I’ve coached youth basketball for over 20 years and have compared coaching youth with coaching teams in business. There are number of similarities and differences between the two audiences, such as:
Similarities
- Young kids and adults on your team want to feel that you care about them. Demonstrating enthusiasm and interest in them as people and employees/players lifts their esteem and mood.
- They both respond better if you believe you are there to make them successful. This means having a plan for each individual. This is not simply a development plan for skills, but how you will look to help them develop in ways they see themselves becoming in the future. That future, mind you, may not be in accordance with a narrow view of what the organization needs. However, they will run through walls because of their belief you are helping them become what they envision.
- You are there to serve them, not the other way around.
Differences
- Youth need to be guided and instructed more than adult employees. However, this is not as much of a differences you think, if you practice the Four Fundamental Forces of Leadership in the right way. Because of the lesser technical skill of youth, they may need more direction to start something. However, this quote from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry highlights what I see as a much better way of helping youth athletes or adult employees become successful.
"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
Youth have the capacity to really explore a path on their own, but this develops more fully over time. I’ve found that they are able to process a lot more than we adults give them credit for. If a coach provides solid direction, while giving youth the opportunity to explore, make mistakes and fail, they end up much better off in the end.
Adults have the capacity, generally, to take a concept and run with it, even though it might not be with the process the leader envisions. Some adults are ‘tell me how to do it and I’ll do it’ types. However, you will get a lot more out of your employees when you challenge them and their logic and, if that logic is sound, let them go get it done while supporting them and having their back. Let them make mistakes and fail. They will become better in the end. - Kids don’t develop the ability to fully express their needs and desires well until they're older. That makes it more of a challenge to find the right triggers to get the most out of them. Many times, those trials end up in error for you. But if you find the right methods, you can really turn on the accelerator for them.
For adults, if they are being truthful to you (you need to develop levels of trust and Love for this to be fully realized), they should be able to communicate what they need and desire. However, that doesn’t take away your responsibility to find the right levers to get the most out of your team. Read my previous post on where on the radio dial you communicate best to get a grasp on how important it is for you to be open to communicating in a way others can understand. - Youth will, generally, look to execute on what you ask. If you ask them to do a certain thing a certain way, they will generally try to execute. Look to direct them to explore and push to failure. By giving them latitude and encouraging them to try new things without ramification, they will be much better equipped to grow, develop and perform for the team.
Adults will usually have some sort of baggage that may or may not support what you are asking to have done. They are sizing you up. You need to earn their trust and care, not only that you know what you are doing but that you deserve their loyalty and effort. Your title may command attention, but it doesn’t command respect and admiration.
Never forget that you work for your team, whether they be youth or adults. It’s your job to make them better.