(BLOG 17) FEEDBACK and Top 20 Coaches!
Check out a quick video regarding this topic: https://youtu.be/RKCbEEItzCU
Feedback is the breakfast of champions. When we are in our Top 20 growth mindset mode, we are constantly hungry for input on how we are doing. Once we slip into Bottom 80 thinking, we avoid feedback like the plague; we want to stay away from anyone or anything that questions our (sometimes dysfunctional) behaviors.
Coaches are great examples. Successful coaches are always, always improving. They seek critical feedback. They know that the feedback they receive can change their frame, their approach, and their actions. Successful coaches practice Kaizen. Kaizen is the Japanese word that means continual, gradual, never-ending improvement.
Affirming feedback (“you are the greatest coach of all time”) is nice to hear,…but it does nothing to improve or enhance the experience. Critical feedback (“you are way off base here”) is difficult to hear; however, it can be a game-changer for the coach and his/her student-athletes.
It is really tempting for head coaches to surround themselves with assistant coaches who will shy away from confronting them with critical feedback. This week’s link (listed above) discusses the choices Tom made with his assistant girls basketball coaches. Even though he won hundreds of high school games, he never really developed as a coach until he became willing to listen to those people who saw things differently than he did.
Let’s wrap this up with an example from outside the education and coaching world: Airplane pilots are flying all over the planet today. Hopefully they will be taking direction and listening to critical feedback from the people in the air traffic control booths! It turns out there are others around us all the time that have the benefit of seeing things a little differently.
Are you willing to take direction today from your air traffic controllers today? We are!!!
Contact us to hear how we can open up this topic further with your coaches, students, faculty/staff, or business: info@top20training.com
