Coaches Clipboard

Your habits are a preview of your destiny.

Your habits are a preview of your destiny.

Our “Coaches Clipboard” is a collection of pertinent phrases, knowledge and wisdom. Shared (almost) every Sunday, it’s our "thinking menu" with some bits and pieces we came across…

#sharetheknowledge 🙂

Read. Enjoy. Think. Share.

1. Your habits are a preview of your destiny.

2. Be and stay teachable. You're not always right.

3. You are a product of your decisions.

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Quit being a transactional leader

In 1998, an American football college team was about to face its toughest test of an already-trying season.   

Their coach, nervous and in the hot seat, didn’t really believe his team stood a chance against his opponent, undefeated No. 1 team. He had little idea what to tell his players leading up to the all important game.  

So, he sought professional help.

“Forget about the outcome,” a psychiatrist told him. “There are no external factors. There’s no scoreboard. Play one play at a time like it has a history and life of its own.”

Then, he added a final nugget.

“And quit being a transactional leader. Be a transformational leader. Be somebody who somebody can emulate.”

The coach was Nick Saban, and in the ensuing days, his team would pull off the biggest upset of the college football season.

Decades later, Saban still reflects on that conversation with the psychiatrist as sparking a critical transformation from a transactional leader to a transformational one.

“When we won the game, I was happy. I was positive. I gave people positive, self-gratification,” Saban said recently.
“When we didn’t have success and we lost, I criticized people. I was hard on people.”

It’s an important message with some key takeaways.

Most of us, as coaches, are in results-driven professions where our success and capabilities are measured by our wins an various other key performance indicators.  

As a result, we can become increasingly demanding and critical of our team if we’re not getting the outcomes we want.

But often, when our players are struggling, they need direction and to hear something positive. And they need to be reminded that we’re still in the fight with them.

Saban would go on to win many titles and is widely regarded as among the greatest coaches in the US. But had it not been for some early coaching struggles and a crucial conversation seeking help, he may not have learned a critical lesson that would guide him in the years to come.

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