Using a "Coach's Playbook" for leading in the COVID era

Like most school leaders these days I am crawling and feeling my way through a school year heavily influenced by COVID 19 at every turn. Here in Israel we started the year with half the high school students on campus each day (aka Hybrid model) and have now completed our 2nd week of complete virtual learning as a result of a government mandated lockdown. Each and every day seems a bit like walking around at night in a large city with no lights on... you just never know what you can expect every time you turn a corner.

I find myself trying to retrieve some past experience from my 33 years in education to help me in leading my school as I "turn these corners", however none of those past experiences seem to provide much value in these current untested waters. To find some answers to these challenging times I am participating in webinars with other international school leaders, zoom meetings with other school administrators, and connecting with a multitude of other personal associates. No resource or advice should really be dismissed in this current climate. I even found myself a bit intrigued by the recent Netflix series "The Playbook" in which a number of legendary coaches share the rules they live by to achieve success in sports and in life. While there doesn't seem to be clear connections between a professional basketball, futbol, or tennis coach I did find a few pearls of wisdom that seem to resonate with me in my current role.

A few of the these rules I found especially helpful were the following:

"Finish the Race" (NBA Coach Glenn "Doc" Rivers):

In his segment Doc Rivers spoke at length the importance of just simply being committed to finishing whatever we are involved in. We all would prefer to focus on winning every "race" we are involved in, but the more important idea in his mind is that we must finish what we start. As a HS principal I doing my best in leading with a focus on the horizon and embracing the idea that we will face challenges (some new ones each day or week!) , but that we must just keeping moving forward... day by day... step by step.

"Your greatest weakness can become your greatest strength" (Pro Tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou):

In this segment Mouratoglou (who is the personal coach of Serena Williams) shares the power of focusing on our weakness in a way in which you can actually strengthen your overall "game". In the segment he discussed Serena's challenges with playing at the net and through her determination (and his suggestions) she actually turned that part of her game into an area that her opponents feared rather than attacked. I know that one of my weaknesses is when I act too quickly without pausing to reflect. This is particularly challenging right now as it seems with the constant change there is a need to act quickly. In fact, I am finding that quicker decisions end up creating more instability and uncertainty. I will continue to work on this "response time" aspect of my job as we continue through the year in the hopes of actually making it a strength.

"Don't coach the player coach the team" (Tottenham Hotspur Manager Jose Mourinho):

In Mourinho's segment he talked about the importance of handling individuals on a team by ensuring that the focus remain on whats best for the team and not simply on trying to keep individuals "happy". This rule really resonated with me, and as a former coach myself I really understand and embrace this idea. In a team (or a school) you must keep everyone focused on the common goal and their role in meeting those goals. Not an easy task to be sure, but ultimately for teams (and schools) to be successful we must have all of our eyes focused on the shared outcome. Never in my career has it been so necessary for a school community to embrace the idea that it truly does take a "village".

"Risk is Opportunity" (US Soccer coach Jill Ellis):

In this segment Coach Ellis discussed the need for her highly successful team to move away from what they have always done to meet the changing environment in world soccer. The easiest thing would have been for this highly successful US soccer team to just keep playing with the same style, but her courageous decision (in the face of much criticism) allowed the team to reach even higher levels of play. The idea of risk taking seems to be increasingly difficult in these days of social media and quick judgement. We all know that only through risk taking do we grow, but it certainly isn't easy to step out of your comfort zone and use that opportunity or new experience to grow either professionally or personally. I am not a natural risk taker and this is certainly an area of growth for me in the current environment.

"What is delayed is not denied" (college basketball coach Dawn Staley):

Of all the segments in this five part series, I enjoyed this Coach Staley's segment the most and this rule in particular. We definitely live in an era of instant gratification and as a result we begin to believe that most things of value should come easier than they do. However, Coach Staley has reinforced the idea that just because you don't get something right away (in her case it was a national championship) doesn't mean you should give up or not believe that it will ever occur. Sometimes being delayed actually makes reaching a goal feel even better than if you were able to achieve it right away.

I really have no idea how the next few days, weeks or even months will go, but like you I will nonetheless continue to move forward. It is admittedly very difficult to continue down our shared "path forward" that will certainly include more uncertainty, but keeping a few ideas in mind like the ones above has provided me something akin to a compass. Uncharted territory ahead to be sure, but moving forward with as much confidence as possible is really the only alternative... while firmly holding on to my "playbook" as I go...

Be safe... be healthy... be well... and don't be silent!.

====================================================================== "No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, `

or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."`

-Helen Keller