By Bo Hanson – 4x Olympian, Coaching Consultant & Director of Athlete Assessments

All too often in sport, a coach’s performance is judged by whether their contract is extended, or they are getting fired.  However, there is more to understanding coaching performance than simply a win-loss record. Performance Reviews provide the basis to evaluate coaching performance and set plans for continued future success. Frequently, they are thought of as a dreaded and cringe-worthy experience.

So why do we have Coach Performance Reviews?  Although you may have experienced a review where the execution was lacking, there are still many definitive reasons why Coach Performance Reviews are vital for any successful sports organization.  Getting the execution right is the key!

In the business world, more than 90% of private sector organizations have a performance appraisal system in place because they believe the systems are effective in developing greater performance.

We are not breaking new ground here or inventing the wheel.  For the business world, performance reviews are the norm and the process is just part of your working life.  So why is it any different for sport?  Especially when you consider how important the coach’s role is in the success of the sports team.

Another major difference between business and sport (which makes reviewing a coach’s performance even more critical) is the small differences in performance which tend to define a season.  In sport a missed goal or being 0.5% off your best, can mean winning or losing a gold medal or championship final.  Rarely in business does 0.5% make all the difference.  Sport measures to a thousandth of a second.  If reviewing your performance can give you the opportunity to improve your performance even by the smallest margin, then it is a worthwhile investment.

So here are 7 Reasons why Coach Performance Reviews are Vital:

#1 Goals, Goals, Goals!

In the fast paced world of sporting organizations, you are always planning for what happens next.  You can be organizing for the Pre-Season, then getting off to a good start, then managing consistency mid-season, then planning to come into the finals strong, then competing in the finals, and then back to Pre-Season. You likely know the cycle all too well.   Performance Reviews are an essential time for everyone to pause and re-align with their goals.  This is not only for individual goals, but also ensuring everyone is staying on course and working towards the larger goals of the sports organization.

Performance Reviews are also critical for discussing individual goals, which for coaches within the same professional team, college or club team will change over time.  During a Performance Review you can encourage and support an individual or team to persistently strive for a higher standard of performance.  Performance Reviews also provide an occasion for mapping out new yet attainable goals.

A coach’s role may evolve over time within the same organization.   For example, when they are first hired, it may have been to ‘turn around’ the team or program.  Then once they start achieving more success, the goals may move towards the development of depth in the team and feeder squads.  Ultimately getting to the finals and winning the championship becomes the goal.  Creating a strong winning culture and sustained program success becomes a goal greater than just a yearly finals berth.

#2 Recognize Your ‘Stand Out’ Performers

In the business world, it is understood how Performance Reviews are a great occasion for individuals higher up in the organization to acknowledge the impact of hard working and ‘stand out’ performers.  In difficult times, when there is uncertainty or the team’s outcome wasn’t quite at the expected level, it is especially important to give positive feedback to those athletes, support staff and coaches who have been stand outs.

The power of positive feedback is often underestimated, so Performance Reviews provide a great opportunity to pause, and acknowledge those who have been putting in 100%.  In acknowledging their contribution, it can be a great time to bring up a promotion or ways their career can advance (more on this later).

We want to retain our top talent and stand out performers.  Despite the many external accolades coaches may receive, most coaches value their employer’s acknowledgment greatly and their players’ too.  Or at the other end of the spectrum, when the external feedback is not supportive of the coach, it is even more important that the coaches feel support and acknowledgement for their efforts and results.

The scoreboard cannot be the only measure of a coach’s success.  It is an opportunity to expand this measure and pay attention to other aspects of success such as the degree to which individual players improved during the year or new players were identified.  Or it could be the way the coach dealt with a plague of injuries which prevented the team from being at its best. It can also include how the coach inducted younger players into the team culture and created some great performances whilst still not being enough to win, they were none the less, great performances based on where the team was at the time.

#3 An Appropriate Setting for Critical Conversations

This is one of the main reasons Performance Reviews are disliked – they are often done at the wrong time and in the wrong location.  However, having an opportunity to talk with those individuals who have been underperforming in an appropriate setting is a necessary part of the day-to-day running of any organization.  It is also helpful to think of it this way- if one of your people isn’t performing at the required level, they need to know, but they need to know the right way. So ensure you arrange to meet with them to discuss a review and let them know this is being done in a secure environment and who else is attending. You can also let them know the key aspects to be discussed and tell them to come prepared with their own supporting evidence of their performance for the year. Give them certainty this review is not about firing them or anything else severe, more an opportunity to recreate goals and find a better path forward.

#4 Promotion and Planning

This reason links back to Reason #2. The importance of recognizing stand out performers.  A Performance Review provides you with the opportunity to identify who has stood out.  These individuals can be promoted, or receive other benefits.

For example, for an extremely experienced head coach, they will be looking for new challenges and opportunities and it is best to be proactive in your assistance of helping them achieve this.  For some of the assistant coaches, it is providing them with a pathway and future opportunities. This could include development in other aspects of sporting success such as biomechanics, physiology or sport psychology. Or it could be a way to give Assistant Coaches the opportunity to step into a Head Coach role for a portion of time.

Without a Performance Review for monitoring progress, you could unknowingly be overlooking someone who is well overdue for progression or promotion.  Reviews allow you stop and take a second to look at the big picture of the organization, and how all the cogs fit in.

This identification of ‘talent’ is also vital for your succession planning for the future.  Succession Planning allows for your organization to be successful over the long term as well as the short term, so utilizing your Performance Reviews to pinpoint future leaders is definitely worth your time and effort.  Read our articles on Six Steps for Successful Succession Planning and Six Mistakes to Avoid When Planning for Succession for more information on this topic.

#5 Training? What Training?

One of the hallmarks of all great coaches, and other great performers, is they never stop learning.  They continue to hone their craft over their entire career to further develop themselves.  The business world is also aware of how vital employee training is for achieving organizational goals.  So whether you are a new coach just starting out, or a well-seasoned coach, ongoing training is important. In addition, coaches who take their own learning and development seriously, send a positive message to their athletes that improvement is critical to everyone on the team. Coaches are constantly asking their athletes to make changes and develop. It makes sense the coach should also be focused on this.

#6 Open Communication

In a previous article we have spoken about the Research Studies showing Communication is the Key to Success in Sport.  But sometimes with the all day-to-day obligations we get swept up in, some essential conversations can be missed.  You can think of Performance Reviews as an Annual ‘Clear the Air’.  An opportunity for you to have honest discussions with your people, about all those things you wanted to bring up during the season and never got around to.

For example, during the season, a coach failed to address a conflict between the assistant coach and a volunteer coach. At the time, the team was fighting to make the finals, eventually scraping in before losing the Championship qualifying match. During the preparations for this game, it was not the right time to bring up this conflict. After the team disbanded for the season, the volunteer coach involved also moved on to another team. So the problem to a large degree went away, except for the fact that the Assistant Coach did not learn how to avoid creating the problem in the first place or develop any specific skills around how to address it. This meant an opportunity to discuss the conflict post season and during the review was created so the coach could learn how the issue started and what they could do about it next time.

This aspect of Performance Reviews also gives your coaches the opportunity to participate.  By giving them the opportunity to voice their own opinions, they feel invested and engaged in your sports organization.  (While from an athletes’ perspective, we talk about the value of engagement in our article Do Your Athlete’s Care).  These discussions can also be a goldmine for creative and innovative ideas which would otherwise go unheard.

#7 Improving Relationships

The open communication created during a Coach Performance Review (as discussed in Reason #6) can go a long way to improving relationships within your sports organization.  When a coach feels free to talk openly about their position, providing suggestions and discussing their own performance, you can gain a better understanding of them and how they see their coaching. Although a Review can never provide you with a complete insight into an individual, the understanding you gain helps you to improve your relationship with them.

Summary

Hopefully this article has given you greater insight into why Coach Performance Reviews are critical for any sporting organization.

When we ask coaches about their end of season performance review, we receive a myriad of responses and to be honest very, very few coaches have any element of a positive, useful or relevant experience to tell us about.  This needs to change.

This is why we have developed our own Coaching Performance Review Service. Our goal is to take the ‘cringe’ out of coach performance reviews and deliver a significant development opportunity. If you would like any more information about our Coaching Performance Review Service please Contact Us. You can also view a Sample of our Coach 360 Review Report.

You may also be interested in our articles on Communication and Success in Sport, Athlete Engagement: Do Your Athlete’s Care? And the Best and Worst of Succession Planning.

At Athlete Assessments, we’re here to provide you with excellence in service and here to help you be your best.  If there is anything we can assist you with, please Contact Us.