Lessons in leadership: What do you want your players to be doing?
Updated: Jul 17, 2023
Are you interested in some insights regarding (personal) leadership? Then read on. I collected some insights from experts from the field and came to four insights / lessons that I would like to share with you. This is the first of four articles to appear in the near future. Not interested? That is of course also possible, in that case click the screen away.
The first insight answers the question: Do you want your players to be busy being better than others or do you want them to be busy becoming the best they can be?
In sport, it's all about results, about winning. The aim of the game is to do better than another. So the answer to the above question seems like a no-brainer. You want your players to be busy being better than others. However?
The answer is more nuanced. A number of successful people, including John Wooden and Louis van Gaal, from the field are reviewed. What is their view on this? Finally, we dive into the (sports and performance) psychology literature.
What do experts from the sportsfield say?
John Wooden, born October 14, 1910, was a basketball coach at the University of California (UCLA) for over 40 years. He is considered the best college basketball coach ever. Wooden led the UCLA Bruins to an impressive 664 wins. Versus 162 losses. That's even a record. He was named NCAA College Basketball Coach of the Year six times and also went by the nickname "Coach".
In one of his lectures, Wooden tells how his father taught him never to want to be better than anyone else. He applied that lesson as a basketball coach. He taught his players to do their best to become the best they were capable of. That was the bar.
‘Never try to be better than someone else. But never cease to be the best that you can be. That’s something over which you have control. And you have no control over how good somebody else could be. […] I don’t believe you can find a player who played for me that tell you I ever mentioned winning. Now if you think I didn’t want to win you’re wrong. I probably wanted to as much as any person. But […] I wanted us to play near our level of competency and if we’re good enough we will outscore somebody and if we’re not we won’t and that’s the way it should be.’
To what extent is Wooden an exception? Is Louis van Gaal, one of the best Dutch football coaches ever, the same?
Louis van Gaal, born on August 8, 1951, became national champion in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany, he won the Champions League, the World Cup for club teams, and various national cup competitions, including the famous FA Cup in England. He was national coach of the Dutch national team three times and he has been knighted in the Order of Orange Nassau. Michiel de Hoog of De Correspondent devoted a piece to the former national coach. What did Van Gaal say?
'My greatest quality is that 10 percent extra that I can get out of a player. […] It's not even about the result […] it's about the quality of the team's game […] with the ultimate goal of constantly improving the quality of the game.'
Louis van Gaal
In the piece, De Hoog concludes that Van Gaal considers the process more important than the result. That seems to be in line with what Wooden said.
Another coach who has won a lot is Paul Assaiante. He is the squash coach of Trinity College in Hartford (USA) and holds the record for longest consecutive wins of any college sport. In a period of about 12 years he won 252 competitions and 13 national titles consecutively. Is Assaiante the same as Wooden and Van Gaal?
‘The only thing I cannot accept is a person not being all in…If you want to fail, focus on the scoreboard. Guaranteed. I’ve never seen a player or in any activity running around with a score clicker. It’s the meat of what you’re doing. It’s the nuts and bolts of the activity. It’s how engaged are you doing? What are you doing? What are your adjustments? The scoreboard takes care of itself.’
The top coaches Wooden, Van Gaal and Assaiante seem to be on the same page. Put your focus on giving yourself the maximum instead of being better than someone else. How is it viewed outside the sports fields? In healthcare, it turns out there are people who think the same way, like Dan Dworkis who is an emergency room doctor. Every day he receives several patients whose chances of survival are largely in his hands. What does Dworkis say?
‘This understanding that if my patient suffers and dies, which happens, it doesn’t matter how good you are as a doctor or how good you are at anything else, people are going to suffer and die. But the question is, what do you do with that? […] How do you handle knowing that there are times when you’re going to do the best you can and it’s not going to be enough? […] Because you can’t win every time. Nobody can win every time. […] And I come with the weight of everything that humanity has ever invented about medicine, all behind me, every other person whose shoulders I stand on. I run in that room and I do everything that I can to make that person better. And where that confidence comes from is me knowing that I have trained and continue to train, to be able to bring all that humanity has to bear, to that patient. So that moment of this person’s dying and let’s say I can’t get there in time or I get there in time but no matter what I do, they die anyway. What do you do in that moment? So one of the things that I was taught that stuck with me through my whole career that I deeply value is to say this, is to put your hand on this person’s body, after they’ve gone and to say some version of, “Thank you for teaching me, sir. I’m sorry all I could do for you today is to learn. I’m sorry all I could do for you today is to learn.” Because sometimes that’s all we can do for each other. We can’t stop the suffering. We can’t stop the chaos. We can’t protect them from the barnacles and the reefs or the Covid or whatever it is’
This insight is also endorsed from the psychological angle. Jordan Peterson, born June 12, 1962, is a private practice clinical psychologist, author of several books, podcast, and whose classes at the University of Toronto have been viewed millions of times on YouTube.
In the Modern Wisdom Podcast 307, Peterson says that people he has helped thank him for the insight to focus on themselves instead of comparing themselves to others. Peterson explains, from minute 25, how you can focus on your own development and what effects this has. The bottom line is that people like to work towards something and experience more positive emotions when they do not compare themselves with others, but with themselves. For example, comparing yourself to yourself leads to more enthusiasm for personal progress. It also stimulates the ability to encourage yourself to take new steps in your development, without depending on others. And when you keep taking steps in your development, you are capable of a lot. Or in the words of Peterson: 'Incremental improvement repeated is virtually unstoppable.'
What does the (sports & performance) literature say?
Damon Burton is a professor of sports and performance psychology at the University of Idaho (USA) and he formulated a theory that distinguishes three types of goals. Burton distinguishes them in result, performance and process goals. These three types of goals can coexist and even better, you can connect them with each other.
A result goal is the goal you have the least control over of the three, because you compare yourself to others. Placing yourself for the Olympic Games, becoming national champion in football, or winning the marathon are examples of a result goal.
Performance goals are goals that you link to your own standard. With this goal you determine what performance you want to deliver. And if you want to compare your performance, you compare it with your previous performance. Examples: I want to swim a PR, I score more goals than last season or I run an average of 4 minutes per kilometer. You have more control over these goals than over outcome goals.
Process goals, finally, are goals you have the most control over. These goals also tell you what you are going to do in the moment. Examples: I swim as hard as I can, I run to the front post with every cross, or I focus on my breathing while running. Research shows that process goals have the greatest influence on self-efficacy and performance.
So comparing yourself to someone else can be helpful as it provides a dot on the horizon where you (eventually) want to go. The fact that you want to reach the Olympic Games, become national champion or win the marathon gives motivation. Thinking about this during the match is less helpful to most, and rather unhelpful. The trick is to set performance and process goals in addition to result goals. The process goals in particular can provide focus in the moment and to give the maximum of yourself. And when you do, you increase the chance of achievements and results. Besides, what else can you do other than give yourself to the max?
Lesson I in Leadership: Don't focus too much on the result, but on your players giving their maximum effort.
Successful coaches state that it is best to focus on giving yourself the maximum. In other words: do your very best. After all, you can't do more than that. Science backs this up. This insight is also very interesting for another reason. It was and is used in different times, by different people and in different contexts. That's why it seems to be of value to just about everyone, possibly including your players. This lesson has proved valuable for many football players, pupils, students, trainers and teachers in my experience. But also for athletes at the absolute top, such as Olympic athletes, who have worked with British psychiatrist Steve Peters. This lesson was also valuable for people at the very highest level.
To conclude, a statement by Remco Wortel that sums up this piece well in my opinion. Wortel, legal expert in international sports law at Vissers Legal, was my assistant trainer at the Willem II Youth Academy for a year. He put it nicely: “If you want to win, we can arrange it like this. Then we will play in a lower league and then we will win everything. The question is: what's in it for us? Isn't it just about teaching players to perform to the maximum?'
Next insight
The following insight revolves around a statement by football coach Eddie Howe who said, “You can't treat all players the same.”
Feedback
I'm very curious what you think of this piece, so feel free to share your thoughts and any questions with me. If you have examples that support or contradict this insight, share them with me, I am also open to that.
Looking for more inspiration?
Mauro wrote 'The Coach Makes The Difference'. In this book he shares his experiences as a youth trainer at premier league clubs, practical tips and scientific insights. According to Jacco Verhaeren, the book offers 'Wonderful insights for trainers, coaches and leaders in sports and beyond'. The book will be available soon.
As a taster perhaps, Mauro also wrote '21 super inspiring stories for trainers who want to make a difference'. He takes you along 21 coaches, teachers and managers who share their knowledge and experience. You can download that e-book for free here.
Resources used in this article.
Football Junkie. (2015, 14 mei). John Wooden UCLA Coach Rare Lecture [video]. Youtube. Consulted on February 18th 2023, from:
De Hoog, M. (2021). De nieuwe bondscoach is een bescheiden mens (en nog vijf geheimen achter het succes van Louis van Gaal). De Correspondent. Consulted on July 13th 2023.
Gervais, M. (Presentator) (2022, 6 December). Finding Mastery: Paul Assaiante: Life lessons from the winningest coach in college sports. Consulted on December 23rd 2022, from: https://findingmastery.net/paul-assaiante-2
Gervais, M. (Presentator) (2022, 5 Januari). Finding Mastery: Dr. Dan Dworkis: Wiring your brain for performance under pressure. Consulted on February 18th 2023, from: https://findingmastery.net/dan-dworkis/
High Performance. (2022, 7 November). High Performance: Eddie Howe: What I’ve Changed At Newcastle United. Consulted on June 7th 2023, from: https://www.thehighperformancepodcast.com/podcast/eddiehowe
Dworkis, D. (2021). The emergency mind. Onafhankelijk gepubliceerd.
Chris Williamson. (2021, 12 april). Jordan Peterson - Take control of your live. Modern Wisdom Podcast 307 [video]. Youtube. Consulted on February 18th 2023, from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJg9wd8agQY
Burton, D., & Raedeke, T.D. (2008). Sport psychology for coaches. Human Kinetics Publishers.
Williamson, O., Swann, C., Bennett, K.J.M., Bird, M.D, Goddard, S.G, Schwickle, M.J., & Jackman, P.C. (2022). The performance and psychological effects of goal setting in sport: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2022.2116723.
Peters, S. (2021). A path through the jungle: A Psychological Health and Wellbeing programma to develop Robustness and Resilience. Mindfield Media.