10 questions that keep your captains up at Night-- Jeff Janssen

We all preach the importance of leadership but very few of us take the time to teach it. Too often we assume that our captains know how to be good leaders - rather than investing the time to teach them how to be effective leaders.

Here are the 10 questions:

1. How do I get my teammates to respect me and listen to me?

2. What do I say when someone is slacking off in practices, conditioning, and/or weights?

3. How do I keep my teammates in line when I know some of them party too much?

4. How do I deal with a teammate who defies and undermines the coach behind the scenes?

5. What do I say to a teammate whose negative and selfish attitude is distracting and demoralizing to the rest of the team?

6. What should I do when two of my teammates are in a major conflict?

7. How do I inspire my teammates and get them to believe that we really could achieve our goals this season?

8. What should I do when one of my teammates is thinking of quitting or transferring?

9. How do I step up and be a Vocal Leader when I am more comfortable being a Leader by Example?

10. How do I support and be loyal to my coach in front of my teammates when I sometimes disagree with his/her decisions?

Unfortunately, you’ve coached long enough to know that odds are at least half of these 10 situations will likely occur to your team this season. If not handled effectively, these common situations have the potential to distract, disrupt, derail, and destroy your team and season. Have you proactively prepared your leaders to handle these situations in a positive and productive way?

Invest the time on the front end to discuss these possible situations with your captains and team leaders. Talk about how you would like them to step up and productively handle them for the good of the team and program. Answer their questions, show them your compassion and support before, during, and after these difficult challenges, and coach them on what to do and say to best diffuse these potentially destructive and demoralizing situations. Ben Franklin couldn’t have been more right when he said...

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.