The importance of the term “Adding Value” – But does it always happen in your team, school or business?

LETS GET THIS STRAIGHT:

“The single and only aim of any teacher, coach or manager is to “improve” the cohorts of people you serve in every facet of development” – Steve Sallis - 2016

We often to say to athletes about “controlling the controllables” but what about the coaches doing the same? They can only control what they are in charge of right? Often in Britain we judge a coaches and teachers expertise by the end point of the PLAYERS/LEARNERS development. ie

Have they made it pro? Did they get an “A” grade in their maths exam? Has an Olympic sprinter got gold?

Is this process fair and justified for those of us in charge of an athletes development at all the various levels we work at? If so, is a manager that wins the premier league with the biggest budget the best manager? In contrast, is a reserve team manager that that produces 5 players a season for the first team but doesn’t win a game all season a failure? Sadly in both cases the “untrained eye” will see both scenarios “literally” and without looking into a deeper level of understanding. Sadly, a coach’s or manager’s career can get quashed before they have even started with this mentality from board members or clueless so-called professionals.

In my experience you cannot always judge athletes and learners on the same outcomes... But my below statement refers back to my teaching days and a dissertation I wrote about accelerated learning:

“Athletes and teams should only be graded and assessed on rates of PROGRESS they have made as an individual and not always the end point. The impact on their own learning journey is most important”.

Additionally did anyone monitor their start point of the journey, so therefore able to measure accurately how far they have come. The rocky road of teaching, learning, mentoring and coaching athletes and teams can be hard. But I have heard many people in my past getting frustrated by the outcomes and end points of individuals or their teams lack of success when actually they should be giving themselves a pat the back. When I mean the outcomes I mean the end point! Whether that be:

• Failure at an exam or
• an opinion on whether the lad is good enough/not good enough to make it as a professional footballer, or a sprinter that came 4th place in a Olympic final.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t get frustrated and emotionally connected to players that fail to “make it” and generally had let themselves down possibly over time, to take on board all of the various technical, tactical, physical and psychological advice they were given.  After all, not everyone can succeed… “but… everyone CAN make progress!”

What I have come to learn over the years is, if we the educators, know that we have done everything within our power to “add-value” to the player or learner and make them better, then I am far more secure and confident both morally and ethically that we have fulfilled our obligation to the player. Often we forget that behind the player is a human being! So when I say the words add-value. What exactly in? My answer… Everything!

       1) The person and

       2) The performer/learner (athlete) and

       3) Ensuring we correlate and synchronise the two to ensure “holistic success” has occurred.

Simply for long term success you cannot have one without the other… its destined to fail at some point! So as an example:

• has the players schooling and academic grades regressed or progressed since the time they have been with you?
• Would you even know?
• Or care?
• Has the player’s performance got worse under your super-vision.
• Is his “lack of form” and “not doing it right now” down to you and your tactics, training methodology, manner of approach to them?

If this rigour of detail is achieved then morally you are in a good place also. The ex-Brentford manager and now Glasgow Rangers manager Mark Warburton has been interviewed many times in the last few years on TV. I regularly hear him use the words – “Adding Value”. This use of language from him I am certain would have been influenced from his time working in the city of London in his previous job. Many times he has been quoted as saying:

“yes this player will add-value to the current group of players we have”.

Have you ever really thought what the saying means and what it should be interpreted as?

I interpret it as the player adds value to:

“EVERY SINGLE FACET OF THE PROCESS”

Yes you heard it the “process”. So…what is the process? Just playing games on a match day? Or contributing to all the nuances of what elite teams do. Train hard, be a good person, getter better every day, work selflessly, follow instructions, manage themselves to be effective, behave well, and basically be a:

“cohesive part of the “performance wheel!”

In summary, players should uphold what a big influence of mine Dave Brailsford calls CORE values:

• Commitment
• Ownership
• Responsibility
• Excellence

If you instil this sort of independence for players to adhere too, scaffold the learning processes  (help them) of the detail (of your respective cohorts development) then you really are “Adding Value”. If you're fourth bottom of the league one season and fifth bottom the following season on more points, then you have “added value”. However in summary and to throw a spanner in the works. Answer this question?

Has Claudio Ranieri the Leicester City manager “added value” next season if they:

• get more points but
• don’t win the league??

Hmmm…. I’ll let you decide..

Hope you enjoyed the read.

SS