Gregg Popovich Puts the "Love" in Tough Love

The ASLAN Other-Centered^® Leader 
Coaches Quiz Blog Series

Every winner has a coach, and every coach has a philosophy.  The ASLAN Other-Centered^® Leader Coaches Quiz matches your coaching style with some of the legendary coaches in sports.  Here is a deeper look inside the philosophy of one of the best.

Ettore Messina left a prestigious international basketball coaching career to become an assistant coach to the San Antonio Spurs under Gregg Popovich, who has won five NBA championships and over 1,000 games in his 18 year head coaching career.

It's clear that Messina holds Popovich in the highest esteem for a coaching style that is both tough and caring. "Coach Popovich has this rare ability to combine his demanding nature with the most sincere care for everyone within the organization,"  Messina says.

Popovich describes his coaching style this way: "Our method is usually tough love . . . . Give them a clear picture of what's demanded and needed, and then show the care and concern after that."

He ends this way: "And if that doesn't get through, get rid of them."

Popovich doesn't believe in great inspirational speeches or motivating his players like Knute Rockne did. "I do very little of that stuff. I correct, and we watch film and we teach."

His no-nonsense, team-oriented approach to coaching has gotten him three Coach of the Year honors since 2012 to go along with his five championships. His 18 consecutive winning seasons is the most by any active coach in the NBA.

An excerpt from the ASLAN Training white paper, "Is it Possible That Everything You Learned About Coaching is Wrong?" explains how sales coaches need to understand their sales team's behaviors before they can begin to expect improvement.

Identifying Behaviors - Where Development Begins

Once you see the correlation between competencies and behaviors, getting a basic understanding of what influences behaviors will help you determine the optimum rep development strategy. So let's first take a look at the DNA of a behavior:

1. Talent - required abilities that cannot be taught or are unable to be developed - who you are

2. Skill - teachable abilities that require time and practice to master - what you are able to do

3. Knowledge - needed information to achieve goals - what you need to know

You can easily see how understanding, whether the problem lies in a talent, skill or knowledge gap (or a combination), would drive your development approach. If you recognize a talent gap, you ignore it and try to compensate with a higher level of skills or expertise (i.e., knowledge). If the rep is 5'7" and will never possess the ability to dunk a basketball, you better work on their outside shooting skills.

If you recognize the gap in competency is due to a lack of skill, then you go to work developing that ability (e.g., listening or questioning skills). But if a knowledge gap is the root cause of the performance problem (i.e., competency), then the rep doesn't need to practice, they need to study. And studying doesn't require much of a manager's involvement. It typically only requires accountability.

Once you have a firm grasp of how to accurately diagnose the behavior gap, prescribing the most effective corresponding developmental activity becomes much more intuitive, building your credibility as a coach - and more importantly, yielding tangible results from investing your time in developing your team. And, as a manager, time is a pretty scarce resource.

A balance of understanding each team member's needs and strengths and accountability when team members need to step up and give their best effort can work for you as a sales coach just as it has worked for Gregg Popovich in his basketball coaching career. Sales coaches who communicate clearly about expectations, teach skills, and then hold team members accountable for improvement and results may find that they can develop a winning team.

Download the entire whitepaper to learn more about sales coaching skills or feel free to contact ASLAN with any thoughts or questions.