In business we love to use sport cliché’s (at least I do) and talk about winning as well as use the term coaching versus managing, but are we just talking or are we walking the walk? For example I was just with a client conducting a workshop and one of the managers stated, “I hire athletes”, I asked him why and he said, “Because they are competitors and they understand the development of skills.” Great perspective but unfortunately what makes athletes great athletes is having great coaches making them better by demanding they practice every day and spend time focusing them on the basics.
The greatest activity the business world can take from the sports world is the commitment and dedication to team practices. Athletes practice 90% of the time and play 10% of the time, in business we practice less than 1% of the time. When managers and leaders learn how to implement and mandate weekly and monthly practice sessions then they can say they are truly coaching their teams.
It would be difficult for any sports team or athlete to be successful if they did not practice several times a week, and the same can be said for us in business. Ask yourself this one question, ‘If your employees practiced their next meeting, presentation, or client interaction three times prior to the actual event, would they be better’? Yes!
In business we ask our managers to coach their employees, yet we never teach them how to be coaches. No matter your job or culture, if you learn to practice, your team and your results will improve!
