Here’s a positive to come out of Covid-19! Our long-time client and Head Coach of the Utah Utes Volleyball team, Beth Launiere, took on a different challenge last year and collaborated with management expert Leo Hopf to co-author the book, ‘Stop Competing And Start Winning: The Business Of Coaching’. The book has now been published in paperback, hardbound, audiobook and kindle, and it’s simply a phenomenal read from a highly experienced and awarded coach. Beth is widely known in sporting circles for her deep and lasting impacts on volleyball, with her career including 31 successful seasons at Utah. She’s an expert athlete manager, who has also coached national teams, and been named Coach of the Year some eight times throughout her career. Currently, she is the reigning Pac-12 Coach of the Year, and her team is ranked 7th nationally in the AVCA Division 1 poll.
In the pages of her new book, Beth shares some of the techniques and tips that have taken her teams to the top on a consistent basis. Of particular note in this book is the way that Beth and her co-author Leo, capture the little talked about techniques and tools she applies to develop a group of athletes into a championship winning team. There is enormous benefit in adopting and embedding winning processes in your culture so you can build on success, season after season, and design your program to win.
Beth and the Utes have worked with us for a number of years now and Beth has built the Athlete Assessments DISC Profiles so successfully into her winning formula. In the book Beth says,
“Utah uses the DISC Behavioral model to explore and define the way each member of its team prefers to behave in different situations. DISC leads to in-depth conversations about how people are different, the strengths they bring, and how different behavioral types can work together to create a winning team.”
Explaining the different behavioral types, Beth says, “Dominance brings directedness, decisiveness, and the ability to focus on achieving outstanding results. Influence brings extroverted, talkative, and energetic behaviors. Steadiness brings patience, loyalty, and a focus on what is best for the team. Conscientious brings preparation and a focus on rules and process.”
Elaborating, she says,
“When all of these are represented on a team, the necessary pieces to win are in place. By understanding each member’s preferred behavioral style and by being transparent about the results, everyone will understand each other’s style and be able to communicate more effectively.”
Importantly, Beth takes the theory surrounding DISC Profiling and talks about the way she applies it, giving the example of a player that she struggled to connect with. Further, the book details that, “Beth could not teach this player without the player getting frustrated. Off the court they were fine, but in practice or match situation, there was always tension. Beth wasn’t sure why this was the case until the DISC tool provided her with an insight she has not previously understood. Beth is an I/S in DISC, which is relationship based and fast paced, and the ‘I’, which is her strongest style, meant she is an influencer. Once Beth learned that this player was in the ‘C’ profile, which includes rule followers, analytical and process- driven people, she quickly understood the problem.”
“Beth realized this player would do better if they had time to internalize the feedback and process it. Beth started pulling the player aside to explain the feedback in detail, and then gave them time on a different court to work it out. When the player came back to the main court, they felt more confident and appreciated that they could take time to process the feedback, and that the coach cared enough to understand their style.”
In the book Beth explains,
“Since both staff and players use the DISC tool, it is diverse in its usage. Players can use it to connect better with their teammates. Staff can use it to communicate better with their players, and use it amongst themselves to improve their understanding and appreciation of one another.”
Beth has done a great job creating a resource and contributing to the body of knowledge which drives new standards of consistency and excellence in high-performance sport. Find out more about her book here: Stop Competing and Start Winning: The Business Of Coaching
About Beth
Beth Launiere enters her 31st season at the helm of the Utah Volleyball Program in 2021, a highly awarded and nationally recognized coach who has won the Pac-12 Coach of the Year, AVCA West Region Coach of the Year four times, Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year three times, and the Don Reddish Award five times. During her time at Utah there have been 16 NCAA Tournament appearances with many of her players being named All-Americans over the years.
Along the way, Beth also coached for USA Volleyball during each summer from 2009 through to 2011, getting back on the sidelines with USA Volleyball in the summer of 2019 as she was an assistant for the U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team University Games in Napoli, Italy. Beth’s impact on the sport goes well beyond the court. She has guided volleyball on the national stage as the AVCA President during the 2009 calendar year and as the President-Elect in 2008. She has also been a member of the AVCA Board of Directors since 2004, and served a three-year term as the Division I Volleyball Coaches Representative from 2005 to 2007 after being a part of the AVCA’s All-America Committee for six years.
About Beth
Beth Launiere enters her 32nd season at the helm of the Utah Volleyball Program in 2021, a highly awarded and nationally recognized coach who has won the Pac-12 Coach of the Year, AVCA West Region Coach of the Year four times, Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year three times, and the Don Reddish Award five times. During her time at Utah there have been 16 NCAA Tournament appearances with many of her players being named All-Americans over the years.
Along the way, Beth also coached for USA Volleyball during each summer from 2009 through 2011 getting back on the sidelines with USA Volleyball in the summer of 2019 as she was an assistant for the U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team University Games in Napoli, Italy. Beth’s impact on the sport goes well beyond the court. She has guided volleyball on the national stage as the AVCA President during the 2009 calendar year and as the President-Elect in 2008. She has also been a member of the AVCA Board of Directors since 2004 and served a three-year term as the Division I Volleyball Coaches Representative from 2005 to 2007 after being a part of the AVCA’s All-America Committee for six years.
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Where to from here?
How well the ‘people side’ of sport is handled directly impacts whether the team wins or loses, whether people are loyal to the program or leave, and overall how much people enjoy their sport. Develop the vital ‘people skills’ in your team – athletes, coaches and administrators that will differentiate them in high-performance sport. Athlete Assessments can help you specifically in this area. Contact us to find out more about our Elite Team Programs, DISC Profiling, or more about Athlete Assessments.
At Athlete Assessments we’re here to provide you with excellence in service and to help you be your best. If there is anything we can do to be of service, don’t hesitate to contact us.
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