The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

Mike Bloomgren, an accomplished American football coach, brings his infectious energy and insights on team leadership. He discusses how optimism and pessimism can spread through a team, impacting morale and performance. Bloomgren emphasizes the importance of connection among players and staff, fostering a caring environment. His unique approach, dubbed 'Intellectual Brutality,' enhances athletes' decision-making capabilities. Together with gold medal coach Hugh McCutcheon, they explore the balance of empowerment and accountability in coaching.

This week my co-host, Professor Eric Knight and I are joined by Kevin Eastman.Kevin is an American Basketball coach.He started coaching in 1978 progressing through assistant roles to become the Head coach of Belmont Abbey College. He then went on to lead the lead Washington State University and then the University of North Carolina Wilmington.In 2003 he was Nike’s Basketball National Director of Skills and through that role met Doc Rivers who invited him to become an Assistant with the Boston Celtics. That team went on to win the 2008 NBA championship. These days Kevin is an in demand public speaker and the author of the terrific book: Why the Best Are the Best: 25 Powerful Words That Impact, Inspire, and Define Champions  Some of the key highlights are: How he believes that the most important question great teams challenge themselves with is, what are you willing to sacrifice for this group? And how sacrifice is not just about what you give up, but rather what you choose to do for someone else. The acronym TIPS he uses to illustrate what all Teams whether in the sporting or corporate world need to do to be at their best. T stands for Truth which is the most important element, next is Intentional which he expands to describe as, what we do intentionally to fulfil our purpose, P stands for Preparation and S for Standards. The way he talks about the concept of Ubuntu which is an African word that embraces 2 key ideas, People are people because of other people and second tenet is, I can only be all I can be if you are all you can be. And the way this idea formed the foundations of the connections within the team.You can learn more about Thriving Teams at https://thegreatcoachespodcast.com/thriving-teams/ If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week my co-host, Professor Eric Knight and I continue our exploration of Thriving Teams with Shane Mcleod.Shane is a former New Zealand hockey player and now coach. He transitioned into coaching while still playing, and coached teams in Europe before becoming the Belgium Women’s team coach in 2002. In 2007 he moved back to New Zealand and led the Men's team at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. He then moved back to Belgium winning 2 National titles before becoming the Men's National team coach in 2015, and took them from a world ranking of 15 to #1. Along the way they won silver at the 2016 Olympics, the 2017 and 2019 European Championship, the 2019 and 2020 FIH Pro League. As well as gold at the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup, and the 2020 Olympic Games Some of the key highlights are:How the feedback he was given as a player, which was that the selectors thought he liked the idea of playing for New Zealand more than you actually wanted to play for New Zealand, has gone on to to inform the way he gives feedback now in a way that doesn’t deter someone from wanting to be better.The processes they have in place to encourage the athletes to develop their self-leadership. The exercise he used to get the players themselves to select the team, and he used this to identify the strengths of each individual and the players within the team who were the glue that kept the group connected.To find out more about Thriving Teams visit https://thegreatcoachespodcast.com/thriving-teams/If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week my co-host, Professor Eric Knight and I continue our exploration of Thriving Teams with Ben Darwin.Ben is a former Australian Rugby Union player who represented his country 28 times. He retired at the age of 27 after a neck injury and moved in to coaching before co-founding Gain Line Analytics, a company that has uses empirical analysis to understand the way professional sports teams work and succeed with each other.It is one of the more fascinating interviews we have had on the podcast because of the challenging views he has on the traditional drivers of success.Some of the key highlights are:The idea that small groups can be highly effective and the example he gives from military and history to show that it is the cohesion of your team, not the size of the talent pool you pull from that is key to success.His description of cohesion as understanding between the component parts of a team. And that this understanding is much more predictive of outcomes than the individual skill.And How effective cultures have normative behaviors that are established over time, are harder to change and can be learnt more easily across the components of the team.If you would like to know about more Thriving Teams or use the diagnostic we have created to understand how close to Thriving your teams is you can check out our tools here: https://thegreatcoachespodcast.com/thriving-teams/If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week my co-host, Professor Eric Knight and I continue our exploration of Thriving Teams with the Great Coach Jill McIntosh Jill McIntosh is a former Australian National netball player and team coach. As a player she won the 1983 World Championship and then coached the national team to the championship in 1995 and 1999, as well as gold medals at the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games.She has also coached the National teams of Singapore, Northern Ireland and Jamaica. And is presently the coach of the Cardiff Dragons in the UK Super League.In 2020 she was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame The key highlights from the interview are: How many coaches are good at knowing what they want, but they fall down when it comes to creating the “How” of how they will achieve it.The way she uses her rule of excellence to guide all the teams activities.The importance of getting in sync as a team, and they she goes about moulding teams to achieve this.You can find out more about Thriving Teams here: https://thegreatcoachespodcast.com/thriving-teams/If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2022 we were talking with 2 of the great coaches we have interviewed over a coffee, Eddie Jones and Neil Craig, as we got up to leave they challenged with an idea; so many sports coaches have models to illustrate what they think high performing teams do, why not compare them against what the coaches you are interviewing are saying? It was an interesting idea that stayed with me afterwards and in early 2023 I found some time to do this. I looked at models from Coaches, Academics and Consultants. I printed them off and laid them out on a table and started to compare them against the insight database that we have built up. That database has 1500 one to two minute videos from the coaches and is coded into buckets like culture, communication and mental skills. You can find it here: https://thegreatcoachespodcast.com/individual-insights/ The model that I thought best reflected the messages I was hearing from the Great Coaches , was the Thriving Teams model developed by the consultancy Thompson Harrison in conjunction with Oxford professor Robin Dunbar. Their model builds from the idea that organisation only thrive when people do. And they identify six dimensions that enable this; Belonging, Purpose, Connection, Culture, Values and Learning. In this podcast I will talk about their model and use audio from the Great Coaches to bring it to life.If you would like to know more about Thriving Teams you can find the information here: https://thegreatcoachespodcast.com/thriving-teams/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Liam is a former Irish Hurling player and now Coach.Liam played 13 senior games with Tipperary over 10 years. He retired in 1999 and in 2002 began coaching Tipperary youth teams. In 2007 he was appointed senior coach, and in 2010 he led to team to their 26th All Ireland Victory. Liam then took a year break from coaching at the highest level to spend more time with his family, as well as to coach local teams. In 2018 he returned to coach Tipperary and in his 2nd year won the All Ireland final again.His challenge on whether you focus on the setback or the bounce back and how this idea flows through his story and the championship teams he has led.His belief that a perfect day is when you give to somebody who might never be able to repay it. And his focus as a leader on creating an environment where the person gets to flourish.How the great coaches are innovators and focused on creativity so that they can get to the future before anybody else.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Graham is a Rugby Union Coach.He started coaching in 1975 while teaching at Auckland Grammar school. His coaching and teaching continued and in 1993 he was to win the first of 4 consecutive Provincial Championships with Auckland. In 1996 he resigned as a headmaster to take up full time coaching with the Auckland Blues, leading them to back to back Super 12 titles in 1996 and 1997. He then took on the role as Head Coach of Wales and In 2000 led them to the 6 Nations Championship and the Grand Slam.While coaching Wales he also led the British and Irish Lions on a tour of Australia. In 2003 he was appointed coach of the All Blacks and went on to lead them to the 2011 World Cup. In 2012 he was awarded a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (KNZM) in services to rugby.[17] In this terrific interview some of the key highlights are: The way the teams culture was built from its purpose which was to be the best sporting team in the world. And the role that humility played in bringing this to life.  How by the time he was appointed All Blacks Coach he had learnt the importance of empowerment and moving from a coach driven environment to a team driven environment. And how this was the catalyst for the leadership groups he put in place. The way the difficult decision he has made in his life have gone on to benefit him in the longer run. And how in his words “’learning about yourself under pressure” has been a key part of his development as a leader. If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is Tim Sheens. Tim Sheens is an Australian Rugby League coach. He played 166 games for the Penrith Panthers and then moved in to coaching in 1984. He coached the Canberra Raiders to Premierships, in 1989, 90 and 94 and then in 2005 led the Wests Tigers to the premiership.He has also coached the NSW team to the 1991 state or origin series win and the Australian team to the 2013 World Championship.Some of the key highlights are:The philosophy he borrowed from an American coach of “being consistent in treating everybody differently.” And how as a result he doesn’t see people management in black and white terms.How Tim identifies 3 things that effective teams need to be doing every week: working on their public perception, thining about the opposition and making sure that small groups within the organisation don’t start talking negatively about other small groups. How the best coaches are good recruiters, and they select people who are going to suit their style.  If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kelly is an American Volleyball coach. He started coaching volleyball in his teens, helping out at summer camps. He then went on to Assist at High School level before getting his chance as an Assistant at the University of Houston in 1997. He was given his first Head Coaching role at the University of Albany in 2001 and led them to 3 regular season championships. In 2012 he was appointed as Head Coach of the University of Wisconsin and has led them to 5 Big 10 Championships, 4 NCAA Final Fours and the 2021 NCAA Championship.Some of the highlights of our discussion were:His view on the importance of his teams environment teaching life lessons at a critical time in peoples lives.The way he talks about balancing optimism and positivity against just cheerleading and the story he shares about rubber wrist bands to illustrate this.The importance of removing the worry the players may have about the coaches mood.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.