Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #101: Gill1918 Project presents Andrew Basler "Leaders Don't Always Have the Loudest Voices"

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#101: Gill1918 Project presents Andrew Basler "Leaders Don't Always Have the Loudest Voices" · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
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  coaches, for coaches, powered by Gill Athletics.
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  Think of this as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
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  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
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  you grow as a coach. We're bringing the once a year
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  track clinic straight to your ears daily.
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  Interested in creating your own episode?
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  Everyone's welcome to participate.
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  Check out the show notes below For more information.
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  Now let's get into today's topic.
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  This is Andrew Basler, and today I'm going to talk about
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  something that's changed the way I lead, the way I coach, even
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  the way I parent. You know, this idea that the
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  best leaders don't always have the loudest voices, They have
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  the sharpest ears. I'd say early in my career, I
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  thought leadership meant talking more.
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  It meant giving direction, motivating loudly, always having
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  the right answer for your athletes.
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  But over time, I've realized that the real leadership isn't
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  about being heard, it's about hearing others.
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  And so kind of what does that look like, right?
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  Like what happens when leaders start listening more?
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  I think there's three main things that happen.
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  I think the first one is that it builds trust.
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  I think people don't follow titles.
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  They don't follow your title as coaches.
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  They follow trust. And I think trust is when people
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  start feeling like they're heard.
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  And when some someone feels truly listened to, that's when
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  they feel seen. They stop feeling like a task or
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  a stat and they actually start feeling like a teammate.
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  And coaching especially trust doesn't come from the title,
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  like I said, or you know, even if you're in a team sport
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  doesn't come from your whistle. It comes from those moments when
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  you actually ask an athlete how they're really feeling and
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  actually listening to the answer.
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  I think like a, a good story of this happening to me kind of
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  early in my career is, is with a really good long jumper.
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  I coached when I was at UC Riverside, you know, as a, as a
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  freshman, you know, he didn't improve a lot.
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  And I think a lot of that had to do with the training I was
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  giving him, you know, as a young coach, you know, I thought the
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  training that I had should be applied to everybody, right.
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  And, and good training isn't a cook cookie cutter program.
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  And it, it caused this athlete to step away from track actually
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  for a year. And during that year I grew a
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  lot as a coach. I've learned a lot and and you
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  know, he heard some changes that were being made with the
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  training and and reached back out and I just listened to him
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  about what he needed as an athlete, where as a freshman was
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  more dictating the workouts right as like, Nope, you got to
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  do this. You know, this is my plan.
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  This is what I think is going to work best is a lot less
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  listening. But then when he stepped back
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  into the sport and, and we had a conversation, I, I kind of
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  listened of what he felt like he needed, how his body adapted to
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  certain training and his career really took off.
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  And, you know, was someone who, you know, competed at multiple
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  national championships and represented his country at World
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  Championships. And, and I feel part of that,
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  you know, initiated back when I just listened as a coach and I
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  just didn't dictate what I thought this athlete needed.
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  And so it did. It turned into a moment of
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  trust, right. And and that coach athlete
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  relationship, when that trust is there, I feel that's when like a
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  really special journey can happen with a coach and an
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  athlete. It wasn't through me giving
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  advice, It was just through attention.
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  It was through listening to what the student athlete needed.
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  I feel like when that trust grows, something else starts to
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  happen. People athletes start beginning
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  to take ownership. That's kind of the second thing
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  that listening as a leader, that's kind of the second thing
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  that that happens is this ownership.
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  When leaders talk too much, people stop thinking for
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  themselves. They're just waiting for those
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  instructions or waiting for a coach to tell them what to do or
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  even like a leader, whether it's a boss or a parent, like they're
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  just kids are waiting for instructions of what to do.
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  But when leaders ask questions and really listen, that's when
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  people start taking ownership. They start owning the mission,
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  right? I think a great example is a
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  jumps coach is with technique. You know, I'll bring freshmen in
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  and we're really changing the technique and I'm showing them,
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  you know, the technical changes that need to happen.
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  But I think the ownership comes from when I asked them, Hey,
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  what went wrong with this? And they're able to like reflect
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  on the the instruction and coaching I gave them.
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  And they start to realize that, Oh, I felt this like, you know,
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  my take off position wasn't strong or, you know, I was heavy
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  through that penultimate step. You know, always felt as a young
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  coach that, you know, you can tell athletes until you're blue
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  in the face, like how to fix something, right?
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  But the next step is actually showing them how to fix it.
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  And then for some athletes, that's not enough, right?
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  And so you take this video and some athletes like they need to
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  see it for themselves in order to connect the dots, right?
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  And you can point out in video like, hey, this is what's
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  happening and this is what needs to get fixed or this is what's
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  going right. But then I think to take it a
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  step further than that is like when the athletes start feeling
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  the right positioning and the OR the wrong positioning and they
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  can start voicing that themselves and not always
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  looking for a coach to tell them.
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  I feel like that's when they take ownership, right?
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  That's when they take ownership of like their path as an
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  athlete. They start, they're they're able
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  to figure out for themselves, like how to self fix things.
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  And that's when a lot of growth can really happen.
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  And I think this applies beyond sports too, Like it can apply
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  to, you know, businesses, families.
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  You know, as parent, you know, you don't always do everything
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  for your kids, right? Like you want them to try things
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  for themselves, to learn to make mistakes.
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  And that's when ownership happens.
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  That's when confidence is built. And, you know, I think that's
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  the same case for, you know, coaching track and field is like
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  giving them some ownership of, of what they're doing that that
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  builds that confidence, you know, and when that trust and
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  that ownership start working together, you know, that's when
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  something really cool happens. And that's breakthroughs, right?
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  Breakthroughs in performance, breakthroughs in careers.
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  I think we think breakthroughs come from like big speeches,
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  right? Or like fiery motivational team
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  huddle talks. I think the biggest shifts in
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  athletes, performances or careers that that I've seen in
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  my years of coaching happened in silence.
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  I think it happened in moments of listening.
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  And it's really cool how something kind of came full
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  circle for me as an athlete. You know, I was a decathlete for
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  a few years and heading into my last year, I just felt like all
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  I wanted to do was focus on long jump.
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  And, you know, that was kind of a scary conversation to go into,
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  You know, the head coach's office, right?
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  And there's some expectation of like, hey, these are the events
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  you're doing. And, you know, I was blessed
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  enough to have a good, great college coach at UW Cross and
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  Mark Guthrie. And I was able to go to him that
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  summer before my senior year and say, hey, I just want to focus
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  on long jump. And he listened, you know, he
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  didn't just dictate, he didn't tell me what he thought, excuse
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  me, what was best for, for me. He listened right.
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  And, and it, that listening allowed me to take ownership,
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  allowed me to, to feel there was trust there.
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  And heading into that, that last year was my, my best year as a,
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  an athlete. And you know, individual
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  national championship, help the team win national championship.
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  And then so that stayed with me, you know, unbeknownst to myself,
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  that stayed with me. And then Fast forward 20 plus
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  years later, have an athlete that is a heptathlete for three
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  years and it just wasn't developing at the national
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  level. This athlete wasn't reaching
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  kind of the goals she set for herself.
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  And that, you know what, I think it was probably scary for her to
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  come to me and, and be like, hey, I just want to focus on
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  hurdles. And, you know, three years of
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  doing the heptathlon, you know, and I was able to draw on my
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  experience as an athlete with a, a coach who listened.
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  I was able to reciprocate that back to her and, and just kind
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  of listen to what she needed and make that, make that move in
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  like take a leap of faith, right?
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  And, and it's, it's paid off for her to, to do that because she's
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  experienced some things now that she wasn't experiences as a
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  Hepta athlete. And I think as coaches, excuse
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  me, it's important to, to listen and, and set aside our egos,
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  right as coaches and, and really listen to athletes and, and
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  their opinions, their viewpoints, what they feel they
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  need. And I think that's really kind
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  of what can allow breakthroughs to happen.
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  You know, just kind of, I think when people feel heard, they
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  start hearing themselves more clearly too, right?
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  And that's, that's where that transformation happens.
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  That's where the breakthroughs happen.
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  You know, I think reflecting on how silence and patience can
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  create that space for the breakthrough, you know, as as a
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  man of faith, I also feel like, you know, faith reinforces that
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  as well, right? Like, I think some of the
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  biggest breakthroughs I've had just as a human and my growth as
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  like a person and, you know, as a leader, as a coach, as a, a
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  husband, as a father has been when I've just kind of sat in
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  silence and, and, and pressed into my faith and just listen to
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  like God's whisper in my life, right.
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  And, and I feel my biggest breakthroughs have been when
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  I've pressed into that. And I've also feel the complete
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  opposite of that. When I haven't been like
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  listening to that, that's when I've had some of the biggest
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  like setbacks where I've felt kind of the biggest failures as
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  like a person. So these lessons that you know,
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  with listening as a leader, it's not just in sports, it's like in
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  life as well, right? So I think it's like if
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  listening builds trust, creates that ownership, it sparks those
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  breakthroughs, then maybe leadership isn't about volume.
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  It's more about your presence. It's about listening.
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  I feel there's some practical things you can take away from
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  this. I know, you know, for me, when I
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  hear good advice or I hear leaders or or coaches talk about
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  things, that's like, yeah, man, that that's that's great.
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  I want to know like, where are some practical ways to change?
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  Like what does that look like? How can I step into that?
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  So I think some practical things when you think about listening,
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  that builds trust, that builds ownership.
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  It allows breakthroughs to happen.
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  Feel one of the things is, you know, ask before you give
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  advice, like instead of just offering solutions right away,
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  maybe ask one more question, right?
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  Like and and listen to. I think the second thing would
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  be like when you pause longer than what's comfortable, right?
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  When you take a couple extra seconds to just pause after
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  someone's talking, I think it tells people you're actually
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  thinking about what they said. And I feel that's an important
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  quality to have active listening, right?
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  When someone's talking to you, you aren't formulating your
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  response in your mind, You're actually actively listening.
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  And that kind of that pause after they're done talking like
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  it does show them like, hey, this person is listening,
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  they're caring. I think a good third practical
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  take away is reflect back what you heard.
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  Sometimes when you know, I'm in a conversation that's a very
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  serious one, like I'll repeat back what someone said to me
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  just so I know, like, hey, did you, when you said this, you're
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  talking about this, this and this.
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  And then you get that affirmation that like, yes, you
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  are listening, right? Like, and you're, you're showing
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  the, you're showing that there's value when you understand as
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  opposed to just responding right away.
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  And I think like the 4th practical take away is just
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  creating space for others to be able to speak first, like in
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  meetings or like team huddles or even like that one-on-one on the
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  track. Or take it a step further, like
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  in family moments, right, with a spouse or kids.
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  Start by listening, right? And giving them space to talk
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  through things instead of trying to problem solve, try to give
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  instructions, trying to coach. Yeah.
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  I think if you asked me like 10 years ago what leadership
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  sounded like, I would have said it's like a loud voice.
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  It's confident answers. It's high energy.
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  It's it's trying to know everything and make sure others
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  see you that like, you know everything.
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  And I feel today leadership is a lot quieter than me, right?
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  Like feel true leadership sounds more like listening.
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  It sounds like humility. It sounds like just being
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  present. And I feel like that's some key
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  things I've learned over 20 plus years of coaching.
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  So if you're leading A-Team, a business, or even a your family,
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  don't underestimate the power of that silence or the power of
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  empathy, the power of curiosity. Think sometimes the best
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  coaching queue isn't what you say, it's what you hear.
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  So I just want to thank you for joining me with this
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  conversation about listening and leadership.
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  Definitely want to thank the Gill 1918 project, which allows
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  coaches to to share some things they've learned throughout
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  sport. You know, I'll leave you with
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  this. I think the best leaders don't
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  always have the loudest voices. They have the sharpest ears.
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  You know, take time this week to listen deeper.
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  You know, listen to your athletes, your colleagues,
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  listen to your spouses, listen to your kids, maybe even step
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  in. And if you're people of faith,
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  listen to God's whisper in the middle of all this noise that
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  our world has. And then here's a question.
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  Think about who has made you feel truly heard, like in your
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  career, your life, your profession, who has made you
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  feel truly heard? And what did that moment change
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  for you? Yeah, I mean, thanks for
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  listening. You know, if you want to follow
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  me on social media, it's at Basler Jumps.
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  I'm also on LinkedIn, Andrew Basler.
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  But Yep, thanks for listening and have yourself a great day.
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  Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here. Hey, I hope you enjoyed this
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  episode of the Guild 1918 Project series.
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  It's really my mission, my passion to bring you massive
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  amounts of value and I hope this one hit the mark.
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  The Guild 1918 Project is really dependent on you if for you to
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  build your own episode, to hear your voice, to have your voice
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  heard you have something to say and teach other coaches out
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  there. So please get a hold of me,
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  e-mail, text message, Twitter, smoke signals, get a hold of me
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  and let's help create your episode of the Gill 1918
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  Project. Hope you enjoy today.
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  They will see you tomorrow.