The pinnacle in coaching, I think, is the extraordinary coach. Like great coaches and good coaches, extraordinary coaches are always highly effective teachers. What makes just a few coaches truly extraordinary is that rare ability and willingness to teach their students valuable life lessons.

 

When I think of extraordinary coaching in sports I immediately think of John Wooden, UCLA's legendary basketball coach. If a sales leader could learn to lead his or her sales team like John Wooden led his collegiate basketball teams, the sales leader could become an extraordinary coach.

 

In his book, Be Quick – But Don't Hurry, Andrew Hill, a former UCLA basketball player, said “…everyone calls Wooden ‘Coach,' but he was first and foremost a teacher.”

 

Like all great leaders and extraordinary coaches, John Wooden insisted on preparation and perfect practice from all team members. Wooden understood, as Andrew Hill writes, that “practice doesn’t make perfect – only perfect practice makes perfect,” and that “creating time for preparation and organization is the key to organizational efficiency.”

 

Bill Walton, the former UCLA center and NBA hall-of-famer, was astounded, as were his teammates, when on their first day of practice at UCLA John Wooden took great pains to demonstrate to his new All-American recruits how to properly put on their socks before starting basketball practice. None of the recruits could believe that their legendary coach was spending so much time instructing them on the fine art of donning their socks.

 

What they didn’t know then, and learned much later, was coach Wooden’s understanding that you will perform like you prepare and like you practice. If his players didn’t make absolutely sure their equipment was in order, it didn’t matter how gifted they were as athletes. Coach knew that foot blisters could keep a player with extraordinary ability from performing at even minimal proficiency.

 

The sales leader who aspires to become an extraordinary coach insists that his team always prepares and practices for important selling work. He knows that sales professionals won’t rise to the occasion in difficult selling situations – instead, they will default to their level of preparation and practice.

 

Once he had recruited talented players that fit into his system, Coach Wooden understood that managing creativity requires flexibility and special insights that allow players to find balance between creativity and organization. Ultimately, his goal was to unlock the collective creativity of the team. Sales managers who want to become extraordinary coaches will work hard to unlock the creativity of each team member and to blend that creativity into overall team performance.