How did that help?

Back in the the 70's I was was told a story by a coach for whom I had great respect. I had just begun coaching, in fact I don't think I had been a coach for 12 months. I listened as he shared the story about coaches in a staff room. The story goes, "the runingbacks (RB) coach turns to the linebacker (LB) coach and says, your LB's stink, so the LB coach replies, so do your RB's. The two coaches go at each other for a while tearing each other down. In the end nothing was accomplished but animosity, a riff in the staff, simply put, nothing that would help the team win." Instead of attacking each other, the old coach said, "how about providing advice or a suggestion to the coach. Something constructive, that has direction, solution oriented, instead of attacking one-another and dividing the staff. Riffs just take away from winning."

So the story went. More than 30 years later I still remember it like it was yesterday. A few weeks ago I watched a person attack another person with criticism over a job done, in the attackers eyes, poorly. I watched as the person attacked the other. I sat their remembering the story about the two coaches and said nothing.

I was wrong because I knew better and still said nothing. Did I learn something, yes. Will it happen again, no. Sometimes being a leader means stand up and risk being fired for the betterment of the team. It's all in how you communicate what you say that leads to victory.

God Bless