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The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

Thriving Teams with Shane Mcleod

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This week my co-host, Professor Eric Knight and I continue our exploration of Thriving Teams with Shane Mcleod.


Shane is a former New Zealand hockey player and now coach.

 

He transitioned into coaching while still playing, and coached teams in Europe before becoming the Belgium Women’s team coach in 2002.

 

In 2007 he moved back to New Zealand and led the Men's team at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. He then moved back to Belgium winning 2 National titles before becoming the Men's National team coach in 2015, and took them from a world ranking of 15 to #1. Along the way they won silver at the 2016 Olympics, the 2017 and 2019 European Championship, the 2019 and 2020 FIH Pro League. As well as gold at the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup, and the 2020 Olympic Games

 

Some of the key highlights are:


  • How the feedback he was given as a player, which was that the selectors thought he liked the idea of playing for New Zealand more than you actually wanted to play for New Zealand, has gone on to to inform the way he gives feedback now in a way that doesn’t deter someone from wanting to be better.
  • The processes they have in place to encourage the athletes to develop their self-leadership.
  •  The exercise he used to get the players themselves to select the team, and he used this to identify the strengths of each individual and the players within the team who were the glue that kept the group connected.


To find out more about Thriving Teams visit https://thegreatcoachespodcast.com/thriving-teams/



If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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