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Professional Development

The Two Most Destructive Attitudes: Resentment and Arrogance

By Brian Williams on March 12, 2021

The Two Most Destructive Attitudes: Resentment and Arrogance
Dr. Cory Dobbs, The Academy for Sport Leadership (03/05/21)

Parents, teachers, coaches, and managers, all invest a great deal of time trying to instill attitudes they consider appropriate. The central role of each of these leaders is to guide those they lead to adopt, modify, and deploy relevant ways of thinking—which includes forming attitudes that influence desired behavior. The opposite happens as well; a great deal of time and effort is spent to correct or punish the behaviors that result from inappropriate attitudes. To the extent that leaders are able to construct preferred attitudes will determine the health of the individuals, team, and organization.

Behavior and Attitudes
Creating an environment in which trust and respect are paramount, where healthy and inspirational relationships flourish, is vital to success in today’s environment. To create this culture requires an understanding of the nuances of attitudes. An attitude is the spontaneous interplay of preexisting emotions and integrated assumptions. Furthermore, attitudes result from the neural activity of the brain, such that the “cells that fire together wire together” creating a habit of mind. And assumptions are mental models that provide structure to the sense making process. Together they generate emotional and cognitive cues that impulsively (they can agitate a person to act faster than the speed of sound) lead to behavior. In a sense, then, an attitude has two distinct fibers weaving it together.

An attitude has an immediate and enduring influence on how we see, think, feel, and what we do. And the sobering reality is that an attitude (such as “I don’t care,” or “Why are you picking on me?”) can construct itself indiscriminately with little regard to whether it is helpful, useful, neutral, or harmful. If you stop and think about it, an attitude begins as an invisible entity—an emotion or assumption embedded in the brain—that progresses into a subjective experience in which one’s perception of a person, object, or event is greatly shaped, and greatly shapes the actions one takes.

And that’s true for both positive and negative attitudes. However, despite what most people think, we (yes, you and me) struggle to “grasp” our own predisposition for holding a certain attitude. As irrational actors, we are often unaware of how our attitudes impact those residing in our outside world. Often, transgressions are small and seemingly insignificant. But they aren’t. Collateral damage abounds with disagreement, disconnection, and disengagement. Over time, attitudes harden and the relational participants become antagonistic toward each other. The hidden costs are many.
[adinserter name=”Basketball In Article Ad 1 Rebecca”]
Attitudinal Mindset
Let me unveil the two most destructive attitudes. They are resentment (“I won’t forgive or forget,” and “apologizing is not for me”) and arrogance (“You’re not worthy” and “I want what I want”). Stop for a moment and think about these two pillars of negativity. Imagine a close friend revealing resentment toward her boss. Not difficult to do. Let’s say she is asked to work overtime—and everyone else is allowed to leave early. The thoughts and feelings produced by the immediate feedback that encompasses resentment quickly wires neural circuits ensuring the brain has recorded this incident.

Your friend has now created an attitude of resentment toward her boss (and likely the boss resents the attitude of the worker too). Whenever they are in the same room, the memory of the previous “injustice” has the potential to emerge giving energy and power to an internal state of resentment. If another incident happens, it will only amplify the initial event. What makes this especially unnerving is how automatically it happens. Moreover, both parties will ultimately find out that lingering resentment is emotionally damaging and that life at work will never be the same.

And arrogance, well ego-involvement is simply a part of athletics. We all have the need to feel worthy, but the person with an unhealthy sense of self—selfish and self-centered—usually has a tough time when it comes to emotional competencies. They are unaware of how others’ respond to their actions as they yearn to be the center of attention.

The trouble is that arrogance makes the individual a pawn to their emotions. The challenge for the arrogant person is that they must protect and promote themselves at the same time. For example, if they have the need to be seen as confident in order to feel worthy, they will protect themselves (“save face”) from a threat to their competence, and feel compelled to put others down while building themselves up. The more arrogant the actor, the less room there is for others.

To the extent that the arrogant person is driven by impulses to protect and promote their self-concept, they will perceive others as less worthy than themselves—this self-serving bias is rooted in one’s upbringing. Yes, it is the job of the ego to give us a sense of who we are and where we belong—a social compass with which to define and affirm our individual and collective identity. But the attitude of superiority ultimately prevents the arrogant individual from fully developing a healthy ego and an accurate view of self. For the arrogant, life is a roller coaster ride.

Action Steps
Okay, time to take action. You have work to do. Write down on a sheet of paper (old school) these two attitudes. Describe in bullet points each concept as you have seen others deploy these attitudes. Seriously, take ten minutes to “study” resentment and arrogance in greater detail by reflecting on your experiences with others. Then invest another ten minutes assessing how you can improve yourself by challenging and changing these destructive attitudes realizing you are not immune to them.

Resentment Arrogance
Won’t forgive “You’re not worthy” (Self-centered))

Won’t forget “I want what I want” (Selfish)

The Best Deals

By Brian Williams on November 29, 2020

Below is a comprehensive list of the best coaching resources we could find that have been discounted for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  
Check them out and add to your coaching toolbox.
Virtual Clinic
TABC Virtual Basketball Clinic 100 Speakers. Chris Beard, Brad Underwood, Bruce Pearl, Rick Barnes, Kim Mulkey, Kelly Graves, Mike Neighbors, Shaka Smart and many more.  Lifetime Access and a 60 % discount
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The Ultimate PNR Bundle is a collection of courses that will help you not only run effective PNR offense, but also teach it and defend against it.
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Coaching Offense
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How Do You Organize Your Coaching Ideas?

By Brian Williams on April 23, 2020

This article was written by Coach Don Sicko republished with permission. The original article appears at How Do You Organize Your Coaching Ideas?.

If you’re like me, you have great intentions to organize all your thoughts in one place with an ongoing process and then let it slip away at various times. Everyone likely keeps various files and/or master lists of offensive sets and plays, defenses, practice drills, inbound plays, philosophical concepts, scouting reports and any other number of categories.

It’s what happens after we get organized that messes us up-the day-to-day grind of our personal and professional lives. Just navigating through our busy days can be demanding enough, let alone chronicling every new thought or coaching nugget. There is always a lot of slippage when we don’t take the time to record.

If you already don’t do so, I’d like to suggest that you keep a daily written or computer journal to keep track of everything that you deem important. If you’re familiar at all with the Boston Red Sox’ right-fielder, J.D. Martinez, you know that he keeps a written journal of every pitch he’s thrown in every At Bat in every game. It’s difficult to argue with the success that he has had in the past two seasons. Obviously, there’s a lot more to hitting than knowing a pitcher’s “book” and tendencies, but Martinez”s systematic approach certainly has been significant, if for no other reason than to reinforce his own positive swing thoughts.

The number of ways to use one’s journal are infinite- game and practice notes, personnel observations, televised game notes etc. An area that I would strongly suggest that you chronicle is what I would call “situations”. In short, those situations would be ones you might come to have to later reconstruct for some reason. If you’re also like me in this regard, there have been times I haven’t had a better handle on reconstructing events and conversations when needed.

Now that you’ve kept a daily journal of your thoughts and impressions, it’s always much easier to reconstruct them for addition to your master files or lists. The chances of slippage are reduced significantly and your recorded thoughts are much easier to gather when desired or needed.

How do you keep your thoughts and ideas organized? Let us know in the comments below.

Stoplight Theory of Improvement

By Brian Williams on March 9, 2020

This article was written by University of Arkansas women’s Basketball Coach Mike Neighbors and shared with his permission.

If you want to download the original pdf, you can click here: STOPlight Theory

I hope you can find a few ideas from the list that you can apply.

In Mike’s words” “All of these things are just examples to choose from… You could NEVER do them all so don’t try…”

A good way to get started is to select one idea from each color (or come up with one that fits for you) to focus on throughout the day.

If you find the article useful, please use one of the social sharing icons at the left of the article on a desktop or laptop, or at the top of the article on mobile devices.

stoplight

 

THINGS I AM GOING TO STOP DOING: So many times in our day we make TO DO lists. It is just as important to have a list of things you WON’T DO! Those things vary for us all. Eliminating the distractions is vital to you making the most of your 24 hours in a day. Actually making a list of the things that WON’T do in your day to refer to throughout the day is a valuable tool. Examples: won’t check email until certain time, won’t “surf” the web until x number of things are done, won’t focus on anything that doesn’t effect your job until after the day’s most important task is completed, won’t focus on my “turkey’s” until my “eagles” are fed, won’t go home until my urgent pile is cleared, won’t go to lunch alone, won’t use sarcasm, won’t let things I can’t control effect the things I can, won’t resent others success, won’t fear failure, won’t be afraid of hearing bad news, won’t try to make everyone happy.

THINGS I AM GOING TO CONTINUE DOING: Identify the things that are positively impacting your day that you need to continue doing but might need to do so cautiously. These things can be positives when executed correctly but can border on negatives if you over/under utilize. Examples: Seek out people with opposite opinions, argue/debate/disagree, read and write, use data to make calculated decisions, telling others the truth, learn about leadership techniques but don’t be afraid to be different (Muppets principle), be unconventional, lead by insuring others can deal with adversity, focus on bright spots rather than total focus on deficient areas.


THINGS I AM GOING TO START DOING:
List actionable things you want to introduce into your daily routine that will positively impact your 24 hours. Examples: Speak in images, use least invasive correction that is needed, surround yourself with smart people that challenge you, earn trust, whisper criticism/shout praise, confront then move on, build relationships, show people how much you care rather than how much you know, Separation in the preparation, teach rather than coach in practice, coach rather than teach off the court, REHEARSE things more often in practice, focus on being better rather than being good, trust “blink” decisions, get all the facts, simplify, be productive rather than busy, spend time with the right people, take people with you.

 

 

Film Your Timeouts and Get Instant Results

By Brian Williams on February 26, 2020

This article was written by Don Sicko and republished with permission.

The original article appears at Film Your Timeouts and Get Instant Results.

I was watching a film of a recent game the other day and it dawned on me after I fast forwarded through a couple of timeouts that the videographer was purposely taping his team’s timeouts.

You should see the behavior. All players, assistants, managers and medical personnel go to exactly the same spot in every timeout, whether seated or standing and the attention to the head coach is total. There is absolute total eye-contact with the coach and no one is engaged in side conversations. Occasionally, an assistant is seen handling a side issue but even there, it’s all business. Big Brother is watching but with worthwhile intent. It also helped that the videographer had really good equipment and that he was considerably higher than the bench to get a good angle.

This coach has obviously trained his players exactly where to be and how to act. Maybe he told them he was doing it the first time; maybe he didn’t. In either case, his players now know the deal and know they’re being monitored just like they are in action and that they’re accountable in both situations.

I’m certain now that other coaches likely do this but it never hit my radar until now and thought it worth a short post.

Using 360-Degree Feedback to Enhance Your Coaching

By Brian Williams on January 8, 2020

This article is republished with permission. The original article appears at Using 360-Degree Feedback to Enhance Your Coaching.

Coaches can use 360-degree feedback to enhance their coaching. In this blog sport psychology researcher Matt Hoffmann highlights how 360-degree feedback can be a useful process to help coaches and their teams be more effective.

Matt’s suggestions are based on his review of coaching and 360-degree feedback research from sport and business, as well as conversations he had with several head coaches of Canadian intercollegiate sport teams (Full research article is available at the end of the blog).

Most basketball coaches, like all coaches, are constantly trying to improve at their craft. One way to improve as a coach is to gather feedback about your coaching. You might already be doing this to some extent, either formally with end-of-season surveys or informally by talking with others. 360-degree feedback is a more comprehensive way of obtaining feedback and is something that most coaches do not take full advantage of.

With 360-degree feedback, a coach gathers anonymous feedback from multiple people. These people can include but are not limited to players, assistant coaches, athletic directors or sport administrators, other coaches, or mentors. Parents could even be included at the youth sport level. The goal is to collect feedback from people who can provide different perspectives on your strengths and weaknesses as a coach.

Another key aspect of this feedback system is that coaches can evaluate themselves and compare it to others’ anonymous assessments of them. This really has the potential to boost your self-awareness as a coach.

What are some potential benefits of using 360-degree feedback?

  1. The people providing feedback, especially players, might feel empowered because they will be given the opportunity to voice their opinions, which might make them feel more valued. When players feel like they are part of the process and that their thoughts matter to others, they tend to feel in control of their own behaviours and actions and are more committed to the team’s goals and values.
  2. Because 360-degree feedback is gathered anonymously, you should receive more honest feedback from the people rating you. Players and even assistant coaches are often reluctant to criticize a head coach out of fear for possible repercussion. This is especially true when feedback is provided face-to-face. Obtaining feedback anonymously removes the “threat” associated with giving potentially negative feedback, which should provide you with more useful information that you can use for self-improvement.
  3. Gathering information from multiple people might improve the accuracy of the feedback. Coaches sometimes receive feedback in a “top-down” manner, often from one superior only (e.g., athletic director or sport administrator), which calls into question the trustworthiness of that single evaluation. However, by gathering insights and opinions from multiple people, you should receive feedback that more accurately reflects your “true” behaviours and actions as a coach.

What are some potential challenges of using 360-degree feedback?

Challenge: Using 360-degree feedback can result in some logistical challenges. In particular, collecting and summarizing 360-degree feedback can be time-consuming and potentially costly. Many coaches have limited spare time and/or funds.

Suggestion: Using online survey platforms can be a huge help, and people (especially younger generations) usually like using technology. Players will probably feel more comfortable completing surveys on their tablets or cell phones. Of course, setting up an online survey will still require some planning and organizing on your part.

Challenge: There are no set guidelines on when and how often during the season to collect 360-degree feedback. There just isn’t enough research on this yet.

Suggestion: Aim to gather feedback at regular intervals—maybe 2 to 4 times during the season (depending on the length of the season). The goal is to collect feedback throughout the season—not only once it is over.

Challenge: There are no set guidelines in terms of which people should be included in the feedback process.

Suggestion: Of course, there are obvious people (players, assistant coaches) that you should include. However, you also need to determine who else can provide you with relevant feedback on your coaching. Maybe there are coaches from other teams who have watched you regularly and might be able to provide you with useful feedback? Maybe you have some mentors who could watch you at practice and provide feedback? Explore all your options.

Six Suggestions for Getting More Useful (And Less Negative) Feedback

Because 360-degree feedback is provided anonymously, you risk receiving large amounts of negative feedback. Similarly, because surveys with numerical rating scales (e.g., “On a scale from 1-5, rate how effective [name of head coach] is in organizing team practice”) are typically used to collect the feedback, you might be provided with information that lacks detail and depth.

  1. As a coach, you should ensure that people understand the purpose of 360-degree feedback. Hold a meeting with the people you want feedback from near the beginning of the season to discuss why you are implementing this feedback system and how you believe it will help you and your team succeed.
  2. Remind the people giving you feedback that they need to reflect carefully prior to answering each survey question. We have a general tendency to unconsciously rate people very similarly across different criteria. In other words, our general view of someone affects our ability to recognize their unique strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, to avoid having people unconsciously give you the same rating on every question, remind them regularly that they need to take their time when completing the survey and pay attention to what each question is asking.
  3. To avoid getting valueless feedback, use surveys that ask people to rate you on specific coaching behaviours (e.g., “Coach communicates effectively with team members”). Questions that focus on specific behaviours provide much more practical information than questions that are too general (e.g., “Coach is effective this season”).
  4. To ensure that the survey is relevant, ask a few senior people (e.g., veteran leaders) to comment on its appropriateness. Do they think the questions tap into relevant coaching behaviours? What would they add to the survey? This process might also help people “buy in” to the feedback system.
  5. In addition to numerical ratings, get feedback from people in the form of written comments. However, instead of asking for general feedback at the end of the survey (common procedure), request written feedback after key questions. For instance, a key question for you might be, “Coach is motivating before games.” People might rate this on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Then, you could include a follow-up question like, “Explain why you gave this rating” or “How could coach be more motivating before games?”
  6. Complete the survey yourself. The major benefit of using 360-degree feedback is that it allows you to compare your own self-assessment to that of others’ assessments of you. For example, you might give yourself a score of 4 out of 5 on the question, “Coach creates good rapport with team members.” The players’ scores on this question might average 3.6 out of 5. The assistant coaches’ scores might average 4.2 out of 5. The athletic director might give you a score of 3 out of 5. All of these scores provide you with valuable information from different perspectives. Although the goal is for people providing the feedback to remain anonymous, this will not be possible when there is only one person in a particular role (e.g., the athletic director).

Final Thoughts

Obtaining 360-degree feedback throughout the season has its challenges and might not be feasible for all coaches (some organizations have their own coach feedback systems in place). Further, some 360-degree appraisals can lead to negative outcomes (e.g., feeling discouraged when receiving negative feedback). However, if you can incorporate some of the evidence-based ideas outlined here into your “coaching toolkit” and gather some additional feedback that you are not currently obtaining, then you might become more self-aware of your coaching behaviours and how you can improve as a coach.

Rather than viewing 360-degree feedback as a performance evaluation, I encourage you to think of it as a developmental opportunity to enhance your coaching. At the very least, I hope this post gives you some ideas to reflect on moving forward.

If you are looking for coach feedback questionnaires, consider the book, Coaching Better Every Season: A Year-Round System for Athlete Development and Program Success, by coaching expert Dr. Wade Gilbert. This book provides a nice overview of surveys that you might consider using for coach evaluation purposes (including 360-degree feedback).

You can view or download the full article in the International Sport Coaching Journal 360-Degree Feedback for Sport Coaches: A Follow-Up to O’Boyle (2014)

Matt Hoffmann has a PhD in Sport Psychology from the University of Windsor. His research mainly explores the benefits of peer mentoring among athletes. He is also interested in coaching, athlete leadership, and other group dynamics topics. For updates on sport psychology research and other sport-related topics, follow Matt on twitter @Hoff_MD

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