Giving them an A

I recently read the book the Art of Possibility, by Benjamin Zander. It serves as an inspirational read, as you learn life, business and leadership lessons from an orchestra conductor. I would strongly recommend it.
The most interesting point he made, in my mind, was the concept of 'giving them all A's'. His theory was that he would give his entire music class an A at the start of the term with the proviso that they wrote a letter dated to the end of that term explaining what they had learnt and experienced throughout that year. Now he does not deny that standards are important, as he demands excellence, but he sees giving an A as a way for the coach to create possibility for the player, rather than the player constantly trying to fulfil the often vague standards set by the coach. They benefit from having the pressure of beating the team-mate, or trying so hard to impress the coach taken away from them. This now allows the possibility of the coach and player working together to produce greatness rather than creating a player vs coach situation in reaching the coach's standards (which are often vague or based on the emotion of a game and not fact, or dictated by personal agendas).
We all love to see players thrive and do the extraordinary, but so often we create an environment of judgement and intense competition, that we forget to encourage freedom and greatness. The concept of giving everyone full marks before the season starts may seem very foreign, and I can hear people thinking that internal competition is good, and players must be 'kept on their toes'. This is true, but the message really is, try to co-create a feeling of possibility in players by seeing them as great, marking them as great and then encouraging them to maintain those standards. Try to move away from creating pressure by constant judging and comparisons being made.
In my dealings with a University rugby side this year, it was interesting to note that they hardly ever dropped players, the sense of coach and player standing together to achieve goals was very much prevalent, and players were rarely made to play off against each other or made to feel under pressure. The team won the league! How many great, successful sides were ones where consistency in selection was prevalent and players were seen as great rather than pressured by constant comparison and coach vs player standoffs that serve to detract energy from doing great to impressing or reaching someone else's standards.

The final point of interest, was the proviso that he stipulated right at the start. The students were told to forward-date a letter to the end of the year stating why they felt they received the 'A', what they had learnt and felt and how they did it. What I like about this, is it creates a sense of creativity, it encourages visualisation and helps players think a bit about what leads to success. Why not get your players to forward date a similar letter to the end of the season.

Cheers