Coaching & The 3 C’s

Arguably one of the greatest sporting managers of all time, Alex Ferguson (ex-manager of Manchester United Football Club), said that the three main factors to good coaching are control, communication, and consistency.

I teach and use these factors in many aspects of my coaching, producing, and directing.

Control

Nicole Kidman’s character from one of the greatest movies of all time, Days of Thunder, said “Control is an illusion, nobody knows what is going to happen next. Nobody knows and nobody controls anything.”

Wise words. However, I believe that any person in a managerial role must at least display “perceived” control, whether this is in a meeting, a rehearsal, training, creation, production or more. People need direction, especially in the ever-changing nature of the entertainment industry. Whether they fully agree or not, if they perceive you to have a thorough understanding and control of the elements, they will follow. Most of the time, this comes down to taking the time to plan, plan and plan again.

Communication

I am not a great fan of “Over-Communicating”. I would prefer to have less communication and have people ask the questions they need to in order to try and accomplish what is required. This might just be down to my low attention span or lack of patience and so please do not misunderstand this as reactive management. We can always improve on communication but how this is implemented depends on the individual. For the communicator to be effective it is important that the person receiving the communication understands what he/she is being told, taught or directed to do.

It is also the communicator’s role, in a leadership position, to provide the tools and resources for the person to succeed at their task.

Consistency

Always a good lesson. Many people are fearful of change but those who work in the entertainment industry understand that one of the only constants in this line of work is change. One can benefit from striving for consistency despite these changes. Leaders need to always try to make every aspect of the practical work as consistent as possible as well as provide consistent support and mentorship to their teams. But there is a “Kryptonite” to this theory and that is complacency. Worse than the ever-changing nature of show business, is repetition that often leads to complacency. Once complacency sets in, it is very difficult to remove. So, the main objective within this 3^rd C, is to strive for consistency and manage it in a way that prevents complacency.