Three Lessons on Leadership

For the past 16 years I have been a youth hockey coach. For the last 6 years I’ve coached 18 and under teams whose age range from 15-19 years old. These are three valuable lessons I’ve learned along the way. When I coached younger players I learned an anecdotal trick for determining players' positions. It’s not something that I have actually applied but it emphasizes a point. At the first practice of the season you shoot the puck down ice. The kids who race after it are your forwards. The kids who hang out on the periphery are your defensemen. Finally that one kid that just stands next to you is your goalie. The point I’m trying to make here is to learn what your team’s strengths are. Understand each member of the team and what they can bring to the table. Utilize those strengths whenever possible. Now another part of any youth team is the parents. For anyone who has ever coached or had a child in youth sports, you know full well that you need the parents on board as well. When I have my first parent meeting at the beginning of each season I always ask them three questions. I first ask how many of them see their child going to play professional hockey. Usually a few brave souls will raise their hand. I then ask how many think their kids will play for a college hockey team. A few more are willing to raise their hands. Finally I ask how many want to see their kids coaching youth hockey when they get older, at this point everyone raises their hands and nods their heads. I tell them, those are the players I’m coaching. The next generation of coaches and leaders. Now my point here is subtle. I am establishing common values within the team. Values that they all agree on and use as their guiding light. A team with a set of common values will make better decisions based on those values. The final lesson I want to talk about comes from the most talented player I have ever coached. He was amazing on the ice, however his problem was he wouldn’t pass. He was not a team player, he wanted to score all the goals. He was 17 at the time and we made him an assistant captain. Not for his talent but because we knew we could teach this kid how to be a leader. The other coaches tried pleading with him to pass and sometimes lecturing him. I took a different approach. I took him aside before a game and said to him, “Look, you know more about hockey than I will ever know. You are the most talented player I’ve ever coached. There is nothing I can teach you about hockey. But what I can teach you is how to be a leader. Your team looks up to you as an assistant captain. As a captain you want to lead your team and see them grow to their fullest potential. Their skills will never grow if you score all the goals. So could you be the leader I know you can be and pass the puck?” That game he got three assists and was more proud of those assists than he ever was of any goals he had ever scored. This final point is something that I learned from John C. Maxwell. Develop your leaders. You should want to make each member of your team better. You want to see them grow and learn as if they were your own children. When your team sees you are putting value in them, they will want to give value back. There are many more lessons I’ve learned from coaching youth hockey, but these three have been the most successful for me. Go out there and be the best leader you can and invest heavily in your team.