We talk a lot about what coaches want from their athletes. This is an important topic because it helps us help our athletes define and develop certain positive values and behaviors. We don't talk as much about what athletes want or need from their coaches. This is an equally important question because athletes who respect and trust their coaches are more likely to give their best to the team. We haven't found much research on what athletes want from their coaches. But there is a wealth of research on what people in general admire in their leaders, and it is interesting to examine how these findings might also fit the player-coach relationship.
We talk a lot about what coaches want from their athletes. This is an important topic because it helps us help our athletes define and develop certain positive values and behaviors. We don't talk as much about what athletes want or need from their coaches. This is an equally important question because athletes who respect and trust their coaches are more likely to give their best to the team. We haven't found much research on what athletes want from their coaches. But there is a wealth of research on what people in general admire in their leaders, and it is interesting to examine how these findings might also fit the player-coach relationship.
Take for example the extensive database of research compiled by James Kouzes and Barry Posner in support of their book and training series called The Leadership Challenge. Over the past 20 years Kouzes and Posner have asked upwards of 100,000 people from the United States and beyond what they most admire in a leader they would voluntarily follow. Kouzes and Posner identify 20 factors which are consistently named on these surveys.
These include the following characteristics:
•Honest, forward-looking, competent, inspiring
•Intelligent, fair-minded, broad-minded, supportive
•Straightforward, dependable, cooperative, determined
•Imaginative, ambitious, courageous, caring
•Mature, loyal, self-controlled, independent.
As we scan these characteristics of admired leaders, it is reasonable to assume that athletes admire the same characteristics in the coaches who lead them. As coaches we can use this information to take stock of own leadership impact on our athletes. To the extent we demonstrate the characteristics of admired leaders in our relationships with our athletes, we are more likely to infuse them with the trust and motivation they need to give their best to the team and get the most out of their talent. In the process, we can help our teams elevate their performance and help our athletes learn the positive life skills organized sports are supposed to teach.
