Three questions to ask when your team is not performing at their best

Coaches often come to our Level Up Athlete team with questions. They wonder why players aren’t communicating effectively on the field; why a team is executing well in practice but not in games; why an athlete isn’t adjusting their technique after 1:1 coaching. To figure out what might be going on below the surface, our team uses an inquiry approach. Typically human behavior is driven by a combination of many factors, and accordingly we work with coaches to take a multifaceted approach to understand and address challenges they are facing. 

Let’s say you’re a softball coach, frustrated because your players aren’t calling loud enough for a fly ball. You want your team to YELL, so there’s no confusion if a pop up will be caught by the shortstop, third baseman, or left fielder. While in some instances your team’s lack of communication has worked out, there has been more than one collision and error. You’ve told players repeatedly, “Make sure you talk… call the ball!” But you can barely hear them during games, and they’re definitely not hearing each other. 

To avoid on-field errors and build team cohesion in challenges like this, communication is essential. But the work goes beyond simply telling the players what to do and assuming they’ll get it right every time. When coaches face inevitable challenges during a season, here are three questions we ask to get to the root of the problem and move in the right direction:

1. Is there a knowledge gap? When you give players a directive (like “Talk more.), you likely know what you mean and what success looks like, but each player might envision something different. Have you shown players an exemplar model through video or demonstration? Have you explained in detail what you believe success looks like on the field? Using the fly ball example, have you broken down your personal expectations for volume and clarity (are we saying “Mine, mine, mine” or “I got it, I got it”)? 

If you haven’t done this yet, start there. Often players don’t follow through on something because they don’t know what success looks like, or that vision is misaligned with the coach’s expectations. We call that a knowledge gap. When you identify a knowledge gap, solve it by showing your players exactly what you want them to do on the field, and practice those specific details. As a coach, you can’t assume that all of your players have the same foundational understanding of something unless you teach them. In a situation like this, you can model for them, have other players demonstrate, or show them a video, but the point is to show the team exactly what you want to see on the field and its impact. 

When the team takes the field, you can reference your model. Having seen a strong example of on-field communication, you can give your players more targeted feedback on what to adjust. Over time with continual discussion of not just the end expectation but the steps needed to get there, you will begin to see consistency on the field in both practices and games.

2. Is there a skill gap? Let’s say you demonstrate strong communication for your team, but they’re still not communicating consistently enough. Another reason that your team might not follow your coaching as effectively as you imagined is because they have a skill gap and need additional explicit instruction. Using the same example, have them practice calling the ball while you steadily turn up music on a speaker, and they have to communicate louder than the music each time. 

Teaching for skill gaps is where coaches typically spend the most time (how to turn a double play, how to effectively run your zone defense, etc). As we address these skill gaps, It’s critical that we as coaches reflect and reteach too. Like educators, our success lies in checking for understanding, varying our teaching, and adapting for each scenario and the needs of individual players.

3. Is there a will gap? If it’s not a knowledge gap or skill gap, there’s likely a will gap. And will gaps can be tough, because they are underneath the surface and not always obvious. If you tell players what to do, show them an example, re-teach it and practice it in multiple ways, but they are still not performing the task, this is likely because there is a deeper motivation issue. 

At Level Up Athlete we help coaches and players get to know their own Deep Motivational Drivers (DMDs) - to tap into the innate reasons that compel each of us to act. Each individual is moved to action by a unique set of DMDs, and when coaches and athletes know their DMDs, it is a game changer. Knowing why we each choose to act or what holds us back from acting is like having part of our “User Manual.” For instance one player might need to know the “why” behind important decisions, in order to push through discomfort and try something different. Another player might be more bought in by building personal connection to the team, while another might be driven by scoring the most points in every single drill. 

When coaches know their athletes’ DMDs, they can adjust their communication to speak to the variety of motivators that their athletes represent (in practice, pregame speeches, timeouts, 1x1 meetings, etc).

This speaks to what our team loves to do. At Level Up Athlete we can help you discover how to better understand the array of unique styles on your team and leverage those interests and needs as a way to improve performance. We’ve worked with college, high school, and youth league coaches and athletes and would love to work with you to unlock your team’s potential!