For me, one of the fascinating aspects of Star Trek: The Next Generation is their collaborative problem solving. All team members have a role to play and everyone’s best efforts are integral to success. Characters don’t come to blow, there are few battles between egos and situations must be analyzed critically. In the episode “Disaster”, the Enterprise is impacted by quantum filaments and all members of the bridge crew must step forward and lead. Delegate Responsibilities: Captain Picard is stuck in the turbolift with three children who received top honours in a recent science fair. Children have long been a …
Star Trek Leadership, Part III: Starfleet Academy in the Delta Quadrant
Star Trek remains extremely popular because of how the stories are analogous to many modern situations. It is a science fiction genre that does not overwhelm the viewer with technology; the characters – and humanity – remain the focal point. During a syndicated episode of Voyager entitled “Learning Curve”, Lieutenant Tuvok encountered Maquis crew members who were unwilling to follow Starfleet routines. The renegades were incorporated into Voyager’s crew after both were stranded in the Delta Quadrant although the partnership was not working entirely smoothly. Starfleet demanded strict adherence to procedures which was a stark contrast to the Maquis philosophy …
The Dangers of Coaching, Part II: Theocracies
As a basketball coach and a teacher, I endeavour to focus on the big picture. Did the team win? Did individual players improve? Did students achieve the overall expectations for the course? When all is said and done, did we meet our mastery and performance oriented goals? Throughout our studies, we create theories to make things easier. Why continually reinvent the wheel when there is a perfectly good drill to develop the skills required or a practical classroom routine to facilitate student learning? But we should be mindful not to become dogmatic. Suboptimal scenarios include Master Practice Plans which eliminate …
Four Lessons from Lute Olson
Reading Lute!, an autobiography by the longstanding coach of the Arizona Wildcats, provided interesting food for thought. First of all, the calm and composed appearance of Lute Olson belies an insatiable enthusiasm for basketball and unwavering loyalty towards those who play on the teams that he coaches. Olson’s fifty-year career links the game’s past to its present, from Pete Newell and John Wooden to Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski, from the Pacific Coast to the Mid-West and back. The book is typical of most sports autobiographies and will not contend for the Pulitzer Prize. Yet the text remains capable of …
The Last Season
I am sorely disappointed with Phil Jackson. Irrespective of the tremendous work he has performed during the current season, he took an enormous step back in the coaching profession due to the publication of his fifth novel: The Last Season. Jackson’s chronicle of the 2003-04 Los Angeles Lakers season seems to break several confidences. What happens in the huddle, the locker room, the team bus, the plan, training camp, the video room, or an office should stay within the team, despite the dollars a publisher may promise. Apparently, Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson have a very tenuous relationship; how will …
Sport in Canada, Part II
Last week, addressing some of the obstacles that Canada faces in its quest to Own the Podium, I ignore a critical consideration: the separation of sports funding by provincial boundaries. Canada manages National Sports Organizations and the Canadian Olympic Committee but ten provinces and three territories control various Provincial Sports Organizations – and far more money – according to vastly different standards. Certainly, thirteen diverse recipes produce thirteen different outcomes, some more successful than others. For example, the Government of Quebec links sport to the health and fitness of the overall population and spends about $7.40 per capita on sport, …
Assertiveness and Coaching
Different coaches have different personalities, which contribute to the diversity of sport. Some display more energy than others, some have a stage presence, and some have a sense of humour about their job. Nevertheless, there is more than one way to coach successfully. Coaching and control are synonymous in the minds of many individuals inside and outside the profession but that is not an accurate description. Coaches motivate student-athletes to reach their potential as a group. Crafting systems that best suit the team is part of that task, managing every single detail of the team is not. Creating accountability among …