8 December 2008
Great Coaching is a Skill to be Mastered
Posted by Dan DeMuth under: PIM Articles .
Wayne Gretzky played at the highest level on the ice and he made it look easy. It was almost as if he didn’t have to try hard to be great - he was simply The Great One. Surely Gretzky can teach us all about sustaining high performance as a player, but what would he have to say about coaching?
-He would probably say that he has a lot to learn as a coach.
When he took off his skates and headed to the bench to coach, many thought that this would come naturally to him as well. Clearly, this wasn’t the case. Gretzky has been the Phoenix Coyotes coach since 2005 and they are yet to make the playoffs under his reign. They have been very close, but have tended to fall short and finish near the bottom of their division.
Even a great player, or arguably the greatest player of all time can learn a thing or two about coaching. Wild GM Doug Risebrough suggests that coaching is an art that must be learned. He explained that “if you look at the best coaches in the league, they didn’t start that way” -2007 Star Tribune article.
Coaching is not something you just naturally succeed at; it takes effort and patience. Here at Performance in Motion, we give people the tools to accelerate this learning curve that is a part of great coaching. We inform leaders about how to get the most out of their employees’ potential. We also share the secrets of self-coaching where we become aware of how to maximize our own potenial to succeed.
2 Comments so far...
Dan DeMuth Says:
8 December 2008 at 3:11 pm.
To contrast the Gretzky situation, here’s a story about somebody who has allowed others to coach him and as a result has become a very successful coach, himself.
Paul Azinger, the last Ryder Cup captain, coached the U.S. to a victory at Valhalla even without Tiger Woods. He attributes much of his coaching success to a “multifaceted team-building strategy” that he formulated with the help of his life/business coach Ron Braund and his friend Olin Browne. This approach allowed players to feed off each other and help manage the pressure situations inherent to the Ryder Cup. More importantly, this apporach represents team work both on the part of players and coaches. That is, Azinger, although the head coach, allowed others to help coach him to become a more effective coach. This is exactly what we do at Performance in Motion. Business leaders are coached by Dan DeMuth, but they also coach each other at our roundtable discussions. Together we have established a network of coahces that translates into success from the the top down in individuals’ companies or business teams.
Come experience this coaching network for yourself.
teamwork skills Says:
15 December 2008 at 7:24 pm.
Business Week gives teens ‘hands-on’ experience in running a company. SHARPSVILLE, Pa. — The entire junior class at Sharpsville High School is not reporting to its assigned seats this week. They’re not boycotting classes, nor are
