What we can learn from John Wooden about positive teaching

One of the great coaches and leaders in the history of sports is John Wooden. The UCLA basketball coach won 10 national championships over a 12-year period leading the Bruins. Wooden didn’t just have the best players, though. He developed great teams. One of the ways he did that was through “positive” teaching.

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JOHN WOODEN TAUGHT HIS PLAYERS THROUGH POSITIVE, RATHER THAN NEGATIVE, METHODS
John Wooden explained how he taught basketball and life skills in positive, rather than negative, ways. He used rebounding as an example. If you aren’t familiar with rebounding, it’s the act of grabbing the ball after a missed shot.

POSITIVE TEACHING FOR REBOUNDING
Wooden didn’t like the way most coaches taught athletes how to rebound. Most coaches emphasized that players should “box out” their opponents, keeping them from getting to the ball. Wooden saw that method as negative.

Instead, he taught his players to do it using a positive teaching method. He emphasized that his players should position themselves to go get the ball rather than keeping the other players from getting it.

WAS HIS POSITIVE TEACHING EFFECTIVE?
Was Wooden’s “positive” teaching effective? He says his teams were almost never out-rebounded, and it might offer one explanation as to why his teams almost ways won games and championships.

DO YOU USE POSITIVE TEACHING WITH YOUR TEAM?
How often do you teach your employees, your players, your students or your children using positive methods? Rather than harping on what not to do, maybe you could try focusing on showing them what works and what could make them better. Maybe you can build them up rather than try to criticize and tear them down.

In the video above, I offer scenarios where positive teaching might provide an opportunity to connect with and raise the level of performance of your team, so you can all become Champions in Sports, Business and Life.

[DrDavidGeier]

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