Creating The Right Performance Climate
Tips for Coaches & Leaders
Evaluate how you define success for you athletes or employees.
What behaviors do you reinforce and reward? What do you think it takes to be successful? Consider what it is you want your players/employees to learn and to experience while they are part of your team. How do you convey to your team the value you place on hard work, their cooperation with teammates/colleagues, and their personal improvement? Do you foster rivalry among them? How do you approach them after they have made errors, and how do you interact with less talented team members? All of these coaching and leadership behaviours are assumed to impact the goal perspectives adopted by athletes.
2. Become aware of how your athletes and employees approach their sport and work.
It is often helpful to know what your athletes and employees are bringing into their athletic or work activities. Remember, the motivational climate at home (past or present) may be different than the one you are trying to establish on the field or at work. You may experience a member of your team who is easily upset, appears to be stressed, has a hard time dealing with mistakes or loss, is impatient with his fellow colleagues or teammates, etc. One possible explanation could be this person is highly ego-oriented because of strong home influences. Of course, you have no power to change the environment at home but you do have the ability when they are with you to teach that there is more than one way to view success and gain satisfaction from their efforts.
3. Make it known what climate you are creating.
At the beginning of each year or season, communicate clearly with your team the goals you have for the year, the way you define success for the company or team, and the expectations you have for them. A goal-setting workshop seems elementary but it is one of the tools that successful businesses employ multiple times a year.
Tips for Parents
Check out sport programs before enrolling your child.
Ask about participation policies. Do some children spend the season on the bench? What seems to be the motivational climate in the league and on your child's team specifically? Are kids having fun? Are they receiving instructional information from their coaches? How do the coaches respond when a child makes a mistake? Concerned parents can greatly improve the quality of the children's sports programs. Remember a child's sport experiences have a great impact on their future involvement in exercise and sports, and on their attitudes regarding physical activity.
2. Support your child's coach.
Remember that in most programs, coaches are well-intentioned individuals who are willing to volunteer. They may have little or no training in principles of teaching, psychology, and physical education/coaching concepts. Reinforce the coach behaviors when he/she stresses hard work and mastery of skills rather than the competitive outcome. If you do have a concern with a coach behavior or attitude, talk to the coach privately without putting your child in the middle of your concern.
3. Try to help your children focus on how hard they try and their personal improvement, rather than the outcome.
Many parents cannot resist the temptation to direct the conversation with their child around winning or losing, team and individual standings/rankings, and potential trophies/prizes. These are factors over which most children have very little control. Instead, look for ways to fortify your children's efforts. For example, there is nothing wrong with occasionally asking a child if he/she won a competition. It is simply a matter of being more aware of how we talk to kids, and being careful not to always emphasize being the best or winning. Rather, adults can be creative in looking for ways to discuss sports with children in a way that highlights the value of effort, improvement, and skill development.