August, 2014 | Coach Pat Sullivan

24 Aug

The Value of Encouragement

William Barclay wrote: “We have a duty to encourage one another. Many a time a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet.”

Ken Blanchard wrote that it is a good idea to walk around and CATCH a person doing something GOOD and compliment him or her.

In their book, In Search of Excellence, authors Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman made the point that one of the problems in corporate America is that top officers in companies – vice-presidents, presidents, and CEOs – fail to come to the people making the company successful – secretaries, assembly line workers, and truck drivers – and thank them for all they do.

I saw the importance of encouragement in my playing days. I played for one coach who hardly ever encouraged us but constantly criticized our play. And his criticism was not just directed to our play. He regularly criticized our personhood, saying sarcastic remarks that had nothing to do with our play. I did complete two seasons playing for him but got so tired of the caustic criticisms that I did consider quitting a game that I loved to play a number of times.

I saw this also in my coaching days. We had a player transfer to us who had played for coaches similar to the coach I played for. The criticism was constant and personal. He could be going to lunch, have the coaches run into him, and immediately his courage and commitment were questioned. He was told he’d never be a good player because he had no guts. The degrading comments were thrown his way both on and off the court and they continued all year. He told me by the end of the year, he actually didn’t care if he ever played again.

I played for a college coach, Gordie Gillespie, who approached his leadership totally opposite the above coaches. He constantly encouraged us to strive to be the best we could be. He definitely let us know when our play was lacking, in no uncertain terms, but it was ONLY about our play, never about our personhood. And his comments also went beyond the playing court or field, with one major exception. His remarks were positive and encouraging.

Leaders who use encouragement and positive feedback definitely enhance a workplace….Something to think about.

17 Aug

Emphasizing Emphasis: Bob Boyd and Jimbo Fisher

Bob Boyd, the former University of Southern California basketball coach, and Jimbo Fisher, the current Florida State University football coach, both had insightful comments on coaching that may be beneficial for leaders.

Boyd taught coaches at clinics that, “it’s not what you teach; it’s what you emphasize.” We’d like our teams to be good at everything, but you only have so much practice time. Therefore, it is important to ascertain the most important things that will lead to winning and then make those concepts the main points of emphasis.

At St. Francis, we felt the most important things that led to success were the fundamentals. So, balance, footwork, passing, dribbling, shooting and the defensive fundamentals became the cornerstones of our basketball program. We felt if we emphasized the fundamentals, the offenses and defenses would fall into place.

Jimbo Fisher’s Florida State football team was last year’s national champions. As he and his staff analyzed their championship season, they came up with a different approach to this year’s season. Most coaches look at a past season and see where their team failed, then put in systems and drills in practice to improve on their deficits.

Fisher and his staff reversed the above concept. They looked at what they did well and continued with the systems to sustain their strengths. They didn’t want to lose what they did well by emphasizing their weaknesses.

These two concepts may be valuable for leaders to reflect on.

“It’s not what you teach; it’s what you emphasize.”

Analyze what your organization is doing well at the year’s end and be sure to sustain it.

03 Aug

Leaders and Decision-Making

The most important and possibly the most difficult task a leader has to do may be decision-making. The proverbial buck does stop with the leader and more often than not, he or she will be judged by the decisions he/she makes.

I’d like to share three thoughts with you to consider when making decisions. See if you think these concepts have merit.

For its 75^th anniversary Fortune Magazine dedicated the entire edition to one concept – decision-making. They interviewed leaders from the business, military, education, and political worlds on their philosophies of decision-making. Because I was the Athletic Chair serving 350 student-athletes and 35 coaches at the time, I was most interested in learning more about this topic. After reading every article in the magazine, I thought the most insightful comment came from Jim Collins, the author of “From Good to Great.” He said the best decisions made in business board rooms in the past 25 years, regardless of the business, began with the same three words from the leaders – “I don’t know.” As I thought about this, I realized that the strongest and most secure leaders I worked with were those not afraid to say, “I don’t know.”

Cardinal Newman once wrote about faith stating, “A thousand doubts don’t make one disbelief.” Decision-making is tough because the most difficult decisions do involve doubt. That is why if your decisions ultimately come from your core beliefs, you do eliminate some of the doubt. The great leaders I worked with always operated from their core beliefs and they did one more thing to attack doubt. They got as much feedback as possible from their constituency, then made the final decision.

When Rose Kennedy was asked how she dealt with all the tragedies she experienced in her lifetime, she gave this answer. “When the storm is over, the birds do sing.” The most trying decisions a leader has to make are usually made during a storm. It may have merit for leaders to remind themselves during the throes of making a decision that tough times do come to an end.

Realizing that you don’t have all the answers, that you make your decisions based on your core beliefs, and that the birds do sing after the storm may help you in your decision-making.

01 Aug

Lessons from Frank Thomas: Know the Zone, Keep it Simple

Frank Thomas was inducted last weekend into the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with two others with fairly strong Chicago-area ties: Greg Maddux (Cubs) and Tony LaRussa (White Sox).

Having been a former college and semi-pro pitcher, when Frank Thomas came to the White Sox, I thought he really looked like an excellent hitter. So, I asked the best hitter I ever pitched against, Ed Spiezio, what he thought. Ed played ten years in the Major Leagues with the Cardinals, Padres, and Sox.

Ed said there were two things that he felt would lead to a great career for Thomas – he really knew the strike zone and he had excellent discipline at the plate. He rarely swung at pitches out of the strike zone.

Just like Thomas knew the strike zone, leaders have to know their business. I always admired our local 7UP Company. When college graduates came to work there, they all began their careers on the truck. They learned the beverage business from the ground floor.

Joey Meyer, the former DePaul basketball coach, once made an interesting observation on our two coaching careers. He said I was fortunate to begin coaching at the high school freshman level, whereas he began at the college level. His point was I had to learn the game from the most elementary level. I had to learn the simplicity of the game, the fundamentals of the game.

Thomas had discipline at the plate. Leaders cannot jump at all the new ideas. They have to have the patience and discipline to judge what fits their business and what does not.

Knowing the strike zone and having discipline at the plate led Frank Thomas to a Hall of Fame career. Keeping things simple and having the discipline to stay with that simplicity can make for a Hall of Fame career.