Developing Leaders

Leadership books, courses, and articles are everywhere. When developing leaders, specificity matters. Telling others to 'earn respect' and 'model excellence' is good advice but not specific.

Return to specifics:

• Carry out the assignment/task/mission. That could be small (cleaning up the bench or locker room daily) or large (supervising offseason training)
• Take care of your teammates. That entails communicating expectations, providing specifics needed, monitoring progress, and reviewing the results (give and get feedback). 

"The Process of Developing Leaders"

Select some upcoming leaders whom you want to develop. 

1) Assign them a task to accomplish. 

2) Explain the conditions they must work under and the standard to which the task is to be completed. 

3) Hold those teammates personally accountable for the results. 

4) As they develop as leaders, give them increased responsibility and more challenging tasks." - from "The Program: Lessons From Elite Military Units for Creating and Sustaining High Performance Leaders and Teams" by Eric Kapitulik, Jake MacDonald

MVB has produced a myriad of exceptional players and talented leaders. How did they do that? 

• Excel at communication with clarity, simplicity, specificity. 
• Inform new players of the importance of identity (this is who we are) and process (this is how we do that). 
• Give and get feedback. What is your understanding of how we cover during attacks? Commit to being the hardest worker. 
• Ask "how can I help you be a better player?"
• Set high expectations. "We don't go out of rotation or have 'campfires' because our communication doesn't allow it."

The best teams have player ownership of process and results. 

Lagniappe. Outside hitters don't grow on trees. To be a great outside you have to excel at receiving.