January/February 2023 - 10

COACHING FOR SIGNIFICANCE
LOW AND HIGH TRUST TEAMS
By Bruce Brown & Rob Miller, Proactive Coaching
Low Trust Teams
When trust has not been established or where it has
been lost, every part of the team's progress is impacted.
Teams that lose are often categorized as having poor
offensive or defensive schemes but often the root of the
problem is a lack of trust. Players either don't trust the
coach or their teammates and it comes out in being
hesitant or fearful during competition. Their commitment
is questioned but their low level of investment stems from
the low level of trust.
Players lose the power of togetherness and start
thinking individually. Individual credit becomes more
important because they have to constantly prove
themselves. Everyone starts looking out for themselves.
Everything bad that happens seems to feed the distrust
mentality. When something good happens the feeling is
" I did it, " and when something bad happens " they did it. "
Words and actions are distorted to support individuals
and not teams. There are lots of promises made followed
by lots of excuses. The energy level is low and people
develop a survival or defeatist mindset.
On low-trust teams, there is often overt friction with
the stronger personalities and withdrawal by the weaker
personalities. Personal conflicts, subgroups, suspicion,
political agendas, and defensiveness all become part of
the team culture. The downward cycle continues and
low trust slows everything. Decisions are questioned,
and relationships become strained. Even those players
who do trust get caught up in the mentality and become
discouraged because playing on a team without trust
saps your energy and is not fun.
" Trust men and they will be true to you. Treat them
greatly and they will show themselves to be great. " -
Ralph Waldo Emerson
High Trust Teams
When you witness a high trust team in action the
first thing you notice is the energy and effort levels;
they are both consistently high. Coaches and players
can express themselves with fewer words, in less
time, and more directly without having hurt feelings or
negative reactions. Issues that might be overlooked
or overreacted to on low-trust teams are dealt with
head-on. Because there is a culture of accountability,
mistakes are quickly admitted, correction appreciated
or self-correction applied and then everyone moves on.
When things go well, the credit is shared and when
things go wrong people are accountable, blame is not
fixed, and failure is a shared responsibility. Full-effort
mistakes are encouraged as a quick way of learning and
improving. Everyone seems to be on the same page.
" We " is more important than " me. " The best players are
the best examples of team values. No one is given a pass
on being a good teammate. All of this builds momentum,
positive energy, confidence, increased trust, and better
performance.
The higher the trust level, the more responsibility is
rewarded, given, and embraced. On high-trust teams there
is a collective responsibility - players and coaches are not
driven by fear or anger but by the feeling of not wanting to
let each other down. There is an emotional attachment, a
strong personal commitment, and also an element of joy -
being with people you completely trust is fun. Trust pays in
results.
When young people know that you trust them, it can
improve their performance but more importantly, it can
change their life. So many of our young people don't have
the support of strong family or solid friends and they need
to have someone they can look up to, someone to trust.
It makes them feel valued and gives them the courage to
live up to high expectations and team standards. Most
athletes will live up to the faith the coach has in them. The
last person young people want to let down is the adult that
believes in them. Trust in a team changes everything.
This article is an excerpt from our booklet, The Impact
of Trust.
For support materials, go to our website -
www.proactivecoaching.info. For additional
application ideas call 360.502.0424 or email bruce@
proactivecoaching.info. Content provided by the National
High School Athletic Coaches Association.
For more information visit: nhsaca.org
10 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023
http://www.proactivecoaching.info http://www.nhsaca.org
January/February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January/February 2023
