Rural Water - Quarter 4, 2015 - (Page 45) tHrOwING MY lOOP Positive Coaching h BY MICHael jOHNSON How do we help those we love? How do we help people improve at a particular task? Did you ever coach a little league team? How about soccer? Teach someone how to ride or rope? How did you do it? Did you implement your coaching strategies after meticulous research on best practices? Probably not. You probably did it like all coaches since the days of Moses. All coaches coached the way they were coached - they say everything really loud and they always say it twice! (As in, "Let's go! Let's go! Hustle! Hustle!") Surely the coaches I had in life must have set some kind of record - none of them ever smiled a single time in four years! And almost all dads have one surefire method...yell at your kid more than you do the others. Of course, if any player (or horse) makes a mistake - you yell at them! That's just the way it's done, right? Could there be a better way? Maybe so...an organization called Positive Coaching Alliance surely does offer some food for thought. PCA was founded by Jim Thompson, a man who worked at the Stanford Business School. Before that, Thompson taught emotionally disturbed students where he became skilled with managing and motivating those children. When his son turned six and started in sports, Thompson discovered parents and coaches violating all the methods he knew to be effective - putting intense pressure on children, giving technical advice when the child was anxious or frustrated, and coaches yelling at children when they made a mistake. Thompson would eventually collect his ideas in a book called "Positive Coaching, Building Self-Esteem Through Sports." With the support of the Stanford Athletic Department, he launched PCA in 1998. The core of PCA is to train "doublegoal" coaches. Coaches are encouraged to win - indeed to be relentlessly positive, and to teach life-lessons as well. Parents are encouraged not to coach, but rather to focus on guiding their child's character continued on page 48 rural water 45 Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Water - Quarter 4, 2015 From the President Who’s Telling Your Story? Communications 101 Quality on Tap! New Affinity Partner Takes the Pain Out of Having a Website for your Town or Water System You Own Your Dreams Another Successful WaterPro Conference Regulatory Update Throwing My Loop Index to Advertisers/ Advertisers.com From the CEO Rural Water - Quarter 4, 2015 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0118 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0417 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWA0016 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0317 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0217 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0117 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0416 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0316 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWA0015 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0216 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0116 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0415 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0315 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0215 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0115 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0414 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0314 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0214 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0114 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0413 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0313 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0213 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/NRWQ/NRWQ0113 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0412 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0312 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0212 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0112 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0411 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0311 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0211 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0111 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0410 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0310 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0210 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0110 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0409 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0309 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0209 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0109 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0408 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0308 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0208 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/NRWQ0108 http://www.nxtbookMEDIA.com