Lessons from the NFL Combine - Coachability as a Game Changer
At the NFL Combine last year a General Manager asked me if our work affected coachability? He went on to tell me how important it is for today’s athletes to receive coaching instruction well and how it can make a difference not only in their career, but also in their coach’s career and the success of their entire organization. This gentleman helped me to realize an obvious need that was new to me. When a professional athlete becomes more open to good coaching, the results play out on the field throughout the season. My new friend the GM challenged us to determine if our work makes a difference in regard to coachability.
We decided to measure coachability in the St. Louis Cardinals’ Minor League system. We polled the players that participated in our program and their coaches at the end of the season. The results are depicted in the graph and quite frankly, they blew us away. It became clear that the direct result of our work helped players to become open to new ideas and new perspectives. We, of course, are reminding these same players throughout the season that their coaches are there for a reason. They are professionals and they know what they are doing. The athletes desire is to stay in the League for a long, long time. Once they learn that looking their coach in the eye and listening well can enhance their career, they are generally all-in.
As human beings, most of us want to naturally block out new information and new ideas because we don’t want to be “wrong.” As people, we want to believe that our way is the correct way. We help these athletes to know that their way may be the correct way and that engaging in an open-minded viewpoint, can help them get exactly what they want. We found that coachable athletes are also willing to relinquish control to improve their work performance and more open to accepting feedback without becoming ruffled, angry, or dejected.
The key to the process is a slow and consistent awakening for the athlete. We found that it is important to allow the player to pick and choose the new information he wants to take in and use. As people, when we have the freedom to choose the wisdom that we want to incorporate in our lives, we tend to take ownership of the opportunity. All this results in growth and change. Very few of us will become open to new information over night yet, given time and positive, consistent coaching, almost all of us will adjust and grow a larger perspective and become more coachable.
