TidyClub Musings

Coaching Passion

I’m not a coach, I tried it once a long time ago and maybe I’ll do it again some day. But there are many similarities between a good manager and a good coach. Both are trying to get the most out of their recruits, both are trying to achieve a common team goal.

Some choose to find the passionate and teach them competence. Others try to find the most competent and teach them to be passionate.

One theory is that once someone becomes competent at something they will automatically become passionate. Or maybe after someone finds something they’re passionate about, they will stop at nothing to become more competent within their chosen field.

Maybe if we’re just a little harder, a little stricter, they’ll get better?

Obedience + Competence ≠ Passion

The formula doesn’t work. It never has. You can’t gather up a group of kids and add some footballs, a sprinkling of discipline, a dash of technique and then passion arrives.

Some say that it arrives with success. But if there are 10 other teams all vying for the premiership and they all have equally skilled squads there is a 10% chance of winning. If you have 4 teams in your club, there is a .0001 of a chance of everyone winning. Obviously a rare occurrence, so you as a club, as a coach need to bigger than just a premiership. You need to drive passion as well as competence side by side. Success will come albeit perhaps by different measures.