Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #170: Gill1918 Presents Coach/Author David Emeott “Layered Leadership” Powered by Coach O

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#170: Gill1918 Presents Coach/Author David Emeott “Layered Leadership” Powered by Coach O · 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 it 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. This episode is part of the
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  Youth and Beginner Series, brought to you by Coach O.
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  In this series, we focus on topics relating to coaching
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  youth athletes, coaching beginner athletes of any age,
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  and supporting brand new coaches as they find their way.
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  With that in mind, let's grow. You've probably seen this video
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  before. The guy is dancing like a
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  lunatic at a giant music festival, summertime, hot,
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  totally alone. It's awkward.
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  It's wild. Then another guy joins them.
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  Suddenly, people swarming. A movement has started.
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  That video is titled First Follower.
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  It's been viewed over 8,000,000 times.
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  It's used to explain leadership. But every time I watch it, I
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  don't see necessarily leadership.
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  I see coaching because a great coach is is out there all alone.
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  Like the crazy dancer, some wild idea in their head.
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  Hey, you know, it'd be fun. Kids running, not just a little
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  running a lot. And and for a while it's just
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  you, the coach in the field, talking about culture and
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  character and details. But then someone joins you.
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  That's your first follower. That's your spark.
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  That's your first real leader. I'm David Head, track and field
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  coach at East Kentwood High School near Grand Rapids, MI and
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  over the years we've been blessed to win 8 state
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  championships, a national title, 3 runner up state titles,
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  multiple coach of the year awards, and oftentimes I'm
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  asked, what's the secret? Here's the truth.
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  We don't always have the fastest kids, but we always have great
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  leaders. We've built a culture where
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  leadership doesn't stop at the coach.
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  It spreads across the team. Here, Here's something I've
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  learned. If you're the only leader on
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  your team, you're already behind.
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  You need what I call layered leadership.
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  Let me be clear, I'm completely opposed to naming captains.
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  We have we, we don't name captains on our teams.
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  We feel like all of our kids have a chance to be leaders and
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  that's important. Here's the reasons why we don't
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  name captains just so if if that's what you're into, I'm
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  going to give you some some thoughts on that. 1st is when
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  you name captains and you already have someone who's who's
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  a capable leader on your team and everybody would vote them to
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  make them a captain and put AC on the chest.
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  You're just stating the obvious that kids already a leader.
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  He really didn't need a team vote to determine who the leader
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  was. Second, it limits leadership.
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  Some kids think, well, I'm not a captain.
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  I'll, I'll just stay in my lane. Other potential leaders go quiet
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  when you name captains because they they figure it's on that
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  kid to to be the leader and 3rd. It can create drama no matter
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  how you choose. Captains vote, coaches pick,
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  draw straws. I don't care how you do it.
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  Someone feels left out. A kid, a parent, a group of
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  parents. And now you're spending hours
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  explaining why Jimmy is a captain and Johnny isn't a
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  captain. That's not leadership, that's a
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  distraction. So we don't name captains.
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  Leaders step up when they're needed.
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  We build a system where leadership can come from
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  anywhere. Seniors who model effort.
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  Juniors who help organize. Sophomores who speak up.
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  Freshmen who bring energy. Leadership isn't a title, it's a
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  behavior. Your job as a coach isn't to do
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  everything. It's to build a system where
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  leadership is shared, modeled, and multiplied.
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  I used to choose captains based on performance.
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  Now I choose leaders based on influence.
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  Can they bring people with them? Can they be the first follower
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  who sparks a movement? And the best part?
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  There's no limit to how many leaders you can have on your
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  team. On our team, we have wine
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  leaders, group texting and messaging leaders.
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  One kid who sets up the tent, the team tent and he leads the
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  group into doing that. Another who checks the bus at
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  the end of the meets to make sure they're all cleaned up.
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  We, we give leadership roles all the way around.
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  Everyone gets a chance to be a leader, and when they do a good
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  job of it, we publicly praise them and we make sure everybody
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  knows that that Timmy was an amazing leader when he, you
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  know, broke the tent down in the middle of a rainstorm the other
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  night. And we privately coach those
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  kids when they need to grow. If things didn't go very well,
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  then we then we bring them in private and we explain to them
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  what they need to do next. We teach them to to lead in all
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  three directions. Up, support the coaches down,
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  mentor younger teammates across, Hold your teammates and peers
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  accountable. Who was my first follower?
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  My first follower was Kevin Jackson.
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  Kevin Jackson was an amazing athlete in our school.
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  He was a football player and a basketball player.
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  And if we voted back then for captains, which even at that
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  time we weren't voting for captains anymore, if we had
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  voted, he would have unanimously been named the captain on our
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  team with with no doubt at all. But we didn't need to do that
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  because everybody knew who the leader was.
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  He was the leader and more importantly, he inspired others
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  to lead. I was that crazy guy in the
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  hallways showing up at lunch talking to anyone who'd listen.
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  And most kids thought I was nuts because I was, I was telling
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  everyone I was basically trying to sell hard work to teenage
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  kids, which is never easy. But Kevin listened and, and
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  Kevin jumped on. Kevin didn't think I was crazy.
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  Kevin was a leader and, and he wanted to bring other people in
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  underneath our tent and, and help us to win championships.
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  So as a multi sport athlete, Kevin played many sports, but in
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  track and field he won individual state titles, he won
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  relay state championships, and he could.
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  But more important than any of that, he connected with his
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  teammates. He embraced our character
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  lessons which we taught every single day, and he helped build
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  something bigger than himself. And just like that, a movement
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  began. Kevin sparked a 13 year one run
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  where we had won eight state championships and and 3 runner
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  ups and and a leadership legacy that echoes in our program to
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  this day. So let me ask, who was your
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  first follower? Who will be your next one?
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  What lessons are you giving them so that your culture grows, not
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  just survives? Because here's the deal, A as a
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  coach, we don't just build workouts, we build movements.
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  And sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is invite
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  someone else to lead besides ourselves.
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  If this message resonates with you, I've been writing a book
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  called Beyond the Finish Line, The Art of Transformational
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  Coaching. It's filled with stories like
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  this one about growth, failure, leadership, and legacy.
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  When the time is right, I'd love to share more.
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  Thanks for listening and go find your first follower.
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  Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here. Thanks for joining us for this
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  episode in the Youth and beginner series Powered by Coach
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  It's a movement to benefit track and field by supporting coaches,
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  athletes, parents, officials and event directors in countless
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  plugged in to the Powered by Coach O by visiting coacho.com
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