Ahh the trophy. The shimmering gold has a tantalizing effect on each eye that it catches. Every coach hopes not just to own that trophy, but to earn it. That’s what everyone is looking for… a physical representation of their hard work. A win. However, what coaches often fail to realize is that the trophy or the win is merely a second place prize. The REAL trophy is creating a great team, not a winning one. Every leader of an organization should aspire to motivate this for all direct reports and leaders on their team. 
Below are three key strategies for motivating greatness within your coaches:
- Create A Culture of Coaching: Every employee remembers what happened on their first day of work. However, what every employee remembers about their last day is who guided them along the way and helped them reach their potential. This is why it is so important to create a culture of coaching in your organizarion–when each employee has trusted mentors guiding them throughout their career, opportunities for learning and growth become apparent for both the mentee and the mentor! Coaches learn just as much from their players as their players learn from them.
- Treat Coaching as a Skill, Not an Innate Quality: Coaching may come extremely naturally to some for most this is not the case. It is important to treat it like a skill that is honed over time rather than an innate quality. Investing in development is key for any organization, and it will be for your coaches too!
- Use Failures as Learning Opportunities: Every team loses at some point, even the winning ones. However, failure or loss can serve as a greater motivator for your team, and an opportunity to discuss what part of your operations can be improved. Every good team fails, every GREAT team uses failure to create a culture of resilience.
Greatness can be defined by many different benchmarks: sales reports, engagement clicks, or perhaps, how long your team can successfully function. However, the ultimate benchmark of greatness is the ability to coach, develop, and grow your team to strive past any obstacle or loss. Look past the shimmering trophy in your peripheral view, but rather at the promising horizon that lies in your steady view.
