Finding Ways to Change Perspective
I started coaching when I was 20 years old. I was still a player and my initial coaching was split into two areas: 1) teaching kids and teachers about rugby in school; 2) talent identification and pathway programs for the representative teams. At the same time, I was still playing and I was also refereeing. As I look back, the influence this period had on how I see the game of rugby was massive.
I was experimenting and being curious all of the time. I was growing simultaneously in so many areas of my rugby and personal life. I had so many people investing in my growth and development. I had referees that were helping me referee (and then penalizing me when I was found guilty in matches). I had administrators help create connections and understanding of how to act in different off field situations. I had coaches helping me grow as a player. I had parents help me as I started to navigate the world of coaching at the representative level.
I think as a young coach, it is really important to experience as many different people’s perspectives of your sport as possible. Why? I think it grows your appreciation for what it takes to run the sport. It helps remove blindspots and it starts to work on your gratitude muscle — I do believe it’s a muscle that often atrophies when curiousness is diminished. Also, as the person being invested in, I got the benefit of having clashing perspectives and seeing that there is no perfect way to appreciate the sport.
But what do you do with all of this investment? I think you have to experiment with it. I really like Tim Ferriss’s approach to running experiments on himself. I don’t think I have the bandwidth or the desire to track everything like Ferriss, but I do regularly run experiments within my coaching as I look to see my craft from different perspectives. What Ferriss does is set a premise with an end time and a test of some description at the end.
I do the same thing with different rugby concepts, ways to approach relationships and how I integrate or disburse information. I am constantly listening to my players, other coaches and watching the game of rugby evolve. I love watching rugby from different countries with different coaches — I see different aspects of the game approached with different intensity. Sometimes I will trial changing my emphasis — for example, changing my focus points to be micro details or a mindset to a task. I will then look at the player response after 2-3 weeks and I ask:
Where are we seeing growth or change?
Is this in the direction that we want to go? Does the impact match the intent?
Do we keep/modify/discard?
I would say that I modify is normally what happens with a lot of this. The initial experiment isn’t quite right, but as we get to grips with the perspective and we (the players and coaches) start to see the impact we adapt to co-create the interpretation. At other times, I will be inspired to experiment in how I build relationships and connections. I will trial different questions, but normally with this, it isn’t really an experiment — it is just a way to change things up. See a season is a long time with 6-8 months of 15-25 hours a week together. Just being able to throw in some different perspectives opens the door for a more full understanding of people.
An area that I really come to appreciate is how to draw out what the players are seeing in the game, the team environment and in their future. I taught a coaching course one day and my co-educator asked the question “What was surprising?” I loved this question and I have used it to open up chats about many different things. Another way is I listen to how the players talk to each other in the mini-unit chats. There are so many enlightening moments on how to explain things — sometimes I highlight these phrases that a player has used and it becomes a part of our team language. Sometimes the phrases are just for a period, but sometimes they become a part of how we express ourselves.
As a coach is that I want to be constantly refining my craft. For me, I can’t be obstinate. To avoid this trap is to be curious about other’s perspectives and different ways of seeing the game and the world. By doing this, I challenge my normal — most of the time I am not shifted, but I have added an appreciation for how others see the world. It makes me a better coach. It makes me a better person. Ultimately, that is the outcome that I want for my players as well…the sport makes them a better teammate and this makes them a better person.