Great Coaches Don’t Treat Every Athlete They Coach the Same
Many coaches pride themselves on the fact that they treat all their athletes they lead the same. I would say this is like parents who seek to treat all their children the same or managers who seek to treat all their employees the same.
Regardless of the leadership role, trying to treat unique people, whether they are athletes, children, or employees the same is a mistake. While on the surface treating everyone the same appears to be fair, it’s really not fair at all.
For example, an inexperienced athlete may want a coach who gives a lot of directions and follows-up with help often. On the other hand, an experienced athlete will call this type of coach suffocating. Indeed, and experience athlete needs a coach who can help them focus on the mental side and provide nuanced feedback in strategic moments.
In addition, some people have personality types that are more passive and others more aggressive. Treating these two diametrically opposed personality types the same will produce two different outcomes. What’s more, there are numerous other personality types that contrast and require nuance from coaches.
As a result, the goal of a coach, parent, or manager should never be to treat everyone the same. Instead, the goal should be to produce positive outcomes from everyone’s results. To do this, those in leadership roles must also play the role of detective. This means they must investigate, interview, examine, observe, record, and follow-up among other things. This is the only way a leader can learn to adjust for those specific personality types that conflict with their default leadership style.