The Coaching Leader- Work as Sports Leadership Workshop

• This is the powerful concept behind "The Coaching Leader - Work as Sports" innovative training workshop. Now you can deliver supervisory and leadership training unlike any you’ve known before.

• Instead of worn-out concepts like the difference between leadership and management, superficial motivational “tricks”, and simplistic, mechanical interpersonal tactics, this workshop goes directly to the source of human behavior to stir intrinsic motivation and inspire committed action.

• The training is based on an exciting comparison between the worlds of work and play, asking the intriguing question: Why can’t work be as exciting and self-motivating as play?

• The workshop examines the factors that make play exciting, and offers ways and skills for the leader to act as a coach to create these factors in his or her team players and work culture.

• People have always contrasted business and pleasure, viewing them as two different and distinct domains.
• Yet many top executives, small business owners, and entrepreneurs say that they find great pleasure in their work. They seem to love their work so much they don’t mind working long hours and exerting a lot of effort with no complaints. For them, work and pleasure have become one and the same.

• What made it possible for them to feel that way? And what can a leader do to help staff feel this way to achieve huge rewards for them personally and for the organization as well?

• We explored the factors that make sports games so exciting.
• We have been researching this interesting topic for the past two years.
• We looked deeply into the hidden causes of excitement and pleasure present in game-play.
• In our quest, we sought to identify the factors that make play exciting:
• - Is it competition?
• - Is it the desire to win?
• - Is it the trophy? The status of the champion?
• The recognition and admiration of many?
• - What about the monetary and non-monetary rewards? But even when no money is paid, people still love to play.
• - What role does the coach play? Is it the intense human bond he / she creates with the players that motivates them?
• - What about the team spirit and team members?
• - Does it have something to do with deep inner human needs like the need to prove oneself; the need to accomplish; the need to excel?
• - Is it a combination of all or some of these factors?

But even if we fully understood all the factors that make play so exciting, is it really possible to duplicate these factors in the work environment? Isn’t it really a stretch to even imagine that work can ever be as exciting as play?

Through our work, we came to the realization that it is possible to create a work culture in which work becomes as exciting as play. The proof is all around us. We already know people who find their work so exciting. Many top executives, entrepreneurs, business owners, politicians, actors, writers, scientists, and artists do. You most likely know some of them. It is certainly worth finding out what makes it possible for them to find pleasure in their work, and how we can do the same.

The factors that make play exciting are all tied to deep human needs. They are not superficial or light-weight. These same human needs are at play at work. For work to become as exciting as play it has to respond directly and effectively to employees’ human needs. Our work in this area has led us to identify ten specific factors that make play exciting. We then explored the ways a leader can develop a leadership style that fosters these factors at work.

Winning:

• We offer a deeper look at the notion of winning than the one offered by Vince Lombardi who said, “If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?” We agree, but offer a redefinition of winning that ties it to the human need of self-actualization and continuous self development. We explain why winning is a positive reinforcing factor, and how to pursue it at work in a nondestructive way.

“The Leader as Coach- Work as Sports” workshop covers critical leadership skills like delegation, motivation, coaching, communication, performance management, team building, and others. Yet you will be able to deliver these skills in the exciting sports-metaphor format that people will easily and enthusiastically relate to and enjoy.

• “The only way I'd worry about the weather is if it snows on our side of the field and not on theirs.” - Tommy Lasorda

We explore the essence of "Motivation":

• “We should not have to push you to work hard, you should work hard because you want to be a great player.” - Bobby Knight

We discuss the role of "Purpose and Goals”:

• “Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” - Tom Landry

Yet we find managers too often complaining that employees lack motivation to work and perform. They seem to be eternally looking for ways to motivate and engage their staff. Why do players work so hard on their practice, training, building their bodies and skills and do their utmost best on the field without the need for external motivation, while employees do not?

In “The Coaching Leader- Work as Sports” we explore the essence of human motivation and examine the source of the desire to excel and win. We enable leaders to find the triggers of motivation and engagement that work so powerfully in sports and import them to the work culture.

Super Bowl (America’s premier sports event) number XLIV is on Sunday February 7. Can you learn, and teach, leadership skills from a football game? Or, by extension, from a soccer game? Let’s first look at some numbers related to this fascinating event:

• Seventy-five thousand fans will jam into the Sun Life Stadium on Sunday to watch the Super Bowl.
• A hundred million others will be in their living rooms glued to their HDTV with guacamole, chips and six pack in hand, watching the game.
• 51% of the Super Bowl audience tunes in mainly for the commercials, according to Nielsen's Homescan survey.
• Advertisers pay a fortune to get eyeballs on their brands. They pay a $3 million for each 30-second spot.
• What's the winning formula for a 30-second commercial on the Super Bowl? According to Fast Company magazine, it is to “cast a sexy model, some college dudes and lots of beer”. •
• Only in the US and Canada is the Super Bowl popular, because people in the rest of the world don’t much care about what Americans call “football”. Instead, they prefer the “real” football, known in the US as Soccer.

Whether it is football or soccer, the question we have is: Can you use a widely popular game like that to teach leadership skills? For the answer, read the rest of this page.