✅ Makelky Leadership Academy 🎙‪️‬ Aaron Makelky

In this episode we discuss strategies for addressing Red Team behavior from teammates short of removing them from the team.
 📍  📍 A recap of red team behavior.   So you have to have standards first before you can say somebody is below the standards. But what we call a player who is behaving in a way that doesn't meet the standards of the team is a red team player.  
Examples would be.  Being late to practice skipping. Training sessions complaining about the coaches, playing time, things like that, whatever they do is below the standard. And it's moving your team away from winning.  We want to remove the behavior. And not the person, although you might end up having to remove the person, we always want to try to remove the red team behavior first.  So, how are we supposed to address that?  When those players are performing in a way that's below the standard, they're behaving in a way that's below the standard.   
If your team doesn't have clear standards, then you have to have that first. 
And some coaches do a great job of that. Some don't, some are bigger on just strategy and skills.  But it's pretty hard to tell a player that they're below the standards. If it's not clear what the standards are for your team.  
We'll also talk about removing the player, not the behavior. In the next episode.  But that's when you have a sacred standard that the player violates and it's one and done, they don't get another chance. They don't get suspended for a week. And then back on the team they're just done.  
what do we do on their behaviors? 
Not that severe, but it's still below the standard and it's moving our team away from winning.  
You or someone on your team? Has to directly address the behavior. You might say we all know it's important. To be on time to practice. My teammate's been late three times. They know that's the standard, but has anybody directly one-on-one pulled him aside and said, Hey man, you've been late three times. You know, that's not okay.  You can't just assume because there's a standard and a player has been violating and are below that standard that they know, and they're willing to fix it. 
Somebody has to address that.  Most teams have protocols in place to address red team behavior. Yours might yours might not.  
The other thing that has to be clear is. How many times can somebody be below that standard and still be on your team? So an obvious one. Is being late. Every team has an expectation of being on time.  But how many times can I be late and still be on the team? Or how many times in a week can I be late and still get to play this Friday night?  Is it three strikes and you're out. Um, what we did with unexcused absences and our football program, the first one had X consequence. The second one had X times two consequence. And the third one, no matter who you were, you were done.  Do you have those in place for your team? 
And does everybody know what those are? So even if it says, you know, third unexcused absence and you're done. And a player on your team has to. Has somebody directly addressed it with them? Have they pulled them aside and said, Hey man,  What are you doing? You've been late or unexcused twice. We got to fix it.  You know, third one, you're going to be done.  
 If your coaches handle addressing that behavior, that's great. 
You, as a leader on the team should still address it. Even if it's outside of the Curt coach's knowledge. Even if it's outside of the coach's knowledge. So that they know their behavior is hurting the team. What student athletes say all the time is. Yeah, but that's a dumb rule or, yeah, that's just the coaches thing or, yeah, but that's a stupid standard.  It's easy to rationalize away your red behavior. 
When only the adults, only the head coach. Is the one who addresses it.  In the teenage mind, they think, well, that's his job or her job. The head coach is. The attendance police.  Or they're the one that's always wa

Tevyn Harmon joins the show

The Makelky Leadership Academy Podcast hosts a live panel discussion with the Natrona County Suicide Prevention Taskforce & County Coroner Jim Whipps.
We discussion mental health resources for teenagers, strategies to approach topics like suicide, and what student leaders can do in order to foster changes in their own schools & communities.

Youth Advocate Bobby Jones is a guest speaker on the Makelky Leadership Academy Podcast (live from 5.1.24)
He speaks truth & life into our audience including:
Overcoming adversity, being your authentic self, having an identity beyond sports, & other topics that hit home for today's student-athlete leaders!
Check out Bobby's Website: https://bobbyjonesspeaks.com
Instagram
TikTok

The topic for this week is what is the red team?  AKA the cancers, the slackers, the bottom feeders, the renters.  You know this concept, but do you have a name for it in your program?  The reason you have to have a name for this in your program, so you can identify it and remove that type of behavior. That's just the power of language. 
If you don't have a name, like the red team, you can't identify it. And if you can't identify that behavior, you can't remove it.  
, what is the red team?  In our language, the red team is when somebody is below the standards.  Whatever those expectations or standards are. Let's say being on time to practice.  You're not on time to practice. You're in the red team.  If your expectation is to grow, give great effort in. Uh, conditioning grill, drill, and somebody doesn't give great effort in a conditioning drill. That's red team behavior.  If the expectation is to be prepared for the game, maybe knowing your plays and a player shows up and doesn't know their plays, they didn't prepare that's red team behavior.  If a player BCDs that is they blame others. 
They complain about their circumstances or they defend losing behavior. That's red team.  So, for example, they're late, but they blame their parents.  
They're late, but they complained that the coach's in a bad mood and just picking on them.  Or they're late, but they defend why it doesn't matter that they're on time.  That's BCD.  The question for us is as leaders, how do we handle the red team?  The first thing you have to know. Is that your team has to have clear standards for everybody.  Coach's think, Hey, on the first day I gave out a packet and it's set all the rules. That's not making it clear for everybody.  As a leader, you might think I've talked to this person one time about that behavior. 
That does not mean that it's clear for everybody.  
If there aren't clear expectations for everyone on the team. You can't then turn and say, Hey, that's red or below the line behavior. It has to be clear up front to everybody.  Those have to be in place. They have to be repeated and used on a daily basis by everybody, not just the coach. Not just the seniors, not just the captains by everybody. 
And everyone has to speak that language.  
At this point, ignorance, isn't a defense, a teammate. Can't say, I didn't know. It was important to be on time in this program because your program talks about it every day. And your coach may not. That's okay. That's why they have leaders like you on the team. And you start every practice with, Hey, great job being on time. 
You guys know that's a big deal in our program. Always be five minutes early. Or everybody's on the bus on time. The coach may not say I'm going to praise that behavior because it's just what I expect. But you fist bump people and say, Hey, great job. Way to be on time. That's an expectation of our program. At that point, the next week, when a player shows up late for the bus, they can't say, oh, I didn't know what matter that I was on time. 
I didn't know. That was a big deal. Because you have clear expectations and they're repeated every single day. And everyone on the team knows what those are.  If you don't have those. Here's what you're going to hear. I didn't know where to be on time to practice. Coach never said that workout was required. I didn't think we had to show up to that. 
I thought it was optional.  
We have a term for red team, we have clear standards. Now, what do we do with red team behavior? This is the hardest part for student athletes to learn. Some of us, our knee-jerk reaction is we just remove the person. We remove the teammate, we cut the cancer out. We kick them off the team.  There's a difference though, between removing the player and removing the behavior. 
And while sometimes those can be the same. At first. What we want to try to do is remove the red team behavior.  How is that different from removing the teammate?  W

In Season 2 Episode 4 we learn about the cost of leadership.
Being a leader isn't safe, easy, or private.
The role of a leader is risky, challenging, and public.
Listen to this episode to make sure you are willing to take on the cost of being a leader for your team, school, class, employer, or family.