How to coach in less than a minute

06 Aug How to coach in less than a minute

How to coach in less than a minute

We are all busy. The pace hasn’t let up for most leaders since March. Workload has grown. Finding time to coach team members may be taking a back seat right now, but if you pay attention, you may find coachable moments everywhere.  Sometimes great coaching can still happen in less than a minute.

This concept was illustrated well for me a few years ago when I was working with the Vancouver Canucks coaching staff. As part of the post-game debrief, one of the assistant coaches shared something he observed in the first period of the game, after the Canucks were scored on for the third time within the first 5 minutes of the first period. Not a stellar start.

As one of the rookies skated back to the bench he muttered, “I guess this is the universe’s way of telling us this isn’t our game to win tonight.” One of his teammates nodded in silence with a dejected look on his face. Daniel Sedin, the captain at the time, observed this exchange and sat down on the bench next to them. He saw a coachable moment, and capitalized on it.

He first asked the two players, “that might be true… but… what if this is the universe’s way of asking us how badly we want to win tonight?”

Not expecting an answer, he asked a second question. “If that is true, how will we show up differently on the next shift?”

Boom. Less than a minute. Just two questions.

Daniel didn’t need to hear their answers for the questions to take root. He just planted two seeds for the players to reflect on while they prepared for their next shift on the ice.

At its essence, coaching has two underpinning mechanisms.  The first is to open up awareness, which uncovers more choices. And second, supporting someone to take responsibility or ownership for their choices.

It was a turning point for them in the game. Although the team did rally back to tie up the game in the third period, they ultimately lost the game in a shootout.   Not a Miracle on Ice movie moment. But more importantly, those two players learned the value of reframing and focusing on what they had control over for the rest of that game.

Unfortunately, when faced with a coachable moment, whatever the trigger, many of us tend to drill down into the problem and then offer our advice and solution. We see a problem, not the person.  Well intended, but rob the person from greater self-awareness and uncovering their own insights and options.

More than ever, we need to see the person. Get curious, ask rich open-ended questions to explore their perspective, lean into listening without judgement, and invite them to explore additional perspectives that open new options.

All of that can happen in under a minute if we are listening for those coachable moments.

So, how will you show up differently on your next shift?

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