There’s an old expression, “When you’re through learning, you’re through!” In short, that means we’re never too old… never too smart… and never too savvy to learn something new.
As a former college athletic coach and a longtime youth coach, I was always looking for a new way to educate, train, motivate and inspire my players.
As both a corporate CEO and later a consultant to Fortune 100 companies, I was also seeking new, innovative, robust strategies for motivating people.
I read books. I went to coaching clinics. I observed coaches I thought were competent. But I never thought that one of the best coaching and management techniques I ever found and used would come directly from my Philosophy 101 class at the University of Maryland. You see in philosophy class, we learned about great, wise and sage philosophers, teachers, mentors and visionary thought leaders and thinkers. Obviously, the entire drill (class) was designed for us to model our thinking and behavior after the great minds of philosophical thinking.
The Socratic method
In my reading, I came across a famous philosopher who I thought had an amazingly important coaching and management style I could adapt. His name was “Socrates,” clearly one of the great thinkers and teachers of all time. You see,
Socrates never lectured to make his point… to educate… nor to inspire. He used the fine art of “questioning” to distribute his knowledge and teach his disciples. If Coach Socrates wanted to make a point to his students (team), he would ask question after question designed to get them to understand his point… gain cognition… and ultimately learn. I was fascinated by the methodology and so, I decided to use the philosopher’s model with a 12-year-old elite travel baseball team I was coaching at the highly respected East Cobb Baseball Complex.
A baseball example
Let me set the stage. Anyone who has ever coached youth baseball or watched youth baseball will attest to the fact that even the smartest young baseball player will make simple mistakes. For instance, thousands of young shortstops… with a runner at first base and no outs… will field a ground ball and mistakenly throw the ball to first base. Wrong! Mistake! The correct play is for the shortstop to field the ball and throw the ball to second base… thus making an out on the “lead runner” and perhaps setting up a double play.
On one hand, the shortstop did get his team an out. He did surely accomplish something positive, but it was the wrong play… the absolute, undisputed wrong play. What most coaches would have done is to call out to the shortstop and remind him to get the lead runner out at second base.
Some coaches wouldn’t “just” remind the shortstop he made the wrong play… they might even bellow loudly and scream something to the effect of…
“Hey #12… what’s wrong with you son? You know better than that. Your play is to second base and not to first. You’re driving me nuts! Get your head into the game!”
Before becoming reacquainted with Socrates, I might have acted the same way with my shortstop on the very same play. However, moving my coaching style over to what has been called the “Socratic Method,” I accomplished my objective which, simply put, was to correct an incorrect action and teach my player the correct procedure.
There are a few different levels of questions a coach or manager should know about and master. The first is a question that requests a simple “Yes” or “No” answer. Example? “Do you like ice cream?” The answer begs a “Yes” or “No” response. The second question level asks for a choice. Example? “Which do you like better… ice cream or frozen yogurt?” Obviously, this asks for one to answer a question by making a choice. The final questioning model asks for an opinion. Example? “Which do you think is healthier for you… ice cream or frozen yogurt?” This, of course, requests one make a choice in answering based on an opinion.
Whether it’s raising children as a parent… coaching youth sports… or managing employees… master the art of questioning and it can lead to educating and motivating in a logical, effective manner. Questioning also makes the individual or individuals you’re motivating feel non-threatened and part of the solution process.
“Why” and “how” are words so important that they cannot be used too often.
Malcolm Forbes said, “Smart people ask questions when they don’t know something and also when they do…”
Augusta Press columnist Ira Blumenthal is a business consultant, a best-selling author, educator and youth Lacrosse coach. Learn more about Ira and his latest book, Your Best Is Next, at www.IraSpeak.com. Follow Ira on instagram @irajblumenthal.
