Revisiting Coaching Effort: How Did the Las Vegas Aces Perform?

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Bonus episode #95: What happens when a leader stops coaching effort and starts demanding it? The transformative power of high expectations takes center stage in this eye-opening exploration of leadership principles that transcend industries.

Drawing inspiration from WNBA coach Becky Hammond's bold approach with the Las Vegas Aces, we examine how her refusal to "coach effort" led to an impressive turnaround - from a mediocre record to eleven consecutive victories and a secured playoff position. The lesson? When leaders establish non-negotiable expectations for commitment and performance, they free themselves to focus on strategy, skills development, and team synergy.

For finance leaders, this philosophy presents a compelling alternative to traditional coaching methods. While we can't simply "bench" underperforming team members, we have our own toolkit - strategic assignments, development opportunities, promotions, and bonuses. But implementing this approach requires nuance. We must recognize the varying levels of experience, ability, and motivation across our teams while still maintaining core standards of excellence.

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Episode Transcript

Stephen McLain (00:00):
Hi. This is Stephen McLain of the finance
leader podcast. This is bonusepisode number 95 What have you
been challenged with lately? Isit month end, close? Is it the
level of talent coming out ofcollege, specifically for the
accounting teams? Are youconcerned or happier about the
trend to reduce the minimumcredit hours for the CPA

(00:21):
license. What is your comfortlevel on the ability to think
and lead strategically? Howabout your team? We work in the
details, but we have to shift tothe strategic level. When we
communicate results to our mostsenior leaders. It's a skill we
must continue to develop andimprove on. Now. More on that

(00:41):
later. Earlier this summer, Ishared with you an episode about
coaching effort, and I presenteda simple case study on the
leadership of Las Vegas aces.
Coach Becky Hammon, her team hadbeen losing and losing to teams
they should not have. CoachHammond is a winner. She's a
great coach, and she challengedher players, she held them
accountable for theirperformance, and basically said

(01:03):
she was not going to coacheffort. You already needed to
have that at this level, and ifyou don't show up ready to play
and perform at the professionallevel, then you are not going to
play. So let's review theresults. When I shared the
episode in June, they werehovering around the 500 mark for
wins and losses on the day I amrecording this episode, which is

(01:25):
in August, they have won their11th game in a row. Are
currently third in the leaguestandings and have clinched a
playoff spot. I would say thatcoach was very successful in
motivating her players to playat their peak potential. Well
done. I want to share with youthis week a replay of episode
number 139, lessons on coachingeffort a Las Vegas aces

(01:49):
leadership case study. Seasonnumber 21, of the podcast begins
in two weeks. I can't wait.
Please enjoy this encore episodeand have a great rest of your
week. Thank you.
I love coaching others toexcellence. Coaching is a

(02:13):
calling for leaders to help lifttheir team members to a higher
level of performance, to bebetter today than yesterday and
to help them achieve theirpotential. How do you handle
coaching the effort level ofyour team members? What are your
expectations for your team whenit comes to the level of effort
they put in? How comfortable doyou feel about your own coaching

(02:36):
ability? Please enjoy theepisode. Welcome to the finance
leader podcast where leadershipis bigger than the numbers. I am
your host. Stephen McLain, thisis the podcast for developing
leaders in finance andaccounting. Please consider
following me on Twitter,Facebook, Instagram and
LinkedIn. My usernames and thelinks are in this episode's show

(02:56):
notes. You can also followfinance leader Academy on
LinkedIn. Thank you. This isepisode number 139, and I'll be
asking today about your thoughtson coaching, effort, self help.
Author Napoleon Hill said,strength and growth come only
through continuous effort andstruggle. I changed up topics

(03:17):
for this episode this weekbecause I saw something so
important that I wanted to shareit right away. Coach Becky
Hammond, head coach of the LasVegas aces of the WNBA, was
giving a post game interview.
The Aces, a recent WNBAchampion, were dominated by the
expansion team Golden State onJune 7, the final score was 95
to 68 now that was a beat down,if you know the ACES at all.

(03:44):
Coach Hammond is an incrediblecoach. She was an assistant
coach for the San Antonio Spurs,and in my mind, was on track to
take over the Spurs from Coachpop before she took the ACES
head coaching job. I havenothing but respect for Coach
Hammond. She is a great coach,and she has a great roster over
there. What I want to talk aboutis what she said in the post

(04:07):
interview. She said she was notgoing to coach effort. She was
implying that her players hadbetter show up with that already
figured out. I was intrigued.
When I was serving in the army,we demanded an expected effort.
I have coached effort many, manytimes with my soldiers and

(04:28):
subordinate leaders when I wasserving. So I want to dive into
this a little bit more over thenext couple of minutes. Coach
Hammond's expectation is thatyou show up with 100% effort
already. She said that you arein charge of your own effort,
and that she would pull playersfrom playing if they don't put
in the effort. Additionally, shebelieves that when you don't

(04:52):
have to dedicate time toencouraging effort, you can
coach on other areas, likefundamentals and other critical
skills, team synergy and cash.
Ministry and how to worktogether as a team to achieve
organizational goals. Now I lovethis approach and expectation in
the military. Again, we candemand effort, and again, I have
coached effort many times. Ifully support her decision to

(05:13):
say she is not going to coacheffort. Coach is saying is that
when you show up to work, youshow up ready to give your all
100% I don't want you to be hereon my team if you refuse to put
in 100% that was her message toher team in that post game
interview, and I bet they heardher. Now, how can this

(05:34):
leadership approach from CoachHammond help us in how we lead
now, let's be real here. Wedon't lead athletes at the
highest level. We lead people atvarious levels of ability and
motivation, various skilllevels, and they all have
different goals, desires andaspirations. It's not so cut and
dry for us. We have so manyother factors to consider when

(05:58):
it comes to effort, a lot ofthis depends on the level of
yourself and the level of yoursubordinate team members. Now,
if I'm a CFO and my immediatesubordinate team members are at
the VP level, my expectationsare high. I'll give little
latitude for anything but 100%unless there is something else
going on, like a medical issueor a family challenge, or

(06:20):
something else like that goingon. Now, as the leader, you have
to do the work on your end. Youhave to identify performance
shortfalls and then develop aplan of action. We don't have
the ability to bench a player,so to speak, like they can on a
sports team, but we have tools.
We can bench team members indifferent ways. Now your tools

(06:42):
are bonuses, promotions,training and travel
opportunities, invitations tospecial events, networking
opportunities, assignments tokey projects, but always ensure
you're following companypolicies and any legal
application that there is, andalways check your bias for
fairness. I think the mostimportant lesson here is that

(07:05):
what are the values andexpectations for your team, and
what do you expect every day forhow your team members will act,
will interact, will approachtheir work, and how work gets
assigned, and what effort do weput in for the high visibility
projects versus the routinetasks that we all have. Now, do
you guys all have IDPs for yourteam members? How is training

(07:27):
allocated? And then so manyother considerations. Now, what
are your thoughts on coachHammond's declaration that she
will not coach effort. Now Ithank Coach Hammond for saying
what she said. It definitely gotme thinking, and I also believe
that effort and high performancebegins with us as the leaders.
How can we expect highperformance if we are not doing

(07:49):
our job to a high level? Set theexample for doing your best
always. Now today, I talkedbriefly about coaching effort.
Now, what are your thoughts? Nowin the show notes, depending
upon which platform you arelistening to this episode on,
you will see a message called,send us a text. You can use this

(08:13):
to send a text message directlyto me. Now, the system will
allow me to respond,unfortunately, but if you use
that feature, I will see yourmessage. So text me your
thoughts about coaching effort,and I may mention you in a
future episode. Thank you foryour support. I hope you enjoyed
the finance leader podcast. Youcan find this episode wherever

(08:34):
you listen to podcasts. If thisepisode helped you today, please
share with a colleague untilnext time. You can check out
more resources at finance leaderacademy.com and sign up for my
weekly updates so you don't missan episode of the podcast, and
now go lead your Team and I'llsee you next time. Thank you.
You

Unknown (09:00):
you.