How to maximise performance of your team?

Intro

Perhaps the Tuckman model is a bit outdated now, these are re-posts from a bit back in time. Do we have time now to go through this team development cycle?

Our focus is mostly on performance, perhaps not realising the importance of the previous three steps in the teambuilding process are. How do we measure the performance of our team? Winning or Losing? Number of tries scored? How does the performance of our team relate to the topics of our next training session?

I strongly believe that Outcome is the result of a Controlled Process. Rather than focus on results, better think about feedback and control parameters. You as the coach have to develop a model that describes the process and these controls. Think about:

• Gameplan
• What type of game you want to play
• Evaluation
• Goal setting
• Etc…

Part of the process is the feedback from the coach to the players. There are several types of feedback. I have a great example on this Blog post. Everybody has his own style which suits each situation, but this is what a coach you should ask himself:

Gameplan

Discuss the general approach with the players for different scenario’s. I like to talk about general tactical concepts rather than the Playbook approach. Tactical concepts like occupying the free space in both Attack and Defence, Attacking the flat pass at speed, Defending inside / out, The role of the Shadow Tackler, etc.

If we instruct players how to ‘Exit from our 22’, will they still go wide when there is that clear opportunity? Will they even still look for it?

Evaluation

Okay, let’s watch some video clips of last Saturday’s match and show the players what went wrong. Does that automatically translate into learning? I think a big assumption from us coaches. It might even lead to risk avoidance behaviour of the players.

Evaluation good better be asking players questions like “What did you see here?”, “What made you choose this Option?”, “What other options did you have?”. Get really involved in the anticipation and decision making process.

Statistics

Well, let’s play the numbers game….. I think we can look at match stats to support development. With maximising potential we can look for clues on when we are successful and try to recreate those situations more often.

Goalsetting

Be realistic, sometimes I feel now we have PowerPoint we all can make a plan to become world champion.

What I did in the past is create plans that helped me detail my training schedule, detail the spent of that “budget” of training hours.

More considerations

• Injury prevention is a big thing! Watch your injury count, monitor the training load using RPE estimates. Make sure everybody is recovering from little injuries, rest important players if needed;
• Stay fit and sharp: this is why I like the SAQ work: short, explosive work, reaction and speed;
• Keep everybody involved, introduce a happiness score.

Would love to hear from you on how you maximise your performance.

More on Tuckman’s model:

• Forming a team;
• Storming in a team;
• Norming in a team;

Subscribe and get notified when I add new posts to the Blog;