Lesson 2 - It’s a people business

The first thing I realized when I started coaching was that I could not do this by myself. We set about building a team of people to help build the environment we wanted at WLTF. This HAD to be a slow process, so it could be done with care and attention. The reason we have had success and growth over the past 10 years is because we have the right people in the right places. It truly is a team effort.

“People” refers not only to our staff team but also the athletes we work with, all the athletes who join our group come from a recommendation from a current WLTF athlete and we are sure to meet them for a chat before we agree to work together – more on this in one of the later lessons.

As I transitioned from athlete to coach this was one element of the new job I really had to work on, and continue to do so. As an athlete I only had to focus on my performance and make sure I was doing the right things for me. Now as a coach to a group of athletes and leading a team of WLTF staff I have had to refine how I build relationships, motivate, develop and communicate with a range of different personalities. People like to feel part of something, they like to feel they belong, and it is my responsibility to drive that with our WLTF team.

I have found Spotlight profiles very useful here, not only in learning how best to work with different people but also learn more about myself - my strengths and blind-spots. Interestingly, I have now completed 3 profiles over the last 5 years and my preference has moved from “forcefully engaged”, to most recently “forcefully contained”; suggesting my style of working is changing as my roles develop over time. I would encourage anyone working in a team to delve deeper into these kinds of profiles, it really helps you work on the “people” side of the business.

So the second lesson I have learnt from ten years in coaching is the importance of people; how to develop trust, communication and understanding with a variety of personalities.