Coaching Tree

This week's blog post was written by Daren Dieleman.

I am a big Iowa Hawkeyes fan and have been since I was young - I hope I haven’t lost any readers after that opening statement. If you’ve watched a Hawkeyes football game on TV, you’ve probably heard references to legendary Iowa football coach Hayden Fry. Hayden Fry came to Iowa in the late 1970’s, shortly after Iowa had struggled through seventeen straight losing seasons. With Fry’s help, Iowa made some significant changes to their football team. Iowa’s logo, uniforms, visitor locker room, and style of play were transformed. Ultimately, Fry re-energized the Hawkeyes culture and the entire Iowa football program.

Fry’s teams at Iowa went on to be successful and his Iowa career lasted twenty seasons. A tenure which is almost unheard of today in coaching at the collegiate level. The cornerstone of Fry’s revival of the Iowa football program in the 1980’s wasn’t the uniforms or the logo, but rather the coaches he surrounded himself with. Hayden Fry hired some of the best coaches in the business, both young and old. In his autobiography, he said he wanted his coaches to go on to do greater things in their careers. He didn’t want to hire a coach that didn’t strive for something better, even if that meant pursuing careers at other schools. Fry encouraged others to be their best and took pride in mentoring others and helping them reach new heights in their careers. Due to Fry’s philosophy, Fry likely did a lot of hiring, coaching, and mentoring of new and young coaches.

As leaders, we should challenge ourselves to lead and develop our own people who may become future leaders themselves. We should also challenge our people to be and do their very best. Whether at work, home, in the community, as part of an organization, or in places of worship. As we move forward, we must ask ourselves: are we walking along side our people, coaching, mentoring, and providing them with opportunities? Or are we holding them back because they’re too valuable? Great leaders, like Hayden Fry, take pride in seeing someone they’ve coached and mentored go on to do great things. Consider your own development; can you think of someone who believed in you, coached and mentored you, and ultimately helped propel you to where you are today? I know I can, and if you’re like me, you view that person in very high regard. Someone who cared enough about you as an individual and about your personal development to ensure you succeeded, even if that meant more work for him/her in the end. Those types of leaders are rare and we should all strive to lead in that way.

Eight of legendary coach, Hayden Fry’s former assistant coaches went on to become major college football head coaches. His leadership is truly inspiring! If you look at a photo of his coaching staff from the 1980’s there are several other coaches around him who went on to do great things. We may not all have the success that Hayden Fry received. However, if we take the time to invest in our people and lead by helping others find success, we will create strong companies, families, and communities.

Hayden Fry surrounded himself with a strong network of good people who became great leaders. What will your “leadership tree” look like in ten, twenty, or even thirty years? Who will you have helped mentor and develop, either personally or professionally, to do great things?

Continue leading the Interstates way!

Daren Dieleman

Develops, Coaches, and Motivates

This week's post was written by Scott Peterson.

During most Excellence in Leadership 1 classes, we ask two very telling questions:

1.       Who was the best supervisor/leader you have ever had, and why?

2.       Who was the worst supervisor/leader you have ever had, and why?

The answer to the first question revolves around development, coaching and motivation. Most of the time, the leader that tops the "best" list focused on helping the person grow, elevating their performance, and helping them achieve more than the employee thought was possible. They played the role of a mentor, coach, cheerleader, etc. Their goals were balanced between getting things done and positioning other people to learn and grow. 

The answer to the second question is also interesting. Leaders on the "worst" list are focused on themselves and getting things done.  They treat their people as tools. 

I have had many people from the Interstates family invest their time in me to help me grow. For example:

• Jim Franken - coached and pushed me about leadership and being forward-thinking.

• Darrel Ramhorst - gave me hard feedback, pushed me to have high standards, and encouraged me when I needed it.

• John DeZeeuw - helped me understand the business of construction, engineering and automation. He also inspired me to have a balanced perspective (balancing the needs of the employees, the needs of the clients, and the needs of the business).

•  Larry Den Herder - focuses on providing feedback and direction on how to make a difference for our clients.

• Jack Woelber - provides great feedback and support. He also helps reinforce the desire to build a great culture, live our core values, and provide opportunities for people.

• Dave Crumrine - helps me to think broadly and deeply about our clients and our business.  His ideas, feedback and passion around pursuing a better way have raised the expectations of myself and our team.

• Doug Post - encourages me to be a better systems thinker and to constantly read and look for solutions for our teams and for our clients.

• Kristi Segar and Lori Van Beek - provide great feedback, insight and perspective to help me grow as a leader.

As you think about how to develop, coach and motivate your team, there are two approaches that are effective. If you want to have amazing results, the key is to implement them together. These approaches are:

Planned Development

As a leader, know your team. Know what they want to develop and support that. You should also have open and candid conversations with them about what they need to develop and why. As you get to know them you'll find out what they need (e.g. skill development, experience, self-awareness, confidence, etc.).

Teachable Moments

These moments pop up every day, but many of them go unnoticed. A great leader has the ability to see them and leverage them. They may not see 100% of them; it is more like baseball - hitting 300 is great. They connect the teachable moment with the development that employee needs at that time. When it happens - it is powerful and can really motivate the employee, and the leader. 

Interstates excels at development, both on the technical side and on the leadership side. Your responsibility, your opportunity, your privilege is investing some of yourself into your team, your peers and other leaders to help them reach their potential. When it happens, it's a win/win situation. When you invest in people, you ARE leading The Interstates Way!

Continue leading The Interstates Way!

Scott Peterson