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BEST PRACTICES 

FOR BUILDING A COHESIVE TEAM

Remember that you are your team’s coach. The best coaches understand that they are responsible for designing an incredible experience for their students. They take the time to make the experience unique, special, and memorable. What this means for you will depend on your strengths; we anticipate every coach will approach the work differently. We encourage you to engage in the following best practices. 

  1. Modeling the Way –  In our experience, the best coaches model the curriculum before, during, and after the competition. Just as we ask students to intentionally practice the curriculum, so should you! This may include intentionally using the CLC Terms and Concepts in and outside of practice sessions to “speak the language” and using the terms and concepts to solve issues as they arise.
  2. Communicate Expectations and “The Big Picture” –  Be sure that team members understand the practice schedule and location, expectations for attendance and engagement, and other team member norms specific to your campus. If you have recruited more than six students, seeing who holds themselves accountable to meeting or exceeding these norms can be an excellent way to help determine who is “all in” and ready to commit to the team. In our experience, this step is essential and should be delivered in a supportive manner. 
    • Relatedly, ensure that students understand how weekly practice sessions relate to the overall goal of CLC—we are building a developmental experience that is intentional, flexible, and transformational. Help your team see the connections between the structure and schedule of the CLC experience — practice sessions are a time and space to intentionally apply the content from the CLC curriculum, and practice activities are designed to incorporate STRESSORS or encourage students to choose different STYLES of leading and FOLLOWing. The competition itself will introduce new STRESSORS – what norms can the team develop to help them manage the STRESSORS in a productive way? Which CLC Terms and Concepts can the team see in the Leader and Team Effectiveness Skill Sheet? 

  3. Prioritize Relationships – Conduct one or two quick weekly activities that allow the participants to share something about themselves. Relationships are built by sharing with others, participating in common experiences, and having a shared sense of purpose. In our experience, building trusting relationships is a necessary step before teams share constructive feedback with one another without shame or fear. 
  4. Identify Team Norms – Early in the process, develop team norms and objectives that are revisited weekly. Remember that reviewing the norms does not need to be a long process. You could write them on a board and ask team members which norm the group needs to develop. The key is to have authentic conversations about how the team is, or is not, living up to the norms (because accountability matters). 

  5. Provide (and Seek!) Authentic Feedback – Let the team know that feedback is critical to the growth and development of all involved (e.g., you as the coach, each team member, and the team as a whole). The team must be comfortable providing feedback, one-on-one or in a larger group. As their coach, you need to model the way and be open to feedback as well - if you are seeking open and honest feedback, the team will follow suit. A plus/delta activity (what is going well/what should we change?) is a simple way to model this behavior every few weeks.
    • When conducting feedback sessions, we encourage you to:
      • Create a norm of beginning feedback with the phrase “What worked for me…” or “What did not work for me…” 
      • Let the Students Speak First –  Ask the primary players for their observations, thoughts, and reflections. Doing so will help you and other group members assess their self-awareness and understanding of what occurred. After the primary actors have spoken, you may want to validate, add, or reinforce.
      • Balance post-activity feedback with real-time coaching and feedback –  It's vital to link the coaching/feedback to your goal of providing an environment of deliberate practice. According to the theory of deliberate practice, real-time coaching and feedback are critical to an individual's growth and development.
      • Feedback should always focus on the Leader & Team Effectiveness Skill Sheet. 
  6. “Search for the Learning” – Throughout the CLC experience, encourage students to “search for the learning.” Connections to the CLC curriculum will occur during practice activities, debriefing sessions, and the student’s personal lives. Students sometimes connect to the CLC Terms & Concepts days after practice. Consider how athletes develop strength over many weeks; in the same way, CLC competitors will not immediately understand the content or its implications. Encourage your team to be in a continual state of curiosity and reflection; not all connections will be made immediately. 
  7. Acknowledge the Non-Linear Path to Personal Development – Acknowledge that, like leadership, CLC is filled with ups and downs. The students will feel excited, annoyed, tired, happy, sad, disappointed, angry, thankful, and many other emotions throughout the process. As a coach, you will also feel these same emotions! Ultimately, CLC is an opportunity to practice resilience and emotional intelligence for everyone involved – participants, coaches, judges, and CLC staff and volunteers.

          FOR PRACTICE SESSIONS

          Along with the best practices for coaching in general, we offer several suggestions that may guide your weekly practice sessions. 

          1. Host Weekly Knowledge Competitions – Use jeopardy games, Kahoot, or quiz bowls to determine who emerges as the weekly knowledge champion. Consider tracking or ranking winners and offer a small reward to the overall champion at the end of the experience. This can be especially important early on, given CLC’s emphasis on the KNOW, SEE, PLAN, DO model of learning, as well as refreshed prior to competition — competition activities have been known to test participants on CLC Terms and Concepts!
          2. Begin and End with Terms & Concepts – Related to the above point, begin each practice by asking participants to write down as many CLC Terms & Concepts as possible in five minutes. End each practice by showing a five-minute clip from a popular movie or television show and determine who can identify the most concepts.

          3. Encourage Peer-to-Peer Coaching – Focus a couple of practice sessions on students teaching each other. See which team can learn the most in 60 minutes. Another approach is assigning students weekly partners and asking them to review concepts together outside of practice. While bonding in person or over Zoom, the students can debrief what happened using the CLC Terms & Concepts during the week. 
          4. Engage in Activities as a Team – The six team members must learn to work cohesively. Engage the group in activities as a team frequently to ensure that team dynamics are learned and managed. Have team members discuss the STYLES of leading, FOLLOWing, CONFLICT management that they tend to default to, and how they intend to override it as needed. As the team grows, their awareness of each other’s  strengths, weaknesses, and defaults will help them navigate SOLVE efficiently and effectively.
          5. Engage in “Smaller” Group Activities – Occasionally, breaking the team into smaller groups is an excellent way to increase overall team performance. When working in pairs or groups of three, students can get to know each other’s strengths and areas for development while learning more about each other personally. Through one-on-one interactions, teammates form stronger relationships, leading to less restricted and more constructive dialogue during debriefing sessions. 

           

          As you move closer to the competition day, intentionally incorporating the following practices can help the team prepare for what’s to come.

           

          1. Select Leaders Randomly – Each team member will lead during the competition – generally, we let the teams select a leader, though everyone must lead once before someone can lead again (and in a team of six, there will be no opportunity to lead again). Since teams will not know what activities are coming, randomizing leaders during practice allows teams and leaders to be prepared for anything. 
          2. Always Use CLC Leader & Team Effectiveness Skill Sheet – The Leader & Team Effectiveness Skill Sheet (L&TESS) will help guide your debriefing conversations, evaluate performance, or reinforce knowledge of the curriculum. The judges will be using this to evaluate student performance at the competition. 
            1. Early in the practice season: consider allowing students to reference the L&TESS as they progress through the activities, to guide their intentional behavior. As the practice season unfolds, limit access to the L&TESS during activities (judges should still use it) to put students' skills to the test. 
            2. Have students act as judges: we have found great value in having students step back from an activity and observe and judge their team in action. Doing so forces students not to “get sucked into the process” and furthermore allows them to see just how easy it is to get sucked in. Observing the team from the judges’ perspective can lead to invaluable lessons, especially when they return to the leader role and try to do “too much” instead of always thinking about process. Another option is to record the students via Zoom and ask them to watch the recording and evaluate their performance or that of a particular team member. 
          3. Debrief and Provide Feedback – Debrief activities through the lens of the CLC Terms & Concepts. Although practicing the concepts is essential, debriefing them is just as critical. Highlighting behaviors that portray good and poor use of the CLC Terms & Concepts is a significant learning opportunity.

          IDEAS TO KEEP PRACTICE FUN & INTERESTING 

          1. Make Leadership Personal & Relevant – Help the students understand how leadership is part of their daily lives. How do the CLC Terms & Concepts manifest themselves in their internship, student life, or interactions with friends? How are the CLC Terms & Concepts presented on national and international levels? Current events can be highly beneficial when teaching the curriculum. Case studies of current or historical artists, actors/performers, musicians, politicians, and professional athletes can also be powerful. If students can see how mastery of the curriculum is relevant to their future, they will be engaged in and outside practice. 
          2. Encourage a Healthy Competitive Spirit – The competition is the culmination of the CLC experience. It is an opportunity to showcase their knowledge/skills throughout the practice season. Please encourage students to be proud of their achievements and represent their school/university in the best possible way.
          3. Involve Students That Bring Some ‘Spark’ – We have observed that some teams are just “flat” from an energy perspective. Members who bring energy and enthusiasm are essential to a great team experience. It’s important to remember that you are responsible for bringing some “spark” as well!
          4. Offer a Reward – Small rewards or mystery prizes like candy or college/university SWAG can quickly intensify competitiveness and interest. Split the team into two or more groups, introduce an activity, and communicate that the winner will receive a small prize. 
          5. Keep Score – Maintain a running tab of points over several weeks of practice and declare one or more “winners” as you approach the competition(s). You can also track how well team members adhere to the norms, reach personal development goals, practice emotional intelligence, once the heat is raised by keeping score.
          6. Host Mini Competitions – Similar to above, split the team into two or more groups, allowing them to run through specific activities. By doing so, team members will better understand how to approach challenges in a competitive setting while having fun.
          7. Plan a Large Knowledge Competition half way through the Practice Season – Ask students to memorize all the content in preparation for a large knowledge competition after a campus break or specific weekend. Students should KNOW the content and begin to SEE it at this point in the season. By doing so, the team experiences a month or more of practice where they are intervening in the various activities with greater intentionality, which is the ultimate goal.
          8. Repeat Activities to Track Progress – Set benchmarks you want the students to achieve. Running a similar activity a couple of weeks in a row with the goal of students improving their time or results can be a nice way to gauge growth and development within the team.
          9. Change Your Practice Location – Weekly email messages revealing where to meet for practice keep students guessing about the location and theme of practice. 
          10. Invite a Campus/Community Leader and/or Former Participants – Invite the dean, the campus president, or a local community leader to talk for five minutes before practice. Ask this individual to thank the students, build their confidence, and share tidbits from their personal experiences. Make the experience memorable by reminding the students they are involved in something unique and special. Former participants can also create excitement by sharing their experiences, words of wisdom, and hints for success. 
          11. Scrimmage with Another CLC Team – Set up a scrimmage with another team. By doing so, you will expose the students to a competitive atmosphere that mimics the competition.