{"id":876,"date":"2020-03-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/virtual-leaders-meet-coach-development-a-view-from-the-inside\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:21","slug":"virtual-leaders-meet-coach-development-a-view-from-the-inside","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/virtual-leaders-meet-coach-development-a-view-from-the-inside\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Leaders Meet: Coach Development – A View from the Inside"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Mar 27, 2020 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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Category<\/div>\n Coaching & Development<\/a> <\/div>\n
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Dave Slemen and Anna Edwards, from Elite Performance Partners, reflect on a day of learning and insight that set out both the skills and the mindset needed to be a successful coach.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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\u201cNot even a virus can stop us learning\u201d – <\/i><\/em>Michael Caulfield<\/p>\n

From the moment the inaugural Virtual Leaders Meet: Coach Development\u00a0began this week, it was clear that, while we weren\u2019t all in the same room, we were in the same boat.<\/h4>\n
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By Dave Slemen and Anna Edwards<\/h6>\n

Unlike Gen Z brilliantly brought to life in the final talk of the day by Jonnie Noakes, Director of Teaching & Learning at Eton College, as we sat at our computer screens around the globe we couldn\u2019t be assumed to be \u2018tech savvy\u2019, let alone \u2018tech innate\u2019, instead participating in the shared learning experience that is the sudden need to get to grips with video technology, on our own.<\/p>\n

This secret fear was dealt with swiftly and well by the hosts at the Leaders Performance Institute via their upfront recognition that there would be mistakes; their guidance on how to use our home tech at the start of each session; and their infectious patience when the inevitable glitches occurred.<\/p>\n

Figuring it out, together<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

That collective vulnerability was somehow felt across the 700\u00a0or so unseen participants through the questions, tweets and comments sent during the conference.<\/p>\n

A sense of not knowing the answers and of figuring it out, together. Vulnerability is one of the key qualities we look for in the best leaders and ran as a content theme throughout the day.<\/p>\n

Kick-started by Jamie Robinson, Head of Professional Game Development at the FA, as he described the complexity of coaching individuals in a team setting, this premise was picked up by Steve Borthwick, incoming Head Coach of Leicester Tigers, in his subsequent talk on the \u2018Art of Skills-based Coaching\u2019. Despite different backgrounds and experiences, the two speakers danced around a common theme in which both stressed the importance of context, and of understanding the necessary dichotomy between working with players as individuals and recognising theirs are team sports, and that ultimately it is the team that needs to perform.<\/u><\/p>\n

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Vulnerability is one of the key qualities we look for in the best leaders<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As part of this, Jamie highlighted not just the importance of delivery, but of aligning that delivery to the bigger picture; of understanding how to both be present on the ground while appreciating the higher purpose – and creating your stance to enable you to embrace both. \u00a0Treating people as individuals whilst also involving them in a broader story was equally part of the guidance given by Jonnie, as he suggested how we might best handle Gen Z. His advice is to help them learn by doing, teach them to collaborate and ensure clear goals and development stages are set gave us faith that at least some of the skills that will be required of coaches working with future generations are already in play \u2013 and aligned with the thoughts of Lucero Tagle, the People & Organisation Development Lead at Google,\u00a0on developing people to reach agreed milestones, thereby creating succession planning.<\/p>\n

\u2018The more I coach, the more I know, the more I have to learn\u2019<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Much of Steve\u2019s talk took the form of reflection on his own journey and the need to keep growing \u2013 and learning \u2013 yourself if you are to coach well, as his quote above attests. \u00a0Growth also set the scene for Lucero\u2019s presentation\u00a0on \u2018Nurturing Googlers\u2019 telling us that people are a priority, and that within this her focus \u2018is in the grow space\u2019.\u00a0This resonated strongly with us at Elite Performance Partners. One of the values we look for is curiosity, and being more interested in what you don\u2019t know than what you do, something echoed by Steve,\u00a0who proposed that great coaches aren\u2019t there simply to impart their knowledge as this soon runs out: rather they need to learn from the players too, and create an environment in which all can develop and coach each other, moving on as the game does and players improve.<\/p>\n

Having been lucky enough to get to know Steve recently, it was clear that the humility he showed in making these points is a result of the amount of time he takes to consider his own experiences, extracting the learnings and knowing he doesn\u2019t have all the answers. In doing so, he epitomises the self-awareness Lucero highlighted as a path to reaching full potential. \u00a0Steve recognises that the moment you think you\u2019ve made it is the moment you start to stand still. This too jumped out to us from our experience in interviewing coaches of different levels and across sports. Those who stand\u00a0out in these conversations are the ones who know the principles that lie beneath their coaching and character and what they stand for, but without the hubris of certainty in an uncertain world.<\/p>\n

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Be more interested in what you don\u2019t know than what you do<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While many have strong opinions, in the best these are lightly held and receptive to feedback \u2013 they don\u2019t feel like they have cracked it no matter what the outside world thinks, bringing us back to that all-important vulnerability.<\/p>\n

In recounting his journey, Steve asked a great question of us, his unseen audience, which we will be continuing to think about over the coming weeks. How do you learn from your mistakes? How do you reflect?<\/p>\n

Learning by doing<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

For the FA, conferences and events such as this only represent 10% of the learning within their coach development programmes. But what an important 10% it is, especially during uncertain times.<\/p>\n

James Shone, an educational speaker and Founder of charity \u2018I Can and I Am\u2019,\u00a0which tours schools helping Gen Z build their resilience, reminds us that in adversity we need to look \u2018upwards, forwards and outwards\u2019 to find our answers. This is something we heard, directly or otherwise, from all four speakers as they spoke of sharing and remaining open-minded.<\/p>\n

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The moment you think you\u2019ve made it is the moment you start to stand still<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We were also told of the importance of learning by doing, something the team at Leaders certainly did with regards to the technology which became increasingly seamless throughout the day. They had also clearly pre-empted Steve\u2019s advice to \u2018understand the context of that day, that week\u2026\u00a0that moment in their life\u2019 giving us just the right amount of content to feel we\u2019d had the conference we signed up for, albeit delivered in a very different setting.<\/p>\n

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What does the modern coach need to know?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We tackle this question in our latest Performance Special Report. Download Coachmaker: What the Modern Coach Needs to Know<\/em>, which features sports organisations as diverse as Ulster Rugby<\/strong>, the Geelong Cats<\/strong>, Minnesota Timberwolves<\/strong> and US Special Operations<\/strong> discussing personal development, creating performance environments, recruitment and using data in smarter ways.<\/p>\n