Team Chemistry

Book excerpt: What is different about teams that are consistent winners, those teams that always seem to bring their A-game when the stakes are highest? A positive team culture is likely the answer. We’ve all seen it happen: the team that looks great on paper, or has a league-leading regular season, but can’t pull out the wins or give their top performance when everything is on the line. As coaches and sport leaders what can we do to ensure that we maximize the potential of our athletes and teams so they are successful and continue to enjoy sport? How do we ensure that we coach in a way that benefits the team and remains respectful of the individual? In their first book together, André Lachance and Jean François Ménard offer tangible and practical strategies to help sport leaders create efficient group dynamics, build team culture, and help a group of athletes to gel. Using the periodic table of elements to organize concepts into a modular framework, the authors have created a powerful new resource for coaches in every sport. Building successful teams is not as simple as picking the best players: there are specific methods that coaches and leaders use to make their messages stick and to bring out the best in everyone within a group. Consistently, the healthiest team cultures have a huge impact on performance. That is the power of Team Chemistry. OFFERS TANGIBLE AND PRACTICAL STRATEGIES: o How to create an inclusive environment o How to assess an athlete’s current state o What and what not to say after wins and losses o How to challenge conventional ways of setting goals o When to ask questions and give advice o . . . and much more