Motivating with fear or influence?

Some need the whip. Others the carrot.

Not everyone understands love and respect. There has to be some fear. We all have fear as a default mechanism.

very good posts so far. I think i can agree with a lot of you so far. Now do I think you should motivate only and not have a backbone? Of course not, we run a tight ship, you mess up you get punishment. However we constantly put in efforts to motivate the kids to improve and achieve more. WE WORK OUR HARDEST FOR A REASON, vs. just do it this way or ill yell at you,or make you do punishment.

Most of all, I think it takes direction of where you're going with either style. It is important to reiterate the entire purpose of what your expectations is making them better people. The reason we are working so hard is to battle against ourselves (be better than the guy I was yesterday). Its not enough to be 'good enough', but the goal is to be the guy we WANT to be. Drone on an on about self-efficacy and that OUR expectation is to be the best.

The negative/whip is the result of not living up to those high expectations. Not meeting those expectations is failing to improve the team/group, so there are consequences for letting everyone down.

'US' and 'WE' instead of doing it for ME (or because I said so)

The number of kids who have personally thanked me for the discipline and consistency tells me that they crave that. "Thanks Coach, sometimes I need a kick in the $%^*(" and that's all it takes.

With todays world, everyone seems afraid to tell a kid what they NEED TO HEAR and want to tell the kids what they WANT TO HEAR and that simply wont get it done.

When it comes to "lazy" players, replace the word "lazy" and use "not properly motivated"- now youre getting somewhere, find ways to motivate them and keep in mind that different folks are motivated different ways by different things. Its not a one size fits all.

Awesome post!  The point about those seeing love and respect as a weakness is spot on. They will absolutely take advantage of that.

I am a criminal justice major and one of the things we learn in some theories is that people commit crimes sometimes because they do not fear the consequence. But sometimes those same people will not commit crimes if they are ashamed in front of their peers. The point is they don`t fear getting arrested, but they intimidationt like thier picture being posted on the convienience store door because they stole, because everyone in town that sees them after knows they are a thief.

My point is that often if you rule with fear, you get kids that platy for you because they have no choice. They may resent you. They may talk badly about you. They may not buy in. But they still want to play because they dont want to quit in front of friends.

But if you challenge them to be something more. You challenge them to higher standards than their classmates. If you lead them by example and embody some of the morals you wish to instill in them, when you get a win it shows itworks. And it can turn into something beautiful.

I have been with yellers, screamers, campaigns led by intimidation. The kids did not like going to war for them. There are some kids who can respond and still perform in that sort of environment, but ive just seen too many kids who it shocks their system and shuts them down. I would point out that some of these kids may come from homes led by fear, and that by creating that environment at practice you may push away, isolate, and damage some. I dont believe that fear should be in an option in high school. We coaches are not gods, and only have the privilage of getting to work with these kids because the school allows it. Im sure every schoolwants to hear their students are being run by any kind of fear. It is our responsibility to create a nurturing environment that fosters results in the classroom, at home, and on the field.

Call me a nerd, but unless the whole fear thing is clarified i cannot think its acceptable. I would not hire a

Transactional coaching vs Transformational coaching. I just learned of these 2 terms this year because of an article I read about Jim Mora JR.

Question is, can a Transformational Coach be successful in a Transactional Area and vise versa?

*Motivate

I AGREE!!

The only fear I ever had while playing for my HC was the fear of letting him down. I love that man like a father and I will run through a wall for him because I know he's the kind of man who would never ask me to. That's the ultimate for me.

I'm motivated by fear. Not fear of losing but fear that we'll lose because I didn't have the team prepared properly. Fear works.

I prefer that fear isn't the kids' primary motivation but sometimes it does have to come down to that. With our OL we do a drill called "Extra Effort Drill" that's a real ball buster. It takes a while to set up and run it so we usually only do it once a year, if that. If we're having a problem not finishing blocks I'll try to rally the troops by talking. If it doesn't get better I'll warn them about "Extra Effort". They usually get the message. We rarely have to do the drill twice a year and never three times.

We're all human and sometimes we'll have a day when all the intrinsic motivation can't carry you through. Hey, I loved teaching but there were days that the thing that got me out of bed was the fact that I needed the pay check.

that is operant conditioning.

Behavior that is rewarded continues, and behavior that results in aversive stimuli are less likely to occur. What you did is simple behavior modification.

I would not consider what you did as motivating by fear, that is motivating by example. That is motivating by accountability. That is motivating with consistency if they know that is the type of punishment they receive when they do not do the right things.

Anything I said about motivating through fear earlier had to do with the malicious screaming and ripping down of kids self esteems. I have seen coaches who think they can say whatever they want to a kid and it just happens in a vaccuum.

Have discipline and a set of punishments and rewards is basic sports psychology. Sports should never get to the point where we consider it motivating by fear when we make them sprint or do difficult work outs. that is one of the most essential parts of any sport.

I always let my kids know that I am not making them run because I am punishing them, I always try to make it about how we need to in order to be better than the day before. Sure if I need to use it to punish them then I let them know.

I often end up running my conditioning sessions by asking the team if they think they need another. If you have a die hard group they will never embarrass themselves by saying "Coach we have had enough" or "no we don't want another". You can keep them running for 30 minutes of sprints if you want, with the right group. Its an awesome way to put the accountability on the team and transform running from something undesired, to something they get up for.