Coaching baseball this spring taught me two crucial lessons that apply directly to leading a business. Both are lessons that, quite frankly, I can improve upon.
Lesson 1: Create a positive environment
My son, Ben, has had the same coach for several seasons. Coach Mark’s teams always start a little bit slow, and just when you think they will implode, they find a way to play their best. In fact, they always peak when the lights are the brightest. The secret is hardly a secret — it is simply creating a positive environment where kids can have fun.
In an environment where travel baseball is the norm, and parents are in denial about living their dreams through their kids (sorry to be so harsh), fun has become a competitive advantage. Coach Mark stays positive even when the second baseman makes his fortieth error of the season. And every kid on his team knows that if they put three wins together in a row, Coach Mark is paying for everyone to go to Dairy Queen. Coach Mark will even lead the charge of kids getting cars to honk in the drive-through. He just personifies fun, which is why my son loves playing for him.
My leadership style doesn’t personify fun. I struggle to maintain positivity when I/we make the fortieth error of the season. I need to own this lesson. Thank you to Coach Mark for your reminder.
Lesson 2: A question is better than a rebuke
I helped coach my other son, Will’s, team this year. Learning from past seasons, I started the year off with a relentless focus on the type of positivity Coach Mark practiced. With the buy-in of Will’s head coach, I outlined to the kids what our success statements were:
- We always hustle
- We are always prepared for every play
- We always compete till the game is over
- We always conduct ourselves with good sportsmanship
Then the coaches held the kids accountable to these standards. We explained that errors were okay on our team as long as the kid was in a “ready position” and was “hustling” on the play. In fact, “we do not expect perfection” became a mantra as the season went on.
This led me to a leadership insight: I should ask someone a question rather than issue a rebuke. My go-to question this season became, “What will you do differently next time?”
Answers:
“Be ready for the ball to be hit to me.”
“Swing the bat when I have two strikes.”
“Pick up the third base coach when I am rounding second.”
You get the idea.
The kids reminded me of a lesson I learned two decades ago while studying for my master’s in Education: Learning happens when students change their behavior. To that end, I am proud of how our team improved throughout the season. Interestingly, the kid I most frequently asked, “What will you do differently next time?” played their best game in our season finale. Seeing him come through in the clutch despite our team’s defeat was cool.
Creating a positive environment and asking good questions is not rocket science — I humbly admit that I can easily apply these things to our business. I realize that doing so will create a better environment for everyone, starting with me.