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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
18 views47 pages

MOOC 1 Ch3 Study Guide - English

Uploaded by

mondayeserapheal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MOOC 1

Developing Effective
Environments for
Children in Sport
Chapter 3:
Creating a Vision and
Strategy for your club

1
MOOC 1: Developing Effective Environments for
Youth Sport

Study Guide
An Intellectual Output of iCoachKids:
Innovative Education & Training for a Specialist Children & Youth Coaching
Workforce

Acknowledgements
The Study Guide has been written by Sheelagh Quinn, Declan O’Leary and Sergio Lara-Bercial with editorial
support by Ann McMahon. Contribution have been made by Marieke Fix, Nicolette Schipper-van Veldhoven,
Kris Van Der Haegen, David Gibas and Karen Livingstone.

Disclaimer
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement
of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for
any use, which may be made of the information contained therein.

2
Project Team: Sergio Lara-Bercial, Julian North, A.J. Rankin-Wright, Marieke Fix, Nicolette Schipper-van Veldhoven, Declan
O’Leary, Sheelagh Quinn, Kris Van Der Haegen, David Gibas, Rafael Navarro, Sonia García, Pedro Lara-Bercial, Renata
Rutkauskaite, Irena Cikotiene, Ladislav Petrovic, Judit Balogh and Birute Statkeviciene.

www.icoachkids.eu @iCoachKidsEU Copyright © 2018 by iCoachKids

Contents

iCoachKids MOOC 1 - Chapter 3


Page

Study Guide Introduction 4

Chapter 3 - Introduction 12

Chapter 3 - Section 1
What Is a Vision and Why It Matters? 17

Chapter 3 - Section 2
What is a MISSION Statement and
Why You Need One? 24

Chapter 3 - Section 3 - Part 1


Strategy 101 - The Basics 30

Chapter 3 - Section 3 - Part 2


Strategy 101 - Building Your Strategy 34

Chapter 3 - Summary & Conclusions


Creating a Vision and Strategy for your Team or Club 42

Closing Tasks 47

3
iCoachKids MOOC 1 Study Guide

Introduction
“A coach’s primary mission is to help sport participants develop not only as
athletes, but also as people. To fulfil that aim, a coach needs functional and task-
related competences that are underpinned by knowledge and reflection.”

From the European Sports Coach Framework (p. 39)

Congratulations Coach, by engaging in the iCoachKids MOOC 1, you have


demonstrated that you have an open mind to learning more about coaching
children and to further developing your own coaching skills.

Improving your coaching takes time and effort. Coach development should
proceed in a progressive and sustainable way. Such an approach takes into
consideration your stage of development as a coach, how you learn and which
participants the coach is working with.

4
How Coaches Learn
In this MOOC, we recognise that learning is a lifelong process and that multiple
experiences can facilitate the development of your coaching ability. During your
progress through MOOC 1 we have included a variety of learning experiences to
meet the needs of coaches and how they learn.

A coach is not a blank slate. Whether through personal experiences as


participant or spectator, you arrive to coaching with your own conception of what
it is and how it should happen. The following task will allow you to consider what
you are bringing to your coaching.

STUDY GUIDE TASK: What Are You


Bringing to You Coaching?
(There are no right or wrong replies. This exercise is about you taking stock of
your previous experiences.)

Coaches Learn Best Your Learning and How you Like to Learn
When…

List Your Sports What Does This Bring to Your Coaching?


Experience

Your Education What Does This Bring to Your Coaching?

Life Experience/Learning What Does This Bring to Your Coaching?

Other Things You What Does This Bring to Your Coaching?


Think/Feel Reflect You

5
Your Learning
In the early stages of coach development, you may benefit strongly from learning
opportunities provided through formal education – in MOOC 1 this is reflected in
what you read and the personal tasks that you undertake in applying this
knowledge into your coaching. This can be seen as laying a knowledge
foundation. These activities challenge or confirm initial personal theories and
support the creation of a child-centred framework that helps coaches organise
and make sense of their coaching practice.

As you continue to develop as a coach, non-formal learning opportunities become


more relevant. Your interaction with the children, other coaches, parents, mentors
and open source material provides a chance to check and challenge your
emerging philosophy and way of doing things as well as gaining new knowledge.
In MOOC 1 this is reflected in activities and tasks you do with others and in your
environment.

It is important to note that much of coaches’ learning takes place on the job. As
a coach, your self-awareness and your ability to reflect on your experiences are
essential to this.

6
STUDY GUIDE TASK: How Coaches Learn
Best and How You Like to Learn
The column on the left is what research says about how coaches learn best. The
column on the right is for you to: reflect on these statements; identify whether
they may apply to YOU; and if they mean anything for YOUR LEARNING. This
will develop you SELF-AWARENESS of how you like to learn:

Coaches Learn Best When… Your Learning and How you Like
to Learn

• Their prior experiences and abilities are


recognised and they are encouraged to
reflect and build on them

• They are motivated to take


responsibility for learning and are given
opportunities to drive it and direct it to
their own needs

• The application of what is being learned


to the practical context in which they
coach is clear and facilitated

• The topics and learning materials are


clearly relevant

• The climate is positive and supportive


to minimise anxiety, encourage
experimentation and challenge them
appropriately

• Interaction and sharing with other


coaches is promoted

• A variety of learning activities is offered

• They experience some success and


gain feedback that builds their self-
confidence

7
If you have completed these two STUDY GUIDE TASKS you will have started to
engage in the learning process promoted in the iCoachKids MOOCs. You will
have identified what you are bringing to coaching children; and how you learn.

Well done and read on to learn more about how the MOOC 1 Study Guide is laid
out to assist you in your learning, how the content can be applied into you
coaching and to your growth as a CHILD-CENTRED COACH of children.

8
MOOC 1 Study Guide Structure
In MOOC 1, your development as a coach is promoted using a blended learning
package composed of various activities to foster learning (for example, reality-
based activities, problem-based learning, practical-coaching opportunities and
reflection in/on action). This will promote knowledge gains and behavioural
change and encourage you to seek additional self-directed learning
opportunities.

The following HEADINGS and icons will signify different activities you will
undertake in the MOOC 1 Study Guide:

VIEW – This is the video track linked to the Chapter and Section of the
Study Guide you are considering

READ – This is the content knowledge that is outlined in the video track. It
gives you the opportunity to examine the content at your own pace and/or to
review in writing what is verbally outlined in the video

STUDY GUIDE TASK – This is an activity that will get you to consider how
the content you have viewed/read may apply during your coaching with the
children that you coach, and reflect on how you may change your coaching
behaviours

PERSONAL COACHING TASK: This is an activity that will get you to apply
the content into your coaching, with the children you coach, and to reflect on how
it went for the children and for you. You may need to do these tasks a number of
times and reflect on them to be able to fully apply the content into your coaching,
in line with your coaching philosophy and to the benefit of the children

COACHING WITH OTHERS – This is an activity that will get you to engage
other coaches you work with to discuss, apply, try, observe, get feedback from
and reflect on how they see/feel your coaching is developing, and how the
content can be applied by you and the other coaches. It may also encourage you
to engage other relevant people, like parents, referees, club officials and even
the children you coach!

COACHING IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT – This is an activity that will get you


to consider how child-centred is the approach of your club/school/community

9
group. You will then consider/discuss what changes may be made to become a
more child-centred coach.

QUIZ – At the end of each chapter there will be a quiz for you to complete.
This will give you a chance to re-enforce your learning by getting you to re-visit
some of the main ideas covered in the chapter and hoe they can apply to your
coaching. Approach the questions in an ‘open-book’ format; which allows you to
re-read the sections of the study guide before you write your answer.

CHAPTER CLOSING TASKS – Each chapter will end with some tasks that
will get you to consider/apply the ideas and coaching tools covered in the chapter
into your coaching. The tasks may include:

PERSONAL COACHING TASKS

COACHING WITH OTHERS

COACHING IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT

FURTHER VIEWING/READING – By its nature, only a certain amount of


content is included in the MOOC. If you want to learn more about a topic, this will
direct you to additional materials to view or read

YOUR DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY AS A


CHILDREN’S COACH
Working with children can be a very worthwhile and positive experience for
people. With the growing knowledge and the approach put forward in the
iCoachKids MOOCs, this experience can be positive for each and every child, as
well as for each and every coach.
It’s over to you now to take the responsibility to grow your coaching knowledge
and ability. Enjoy the journey coach!

10
iCoachKids: MOOC 1 Study Guide - Learner Activity Tracker:
Chapter No 3
Name: ____________________________________________ Date: _______________________________

As you complete each of the activities in each of the sections, please put a tick in the circle. This will allow you to track what you have
completed and where you can restart when you return to the Study Guide after a break.

Study Guide VIEW / PRE- PERSONAL COACHING COACHING IN QUIZ CHAPTER FURTHER
Activity / READ CHAPTER / COACHING WITH YOUR CLOSING VIEW / READ
Chapter STUDY TASK OTHERS ENVIRONMENT TASKS
Section GUIDE TASK

/
Introduction

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3:
Part 1

Section 3:
Part 2

Summary /
Conclusion

If you have completed each of the activities in each section and the Learner Activity Grid is complete. WELL DONE! You can move to the next
chapter.

11
Chapter 3
Introduction

VIEW AND/OR READ

You can view this section on the online MOOC or you can read it in the Study Guide. If
it re-enforces your learning, you can do both.

Welcome to Chapter 3, as you know, the whole course is about how to develop
effective environments in sport for children. So far, we have talked about the role
of the children’s coach (Chapter 1) and about the importance of spending time
thinking about our values and beliefs and how they influence our coaching and
the children’s experience (Chapter 2).

Chapter 3 is all about why it is important that we create some kind of vision and
strategy for our teams and clubs/schools/community groups and how to go about
it.

On the MOOC pages and on YouTube


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1GlJWMeffA you can find a video about the
late Steve Job’s vision for Apple. This is a fascinating look into the role that vision
and strategy play in achieving our goals.

Source: YouTube/all about Steve Jobs.com/Apple’s Mission

If you are offline, you can read a transcript of the video below.

Apple’s Mission:
We didn't start Apple to simply put computers on the desks of computer
trained professionals to connect to IBM mainframes. What we wanted to do
and what we want to do now, is to build great personal computers and bring
them to tens of millions of people.

What's really simple we want to make the best computers in the world.
You know we're company driven by making the best personal computers
in the world.

Our goal is to make the best personal computers in the world.


What drives us, is wanting to make the best personal computers in the
world.

12
Thirty years making the best personal computers in the world and we think
we make the best notebooks in the world, we think we make the best
desktops in the world, we think we have the best notebooks in the business
and we think we have the best desktops in the business, the best all-in-
ones in the world.

Apple does make the best hardware in our industry but we also make the
best software. The best browser in the world. The best music store in the
world. The best computer display of any kind in the world.

We're just going to be their first and best. And we think it's going to change
the lives of the millions of people that buy them in the next few years.

And I think you still have to think differently to buy an Apple computer, and
I think the people that do buy them, do think differently, and they are the
creative spirits in this world. They are the people that are not just out to get
a job done, they're out to change the world. And they're out to change the
world using whatever great tools they can get and we make tools for those
kinds of people.

And this campaign is designed to honour our heroes, people that inspire
us, and have changed the world.

We're going to make some history together today. 1984 we introduced the
Macintosh it didn't just change Apple it changed the whole computer
industry.

In 2001 we introduced the first iPod and it didn't just change the way we all
listened to music it changed the entire music industry.

The Mac changed the whole computer industry and it really made
computers easy to use for the first time and brought graphics into the
personal computer for the first time. The iPod changed the way we listen
to music and changed the whole music industry. I think the iPhone may
really change the whole phone industry.

The Mac in 1984 is an experience that those of us that were there will never
forget, and I don't think the world will forget it either. The iPod in 2001
changed everything about music and we're going to do it again with the
iPhone in 2007.

What Apple’s about:


To me this is at the heart of Apple, is what Apple is all about. It's why we
do what we do. What Apple is about, Yes we love to make the fastest
personal computers in the world and we do and so if you want to run

13
spreadsheets faster than everybody else we can do that for you and we
love doing it but I think one of the things that really distinguishes Apple is
being at the intersection of technology and creative expression, of art and
technology, of liberal arts and technology and bringing those two things
together like no other company can in the world to put tools like this into
the hands of businesses and educators and all of us mere mortals to use
in our daily lives, and something like iMovie allows us not to just make
spreadsheets but to express ourselves in other creative ways and this is
what drives us.

Now, you don’t have to run a multinational company or coach a professional


sports team to have a clear idea of what you want to do and, most importantly,
why you want to do it and how you will do it. In fact, we know that clarity of goals
and objectives is a fundamental element of success.

This chapter is completely dedicated to understanding what vision and strategy


may mean for a children’s coach, and to help you start creating your own.
Specifically, by the time you have completed Chapter 3 you will be able to:

• Understand what is meant by vision, mission and strategy in the context


of children’s sport
• Explain why it is important to have a vision, mission and strategy in
coaching
• Create your own vision and mission statement
• Develop your own strategy to realise the vision

Vision and strategy are part of everyday life, even if we don’t articulate it out loud.
In your head, you will surely have a vision for what you want your life to be like,
or what you want for your family, your job or your business. So, believe me, even
if you have never written it down, you will have considered many of the things we
are going to examine in this chapter. Let’s see how much you already know.
Please complete the following Pre-Chapter Quiz before moving to the next
section.

14
ACTIVITY 0.1 - PRE-CHAPTER QUIZ

Please select only one option

Question 1
Vision and strategy are concepts used only by big multinational companies.
TRUE Or FALSE

Question 2
A clear vision for your team or club helps you (choose one)
Option 1 – Watch your team’s matches from further away
Option 2 – Motivate yourself and everyone around you
Option 3 – Increase the sales of beer during matches

Question 3
A vision…
Option 1 – Offers clarity about WHAT you want to achieve and WHY
Option 2 – Contains all the drills you are going to use
Option 3 – Details your coaching curriculum and training blocks

Question 4
Great visions are aligned with…
Option 1 – Whatever is fashionable at the time
Option 2 – What the most successful team did the year before
Option 3 – The long-term philosophy and values of the club and the coach

Question 5
A mission statement…
Option 1 – Is about what we will actually do to realise that vision
Option 2 – Tells you what the final objective is
Option 3 – Talks about the history of the club

Question 6
A mission statement…
Option 1 – Concerns only the participants
Option 2 – Acts as a bridge between the vision and the strategy
Option 3 – Is just some words on the wall that don’t mean much

15
Question 7
In the context of planning a children sport programme, strategy…
Option 1 – Indicates the tactical choices we are going to use in matches
Option 2 – Explains how we are going to be better than the other teams
Option 3 – Details the steps required to maximise the chances of achieving the
programme goals

Question 8
The following are central elements of developing your strategy…
Option 1 – Gap analysis and prioritisation
Option 2 – Goal setting and participant contracts
Option 3 – Nice folders and pictures

16
Q1. FALSE
Q2. Option 2
Q3. Option 1
Q4. Option 3
Q5. Option 2
Q6. Option 2
Q7. Option 3
Q8. Option 1

Okay, how did you do? Please move now to Section 1

17
Chapter 3 - Section 1
What Is a Vision and Why It Matters?

VIEW AND/OR READ

You can view this section on the online MOOC or you can read it in the Study Guide. If
it re-enforces your learning, you can do both.

In this section, we are going to talk about what a Vision is and why it matters.

Let’s go back in time a little to review one of the most audacious visions in
recent history. Back in 1962, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in the USA
gave a speech about why the USA was going to invest in space exploration
and committed to putting a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s.

You can watch this video on the MOOC pages or the following link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6z-h6faR6o (and/or read the excerpts
from his speech below).

“…we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and


fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our
knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.”

“So, it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little
longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Houston, this State of Texas, this
country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested
and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who
moved forward–and so will space.”

“The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it


is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to
be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in the race for
space.”

“For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the
planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a
hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have
vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction,
but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.”

18
“But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they
may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the
Atlantic?”

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade


and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are
hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our
energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to
accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win,
and the others, too.”

“To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned
flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall
make up and move ahead.”

“To do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out–then
we must be bold…But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of
this decade.”

Powerful stuff, isn’t it? In this, one of the most memorable speeches ever,
Kennedy, made it clear what his vision was for what was called then ‘The Space
Race’. In his view, going to the moon was just a vehicle, a means to develop the
necessary technology and know-how to continue to drive human progress
forward, and space was the next frontier of human development having already
conquered land and sea.

Putting a man on the moon focused the efforts of NASA during the 60s until the
famous Apollo XI moon landing on the 21st July 1969. The story goes that if
during that decade you were to ask the cleaning or canteen staff at NASA what
their job was they would not reply “cleaning toilets” or “making food”, but “to put
a man on the moon”.

And this is what a clear and compelling vision can do for you in your coaching
and those around you, be it the children or their families. It gives people
purpose and direction. For you, as a coach, it offers clarity about WHAT you
want to achieve, WHY and allows you to start thinking about HOW you will
go about it.

Let’s break all this down.

19
What Is a Vision?
A Vision describes exactly what it is that we wish to see in the future. It is a
bit like having a crystal ball: You look into it and see a picture of what you want
the future to look like.

This picture of the future is your ultimate goal, and it is the fundamental
starting point. Your vision will drive your strategy, your roadmap to
success, and any subsequent planning to get you there.

In the Wizard of Oz, Glinda the Good Witch says to poor Dorothy: “It’s always
best to start at the beginning – and all you do is follow the yellow brick road”. A
vision is kind of both beginning and end.

It’s the END because it shows you where you want to go, your destination. But it
is also the BEGINNING because it should be underpinned by a clear motivation,
a compelling WHY. WHY do you coach? WHY do we want children to do sport?
This is clearly linked to the areas we explored in Chapter 2, to the notion of values
and beliefs, what we called your coaching philosophy.

Your vision must start with the WHY and finish with the WHAT. Once we
have worked out the WHY and the WHAT, we can then worry about the
HOW.

The power of the WHY cannot be underestimated. The famous German


philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche put it very eloquently when he said: “Those who
have a WHY to live for can bear almost any HOW”. A powerful WHY, like
Kennedy’s idea of driving human knowledge forward, acts as motivator to strive
and a bit of a safety net or buffer during the difficult times. If we can always go
back to the fundamental reason why we do what we do and what that will look
like when we get there, it is easier to bounce back from disappointment or to ride
the ups and downs of life.

SO AN EFFECTIVE VISION NOT ONLY STATE THE ULTIMATE GOAL, BUT


DOES SO IN A COMPELLING WAY.

SAMPLE VISIONS

Have a look at these three different vision statements for the imaginary Neptune
Swimming Club and think about which one inspires you the most:

20
The Neptune Swimming Club vision is a club where:

“Children of all ages and their families lead a healthy lifestyle through
swimming regardless of their level of ability.”

“Talented swimmers fulfil their Olympic dreams.”

“Everyone can feel part of a big family and where members develop a
positive outlook and gain useful life skills beyond swimming that help them
thrive beyond the boundaries of the club and sport.”

The truth is that any of these vision statements may appeal to you for different
reasons. It really depends on the context of your club and like we have said
multiple times, your values and beliefs. The two key learning points here are:

• First, your vision must be aligned with your values and beliefs. If
Neptune’s say they want to help children and their families lead a healthy lifestyle
regardless of ability but then only pay attention to the talented swimmers because
what they really value deep down is success and medals, they have a problem
or misalignment.

• And second, your vision has to be written in a way that people around
you buy into it because it helps them see what they are working towards. Use
powerful words that mean something to people, paint pictures that people can
imagine in their mind, help them imagine a future worth working for. The more
compelling a vision is, the more likely it is to drive action and commitment.

Now, is it all about alignment with values and beliefs and how compelling the
vision is? Not really, there are a few more things we must consider when
developing our vision.

Realistic and Achievable

For instance, while compelling and challenging, effective visions must be


realistic and achievable. We want to believe that before announcing to the
world that they were going to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s,
Kennedy consulted with the guys at NASA to see if that was actually possible.
We can’t imagine him just coming up with this idea over breakfast on the same
day he made the speech, right? So, make sure your vision is challenging, but not
unrealistic.

21
Timeframe

And this is why you may want to consider the timeframe for your vision. For
a children’s sport club or a team, a vision spanning 3 to 5 years may be more
than enough as it is a much easier to think about what we would like to see in
that time than in a much longer span. It may be even shorter!

Buy-In / Consultation

Another area to consider is the fact that buy-in into the vision will not only come
from how compelling this vision is, but also from the degree to which children,
their families, coaches and any other relevant people in the club feel they own it.
Now, it isn’t always possible or even desirable to involve everyone at the club in
the development of a vision, but a certain element of consultation or, at the
very least, clear communication of the vision is important, so parents can
decide if this is the right club or team for their kids.

Alignment

Vision statements must be embraced and protected by all or they just become
empty words on a poster on a wall or on a car sticker. Again, key to this
embracing is ensuring that the philosophy of the club and the vision are clearly
aligned, that coaches understand what these are and check these also align with
their own; and that parents and their kids have a chance to explore if they are
happy with what the club and the coach say they are about.

Compass

But there is another very important quality of good vision statements. They act
as a compass for all within a club or a team. They allow us to take a step back
and consider our actions in light of our overall goal. They make the process of
checking and challenging what we do as coaches much easier. They also
facilitate the decision-making process. Whenever we are unsure about
something, it is always good to take it back to basics and ask yourself questions
like these:

• What are we trying to achieve long term?


• Does doing this help us towards that goal?
• Is this decision in line with our vision and philosophy?

22
ACTIVITY 1.1 - The Power of The Why

VIEW AND/OR READ

Please watch this short presentation by Simon Sinek about the power of asking
yourself the WHY question on the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogeT2UngxPg Simon Sinek: 10 years of the
WHY. If you are offline, you can read the transcript below.

So, a lot of people write in and ask the difference between the question
“why” and the WHY, as we talk about it like start with WHY. The why is a
purpose, cause or belief, the underlying reason why we are motivated to
do something. The reason a company exists, the reason why we're
passionate for something. The question “why” aims to get at and assert
the same thing in a generic sense, like why do you do something, what's
the underlying reason for that? That's why I called the WHY “the WHY”.

Another reason why I called the WHY “the WHY “is because when I would
ask people, “What comes first: vision or mission?” People would debate it.
There's no standardized definition of vision or mission. So people who
believe mission came first, I asked them “So what's the definition of
mission?” They said “it's why we get out of bed in the morning.” People
who believed vision comes first would say, “Well it's why our company
exists. “ And whether it's brand or purpose, all these things, everybody
gave me the same definition: why. So that's why I called it the WHY.

Simon’s original TED talk has been watched millions of times online and has
provided inspiration to leaders in many fields; from education, to business to
sport. If you want to watch the longer original talk, you can watch it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA
We hope you will enjoy it too.

After you have watched Simon’s talk, please do the next PERSONAL
COACHING TASK.

23
ACTIVITY 1.2 - PERSONAL COACHING
TASK - Create a Draft Vision Statement
Please review your personal philosophy statement, values and beliefs from
chapter 2. Then start writing a draft VISION statement for your team or your club.
Remember to consider the WHY, and then imagine what the WHAT would look
like. We will continue to work on this draft after the next section. If you need to
review anything, remember you can re-watch the instructional video on the
YouTube channel or re-read the study guide pages.

You will continue to work on this draft after the next section.

VISION STATEMENT

24
Chapter 3 - Section 2
What is a MISSION Statement and Why You Need
One?

VIEW AND/OR READ

You can view this section on the online MOOC or you can read it in the Study Guide. If
it re-enforces your learning, you can do both.

How did it go putting your Vision together? Have you a clearer idea of what it is
that you want to achieve with your coaching? If the answer is yes, that’s great! If
you are not so sure, don’t worry, this next section will help you gain more clarity.

Now that we know what a vision is, we are going to have a look at the next step
towards building our strategy: distilling a mission statement from a vision.

Before we do so, please do the following STUDY GUIDE TASKS.

ACTIVITY 2.1 - How to write a mission


statement

VIEW AND/OR READ

Please watch this video, How to write a Mission Statement by Erica Olsen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xs4I349cdc

Source: YouTube/ virtualstrategist

Hi, my name is Erica Olsen.

Today's Whiteboard session is on how to write a mission statement.

Mission statements are foundational to any strategic plan.

You normally build one after you developed your SWOT and before you go
into the rest

25
of your planning process. It's foundational because it answers the question
"Why do we exist?" It clearly explains the space that we play and what's in,
and what's out of what we do. And it's not where we're going, which is
vision.

So let's break it down.

We use this example to explain the components of a mission statement.

We use this checklist to talk about what makes a good mission statement,
and we'll walk through a simple process to create yours. So let's jump in.

The example we have up here is Google's and we love using Google's


examples because they're great and why not borrow from the best?

So starting with our mission...

I like to start it with our mission because it gives us a place to go and keeps
us thinking about mission. You might get rid of it later, but start it there. It
has a verb with present tense "to organize." We explain what we do,
"Organize the world's information."

For whom? In this case, "The world." And what's the benefit to us existing?

What's the benefit to the world? "To make information universally


accessible and useful."

Really straightforward.

We know mission statements are not that easy to write, so here's a


checklist to make sure

that yours is great.

26
Starting with, it needs to be original.

This is really clearly original to Google. They didn't rip it off from somebody
else. It doesn't sound like anybody else's mission statement. It sounds like
Google's mission statement.

So make sure yours is original.

It's foundational. I already mentioned that, but you don't want to change it
all the time.

Maybe a few word tweaks, but ideally not. You want a mission statement
that sustains over time. So it needs to be foundational.

Connect with staff. A great mission statement...and you know yours is


great when every single staff member wakes up in the morning and knows
that their purpose and the reason they come to work every day is expressed
in the mission statement. And to do that, it needs to be memorable.
Memorable means short and concise.

And of course that's the balance to strike with a great mission statement.
So here's your litmus test. It needs to fit on a T-shirt and your staff will wear
it. Achieve those two goals, you know you've got a great mission
statement.

So how do you write one?

Sometimes it can be hard. So it's great to get input or ideas from your
organization.

So gather staff input, if you like, be it survey or maybe focus groups, take
all that information, synthesize it down and create a couple of versions.
You can do it yourself or use one of those folks in your organization who
loves to copy-write and have them write a couple of different versions. Take
those versions and either have your planning team pick one or put them
out to your organization and have people vote on them.

So that simple process will help you not go in all kinds of different
directions and spend forever doing mission statement development.

With that, I hope this helps you write yours.

Thanks for tuning in.

Happy strategizing.

27
We would also like you read this short article https://articles.bplans.com/writing-
a-mission-statement/.

MISSION STATEMENT
We hope that went well. Let’s consider what a Mission Statement is, what it does
and why you need one.

While the Vision talks about the future picture we wish to see as a result of our
actions, the mission is more about those actions, what we will actually do
to realise that vision, in other words, it defines our core business at a high
level.

Let’s go back to one of the example visions for the Neptune’s Swim Club (Chapter
4, Section 1). Let’s say that we agreed that our Vision was:

“Children of all ages and their families lead a healthy lifestyle through
swimming regardless of their level of ability”.

The Neptune’s Mission Statement would have to provide a clear and concise
idea of what the club will do to support children and families lead a healthy
lifestyle. So maybe it would go something like this:

“Neptune Swimming Club provides a broad range of swimming activities


for the whole family and for all levels of ability from beginners to
recreational to performance swimmers”.

So, the Mission Statement contains the main tangible actions that will help realise
the Vision. In this case, the fact that Neptune’s will provide a broad range of
swimming activities that caters for everyone.

Mission Statements are important because while Visions are the compelling
dreams that so to speak ‘get you out of bed in the morning’, the Mission
Statement starts to point out what you need to do to get there. They make
the Vision a bit more real and visible. Because of this, Mission Statements act
as a bridge between the ‘lofty vision’ and the ‘nitty-gritty’ Strategy which
you will cover in the next section.

Like Visions though, strong and clear Mission Statements help us stay on
track and ensure we are not moving away from our values, believes and
overarching goals. They also help everyone keep each other in check. Again,
the decision-making process is simplified when we ask ourselves questions like:

28
• Is this action or new initiative in line with our Mission?
• Does this decision help us deliver on our Mission?
• What part of our Mission would have to be sacrificed if we did this?

Ok, so now go back to the Vision statement that you created earlier. First of
all, review it. Are you still happy with it? Is there anything you want to change
after this section?

Now, it is your turn to create a Mission Statement that in a few words explains
how you or your club is going to fulfil that vision.

ACTIVITY 2.2 - PERSONAL COACHING


TASK - From Vision to Mission Statement
Vision
Review, reflect on, edit and re-write your Vision here:

Mission Statement
Identify key words that you would like to include in your Mission Statement (which
link back to your Vision, Values, Beliefs and Coaching Philosophy). Then write in
1-3 sentences your Mission Statement:

Key Words

29
Mission Statement:

Chances are there may be a little bit of duplication between the mission
and the vision. That’s perfectly fine. In fact, many times you may end up with a
combined vision and mission if the overlap is substantial. For instance, in the
example of the Neptune’s a combined statement could be something like:

“Neptune Swimming Club aims to support children and their families lead
healthy lifestyles by providing a broad range of swimming activities for all
levels of ability from beginners to recreational to performance swimmers”.

30
Chapter 3 - Section 3 - Part 1
Strategy 101 - The Basics

VIEW AND/OR READ

You can view this section on the online MOOC or you can read it in the Study Guide. If
it re-enforces your learning, you can do both.

How is your Vision and Mission coming along? Any breakthroughs? We hope
that at the very least, having considered your values and beliefs, and spent time
working out a vision and mission for your team or club has been a valuable
awareness raising exercise for you.

Now that we know what the final product looks like and that we have described
in broad strokes what our club is about, it is time to get our hands dirty and start
putting in place a strategy that really becomes the roadmap for our coaching
success. It is time to identify the key steps and actions that are going to help
make the most of our setting and get us closer to realising the Vision and Mission.

Please note than when we talk about strategy in this section, we are NOT
referring to the tactics used to win games, races or fights. What we are going
to discuss is more about the overall all-encompassing strategy required to
maximise the chances of success for your programme. And success here is
defined by the objectives and goals stated in your Vision and Mission. Having
said this, the process of arriving at a tactical strategy for an actual sporting
contest is actually very similar to how we generate the wider strategy.

Before you continue, please watch these two videos (and/or read the
descriptions/transcripts).

In the first one, we are going to have a look at what ‘strategy’ means in a business
context to see what we can learn from it. On the second one, we are going to
listen to a coach talk about strategy.

Video 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhfFoINNEKI
Source: YouTube Mind Tools

31
Strategy is a word that gets mentioned a lot in business. But what is
strategy? And what does it have to do with the work you do every day?
There isn't really a definitive answer to what strategy is, because everyone
has their own opinion. However, one good way to look at it is to ask: “What
do we need to do to win in our market?”

This is the key question that you need to answer when you develop a
strategy. This question also demonstrates that developing a strategy
doesn't involve analysing just one thing. Rather, it involves understanding
your world in detail, then mapping out your best possible route to success.
It can take a lot of thought and analysis to do this properly. Strategy
development needs to happen on three levels. The first level is corporate
strategy. For organizations with many different business units, this
determines how the organization, as a whole, supports and enhances the
value of the business units within it.

The next level is business unit strategy. This describes how individual
business units compete and win in their own, individual markets. The
objectives in the business unit strategy must be in line with the objectives
of the corporate strategy. The last level of strategy is team strategy. Each
team within a business unit has its own contribution to make, which means
that it needs its own strategy to accomplish the larger goals and objectives
of the organization.

No matter what your role, your work contributes to your team strategy,
which contributes to the business unit strategy, which then contributes to
the larger corporate strategy. Each level is necessary, and important to the
success of your organization.

Video 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFdn9Rr-FJ8
Source ChampionshipProductions

Guy Edson, Technical Director at the American Swim Coaches Association,


explains the basics such as being organized and understanding the results of
planning.

32
Some of you are intuitive coaches; you like to shoot from the hip. You like
to show up on the deck and just run workout, and some of you are really
good at that. This presentation is going to drive you nuts and some of you
are very organized, you like being organized.

If you're like me you're borderline OCD and you're going to love this
presentation, I hope. And for everybody, what I'm really trying to do is ask
you to be accountable and responsible and there are huge benefits to that.
One you're going to get better results, you're going to be able to track what
you've been doing, so that if you had a great year you know what to do
again. But if you had a bad year you know what not to do. I think it leads to
greater stability because when life is good on a team, generally life is going
to be good everywhere. You get greater support and I think personally it's
more fun.

There's another reason I didn't list there, which is when I'm on the deck
coaching age of kids, I feel tremendous responsibility to those moms and
dads who are paying money for the kids to be there and I feel like I am there
to do the best possible service I can for them and unless I'm planning
workouts I don't think that's going to happen.

Ok, so how did that go? What keywords or ideas did you pick up? Here is what
we think is very important to understand about strategy.

Strategizing can be defined as the process of plotting the course of


action that leads to the greatest chance of success. Now, as such, it
doesn’t have to be super-complex. It really depends on things like the size of
your club or team, the range of objectives you have, how many people have
an impact on what you do as a coach, etc.

In simple terms, it is just about making clear the steps required to fulfil
the vision and achieve the mission. In short, it is about:

• What we want (the goals)


• What has to happen (the actions)
• In which order (the priorities)
• Who has to do it (the responsibility)
• And what is needed to get it done (the resources)

We know, it sounds easy said like that, doesn’t it? Well there are a few ways to
facilitate this process.

33
STRATEGIC GOAL SETTING
One way to go about developing a strategy is to work back from the ultimate
goal, which should be somewhere in the Vision and Mission Statements and
come up with some kind of tangible goals which provide the clarity required to
start developing a fully fledge strategy.

These goals, where possible, should be formulated in a SMART way:


Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Realistic and Time-based.

Going back to the Neptune’s, if their mission is to provide a broad range of


swimming opportunities for children and families, you could argue that some
tangible goals may be along the lines of:

- In 2 years from now, we want to offer one session a week for every
identified participant group (for example for young beginners, adult
beginners, adolescent and adult recreational, etc.). The club community
officer will be responsible for making this happen.

- In 2 years from now, we want to have a performance programme


covering from u12s to u18s with 100 swimmers in it. The club performance
director will be responsible for this area.

You can imagine that in developing your strategy and the strategic plan, for each
of these major goals, you could create multiple sub-goals, sometimes called
process goals or strategic priorities which help realise the main goals.

For instance, if we take the first goal of offering at least one session a week for
all identified participant groups we could imagine some of the key elements that
need to be put in place to achieve them. For example:

• Creating a full programme of sessions that cater for a broad range of ages
and needs
• Guaranteeing pool times
• Ensuring there are enough coaches to staff these new sessions
• Creating marketing materials and communication channels to advertise
the sessions

Again, you can see that the key is to keep working backwards from the
ultimate goal and keep breaking it down into smaller pieces until we get to
the level of actions. For instance, to guarantee pool times, the community officer
will have to talk to the pool manager and agree what slots the club can access
right?

34
Chapter 3 - Section 3 - Part 2
Strategy 101 - Building Your Strategy

VIEW AND/OR READ

ACTION PLANNING
You can view this section on the online MOOC or you can read it in the Study
Guide. If it re-enforces your learning, you can do both.

A fundamental part of action planning is identifying your strategic priorities.

PRIORITY MAPPING

Now, when conducting a Priority Mapping exercise, it may become a bit


overwhelming when we write down all the things that we could do to achieve our
mission and vision and in which order. There may be too much in there to make
sense of it!

If this is the case, it may be helpful to do a little exercise of priority mapping called
the Eisenhower Decision-Making Matrix. This is a very simple and productive
way to graphically see what are the most important and urgent aspects of
our strategy.

35
The matrix is created by two axes:
• On the horizontal axis, we have the level of urgency from non-urgent to
urgent
• On the vertical axis, we have the level of importance, from non-
important to important.

The Eisenhower matrix therefore contains four quadrants which are therefore
labelled: important and urgent; important and non-urgent; non-important and
non-urgent; and non-important and urgent.

You then have to place all the actions you have identified as needed to fulfil your
mission and vision into the right quadrant according to their degree of urgency
and importance.

That’s right; those in the Urgent + Important are your top priorities. They
are the ones that will make or break your plan. What about the others… Well, it’s
easy.
• The non-urgent and non-important we discard unless we have unlimited
time and resources, which is rarely the case.
• The important + non-urgent items, we have to set a time-frame to get
them done as at some point they will probably move to the urgent and important
quadrant.
• The non-important and urgent, you have to use discretion, but if they are
not important… they probably have to be put in a drawer somewhere until we
have more time to deal with them…or we could delegate them to someone

Ok, so now it is your turn, complete the next activity.

ACTIVITY 3.1 - PERSONAL TASK –


Prioritising
Please work backwards from your vision and mission statements to identify the
key actions you need to take to make them a reality. Place all these actions in
the relevant quadrant.

36
URGENT NOT URGENT
1. DO 2. PLAN

IMPORTANT

3. DELEGATE 4. ELIMINATE
NOT IMPORTANT

Now, which items do you think you should prioritise?

So, how did that go? Does this exercise offer you more clarity?

Now that you have your priorities in place, another useful exercise to complement
the Eisenhower Decision-Making Matrix is what’s known as a SWOT analysis.

SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT analyses have been used in businesses and the military since the
1960s. In a nutshell, the process revolves around the evaluation of internal and
external factors which impact favourably or unfavourably on our chances of
realizing the vision and mission.

Obviously, in business and the military, and in professional sport, SWOT analysis
are conducted in the context of extreme competition whether that’s winning a
war, making more money than the company next door or winning the Champions
League.

In the context of children and youth sport, our guess is that SWOT analysis will
be more focused on understanding how we are going to realise our vision, which
may or may not include any competition against any other clubs or teams. I

37
guess, what we are trying to say is that in children’s sport, the focus should
be on what we need to do to give kids the best possible experience.

Anyway, we think the SWOT analysis will still be useful.

Internal factors include Strengths (The S) and Weaknesses (The W) whereas


external ones include Opportunities (the O) and Threats (the T). Let’s look at
these in a bit more detail.

• Internal Factors
o Strengths are all those areas where we are already doing quite well
and that are important for the final outcome of achieving the vision.
o Weaknesses are those areas where perhaps we are not so strong
and that, if strengthened, they would make a big difference

• External Factors
o Opportunities: in our case, external opportunities are those factors
that do not depend totally on us, but that we could use to our advantage
to increase our chances of success.
o Threats: the opposite of opportunities; factors that do not depend on
us, but that we may be able to mitigate or ameliorate so the impact on
our chances of success is lessened.

A good strategy will therefore seek to maximize the favourable factors (strengths
and opportunities) and mitigate the negative ones (weaknesses and threats).

In order to conduct a meaningful SWOT analysis, coaches need to create


relevant questions for their children, teams and clubs under each of the headings.
Let’s have a look at some examples of the questions we can ask ourselves:

38
Strengths Weakness

- What are we good at as a team or club? - What are we good at as a team or club?
- What are our coaches good at? - What are our coaches good at?
- What are our children and their families - What are our children and their families good
good at? at?
- What do we do better than others? - What do we do better than others?
- What is unique about us? - What is unique about us?

Opportunities Threats

- Are there any elements of the context - Are there any elements of the context around
around the team or club which play or the team or club which play or could play
could play to our advantage and how? against us and how?
- Has anything happened recently around - Has anything happened recently around the
the team or club that can be used for our team or club that can be detrimental to our
benefit? objectives?

Where possible, the answers to these questions need to be informed by


reliable data so we know that we are working on facts rather than hunches.

ACTIVITY 3.1 - PERSONAL TASK –


SWOT ANALYSIS
Please use the SWOT matrix below to further analyse your team, club or
programme

Strengths Weakness

Opportunities Threats

39
What does it look like now? Once the SWOT analysis has been completed,
the results can be used to inform the development of the overall strategy. For
instance, mapping strengths to opportunities can be very fruitful.

Once we get to this point where we have conducted a pretty robust analysis
of what we are trying to achieve and what we need to do to achieve it, it is
important that you understand that it would be wise to revisit your vision and
objectives in case the current ones seem to be unrealistic given what you
have discovered during the analysis.

Now a bit of a disclaimer:

For some of you, it may seem that all of this is way too much trouble in your
current role; maybe as a parent-turned-coach that coaches one hour a week
and then a game at weekends. And you may well be right!

Still, some of these ideas may help you make more sense of your current
situation and how to improve it. And who knows, your engagement and
responsibilities may grow as your child moves up through the age groups and
all of this may come in handy in the future.

We just want to finish by emphasising again that how we go about developing


a strategy depends a lot on the context: i.e., if you coach one hour a week
a group of 7-year olds, your strategy might be very simple, and your long-
term goals may be only 6 months away. However, if you coach in a
gymnastics club and your 10-year olds are doing 20+ hours a week and
competing regularly, your strategy may be a bit more long term and have
more moving pieces.

In the end, developing strategy is about making sure you are clear about what
you want to achieve and how you are going to go about it. The more complex
or further in time the goals are, probably the more complex the strategy may
need to be, but it is up to you to decide.

Now it is time for you to have a go at developing your strategy in the next
activity:

40
ACTIVITY 3.3 - PERSONAL TASK –
Creating Your Own Strategy (Bringing it all
together)

Throughout this chapter, you have developed all the elements of your
strategy. It may help to bring them all together and reflect on your work.
This will give you an opportunity to make any changes

Vision

Mission

Strategic Goals/Actions

Priority Mapping

1. DO 2. PLAN

3. DELEGATE 4. ELIMINATE

41
SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities Threats

Notes/Comments

42
Chapter 3 - Summary & Conclusions
Creating a Vision and Strategy for your Team or
Club

VIEW AND/OR READ

You can view this section on the online MOOC or you can read it in the Study Guide. If
it re-enforces your learning, you can do both.

Well Coach, you did great there!

We introduced a lot of ideas and concepts about Vision, Mission and Strategy.
There is a lot to take in, so we want to offer a quick summary for you.

What is a Vision?

Remember, a vision describes exactly what it is that we wish to see in the future.
It is what we want our world to look like as a result of our coaching. A vision is
fundamental because it will drive your mission and your strategy like a compass.
Don’t forget, however, that your vision must start with the WHY and finish with
the WHAT. Only when we have worked out the WHY and the WHAT, we can
then worry about the HOW.

What about the Mission?

While the vision talks about the future picture we wish to see as a result of our
actions, the mission is more about those actions, what we will actually do to
realise that vision, in other words, it defines our core business at a high level.

Mission statements are important because, while visions are the compelling
dreams that so to speak ‘get you out of bed in the morning’, the mission statement
starts to point out what you need to do to get there. They make the vision a bit
more real and visible. Because of this, mission statements act as a bridge
between the ‘lofty vision’ and the ‘nitty-gritty’ strategy.

Remember, chances are there may be a little bit of duplication between the
mission and the vision. That’s perfectly fine. In fact, many times you may end up
with a combined vision and mission if the overlap is substantial.

43
And finally, what is a Strategy?

Strategizing can be defined as the process of plotting the course of action that
leads to the greatest chance of success. It doesn’t have to be super-complex. It
really depends on things like the size of your organisation, the range of objectives
you have, how many people have an impact on what you do as a coach, etc.

In simple terms, it is just about making clear the steps required to fulfil the vision
and achieve the mission; it is about what has to happen, in which order, who has
to do it, and what resources they need to get it done.

Don’t forget that for some of you; it may seem that all of this is way too much
trouble in your current role – maybe as a parent-turned-coach that coaches one
hour a week and then a game at weekends. And you may well be right! Still,
some of these ideas may help you make more sense of your current situation
and how to improve it. And who knows, your engagement and responsibilities
may grow as your child moves up through the age groups and all of this may
come in handy in the future.

Now complete the Quiz for Chapter 3. The quiz will help you go through all these
ideas again and make sure you can review anything that hasn’t made complete
sense.

44
STUDY GUIDE TASK: QUIZ

1. Match the words with the statements


Vision
Mission
Strategizing
a) describes exactly what it is that we wish to see in the future
b) as the process of plotting the course of action that leads to the greatest
chance of success
c) is about those actions, what we will actually do to realise your objectives

2. What are SMART goals?


S
M
A
R
T

3. In your own words, describe why mission statements exist?

4. Fill in the missing sections on Eisenhower Decision-Making Matrix

45
Q1
Vision describes exactly what it is that we wish to see in the future
Mission is about those actions, what we will actually do to realise your objectives
Strategizing as the process of plotting the course of action that leads to the
greatest chance of success

Q2
What are SMART goals?

Specific
Measurable
Accountable
Realistic
Time-based

Q4
Eisenhower Decision-Making Matrix

46
Chapter 3 - Closing Tasks

ACTIVITY CT 1 - COACHING WITH OTHERS/COACHING IN


YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Please put together a presentation (i.e., on PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezzy or just
in Word) that you would feel comfortable doing in front of the rest of the coaches
at your club or the parents and players.

If you want to go the extra mile… once you have done the presentation, deliver
it to your peers or parents and see what they make of it.

47

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