Are You an Effective Coach with a Winning Team?

You may think it strange that a business coach is asking you about your coaching skills. However, as a business leader, you have a responsibility to build and maintain a winning team of employees. Coaching in sports and coaching in business have many similarities. Today, we’re going to look at the top 10 things that great coaches do well.

Exercise: Rate your business coaching performance. For each of these, honestly rate your business coaching performance on a scale of 1 to 10…with 10 being excellent. At the end, total your score out of 100 and see how you stack up.

1. – Are you passionate?

   Effective coaches are passionate about winning and committed to doing the work required to make that happen. Are you passionate about winning and committed to doing the work?

2. – Have you hired the right people?

   Effective coaches put together a winning team. They recruit players with both the skill and the attitude to get the job done. They know that one ‘toxic’ player can wreck the entire team.

   Have you put together a winning team with the talent, skills and the attitude to get the job done?

3. – Do your team members know what role they are supposed to play?

   They assign each player a specific position with specific responsibilities, based on their talent, skill and experience. Then they reassign positions when their original decision isn’t working.

Do your ‘players’ have specific assignments and responsibilities and, if it isn’t working out, do you reassign them to another position for which they may be better suited?

4. – Are you keeping an eye on the competition?

   Effective coaches study the competition to understand their strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Do you know who your competitors are, what they do well and where they’re most vulnerable?

5. – Have you planned to win?

   Based on their competitive analysis, they create a winning ‘Game Plan’. Then, they communicate that Plan to everybody on the team.

   Does your business have a winning ‘Game Plan’, in the marketplace and internally, and does everyone on your team know what it is, what their specific role is, and why that role is important?

6. – Practice makes perfect

   Coaches constantly teach the skills and reinforce the attitudes needed to win. “Training” and practice don’t just take place at the beginning of the season. They go on every week.

   Are you constantly training and coaching your staff to improve their knowledge and skills…and do you constantly reinforce and live the attitudes needed to win in your business?

7. – Do you aspire and inspire?

   Effective coaches inspire extraordinary effort. They have the ability, through their words and their example to “fire up the team”.

   Do you have the ability to “fire up your team” through your words and your actions?

8. – Do you know when to be hands-off?

   Effective coaches “send in” the odd play, but mostly they make sure that they have the right players in the right position, that each player knows their assignment…and then they let them play the game. They know that “sending in plays” all the time destroys the team’s confidence and takes away their initiative. Are you constantly “sending in plays” and micro-managing your team, or are you building a great team and letting them play?

9. – Are you tracking your (and their) progress?

   Effective coaches keep stats to measure both individual and team performance. They know who’s contributing and who’s letting the team down. Are you measuring performance? Do you know who’s performing and who’s not performing in your business?

10. – Do you hold your employees to account?

    Finally, effective coaches hold players accountable. They reward exceptional players with bonuses and they discipline or trade those who don’t perform, or who hurt the morale or effectiveness of the team.

    Do you hold people accountable in your business? Do you reward excellence and deal quickly and effectively with non-performers?

How did you do?

So, there you have it…10 key things that great coaches do well. How did you rate on each element and what was your total score? Don’t sugarcoat your results. No one is perfect, and we’ve all got at least one area where we can improve.

As you look over your strengths and weak points, think about what you can do differently in the coming weeks. Are there ways you can lean more into your strengths? When you look at your weaker aspects, what does this tell you about where you need to focus your time and attention to be a more effective leader?