You will either prepare or repair. This is a long-time leadership axiom because it is true. But the question begs – How do great teams prepare for success?
The video above gives us a look into the practice habits of the Seattle Seahawks led by head coach Pete Carroll. Coach Carroll is one of my absolute favorite leaders. He is one of only three coaches to have won both a college football championship as well as a Super Bowl. If you do not know what makes this man so unique, do yourself a favor and watch the 7-minute clip provided.
As I watched the Seahawks’s practice, I gleaned 30 Lessons On How Great Coaches Prepare Their Teams For Success. All quotes are from Coach Carroll who is just an incredible leader.
- Great Coaches Know Practice Is Everything – “Practice is everything.”
- Great Coaches Create Energy – “Everyday you should feel the energy.”
- Great Coaches Set The Tone Through Hard Work – “We should set the tone so you should see the coaches working really hard.”
- Great Coaches Hold Nothing Back – “They’re (players) coming out here to give everything they got, hold nothing back.”
- Great Coaches Make Every Day A Great Day – “It’s crucial we make every day a great day.”
- Great Coaches Are Organized – “That starts with the coaches, with the plan, being organized. We get together in a disciplined fashion to make sure we cover all the practice schedule… If we want a great practice we have to be organized to do that.”
- Great Coaches Have An Expected Practice Format – “We have a real format that we believe in. I don’t think it’s the format that’s so important. It’s that you have one and you keep it consistent so the players know what to expect.”
- Great Coaches Make Practice A Performance – “Practice is really a performance for us.”
- Great Coaches Are Precise – “We want to be really sharp and really precise and really on point.”
- Great Coaches Have Great Attention To Detail – “If you’re going to have really great practices and be really precise, it’s all about attention to details.”
- Great Coaches Do Not Waste Time – “Your players have not wasted time.”
- Great Coaches Create A Sense Of Urgency – “They (players) can feel that organization and they feel that sense of urgency.”
- Great Coaches Have Great Attitudes – “We feel the players are going to do whatever we ask them to do so it’s really on the coaches to have their mind right and their attitude right. They need to be jacked up every day.”
- Great Coaches Know Everything Starts With Them – “It’s starts with me.”
- Great Coaches Are Always Upbeat – “We want to always be going, always be upbeat.”
- Great Coaches Expect Great Things From Others – “The tempo we expect is everything they got.”
- Great Coaches Practice Fast And Sharp – “Hopefully we practice faster and sharper than anybody can practice this game.”
- Great Coaches Critique Effort First – “We critique effort first.”
- Great Coaches Focus On Desired Outcomes – “We’re really disciplined as coaches to always talk about what we want to see, the desired outcome, not about what went wrong.”
- Great Coaches Are Disciplined With Their Language – “We want to be disciplined with our language to talk about the next thing you can do right.”
- Great Coaches Make Practice Fun – “Music adds a rhythm to our practice which makes it unique and special, more fun.”
- Great Coaches Have Great Focus – “You have to focus a little more when it’s loud.”
- Great Coaches Practice With Great Pace – “Our practices move really quickly and with great pace.”
- Great Coaches Waste No Motion – “No wasted motion at all.”
- Great Coaches Eliminate Distractions – “You can talk in meetings. You can talk afterwards. But during practice we’re rolling.”
- Great Coaches Are Always Advancing And Moving Forward – “If you’re walking you’re wrong around here.”
- Great Coaches Compete In Everything They Do – “Competition is a central theme in our program. We’re competing in everything we do.”
- Great Coaches Elevate The Performance Of Others – “The competition is what elevates the guys’ involvement and the fun they have in practice.”
- Great Coaches Help Players Get What They Want – “Competition is about striving for what you want. It’s not about beating somebody down.”
- Great Coaches Ensure Teammates Make Each Other Better – “The guy across from them is the guy who makes them.”
What is one thing you learned from Coach Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks which will make you a better leader?
And if you have not purchased Coach Carroll’s book Win Forever, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy TODAY by clicking HERE or on the image below. It is one of the best leadership books I have read.
