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- You Think It's Just About Coaching
On Saturday, Andy Farrell coached his first Test as head coach of the British & Irish Lions.
If you’re not familiar with the Lions, every four years a rugby team made up of the best players from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales go on tour.
For this tour, Farrell was selected as the head coach, having been a standout in his role as Ireland head coach since he assumed the role in 2019.
Recently, on an Irish TV show, Farrell was asked about what he learned during the process of moving from being an assistant coach with Ireland, to the head coach.
Here’s what he had to say:
"When you get into the head coach role, you think it's just about coaching, and it's nothing like that at all. I would say 20% of it is in the coaching. Most of it's in the managing of the people in-and-around the staff so that they're able to be their best self. [For me] it took some getting used to at the start."
Farrell isn’t the only head coach I’ve heard use this 20% estimate.
Recently, Georgia Bulldogs football coach Kirby Smart echoed the same sentiment and used similar math: “All of these things that come up every year, I'm going to say 80-90% of it, you never do it until you're a head coach,” Smart suggested.
I can’t think of another elite leadership domain where this is the case. I’ve never heard a military general say that being a lieutenant general only prepared him for 20% of going into combat. Nor have I heard a CEO say that she only had a working knowledge of 20% the business operations, and the rest she had to learn on-the-job.
Rather, those domains have methodical systems and pathways in place so that their people can arrive more prepared into key leadership positions.
And because fully prepared is an entirely unrealistic expectation, more prepared really is the goal.
Getting our coaches more prepared than 20% seems like a realistic goal, don’t you think?
My Solution: The Future Coach Workshop
I want to contribute to getting our coaches more prepared, so I have created The Future Coach Workshop.
It’s an 8-week rapid accelerator where you’ll work 1:1 with me to fast-track your understanding of the head coaching role, and develop craft skills that will prove invaluable to you.
If you want to be a head coach in the future and you’re interested in taking me up on this offer, reply to this email and we can find a time to chat.
I can’t guarantee you’ll become the Lions head coach, but I can guarantee you’ll be more than 20% ready to be a head coach in the future.