It has been an interesting week for me .I found some notes that I had made about a Dr. Bhrett McCabe podcast. The subject of the podcast was trust. These notes made me think about what was going on with the Ottawa Senators. I follow the team not as a fan, but as a Coach would.
Up until a week ago the team was really struggling after releasing a very player friendly coach and replacing him with a veteran NHL coach who was known a defence first Coach. The challenge as I viewed it was a team of 22 players now had develop a trustful relationship and the same for the new coaching staff.
As McCabe points out a good coach must develop a high percentage plan that everyone can execute and to execute there has to be trust. In that everyone must understand that within the game there are so many unknowns and no one knows the outcome of the game before it starts. Coaches develop game plans to give them the best possible chance of winning.
That raises the question of why teams do not execute game plans ?
I believe the answer lies in change. I know everyone wants certainty in their life and change starts the search for certainty. In the search for certainty, fear also shows up and after that fears first cousin resistance joins in. We have all experienced this. A major shake up within the workplace and we do not particularly like the new person in charge. We begin to wonder how safe is my job, if I get let go will I find work, how will I support my family? This new leader implements policies and strategies that you do not agree with and our first reaction I am not doing this and we put up barriers. I believe this is what happened what the Senators.
The players put up barriers because they liked the previous coach and were resistance to the changes being implemented by the new coach.Credit to The Hockey Operations Department who took there time to evaluate the situation and figure out why it was happening. I guess you could say it was Cross Function Dysfunction. Not sure where I found this term but goes to explaining what was happening with the team. It is defined as when a player(s) builds an allegiance to their function that results in a prioritisation of the individual(s) over the the priorities of the organisation. The result of that is diminished collective talents of the team. The last four games have seen the barriers that were preventing them from winning slowing disappearing. These are highly competitive athletes who absolutely love to win and for now have made the decision to invest in the team and the new processes that have been implemented.
Change is hard, and for the most part no one likes it. However, teams do have the ability to focus on what they are capable of doing despite the circumstances they are in.
For the last four games we have seen a small sample size of what this team is capable of.
It would be great if it continues.
Until next time!
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Opinions are my own.
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