Coaching: Values that
Last Generations
It’s perhaps one of the most
memorable movie endings. Family, friends, and teammates gather to say good-bye
to Gary Bertier, a T.C. Williams High School football player, brought to the
forefront of American in one of my favorite movies, Remember the Titans. To this day, that closing scene brings tears
to my eyes and a lump to my throat; but, not just because a community lost an
amazing athlete; it’s what the community gained, and the difference made,
through coaching by Coach Herman Boone and Coach William Yoast.
Knab (2016)
states that in order “to be an executive coach, it is necessary to know that
clients are the first and best expert capable of solving their own problems and
achieving their own ambitions”. Hauser (2009) explains how elements of Gestalt
OSD, “Schein’s (1999) process consultation, Peterson’s (2006) five necessary
conditions for change, and Block’s (1981) flawless consultation process” are
foraged to provide the foundation of coaching (p. 8). Gestalt “expands,
strengthens, and optimizes the coachee’s leadership capabilities” (Hauser,
2009, p. 9). Insight, motivation, and accountability support and guide coaches
through questions that define a starting point, a goal, real-world function, and
measurement of learning and success. By adding capabilities, coaching is able
to achieve its main objective, changing behavior, by moving individual(s) “from
current thinking, behaviors, and performance, to expanded thinking and enhanced
performance, toward a more integrated self, sustainable development, and
success” (Hauser, 2009, p. 9).
Remember the Titans, posted by Patruno
(2015), takes place in 1971, during the desegregation of the schools in the
South. I well remember this time. I was in fifth grade, my parents had just
purchased a home across the street from my Pine Crest Elementary School, and the
school board had announced to all parents fifth and sixth graders would be
bussed to a school in a neighborhood of Sanford, Florida, known as Goldsboro,
and mere blocks away from a section of town I avoid to this day. The area was
fraught with drug and gang violence then; and, today. The movie captures the
emotions of that era. My father and his parents grew up in Virginia; so, I have
that sense of history, too. Coach Herman Boone and Coach William Yoast are
faced with being the first school in that Virginia district to integrate its
football team. If there is one activity that brings a community together, it’s
football. Although Yoast is scheduled to be the head coach, the school board
brings in Boone thereby replacing a white head coach with a black head coach. To
further compound the situation, Boone later learns that at the first sign of “trouble”,
one lost game, he can be fired and Yoast will become the head coach (Patruno,
2015). Boone and Yoast face individual hurdles they must overcome. Boone must
prove his ability as a black man, against all stereotypes; Yoast must learn he
doesn’t have all of the answers and can learn from Boone.
At the
heart of coaching, according to von Hoffman (1999) “is a person’s potential”
(p. 4). Coaches provide value, in this case Boone and Yoast provide value, by
helping the players, and subsequently the team, “handle problems for themselves”,
define issues, expected outcomes, measure results, hold each player
accountable, outline the change that must occur, both individually and with the
team, if success is to be achieved, commit to coach, focus on the future, and
invest in each player (von Hoffman, 1999, p. 4). Players cannot communicate.
Boone begins by making defensive and offensive players sit next to each other
on the ride to camp, room together according to position, and sit with each
player and learn about that player’s family, likes, dislikes, etc., until all
players have spoken with one another (Patruno, 2015). It is during this exercise
that players Gary Bertier and Julius Campbell begin to address their tensions.
Bertier is upset with Campbell as he believes “God-given talent” is wasted on a
player who does not care. Campbell, in a display of honest upward communication
calls Bertier’s bluff. He asks why Bertier’s friend, an offensive player,
refuses to block for Rev, the team’s black quarterback. He tells Bertier he has
failed to leader and that his (Campbell’s) attitude is a reflection of that
failed leadership (Patruno, 2015). Boone, through coaching, helps the team with
“real communication”, defined by Rogers and Roethlisberger (1952) as listening
with understanding, when he stops the morning jog at the edge of a field once
covered in the color red, not black or white, the blood spilled by 50,000 who
lost their lives in the Battle of Gettysburg. He reminds them the fight fought
on that field is being fought at the camp, will be fought in the school, and
will continue to present itself to these players in their lives (Patruno,
2015). Would Yoast have been able tackle the racial tensions? Would he have had
the same ability to be equally tough on all of the players? We see how he
coddles Petey Johnson.
Goleman
(2000) states, “Leaders set strategy, they motivate, they create a mission,
they build a culture”; and, should “get results” (p. 78). Coaching is the
vehicle that allows leaders to help players, teams, organizations, and in this
case, communities get results. Boone’s coaching began with pre-season camp. By
the time the boys return home, they have learned to live and work together.
From a group of individuals, a team emerged. Boone’s coaching allows Bertier to
come to him, present a problem, and when faced with Buytendijk’s (2010) “fork
in the road”, Bertier chooses his team as he benches his friend, the offensive
player who purposely misses a block leading to Rev’s injury (Patruno, 2015).
The communication that took place within this small group, led “to greater
acceptance of others by others, and to attitudes which are more positive and
more problem-solving in nature” (Rogers & Roethlisberger, 1952, p. 49).
Consider opening scenes of white parents and black parents seated separately in
the stands. Because judgmental behavior has given way to upward communication
and lateral coaching on the team, that has spread throughout the community.
Following Bertier’s devastating car accident, as his mother enters the stadium,
not only does she receive a standing ovation, parents are sitting together, no
longer segregated (Patruno, 2015).
Obolensky (2010) explains coaching
is a “pull” approach for leadership. Boone first establishes the strategy of “perfection”
for the team. The team picks up this mantle when faced with the possibility of
losing the championship. He pulled those boys toward perfection, using a
dictatorial leadership style, that held each boy accountable equally, and led
to more and more moments where the “clients” could solve “their own problems”
(Knab, 2016). Even Lasky realizes his potential of attending college thanks to
Boone’s plan for Lasky to bring his grades to him each quarter and tutoring
from Rev (Patruno, 2015). Through insight, the Battle of Gettysburg,
motivation, three-a-days until each player learned about each other,
capabilities, Bertier and Campbell’s “left side, strong side” team leadership,
real-world application, facing racial tensions of desegregation, and
accountability, setting the same standard for all of the boys, Boone identified
where the team was, what he wanted to do, what he would do to achieve, and
measured results (Hauser, 2009).
The movie closes with the grave
yard ceremony for Bertier, ten years after the perfect season. That community,
facing desegregation, slowly embraced chaos such that they were able to make
black and white work every day (Patruno, 2015). Both Boone and Yoast learned
from and complemented one another. Stereotypes were voiced, debunked, and eventually
became something at which to laugh. More importantly, the coaching that took
place then; and, that which I embrace on a regular basis, prepared those young
men for the real-world and their futures. As I recall, most of those players
realized college football opportunities, including Lasky. Some went on to have
careers at broadcast networks and some stayed and worked for the very school system
that integrated the football team and school. Coaching is a leader’s ability and
passion to let go, help another realize his or her potential, and watch them
achieve not only their goal; but, watch them coach the next generation.
References
AnnaMaria
Patruno. (2015, Nov. 13). Remember the Titans Movie. [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL-1_wEUjPA
Buytendijk.
(2010, Sept. – Oct.). Dealing with Dilemmas: Redefining Strategy. Balanced
Scorecard
Report Harvard Business Publishing and Palladium Group, Inc., 12 (5), 1-5.
Goleman,
D. (2000). Leadership That Gets Results. Harvard
Business Review, 78(2),
78-90.
Hauser,
L. (2009). Evidence-Based Coaching: A Case Study. OD Practitioner, 41(1), 8-13.
Knab,
E. (2016). A633.8.3.RB – How do Coaches Help? In MSLD 633 Assignments. Retrieved
from https://erau.instructure.com/courses/44431/assignments/683372?module_item_id=2195392
Obolensky,
N. (2010). Complex Adaptive Leadership. (2nd
ed.). London, UK: Gower/
Ashgate.
Rogers,
C.R., & Roethlisberger, F.J. (1952). Barriers and Gateways to Communication.
Harvard
Business Review, 30(4), 46-52.
Von
Hoffman, C. (1999). Coaching: The Ten Killer Myths. Harvard Management Update, 4(1),
4-5.
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