Coach to Coach – Maximizing Productivity: A Key Component to Success

If football had a caloric value, I would have gained fifty pounds over the last month. From high school championship games, to college bowl games, to NFL playoff games, I am fat on football. One of the factors causing my football weight gain is how I consume the product. There are no fast food meals here. The invention of the DVR has turned me into a slow and steady consumer. A three hour game can easily take me twice that long to watch. The rewind and pause features allow me to regurgitate of each play and chew on the specific techniques and strategies being applied.

I wish I could watch a game like a normal fan, but my profession and personality will not allow it. My addiction has resulted in literally thousands of hours of observing the successful as well as the unsuccessful and the over as well as the under achievers. My observations have led me to the conclusion that there is a commonality shared by the successful that transcends sport, age, race and gender. There are many aspects to being successful and there is certainly no single magic bullet. However, after studying successful people from all walks of life and especially those in the world of sports, I am confident in stating that a key ingredient shared by the successful is consistent productivity. Productive practice habits, productive time management and a productive mindset are the keys to transitioning from average to good and from good to great. Those who have mastered the art of productivity are successful. Those who lack it will fail more than they should.  What is productivity? Webster simply defines it as the ability to readily and abundantly produce. To me, productivity can be described as the tangible outcome produced by maximum effort and skill.

If you watched the West Virginia Mountaineers dismantle the Clemson Tigers in their recent bowl game, you were privy to a master’s course on productivity. The Mountaineers stretched their productivity to a record-setting and staggering 70 points scored. This achievement was not the result of some freak accident. It was the result of a mindset established by the head coach – a mindset that charted a course of action that resulted in maximum achievement. In accepting the fact that maximizing productivity is the Holy Grail in achieving optimal results, I set out to define, by acronym, the key components of productivity for me and my football team. I want to share these simple components with you. You may find that you have a different definition of what being productive should look like for you and those involved with your football program. However, I think we can all agree that maximum productivity is something that we value and desire when it comes to being the very best that we can possibly be.

PRODUCTIVE:
 
Plan: All great structures start with a detailed plan. You simply cannot successfully build without knowing the exact measurements of everything from the foundation to the cover. There is a blueprint for every nail and every board prior to the start of construction. Building a productive football team is no different. To be productive in everything from training our athlete’s bodies to practice and game preparation, a detailed plan must be established. Successful teams and successful people have a specific plan as to where they want to go and how they want to get there. Their plan may encounter detours along with way, but the plan is the compass that will lead to their success.
Realistic: The realistic coach understands what he and his team are capable of achieving if everyone reaches their maximum potential. Being realistic does not mean that we should limit the level of success that we expect our team or individual players to achieve. It does mean, however, that we spend our time developing the skill and confidence in the areas that they have the best chance of achieving great results.

In 2006, we did not have a traditional quarterback on our varsity team. I realized this very early in our preparation and thus I created a system that allowed our players to excel in the areas where they possessed the most talent. In short, I changed our system to fit our player’s strengths. In the two seasons that followed, our team went a combined 23-1 and was ranked by MaxPreps.com as the 34th best team in the nation. In 2007 we rushed, from the spread formation, for over 4,000 yards. These results indicate that we were very productive during those years partly because our coaching staff was realistic about what our players could and could not execute effectively. 

Organized: Wherever you find maximum productivity, you will find great organization. You cannot be truly productive if you lack organization. The lack of organization is often the downfall of the very talented. We have all witnessed businesses, organizations, political campaigns and certainly football teams that fail to reach their maximum potential due to an unorganized plan or leader. Organization is non-negotiable when it comes to being truly productive. One does not exist without the other.

Determined: Determination is a key ingredient to achieving maximum productivity. The determined athlete is the one who will not leave the gym or the arena until they have achieved their goals or have given every ounce of themselves in trying. They are single-minded in their approach and in difficult times they simply will not allow the detractors to write their narrative.

As I write this, I am watching Tim Tebow have his best game as a professional quarterback in the playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Like him or not, Tim Tebow is one of the most determined athletes I have ever seen. We have all coached and have been around gifted athletes who have lacked the determination required to achieve greatness. They do the work required, but nothing more. Productive athletes and productive coaches are some of the most determined people in the entire world.

Unified: To be truly productive, each member of the team must be educated on and unified in the football program’s goals and expectations. These often can best be articulated in the form of a mission statement. Our mission statement at Foothill High School speaks of the way we will conduct ourselves on and off the field. It sets the parameters in which we will prepare and plan for our success. It clearly defines what each member of our team can expect from the program and equally what the program can expect from each player. Unity starts with a clear and concise mission that aims to make those around us better. Unity also empowers the individual with the knowledge that the whole his greater than the sum of the parts. Through trials and tribulation, good times and bad, it is always amazing what can be accomplished when everyone is unified and pulling the rope in the same direction.

Concise: To be productive, one must be clear about their purpose. Where clarity lacks, confusion is often the result. Confusion leads to wasted effort and wasted time - the antithesis of productivity. A team that is productive has a head coach who is very clear about what he expects of his team and coaching staff. The assistant coaches are very clear and precise about what they expect from their position players. There is concise attention to detail in all phases of the team. Teams that have mastered the art of being concise are teams that have many championship banners hanging in the gym.

Thorough: Paying attention to detail is a key component to productivity. Have you ever had the experience of painstakingly putting something complicated together only to find at the end that you missed a required step?
Knowingly or unknowingly skipping steps or taking shortcuts often results in one of the most important non-renewable resource we have - time. Being extremely thorough is a necessary attribute to being a great and productive coach.

Innovative: Often we have to be innovative to achieve maximum productivity. The current trend of having up-tempo, no-huddle offenses is a direct result of coaches using innovation to improve productivity. The common factor that both teams share in every game is the game clock. Both teams share the amount of time allotted in a game. What the team does with their time is the non-common factor. Many teams have used innovative ways to increase their number of offensive plays and thus increase their scoring opportunities. Innovation and productivity share a synergetic relationship that usually results in increased productivity.

Value: In order for productivity to be maximized, the resulting achievement must have a premium value to those doing the work. If there is no value placed on the end result, productivity will be minimized. The great thing about productivity is when we work with the intention of getting the most out of our ability on a consistent basis, rewards will follow. The rewards may be small at first, but the establishing of life-long patterns that lead to maximum productivity of our skills and talents will lead to great rewards in the future.

Enthusiasm: To be truly productive you must possess an enthusiastic attitude. Enthusiasm and energy is a required component to becoming a great coach. These traits can be packaged in different forms, but they must be present. Enthusiasm and energy are required to achieve and maintain the pace that productivity requires. Show me a coach that lacks energy and enthusiasm for their job and I guarantee that their team and staff will not be as productive as they could and should be.
   
    I hope that this article will be of some help in achieving great productivity for you and your players this coming year. If I can be of any assistance, please feel free to email me – bhamilton@suhsd.net.