“The Extraordinary Coach” by Steve Chriest This is the third and last in a series on “good coach, great coach, and extraordinary coach.” Extraordinary coaches, like great coaches and good coaches, are always effective teachers. When I think of extraordinary coaches in sports, I immediately think of John Wooden, UCLA's legendary basketball coach. If a sales manager could learn to coach his or her sales team like John Wooden coached his basketball teams, the sales manager could become an extraordinary coach. In his book, “Be Quick – But Don't Hurry,” Andrew Hill, a former UCLA basketball player, said “…everyone calls Wooden ‘Coach,' but he was first and foremost a teacher.” Like all extraordinary coaches, Wooden had the ability to teach effectively while continually adjusting his teaching style as his mix of team members changed from year to year. Sales managers who want to become extraordinary coaches must learn to change their teaching styles as the composition and personalities change on their teams. Like all great managers and extraordinary coaches, John Wooden insisted on preparation and perfect practice from all team members. Wooden understood, as Andrew Hill writes, that “creating time for preparation and organization is the key to organizational efficiency.” Just as Wooden's basketball teams were supremely prepared and well-practiced every time they stepped onto the basketball court, the sales manager who wants to become an extraordinary coach insists on preparation work, and knows that his team will sell like they prepare and practice. John Wooden, like all extraordinary coaches, had the unusual ability to identify talent, and to recruit talent that fit his team and his organizational structure. He knew that no matter how talented a player, a bad fit spelled disaster for the team. Wooden recognized that a great team must have great talent; but he also knew that even extraordinary coaches make selection mistakes, and that those mistakes must be corrected. Sales managers who aspire to become extraordinary coaches must be willing to correct hiring mistakes. Once he had recruited talented players that fit into his system, Coach Wooden understood that managing creativity requires flexibility and special insights that allow players to find balance between creativity and organization. Ultimately, his goal was to unlock the collective creativity of the team. Sales managers who want to become extraordinary coaches will work hard to unlock the creativity of each team member and to blend that creativity into overall team performance. What I think truly sets extraordinary coaches apart from all other coaches is their ability and willingness to impart life lessons to their teams. In John Wooden's case, players that were on his teams in the 1960's still talk today about the lessons they learned from Wooden's ‘Pyramid of Success,' a plan for achieving great athletic performance and for living a productive, rewarding life. As a coach, Wooden gave his team the fundamental tools, the strategy and the tactics they would need to perform to the best of their potential. Bill Walton, the hall of fame basketball Center who played for several UCLA national championship teams, said, “While what Coach Wooden was teaching us had something to do with the game of basketball, it also had everything to do with life itself.” The sales manager who is an extraordinary coach, like UCLA's John Wooden, will be seen by her team as an effective teacher of selling fundamentals, a recruiter and manager of great talent, and someone who inspires great performance. But, like John Wooden's basketball players, the sales team members who are led by a sales manager who is also an extraordinary coach will see that what the sales manager teaches them has something to do with sales, and it also has everything to do with life itself. About the author: Steve Chriest is the founder of Selling Up TM ( www.selling-up.com ), a sales consulting firm specializing in sales improvement for organizations of all types and sizes in a variety of industries. He is also the author of Selling Up, The Proven System for Reaching and Selling Senior Executives. You can reach Steve at schriest@selling-up.com . To view the first in the series, “The Good Coach:” http://www.leasingnews.org/Selling_Up/Good_Coach.htm To view the second in the series, “The Great Coach:” |
 |
| 
