In 2003, like many Chicagoans, I was nearly glued to the television in
September and October watching the Cubs baseball team during
the play-offs. As a die-hard Cubs fan and suburban north-sider,
I would naturally cheer for my team, no matter how far they
went in the series.
The team had been transformed over the previous few years due to a
combination of things, great leadership being one of them.
During a game in early October, the Cub’s pitching coach went
out to the mound to talk with pitcher Mark Prior. One of the
commentators said, “He is one of the best pitching coaches,
if not the best.” Another commentator asked why he thought that.
He responded, “Because he not only knows about the technical
aspects of pitching. He also gets to know you as a person:
what makes you tick, what makes you work well or not work well.
He gets to know your family.”
This commentator acknowledged good coaching in baseball as
coaching from someone who coaches a player in more than just the
technical areas of pro baseball. Life affects the whole person.
This great pitching coach is acknowledged as great by current
and former players because he knows how to turn average pitchers
into great pitchers, and he utilizes more than just technical
drills. He moves and motivates players to excellence by getting
into their mind, their emotions, and what is important to them,
without being intrusive.
It’s the same way in business. If I, as a coach, only stick to
subjects with clients that involve their business, I could be
missing something. Not that I delve into peoples’ non-business-
private-lives. No, those of you who’ve known me for a while are
aware that I don’t tend to delve there. Understanding what makes
people tick (and how they work well vs. how they don’t work well),
however, can lead to “people data” that affects business and work.
If, like that pitching coach, I can get to know a client beyond
“technical pitching”, I can really help him or her achieve greater
goals (like Cubs pitchers who usher their team to a greater
place than I’ve ever seen them go in my lifetime).
If we translate the pitching coach/pitcher relationship to that of boss/employee, a lot of the same principles apply as well.
Getting to know your employees: what makes them tick, what makes
them work well or not work well, and, if appropriate, getting to
know their family (or, know about their family) goes a long way
toward motivation-to-excellence, in addition to coaching and
leading in technical skills. This type of leadership can turn
average workers into great workers.
© 2005 Borgeson Consulting, Inc.
Glory Borgeson is a business coach and consultant, and the president of
Borgeson Consulting, Inc. She works with two groups of people:
small business owners (with 500 employees or less) to help them increase
their Entrepreneurial IQ, which leads to increased profit and
decreased stress; and with executives in the
“honeymoon phase” of a new position (typically the first two years)
to coach them to success. Top athletes have a coach; why not you?
Click here for Borgeson Consulting, Inc.
This article was originally published in The Business Express, Borgeson’s
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