The Principles of Our Craft

I have to admit, I stumbled into this craft idea.

What started as a book idea became a way to organize a document full of quotes, which has become a full-scale working model for the lived experience of being a head coach.

The deeper I have delved into exploring the overlaps between coaching and craft, the more I can see them everywhere.

One craft concept that I have integrated into my 1:1 coaching is the idea of having principles relating to the quality of work. These principles should be visible to the trained eye, and they should transfer onto the field of play.

Afterall, to graduate to master status in the traditional crafts, you were required to submit a ‘master piece’ — a word that would eventually become the common vernacular for work that exudes a particularly high standard.

As a coach, you should pursue a level of work that embodies three key principles:

Excellence
The work is outstanding in its execution.

Elegance
The work is simple and refined in its design.

Endurance
The work is robust enough to stand the test of time.

The ancient craftsmen stood for work that demonstrated high skill with the tools and materials at your disposal. They stood for work that connected seamlessly to the intent of the piece. They stood for work that was durable and sustainable.

Coaches (should) stand for the same things.

These core principles seem particularly important right now as coaches increasingly show signs of becoming unhinged.

In the last two months I’ve seen a coach strike a player, a coach having to be held back from physically assaulting the officials, a coach abusing his own staff on the sideline, and a coach throw his team under the bus in the media (after just one game of the season).

It has become all-too-common for coaches to lose their marbles, before having some puff piece written by a friendly journalist where they state, “I’ve gone away and thought about it and realized my behaviour wasn’t up to standard”.

Going to your room to think about your behaviour is what my wife and I do for our toddler. He’s four years old. As mature adults, and leaders, this standard is just not acceptable.

I understand that we are living through political and social and sporting upheaval, and a lot of the frameworks we’ve used in the past are being challenged. However, to have principles, to live a principled life, doesn’t come with an asterisk.

It’s not: I’ll be nice and thoughtful so long as my political party is in power.

It’s not: I’ll listen so long as you only say things I like hearing.

It’s not: I’ll believe in transformational coaching so long as I have player control.

As coaches, we must return to the principles of our craft — excellence, elegance, and endurance — and embody these regardless of the circumstances in which our work plays out.

We find ourselves in difficult times, but it’s in difficult times where you can rely on your principles to provide a belief system that can help you weather the storm. Otherwise, it’s just virtue signalling.