We’ve been struggling a little bit with strategy on what to put out on here when it is not a podcast. Over the last two months, we have seen a massive increase in subscribers (thank you!). So, part of us wants to revisit some old posts/content that we think are fundamental to ICP. However, we also don’t want to bore our long time readers. So….we are going to try to find a balance. But this week, we are going to revisit an old post on toughness. We think it is one of the more misunderstood concepts in Coaching. So, those who have heard us talk about it on the podcast or read our stuff on it before, we encourage you to read it again and let it continue to sink in. New people—we hope you find it helpful. Let us know what you think!
A common refrain from coaches is that their team is not tough enough. I know I felt like that through much of my coaching career. However, my concept of teaching toughness and competitiveness was not refined or defined. Or, probably more accurately, it was ILL defined.
Also, it was an easy (and often untrue) excuse when we lost….we like to blame the athlete’s toughness instead of our coaching ability or simply understanding the other team may have just been better.
If you’re like me, I thought I just needed to make everything harder. Harder conditioning, early practices, more intense feedback, etc. More often than not, this is not enough. Especially to build group toughness. None of these things are totally wrong. There is a place for ALL of them. But it is incomplete.
One other challenge in developing toughness within athletic teams is the varying perceptions of toughness. Athletes come with expectations of what toughness is. Some athletes may view toughness as physical strength and endurance, while others may perceive it as mental resilience. A coach has a difficult challenge in front of them of building understanding and buy in when there are many different views.
In the context of athletic teams, ‘toughness’ is often defined as the ability to persevere through challenging circumstances. This includes maintaining focus, determination, and resilience in the face of adversity. Notice it is not described as yelling, screaming, our pounding your chest… Further, individual toughness can be different than toughness of a group. The tough, resilient team is fun to coach and hard to beat. But how do you develop it?
In the book “Do Hard Things”, Steve Magness outlines a research backed idea on how to build toughness. He says it has two points:
1. Psychological Safety: this DOES not mean do whatever you want and believe want you want. Instead, it means that as long as you follow the standards of the team, your spot is safe. A team is a community and having the knowledge that you can screw up (not play well) and still be part of it is important. In fact, it can build more resilience.
2. The ability to get better: there needs to be a trust from the team that they can get better within the program. It makes sense…it is easier to be tough when you know you have gotten better and are prepared to compete and perform.
At ICP, we believe there is a third part of toughness. You have to go through hard things together as a group. This can be manufactured (conditioning, early practices, etc.) or real but better if it is real. Going through hard times effectively with each other will build toughness. However, coaches need to lead well and have the skill sets to lead well in those scenarios.
What skills does it take for a coach to lead through hard things? Communication, empathy, steadfastness, honesty, confidence…. this list could go on! We’ll cover more in our ICP information, but this is a good example of why coach Education and a learning process is important.
Coaches-don’t let your coaching position out pace your character or preparedness! If you are not ready to lead through tough situations and understand how to build toughness, you are going to have a tough go! People want to rush to be a head coach (I know I did….) but if you aren’t ready for it, it might be the last time you get the opportunity.
Here is a video Dustin and I recorded discussing this topic:
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Things That Are Making Us Think
One thing that is making us EXCITED is that we are getting ready to release an ICP Coaching Online Course. All our paid subscribers will receive the course for free once it is ready ($99 value).
A quote from this weekends —-“We try to make virtues out of the faults we have no wish to correct.” – Francois de La Rochefoucauld
