Failure to Secure CommitmentIf no mutual commitment exists between the coach and the
team, there isn’t much of a team at all. You must have mutual
commitment to goals. You can get it by spending time together.
The more time you spend with someone, the better you can
identify with his abilities and vision. You must spend time sharing
goals, problems, victories and even fears. Mutual commitment
develops only through time and effort. It all comes back to the
“MBWA” principle mentioned earlier in this book —
“Management by Walking Around”!
You may call what your team feels “commitment” and you
may talk about the trust or the synergy. Abe Lincoln had a favorite
puzzle that might clarify this hurdle for you: If you have a dog
with four legs and a tail and you call the dog’s tail a leg, how
many legs does the dog have? Abe would laugh, reminding his
listener that he could call it anything he wanted; it was still a tail.Taking the Course of Least ResistanceIf you settle for what you know is less than the best you or
your people can deliver, you may avoid confrontation — you may
even think you’re “cutting your team some slack.” But the reality
is that you undermine not only your coaching credibility but also
your team’s long-term viability. When a team faces a tough
opponent ... win or lose ... it comes out better than if it had faced
some “no-contest” challenge.
Example
Coach:
Ken, I just finished reading through the copy you wrote for
the Father’s Day cards. Some neat stuff.
Ken:
Just “neat”? I was hoping for “splendid” or maybe
even “dynamite.”
Coach:
Well, it shows your talent. You couldn’t hide that if you
tried. But it’s just not the “Ken quality” I always look
forward to.Coaching, Mentoring and Managing7
Mutual
commitment
comes from
spending time
together.