As a coach it can make or break a team if you do not define roles for your team. I believe role definition can create buy in for your players, if rewarded properly.
I found a great article by Jeff Janssen and really enjoyed it.
.“Sometimes a player's greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.”Scottie Pippen
Championship teams have players who not only accept these roles, but understand their significance and value to the team and they actually take pride in playing them. As Miami Heat Coach Pat Riley says, “The key to teamwork is to learn a role, accept that role, and strive to become excellent playing it.”
Accepting Roles
Your goal as a coach is to have your players accept and embrace the role that they are given. When each player accepts his/her role and takes pride in playing it your team will have its best chance of being successful. How do you get your players to understand and accept their roles?
ACCEPTING ROLES = DEFINING ROLES + APPRECIATING ROLES
Defining Roles
"Molding a team begins with a clear definition of each player's role."Coach Jack Ramsey
- A key aspect of role acceptance is helping to clearly define roles for each of the players.
- Role definition means that each player knows what is expected of him/her both on the court and off the court.
- It includes the responsibilities that they are expected to handle and fulfill.
- It's usually your superstars who have to take on additional roles (Jordan & Pippen). But the majority of the “role” players just need to play their role effectively and everything else takes care of itself.
- Each player should have one or two primary responsibilities that when executed successfully, propel the team toward its ultimate goal.
Two Ways To Define & Clarify Team Roles
1. Individual Meetings with Each Player
2. Teammates Clarifying Roles for Each Other
Role Appreciation
- Perhaps the biggest key leading to your players accepting their role is through role appreciation.
- What you are trying to do is to create a sense of pride in playing a role. You want each player to understand the contribution that they make to the team and take pride in it, regardless of whether it is valued by the fans or media. ”
Awards
- Getting people to accept roles requires that you appreciate them. By appreciating them for playing roles, your players begin to understand that their role is valued and ultimately important to the team reaching its common goal.
- As Boston Celtics Coach Rick Pitino says, “Recognize the people who get less attention in the group because they're not in the glamorous positions. Thank them publicly for their unselfishness and do it in front of their peers.”
- While the fans and media may overlook some vital roles, you can appreciate them in a more effective way through team awards.
- One such award that I have developed with teams is called the "Nails" award and the "Glue" award. We created the Nails award to acknowledge and appreciate the mental toughness of the player(s) who is “mentally tough as nails.” The award is given on a weekly basis and is voted on by the team. The players are not allowed to vote for themselves. The Glue award focuses on team aspects and is symbolized by the “glue that binds the team together.” The players vote for the teammate who had the best team attitude demonstrated by encouraging his/her teammates and/or making individual sacrifices.
- You can create various awards for whatever roles you deem important to your team’s success - like recognizing the player with the most rebounds, assists, charges taken, or screens.
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