The Future of High Performance: Self-Coaching Teams

Read Time: 3 minutes.

Why do elite athletes have coaches?

Why do sports teams have multiple levels of coaching expertise?

One reason: Maximizing potential.

At elite levels, small gains are the difference between winning and losing.

How small?

I recently read “Winning” by Tim Grover. He was the performance coach for athletes like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

He talked about Michael being the first athlete to lift weights on game days (because when else would he fit it in?).

To ensure they didn’t impact performance, they focused on muscle groups not used in games, one of which was the biceps. This raised the question, why focus on the biceps at all if they’re not really used in basketball?

“Because those are the first muscles his opponents will see when he removes his warmups.”

The advantage wasn’t strength. It was the appearance of strength.

And that appearance was one of many tiny advantages Michael’s coaches helped him stack up into being the game’s greatest player.

That’s why I believe the teams that will win in the future will be biased toward coaching, built upon relentless self-improvement and mutual accountability.

And any leader can build a coaching-first org.

Here’s how…

Make It Their Mission

Why are we willing to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in recruiting great talent yet reluctant to make developing that talent equally important?

My hunch: While both are vital, recruiting is more straightforward to measure (are the seats filled with good people or not?) than development.

But just because it's hard to measure doesn't mean we should ignore it.

So, if you want everyone to adopt a coaching posture, ensure it's part of their expectations and incentivize this behavior.

And don't just tell them. Show them.

Teach Them To Coach

I previously shared my in-depth coaching blueprint. The concepts stand in this context, too.

But if you wanted to give people the 80/20 to coach each other effectively, I'd suggest:

• Agree on "What Excellent Looks Like"

• Ask questions when you see deviations

• Align on one specific action to improve

Since it's often skipped, let's double-click into the first one.

Work Backwards from Winning

We don't coach for the sake of coaching.
We coach to win.

In sports, winning is clear—the scoreboard rules.

In business, winning is also clear.
But we let ourselves get distracted by the activity around the work.

Go function by function and list the 3-5 core actions that create success.

You can do it for any role.

Sales:

• Maintain a robust pipeline

• Convert leads at an accelerating rate

• Ensure high retention with profitable clients

• Strategically grow existing accounts

Software Engineers:

• Partner with businesses on feature design

• Ship high-quality, low error code

• Provide rapid iterations

Once you have your recipe, look at where each person stacks up against that ideal today.

Where would time spent coaching close the most meaningful gap?

Focus there. And repeat the process quarterly.

Invest in the Highest ROI Areas

Coaching takes many forms, such as business, performance, and mindset coaching. It can be done 1:1, in groups, remotely, or in person.

However, the format isn't as important as selecting the right capabilities on which to focus the coaching. And I find that 3 lenses tend to give you the answer:

Thematic: Is there a capability deficiency shared by multiple people holding us back? If so, I'd find a group program and utilize shared learning. There are usually cost benefits, too.

Bottleneck: Every team has one bottleneck at any point in time. And if you could break it, your team likely would have solved it already. That said, solving it usually unlocks a never level of performance. Of course, once you solve it, a new bottleneck will reveal itself.

Outsized Risk: You can only win a game if you stay in it. So, I look clear-eyed at what could wipe us out and make sure I have the capabilities to prevent that. And if I don't, you can be darn sure that's where my coaching goes next.

Choose Your Own Adventure

Back to Michael Jordan and other elite athletes. Coaching works because they choose to be coachable. He listened to Tim Grover because he saw the results. But you could argue he saw results because he believed in the coaching.

Regardless, it worked because he opted in. He chose to be coached because he prioritized winning over pretending he had all the answers.

You need your team to do the same.

The best formula I've found:

• Hire people who've proven to be coachable

• Give them ownership of their own development

You're better off if they lean 100% into development that you 80% agree with than a plan that's 100% yours that they never fully embrace.

Because coaches care about maximizing potential in order to win.

And a team full of coaches will be hard to beat.

What You Missed

Here’s what you missed from me on LinkedIn:

• Is Your Job At Risk (And What To Do About It)

• Stop Making These 1:1 Meeting Mistakes

• Get People To Notice Your Improvement

Here’s what you missed from me on X/Twitter (and thank you to the now 100K leaders who have been part of that journey):

• My 7 Favorite Coaching Questions

• Tips For Asking Better Questions

• You’re Not Rewarded For Hard Work

I’d also love to know what playbooks would be most helpful to you.

Thank you for reading. Appreciate you!

Dave