Leadership Lessons from the NHL
Recently I was fortunate to be invited to help out with the San Jose Sharks prospect camp. Spending 5-days with Coach Potenza gave me a lot to think about regarding strength and conditioning, but what stuck with me more than anything was what I learned about leadership. As a coach, I strongly believe that my ability to lead will ultimately determine the results of our athletes. As a “Director”, my ability to lead determines the results of our company and the pleasantry of our work environment. As a result of these things, I think leadership skills are incredibly valuable, and almost a prerequisite to success in our industry.
Lesson 1: Never Stop Learning
Coach Potenza is one of the best natural leaders I've ever met, and has been a great mentor to me. Despite his incredible successes as a coach (National Championships at U of Wisconsin, currently with the highly respected San Jose Sharks organization), he still made it a point to ask my opinion about his programs and asked me to show him some of our somewhat unique warm-up exercises. This was just one portrayal of his “always a student” mentality, which Coach Skahan alluded to in his recent article “Emulate The Best To Be Your Best”. This seems to be a theme amongst the majority of strength and conditioning professionals I know that are truly successful. At the Boston Hockey Summit, I saw Coach Skahan at every lecture taking notes. Similarly, Coach Boyle has been outspoken about the importance of continuing education. Success hasn't found these coaches by accident.
Lesson 2: Lead by Example
At the end of the day when the equipment needed to be cleaned, he was always the first one with a towel in his hand. Devan McConnell, who was also around for the week, was right behind him. It was great to see two coaches of this caliber take a “we're all in this together” approach to their job. When I was the Captain at the University of Delaware, I used to stay on the ice after practice and pick up the pucks, often telling the rookies (who usually held that role) that it wasn't their job to clean up after everyone. Different people have different leadership styles, but I think people tend to respond better to feeling as though they're being treated on an even playing field. Whether you're a coach or player, there are ways to send this message.
Lesson 3: Suffer Together
Potenza's intern Marcello, after coaching for a few hours (aka not at all warmed up or training) hopped in with one of the Sharks to do a brutal conditioning session on the treadmill. This really caught my attention. Conditioning alone sucks. Actually, conditioning sucks. Conditioning alone just sucks worse. It's a huge help to have someone going through the grind with you.
Since returning, I've implemented a “No One Conditions Alone” policy at Endeavor. Coming back to Potenza's incredible ability to lead by example, I didn't tell anyone it was our policy; I just started conditioning with people who ended up having to condition on their own (we have to audible on our conditioning strategies for some of our athletes based on weekend tournaments and injuries). The first time I hopped in to do shuttles with someone, I got a thank you email. Our athletes noticed. Our staff noticed.
Just the other day, as luck would have it, one of our hockey players had to go through a brutal isohold->slideboard series 6x through, all with a 12 lb vest (the highest volume we go with this). He was alone. I hopped in. Fellow Endeavor Coach David Lasnier hopped in. One of our interns hopped in.
I try to encourage a team atmosphere at Endeavor. It's important to me that our athletes know they aren't being barked at by someone with a loud voice, but no work ethic. It's important they know that our staff and everyone they're training with are in it for the same goal: to make them succeed. Suffering together builds great camaraderie and enhances the team atmosphere we want to build.
In order to be a good coach, you need to be a good leader. The major take home from all of this is that we (or at least I) need to spend time actively trying to improve our leadership skills. As Coach Skahan mentioned in his article, sometimes the best place to start is by spending a week with a great mentor.
