I know, I know, everyone has an opinion about Pete Carroll, the coach of the Seattle Seahawks, winners of the 2014 Super Bowl. Since I live in the great state of Washington—I'm a fan.
I was reading an article titled "Player development propels Seahawks" with the subtitle "Carroll's patience helps rookies improve faster."
The article goes on to say that after he's given good talent Carroll considers it his personal responsibility to develop that talent. This got me thinking about the number of times I've seen clients hire good talent and let them on the field without spending any time developing them. And that's a disservice to the player and the team, the seller and the company.
Don't get me wrong—I've seen the opposite as well. But just because you draft amazing talent, it doesn't mean your job is done. Do you have a development strategy? And I don't mean an onboarding strategy where someone else (or a computer) teaches the new hire about the organization. While that’s necessary, it’s not what I’m talking about here.
Ask yourself, as a manager and a coach, how will you be personally involved in developing this person? How many calls will you go on? How will you gauge this person’s understanding of what your organization is about? How will you assess their level of learning? Are you patient enough when developing new talent?
Jerry Angelo, the former coach of the Chicago Bears is quoted in the article saying, "Every coach I've ever met, his only thinking is, 'Who gives me the best chance to win now?' And if you have that mentality you're never going to see player development."
The Seattle Seahawks are living proof.
