Serve, Coach, Lead Newsletter #11: Belong, Believe, Behave

Currently. I am working through a fifty-two week Bible study on Jesus Christ. It examines His life here on Earth, His purpose, and His continued role as our Lord and Savior. I get to read through the book "Quest 52" by Mark E. Moore with a group of baseball coaches from across the country, and discuss the material on a Sunday evening Zoom call. Today, we will break down a point made in this week's chapter that directly correlates with building a program or organization.

*As a side note, I would highly recommend finding people that you can meet with on a consistent basis. Whether you want to become a better coach, educator, leader, learner, or follower of Christ, seek out like-minded people that can help keep you accountable towards your goals. Discipline and motivation increase when you have people supporting you!

We all have expectations and rules that as leaders we expect the people in our organizations to adhere to. This is an important step to creating a structured, efficient environment. Moore discusses in "Quest 52" that, "many churches give outsiders the impression that if they behave, then they can believe. Once they believe, then they can belong" (p. 44). Have you ever felt this way about church or any other group? Have you been under the impression that you must fulfill certain expectations in order to believe, and to eventually belong?

When Jesus (the Son of God), came to Earth as a man, he changed this narrative for eternity. He spent time with those despised by society: deceitful tax collectors, the sick and lame, and lowly fishermen (just to name a few).

He told them, "You belong."

In return, people who for the first time felt true grace and mercy responded "I believe."

And with their newfound belonging and belief in Jesus, they began to behave in accordance with his teachings.

How does this apply to coaches building a culture within our programs?

Let's start by telling the people in our organizations that they belong - no strings attached. Simply by making the decision to step out and be a part of something bigger than themselves, they have entered into a place where they are cared about not only as athletes/students/employees, but as people.

Have you ever had pushback from those you lead? Do you want those on your teams to trust and believe in you? This happens more organically when everyone knows that they belong.

Finally, in order for those within our teams to follow our standards, they must first have a sense of belonging, and a belief in the organization and what it stands for.

This process is usually difficult in a traditional sports model because it is often put in reverse order:

Step 1 (Behave):

- Coach sets out guidelines for players to follow

- Players that adhere to guidelines are praised, while those that do not are punished

Step 2 (Believe):

- If coach is successful (wins) then people believe in the guidelines

- If coach is unsuccessful (which is almost inevitable for every coach at some point) then guidelines and coach's competency is questioned

Step 3 (Belong):

- Only after players behave accordingly and believe in coach's guidelines are they made to believe that they belong

See the issue? What is the one key (and very much out of our control) aspect of this process?

Winning!

Let's flip the script, and keep it in the context of sport for consistency:

Step 1 (Belong):

- Coach makes every player feel like they belong for simply trying out for the team (those that do not make the cut athletically are still given opportunities to play a role in the program)

- This is done through gaining an understanding of player's backgrounds, what their life experiences are, and what they are looking to get out of their athletics experience.

Step 2 (Believe):

- Whether or not the team is successful in terms of wins, the players believe in the coach and their philosophy because it is not based on a win-loss record.

- The players buy into the coach teaching them respect, how to strive towards excellence, and how to be contributing members of society who love others.

- Here is newsletter #9 on the three main goals of a youth coach

Step 3 (Behave):

- Players behave properly and represent the program well because they feel like they belong, and they believe in their coach and their philosophy.

- The team will most likely find more success on the field because athletes will have buy-in, believe in themselves/teammates/coaches, and will therefore work more effectively together through common habits and tendencies.

If we want to build a strong culture, our people must first belong, then believe, which will lead to the behavior that we expect.

This is just as Jesus does with each of us. We all belong in His Kingdom, it is up to us to believe in Him and accept the gift of eternal life that He has given us. We are then free to live a Christ-centered life, show others the grace of God, and tell them about the good news of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 3:15-16: "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." (NIV)

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this week's newsletter. As mentioned before, I would love for this to be an interactive experience for each of us. Please share any comments, questions, or feedback that you may have. Also, if you know of anyone that would benefit from these emails, please send them this link to sign up.

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If you would like to reread last week's newsletter, you can find it here.

Thank you for your support, and I look forward to connecting with you all next week.

God Bless!