Build a catalog of thinking tools to coach better. Thinking well involves various strategies.
- Stories
- Mental Models
- Analogy
Humans are the storytelling animal. Great stories convey valuable lessons. "He (Vince Lombardi) never had a losing season in the NFL, winning five championships in a program built on simplicity and execution. He rejected the NFL's racism and called players "Packer green." One of his themes was "Nothing But Acceptance," setting a standard that players who mistreated teammates would be off the team. That applied to racism, interracial relationships, and harassing gay players or front office personnel. He informed local businesses that any that refused one of his players was off limits to his team."
Mental models help solve problems. "Invert" to consider what the opposite approach might yield. Use "sample size" to limit overreaction to a short term phenomenon (Linsanity). Stay in our lane with "Circle of Competence." "Second order thinking" helps us understand complexity. To relieve overcrowding, South Africa relocated bull elephants. Shortly thereafter, something began killing rhinos. Be careful when you play with Mother Nature. Likewise, adding another star player may disrupt chemistry, roles, and flow.
Analogy relates unrelated concepts to help us relate to them. We use them daily.
"Win in space." Players often fail by driving or passing into traffic. Remind young players that danger lurks when playing in traffic. "Draw 2" and pass.
"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link." Lack of depth betrays teams without solid reserves to weather illness, injury, foul trouble, etc.
Kevin Eastman says, "success leaves footprints." When individuals or teams do well, examine their path. Who and what drove them forward?
"Chefs cook to nurture people; so do coaches." Lowering expectations doesn't nurture. Accountability holds players to higher performance.
Problem players who are disagreeable or selfish are 'cancers'. In extreme circumstances, we need to "remove" the cancer.
"Better ingredients, better pizza." Better players create better play. "Every day is player development day." Coaches help players see the game and execute more efficiently.
"That was some high octane basketball." Coach Bob Romeo commented after watching Lowell beat Melrose 90-88 over a decade ago in a high school holiday tournament game.
The point guard conducts the orchestra, gets everyone involved with great decisions, on-time and on-target.
"Teams that can't shoot free throws do as well in the post-season as dogs that chase cars."
Basketball teams employ traditional military strategy - the cavalry (speed game), infantry (power game), and artillery (long-range bombing).
At it's best, our defense creates chaos like a pack of wolves. "The strength of the wolf is in the pack."
Villanova beating Georgetown was the ultimate David versus Goliath contest. Malcolm Gladwell explores a medical possibility to explain the mismatch of the original story.
What is the DNA of your organization? DNA determines who we are...to a degree. But the presence of genetic code for a condition doesn't mean that a gene will necessarily be expressed (create the disease).
We're all familiar with 'stations' at basketball camp, where players rotate through different skill areas. It's a byproduct of Henry Ford's innovation of the assembly line that reduced car manufacturing by eleven hours. A Chicago slaughterhouse (1913) inspired that as butchering occurred sequentially as processing occurred on a conveyor belt.
Summary:
- Stories, mental models, and analogies help us solve problems.
- Stories helps us collaborate
- Mental models open paths to view problems differently
- Inversion, Circle of Competence, and Second Order Thinking keep us on track
- Analogies help us relate unrelated concepts
- "Win in space."
- Stations at camp relate to the original assembly line (1913)
- "Success leaves footprints."
- What is your organizational DNA?
- Organize basketball offense like traditional military - cavalry, infantry, artillery
- "Better ingredients, better pizza."
