Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 510 - Equip Your Team With Clear Instructions (Tony Dungy Part Nine)


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 10	Issue 510
Craig Impelman Speaking \| Championship Coaches \| Champion's Leadership Library Login
EQUIP YOUR TEAM WITH CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS (TONY DUNGY PART NINE) John Wooden Video Clip (4 min. 06 sec.): Coach Wooden is asked: "Please share how you decided to bring your coaching career to a close." Long clip but great if you are a John Wooden fan. Tony Dungy was head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996 to 2001, and head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2002 to 2008. Coach Dungy became the first African American head coach to win the Super Bowl when his Colts defeated the Chicago Bears in 2007. In his book, The Leader Mentor, Coach Dungy explained the importance of providing clear instructions when assigning a task: "I think, for most people, poorly defined tasks are one of the highest areas of dissatisfaction. How often have you been given an assignment without being told how to do it or what's expected? Are you expected to bring back a recommendation or a report? In writing? Equipping goes hand in hand with educating if we want people to perform to their highest potential. And just because we've gone through the process once doesn't mean we won't have to do it again. Picture a young coach I've hired as my defensive quality-control coach. He will work under the defensive coordinator, providing him with breakdowns of opponents' videos and drawing up play cards of other teams' offenses to allow the scout team to simulate those plays in practice. That's the job description in a nutshell, but what exactly does the defensive coordinator want? Many young coaches have to rewrite their reports several times because they didn't know what the coordinator really wanted. "Why did you include those plays in the report? Their quarterback was hurt in that game. They'll run an entirely different offense against us when he is back in the lineup." "Why didn't you note that the other team blitzed when they ran this play? The quarterback changed the play at the line." These are things the coordinator knows when he watches the tapes, and he assumes the young assistant should know them as well. But the newcomer doesn't because it has never been explained to him. Once the coordinator lays it out and shows the other coach what he wants, the young coach can deliver what the coordinator needs. Mentor leaders understand that educating and equipping with the necessary information and expectations to accomplish the task must go hand in hand." Are your instructions clear? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 510. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 510. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE The Things You Can't Forget They ain't much, seen from day to day- The big elm tree across the way, The church spire, an' the meetin' place Lit up by many a friendly face. You pass 'em by a dozen times An' never think o' them in rhymes, Or fit for poet's singin'. Yet They're all the things you can't forget; An' they're the things you'll miss some day If ever you should go away. The people here ain't much to see- Jes' common folks like you an' me, Doin' the ordinary tasks Which life of everybody asks: Old Dr. Green, still farin' 'round To where his patients can be found, An' Parson Hill, serene o' face, Carryin' God's message every place, An' Jim, who keeps the grocery store- Yet they are folks you'd hunger for. They seem so plain when close to view- Bill Barker, an' his brother too, The Jacksons, men of higher rank Because they chance to run the bank, Yet friends to every one round here, Quiet an' kindly an' sincere, Not much to sing about or praise, Livin' their lives in modest ways- Yet in your memory they'd stay If ever you should go away. These are things an' these the men Someday you'll long to see again. Now it's so near you scarcely see The beauty o' that big elm tree, But some day later on you will An' wonder if it's standin' still, An' if the birds return to sing An' make their nests there every spring. Mebbe you scorn them now, but they Will bring you back again someday. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
For more information visit www.woodenswisdom.com