Folks,

I’m reading To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and this one line stopped me in my tracks. See what you think:

“Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I’d have the facts.” 

For homework: “I thought it was a wonderful, thoughtful, and funny quote.” I’m sure you get my point. It’s a quote and only thinking makes it so. 

This week I’ve spent an awful lot of my time thinking about and writing about Communities of Practice and how they can be used to change how grassroots coaches think about their practice. 

Should you care about this if you are not a coach?

I think so, and the reason I’m going to say it matters is because how we do anything is how we do everything. Learning to advocate for others, working on something bigger than you and your agenda, and learning to quit are skills we could all do with practicing.

Here’s what to look for in a community of practice:

• Find the Energy: Find the energy, find the subject. A community of practice is organised around a subject that inspires practice.

• Find the Others: If your boss wants you to practice, it’s not a community, that’s a condition. On the other hand, if you choose to practice, it pays to think about the community with which you practice. 

• Adopt the Behaviour: People like us do things like this. If it works, adopt it; if it doesn’t, you might be in the right place to work it out and change the culture. 

And I’ll go one further, it’s worth considering if you need to know more in your chosen field of expertise, or if you need to learn how to get people to connect, interact, and grow together. 

Until next week,

Simon

P.S. Final call: If you are a grassroots coach consider joining me for Coach Camp on the 26th Oct 2024 @ Sport Wales.