Adapt To Your Talent

In sports, most great coaches have the great fortune of having great players. Phil Jackson won 11 NBA championships, 6 with Michael Jordan and 5 with Kobe Bryant. He won none in his other 8 years as an NBA head coach without Michael or Kobe. As a head coach, Bill Belichick won 6 Super Bowls with Tom Brady. Before then, he was the failed coach of the Cleveland Browns and had a few miserable years after Brady left for Tampa Bay (and another Super Bowl title).

These two brilliant minds understand how to coach the game and their players, and having stars on their team should not diminish their achievements. But without stars, even they could not win. Many other great coaches have never won anything significant. Besides star power, what do great coaches do in preparation for and during games? Adapt.

All head coaches (insert the generic term leader here) have a game plan and a system they want to execute. The success or failure of the game plan depends on the players’ execution. There have literally been times when I have yelled out the exact play we are going to run so both teams know, and still run it successfully, because my team's players can do their jobs. I have also had the perfect plan, but the wrong players for the plan. That last point is one that separates good coaches and leaders.

Too many coaches and leaders stay stubborn in their ways and systems, even without the players or personnel to execute the plan. They believe their ideas are foolproof and stick to them even when all the evidence shows an adjustment is needed. Sometimes the problem is that their plan isn't as good as they believe it to be, or their players are not capable of executing, or the other team adjusts more quickly and counters with an even better plan. Yet, the leader sticks to their plan and ultimately fails.

Good leaders have a framework for what they want to see, but they are flexible based on the circumstances. A sports coach faces a team that can shut down their star player, so they find a way to make their all-pro a decoy, and the rest of the team rallies. A manager has a new generation of workers who react to criticism differently than a previous generation, and find new ways to critique and improve their performance. A teacher with a group of students struggling to succeed creates different opportunities for students to learn the material.

Leaders who make the system about them let their ego bring their demise. Leaders who make the system about their team's abilities find success. Showing flexibility within structure, building on individuals' assets, and adapting as needed are hallmarks of strong leaders. Stubbornness to change and trying to force others into their system are hallmarks of leaders with short tenures.