My wife met Brad Stevens at a Celtics practice. Hearing she is an Aerospace Engineer, he said, “Coaching isn’t rocket science.”
Gary Klein’s “Sources of Power” explains why. Klein’s group earned a DoD contract to study military decision making. Defense was unhappy that field officers ignored training and wanted improvement.
Klein asked what factors go into decisions:
- Pressure
- High stakes
- Experience (variable)
- Incomplete information
The group learned that decision making stems from:
- Intuition
- Simulations
- Metaphor
- Storytelling
The fire lieutenant led his team into the burning house fire. He thought they were fighting a kitchen fire, but they were making no progress. Suddenly, he ordered everyone out and shortly later the floor they had stood upon collapsed. Why did he withdraw?
1) They were losing
2) The room seemed too hot
3) The fire scene was too quiet
He knew what he didn’t know, that the fire source couldn’t be the kitchen.
Klein hypothesized that decisions might occur via planning, by comparison (a versus b), innovation need, or what he called RPD - recognition primed decision making - the problem is obvious (recognizable) and this is what we do.
Yes, coaches use our “reflective” brain (see Kahneman’s best seller “Thinking: Fast and Slow”) but mostly we see situations and use our “reflexive” brain. Both can err.
We start an eighth grade game and apply pressure which is beaten for a layup. The opponent steals the inbound and scores again. We break the press but they steal and score again, 6-0 in maybe 45 seconds. I am signaling for a timeout and the referee is expecting it. We cannot play fast against this club. RPD.
Yes, times arise when we weigh possibilities, review film, apply weights and expected rates, but in the heat of action, we are fire captains not academics.
When we learn CPR, we are taught scenarios, with rapid recognition of ABCs (airway, breathing, circulation). We have limited tools (rescue breathing, defibrillators, drugs) and the goal is keeping the patients alive. Teams expire, too, from poor decisions or indecision. A timeout unused during a disaster will never be needed in a blowout.
When teaching young coaches and players, we should focus more on scenarios and response, rather than pondering possibilities. Create more situations requiring recognition, rapid decisions, and occasional innovation.
Lagniappe- hat tip Mike Allen
Don’t play zone in youth basketball.