On the second tier of the Pyramid of Success is initiative, a helpful character trait for a frontrunner, and an important high quality for any crew if they’re going to carry out at their highest capability.
An incredible chief not solely has initiative as a person character trait, but additionally coaches their crew or group in a fashion that creates and encourages initiative from all crew members.
An incredible chief creates new leaders.
Coach John Wood described the significance of giving his gamers the flexibility to take initiative:
“Don’t tie them down so rigidly that you simply take away their initiative. They will need to have some freedom of motion, however should react to the initiative of a teammate in an effort to preserve ground stability.
“Give gamers the chance to realize with out the concern of failure.”
The communication fashion of the chief will both encourage or discourage initiative by the individuals they supervise. Within the e-book Learn how to Be Like Coach Wood by Pat Williams, Wood described his methodology:
“I by no means needed to show by concern, punishment or intimidation. Satisfaction is a greater motivator than concern.
“Concern may match within the short-term to get individuals to do one thing, however over the long term, I consider private pleasure is a a lot better motivator. It produces much better outcomes that final for a for much longer time.”
The chief encourages initiative after they maintain individuals accountable and proper relatively than criticize. In his e-book with Jay Carty, Coach Wood One-on-One, Wood describes the distinction:
“Criticism and correction differ particularly in terms of strategies and motives. Criticism places somebody down. Correction means I need to assist.
“Be gradual to right and fast to commend. Nobody likes correction, however we study from it. If we commend earlier than we right, the particular person will settle for the correction higher. However we should hear earlier than we right. There’s normally one other facet to each story. If we hearken to others, they are going to be extra apt to hearken to us.
“It is vitally vital how correction is given. We have to be cautious how we do it. We don’t need these being corrected to lose face. Listed below are some good suggestions: Make it significant, however use judgment. Don’t fly off the deal with and be fast to right. Do it with tact. If we simply let fly, it’s extra prone to be seen as criticism than as correction.
“Approval is a better motivator than disapproval, however we have now to disapprove every so often once we right. It’s essential. I solely make corrections after I’ve proved to the person that I extremely worth them. In the event that they know we take care of them, our correction received’t be seen as judgment. I additionally tried to by no means make it private.”
The chief who encourages initiative has religion in individuals. They consider in them, and thus draw out the very best in them. If the initiative of the crew member produces fruitful outcomes, the chief provides away the credit score. If it doesn’t, the chief takes the blame.
As Wood would usually remind us, “It’s wonderful how a lot might be achieved if nobody is anxious with who will get the credit score.”
This text was printed in December 2017 and has been up to date. Picture by LightField Studios/Shutterstock
As Coach Wood’s grandson-in-law, Craig Impelman had the chance to study Coach’s teachings firsthand and wrote about these classes for his website, www.woodenswisdom.com. He’s a motivational speaker and the creator of Wood’s Knowledge, a weekly “e-coaching module” that’s distributed to corporations nationally.