So, where does confidence come from?
Confidence comes from knowing what to do, exactly how to do it, and doing it – and being responsible for all three.
I set out to teach players all three.
When I designed our system, I asked myself these three questions that I pulled from my business experience:
Do players know what to do? For example, in hitting mechanics, do they know what to do or just hear the words I say? (You’d be amazed at how many players and coaches know words and hear them over and over again but don’t understand what is meant.)
Do they know exactly how to do it (mechanics)?
Am I reinforcing and measuring what I want players to get good at?
My responsibility was to provide the information, the tools, and the reinforcement for the players.
The players’ responsibility was to learn the information – to know what they are expected to do, focus on getting better at skills, then get into the habit of doing them right all the time.
This clarity of responsibility does a couple of things:
1. It makes me better at my job. Instead of doing everything, I set up a system for the players to do their part.
2. It gives players an understanding of what they need to do and whether they are doing it right or not.
Why this way?
in the business world, the test for determining whether a manager is great or not is this question:
“Can the business run without you being there?”
The answer should be yes.
Workers need to know what to do, exactly how to do it, and measure whether they do it correctly once they learn how. If a worker knows those things, they don’t need a manager (until a new problem shows up, which is what the manager is for).
Being trusted with the responsibility to do work without being micro-managed is how pride in one's work develops.
If you’ve ever had a bad boss, what’s the problem? They don’t give you any responsibility. No one knows what to do. Right?
And, guess what? This worked amazingly well with the players.
As I saw this system work with the players, I quickly learned that I was the limitation, not the players.
So, I worked hard and learned things like:
* Visual learning is better than telling. A picture is worth 1000 words, right?
* Giving players one thing to focus on is better than giving lots of feedback
* A Lot of little changes over time are better than one big change - this teaches the value of consistency
So, I focused on finding better ways to do two things:
1. Visual learning
2. Simple, consistent feedback on what players were doing that could be delivered quickly