Why Coachability Matters for Coaches

Adapted from the article originally published by the Life Sciences Trainers & Educators Network (LTEN) Focus on Training magazine, April 2024

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Phil Jackson, the legendary "Zen Master" of basketball, holds nine NBA championship rings as a head coach – a staggering feat rarely matched in professional sports. But what was his secret sauce? While his unorthodox methods and mellow demeanor often grabbed headlines, one of Jackson’s key characteristics often goes overlooked: coachability.

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The Triangle Offense

Jackson's journey with the Triangle Offense exemplifies the power of a coachable leader. 

In the 1960s, high school basketball coach Tex Winter developed the Triangle Offense, a complex system emphasizing teamwork, player movement, and open shots. In 1985, Winter joined the Chicago Bulls as an assistant coach. Winter tried to convince head coach Doug Collins to embrace the offense, but players initially struggled to adopt the complex and novel system.

However, fellow assistant coach Phil Jackson saw the potential in Winter’s idea. When Jackson became Bulls head coach in 1989, he implemented Winter’s unconventional  style of offense.

Despite some resistance from within the Bulls organization, Jackson remained committed to the Triangle. Jackson showed great humility as the head of the coaching staff; he actively sought Winter’s guidance, incorporated his feedback, and adapted the system to fit players' strengths. 

Winter was impressed by Jackson's willingness to learn, and the duo developed a mutual respect and open communication that helped ensure the Triangle's effective implementation. The result? Six NBA championships for the Chicago Bulls and another three for the Los Angeles Lakers under Jackson's leadership.

So, what lessons can we draw from this example? 

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Coachability Matters for Coaches 

Often in our work at Coachability Consultants, we meet leaders who immediately understand the importance of developing coachability in their team members, but they don’t necessarily think about how improving their own coachability can elevate the whole organization. While it’s true that a team’s success depends on team members’ openness to growth and feedback, it’s just as crucial for leaders to develop their individual coachability. 

There are two main reasons for this: (1) a highly coachable leader is more likely to improve their own professional outcomes, and (2) they are also more likely to create an environment of excellence for their teams.

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Improved Professional Outcomes 

The world around us is constantly changing. A good leader persists through it; an excellent leader adapts to it. When the environment around us evolves, we often find that suddenly our role requires new skills or strategies. Consider the shift in landscape in the NBA in the late 1980s: there was a rise in physical, "grind-it-out" basketball with an emphasis on strong defense. The Triangle Offense's unpredictability and focus on exploiting defensive weaknesses proved advantageous in this environment. Phil Jackson’s coachability – his willingness to learn and employ a new strategy – helped his team become not only competitive, but dominant, in this new landscape.

And as it turns out, if you’re adaptable, you’re promotable. Our research shows that as you move up through the organization, you need to perform new capabilities, so being more coachable is linked to being more promotable. Data shows that as individuals move up in an organization, oftentimes their coachability declines. Leaders can get complacent; they continually approach their work with the same methods they’ve always used because those practices elevated them to their current station. But, the truth is this: the skillset that helped someone ascend to a certain level is not necessarily a useful skillset for their future work. A coachable leader recognizes the need to continuously evolve and update their skills, and in this way, they have an advantage over other candidates for a promotion.

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An Environment of Excellence 

When leaders demonstrate coachability, they not only create positive outcomes for themselves; coachable leaders construct collaborative atmospheres where their team members thrive as well. Leaders have the power to make or break an organization’s culture of coachability. 

This is what Coachability Consultants uncover in the Coachability Quotient (CQ) Assessment for Leaders– our research-based diagnostic tool reveals leaders’ individual coachability profiles, and we explain how leaders’ coachability levels can impact the coachability of their teams or whole organization. 

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Here are some key coachability factors that are crucial for leaders to develop.

• Humility: If leaders show openness, their team members feel safe to suggest creative solutions and make meaningful contributions. If coaches don’t demonstrate humility– if they quickly shut down ideas or only listen to a select few– then they risk creating a negative environment where team members feel their unique perspectives are not valued. 
  • In his book Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success, Phil Jackson wrote that “benching the ego” is one of his core leadership principles: “After years of experimenting, I discovered that the more I tried to exert my power directly, the less powerful I became. I learned to dial back my ego and distribute power as widely as possible without surrendering my final authority… Some coaches insist on having the last word, but I always tried to foster an environment in which everyone played a leadership role, from the most unschooled rookie to the veteran superstar.” 

• Accountability: When coachable leaders ask for feedback, they acknowledge it or act on it. In contrast, when leaders ask for input and then ignore it, they end up discouraging their team members from sharing future insights, stifling productivity and progress. Highly coachable leaders demonstrate their appreciation for their team members by actualizing their ideas. 

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• Authenticity: Authentic leaders sincerely seek information that will help them improve. That means they are open to hearing about their strengths but also value candor about their areas for growth.

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• Growth mindset: It’s important for a leader to have a growth mindset about their own development– the belief that they can develop new skills– but it’s equally as important for leaders to hold that mindset about all the individuals they lead. If they only believe that some people on their teams can grow, then leaders will often invest time and attention in some people and not others. This can erode team members’ trust or connection with the organization over time.

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Remember, even the Zen Master didn't reach the top alone. Phil Jackson had a strategy-minded assistant coach, a team of brilliant players, and a willingness to learn and listen that allowed the team to collectively harness all of their individual greatness. Largely because of Jackson’s coachability, the Chicago Bulls became champions–multiple times over. Whether you're leading a sports team, a business, or a community group, embracing coachability can unlock your true leadership potential and propel you–and your team– to incredible new heights.

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Sources:

• Beslic, S. (2023, April 2). The impact of tex winter’s triangle offense. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved from https://www.si.com/nba/bulls/old-school/the-impact-of-tex-winters-triangle-offense.
• Partnow, S., & DuFour, D. (2020, May 7). The triangle offense: dead or alive? let’s analyze its past and present. The Athletic. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1797772/2020/05/07/the-triangle-offense-dead-or-alive-lets-analyze-its-past-and-present/.
• Jackson, P., & Delehanty, H. (2013). Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Penguin Press.