After you build a strong foundation of Honoring the Game for your team, will everything always go smoothly? Of course not—there will still be problems.

 

The last tool we’ll talk about in this lesson is Intervention Strategies. Be ready to nip problems in the bud before they escalate.

Think about it: it’s like a match dropped in a dry forest. You can put out the fire pretty easily when the match first drops. But if you don’t take action right away, the blaze can grow out of control.

 

Here are some tips for intervening on the sidelines:

  • Stay calm. Don’t add fuel to the fire!
  • Respect personal space, and avoid getting in someone’s face.
  • Invoke a higher standard. Remind people to Honor the Game.
  • Empathize. Recognize that it’s not always easy to keep calm on the sidelines.

Download “How to Intervene When People Dishonor the Game” from the course materials to read some more ideas.

Honoring the game doesn’t just happen. Coaches make it happen by creating their own Team Culture―or as those of us at PCA and SLS put it, defining “the way we do things here.”