"OPPS, wrong Coach." Come to think of it though, Coach Brooks did actually coach the Wings, but never had the pleasure of hoisting the cup. Coach Bowman though, never had the chance to win an Olympic Gold Medal. Either way, both Coach's great accomplishments, one in a single Olympic year and the other over a long storied NHL career, surely had nothing to do with Miracles, at least in their eyes. That Miracle line, used by Al Michaels to frame the final seconds of the huge underdog USA team beating the Soviets was great prose. But if Coach Brooks actually thought it would have taken a miracle, my guess is that he never would have been able to actually to convince his players that they actually could pull it off. What people often don't understand is that coaches like Herb Brooks and Scotty Bowman were winners because that's exactly what they planned and believed they were. Their entire mentality was winning and losing never entered their mind. That may seem obvious, but in reality it's a lot less common than fans, players and organizations really understand.
That's the great irony of a line like "Do you Believe in .......", it may frame the way the fans and even the favorite in that game might be thinking, but surely not the viewpoint of the underdog coach. To convince your players that you can indeed pull off the big win, your players must first be convinced that you, as the coach, actually believe it's a possibility. More than that, underdog players are far more likely to read subtle messages that winning is almost impossible rather than the other more difficult challenge. ie It's a lot easier to take the easier path than accept the far more difficult challenge. The above brings us to the real focus of this post. "What role and at what level does a coach's believes drive the team."
There's been numerous studies that have concluded there is a direct correlation between expectations and performance. In other words, people will perform to the level they are expected to. One of the ongoing debates in education is how to raise the bar for students in challenged environments, where the expectations are so low. Quotes like "whether you think you can or if you can't, your right," by Henry Ford or “High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.” by Charles Kettering, also speak to this idea. Coaches, whether realizing it or not are constantly communicating to both their team and individual players about the expectations they have for them. Besides the direct verbal communications, the indirect interactions, like body language, varied time spent on different topics or individuals are all cues perceived by players. What many coaches don't realize is that if their words don't line up with their indirect communications, players not only learn to not trust the coach, but actually believe the indirect communications far more than the spoken word.
This brings us back to our two coaches from above. The 1980 Olympic team that won the gold was obviously led by a coach that believed with all his heart that his team could pull this off. Surely he knew it would take an upset and he actually painted that exact and honest picture to his players that it would be an upset when they won. But that honest message to his team actually built on his credibility and believability and when he painted the detailed picture of why the Soviets were ripe for defeat, how the 10-4 loss to the Soviets, just three weeks before was a plus,they had every reason to believe him.
Coach Bowman on the other hand has always been known as a talented indirect communicator. In fact, many of his former coaches and players, have stated that his direct communications skills were so bad that he smartly had assistant coaches on his staffs to handle the bulk of the direct communication. However, his indirect communication skills were so convincing and his believe in success so strong, that his players were able to understand his message much better than Coach Bowman could actually articulate it. Watching him on the bench all those years, you always had the feeling he was in total control of the entire game. That no situation or move needed would be missed. One example that has always left an impression on these exact points was a time out the Coach Bowman took late in one of his Redwing seasons where the team was trying to lock up home ice for the entire playoffs. This timeout was taken about 2/3s of the way through the second period with the Wings holding a one goal lead. The wings had taken back to back penalties and killed off the first half of the 5 on 3 with Federov, Lidstrom and Chelios on the ice. With a stoppage in play, Coach Bowman called a timeout and the three penalty killers came over for a drink and some words of wisdom. They had their drink, but Coach Bowman spent the entire timeout talking with his assistant coaches and not a word was spoken to the players. The TV commentator picked up on this, what could any coach possibly say to arguably the three best penalty killers in the world that they didn't already know this late in the season. What a positive message of trust that this move must have sent to all those on his team.
So the question "Do You Believe?" seems to be one that your players could answer, maybe even better than the coach himself. Any Thoughts ????
No comments:
Post a Comment