Blueprints vs. Goals
If you listened to Episode 62 with Tal Wold, you heard Coach Wold talk about the idea of blueprints. I think it’s something worth visiting here in our 58th newsletter, especially as many of us are either preparing for the start of a new season, or preparing for the end of our current one.
As we probably all know by now, goals are best implemented when they are achievable and measurable. Sometimes, even when goals pass through both of those hoops, one of the most common dangers we encounter when players and programs prepare goals is often that they are not truly controllable.
As a coach, you have to decide if those types of goals are worth agreeing to. Let’s say the goal is to win the state championship. We all know you could do everything right and still not win the trophy (bad call by a referee, an injury to a key player, an opposing player doing something really special, etc.). So when the goal isn’t reached, is that then a failure? Of course, you could use that goal to help propel your team, line them up for success, and encourage them to do the right things. Maybe you reach heights you would have never reached without having that goal. So I’m not telling you to change what you do.
However, I loved Coach Wold’s ideas about having blueprints. At the start of the season, he sits down with his team leaders and they prioritize the things they need to accomplish on a daily basis to achieve success. Those items become the blueprint to a successful season.
I met with our team’s leadership group, the Ironsides, a couple of weeks ago to plant the seed and begin this blueprint process. My hope is that, through the creation of the blueprint, we’ll be able to judge ourselves at the end of each game or practice on how well we adhered to the blueprint. Creating that separation from the outcome of the game itself helps protect us from viewing a loss as a complete failure, or worse (in my opinion), viewing a win as an automatic success (we’ve all won games that we know we didn’t deserve to win).
I’ll work with the Ironsides to finalize our program’s blueprint here in the next couple of weeks, and I’ll follow up by letting you know exactly what we came up with.
So as you’re preparing for a season, starting a season, ending a season, or reflecting on a season, consider how goals and blueprints can work within your program.
