You Are Your Team
When I was first starting my career in Strength & Conditioning, a mentor of mine once told me,
"What you see is what you coach".
He couldn't be anymore correct. Let me explain.
• What you see is what you coach: every behavior you walk past is a behavior you have endorsed.
• Culture is set by the coach's daily actions, energy, and standards, not by posters on the wall.
• Shorten the feedback loop: name what you see, correct it immediately, and model what you demand.
You Create Your Environment
You set the tone, the high-expectations, and the the culture surrounding your weight room. As a coach, it's entirely up to you to dictate the direction of the strength & conditioning program. Your behaviors & actions directly influence the culture of the program. Is it one of high standards? Are your behaviors in line of those of your goals? They need to be.
Their Actions = Your Coaching
If another coach where to visit your facility in the middle of one of your sessions, would they be impressed? As strength & conditioning coaches, we all should know what a good squat, olympic movement or hip-hinge looks like - but does your athletes replicate their movements to the standards we hold true?
"What you see is what you coach".
If your seeing half-squats, and poor hip-hinges. If your seeing athletes walking, sitting, gossiping, or not giving a concern over their fellow teammates - guess what?
Your Inaction is coaching it!
The moment you take responsibility for the actions or behaviors of your team will be the moment you decisively dictate the culture and standards you have for athletes, a team, or a program.
What Does What You See Is What You Coach Mean?
How Do You Fix A Culture Of Low Standards?
Why Does The Speed Of The Boss Set The Speed Of The Team?
What You Tolerate Is What You Teach
Here is the harder half of "what you see is what you coach." Every behavior you walk past is a behavior you have endorsed. The half-squat you did not correct. The athlete on their phone between sets. The gossip in the corner. Your silence coached all of it.
Nothing is more corrosive to a program than the acceptance of poor performance. Tolerating it tells everyone that performance does not matter, and the athletes who actually hold the standard notice first. They are the ones you lose.
The speed of the boss is the speed of the team. Your energy, your standards, your attention to detail, they become the environment. You set the tempo. Set a good one.
Three Questions For Your Weight Room
1. Would you be proud if another coach watched your session today?
Not the program on paper. The actual session. The effort, the attention, the culture in the room. If the answer is no, you already know what to fix.
2. What did you let slide this week?
Name it. Then address it. Shorten the feedback loop. The moment you see behavior that runs counter to the standard, correct it, individually or to the whole group. Inaction is coaching too.
3. Are your behaviors in line with your goals?
You cannot demand standards you do not model. Be a great teammate. Prepare ruthlessly. Leave your baggage at the door. The coach authors the room.
You are your team. Act like it.
The Debrief Test
Here is how you know whether your culture is real or just a poster on the wall. End your next session the way we end ours: circle up, hand the floor to an athlete, and ask two questions. What went well. What needs to improve.
Then be quiet.
If the room goes silent, your culture is not real yet. Athletes who feel ownership speak up. Athletes who feel like rented equipment wait for the coach to talk. The debrief is a diagnostic. It tells you exactly where your leadership stands.
I believe these last five minutes allow for the greatest growth of an athlete. Perhaps, more importantly, they allow for the greatest opportunity for the growth of a leader. Build the environment where that circle works, and the training almost takes care of itself.
Your Move This Week
