Ask the Team
One of my all time favorite TV shows is Ted Lasso, the story of a folksy and idealistic American college football coach, who comes to the UK to coach a struggling professional soccer team and in the process spurs everyone (including himself) to grow towards their better selves. The final episode of Season 2 gives viewers a masterclass in the power of questions.
Ted’s team, Richmond, is losing the highest stakes game of the season. They’ve been implementing an unusual strategy called the “False Nine” that Nate, one of the assistant coaches came up with. Throughout the entire first half of the game, the strategy has been failing, and the opposing team is up two to nil (as they say). Nate gets increasingly frustrated, angrily swearing at the team for their poor execution of his strategy.
Now it’s half-time, and the team gathers in the locker room. While the players sit there looking despondent and forlorn, Ted and Nate huddle in the coaches’ office which adjoins the locker room, along with the other two coaches, Roy and Beard. The coaches debate whether the team should keep pursuing the False Nine strategy in the second half of the game or abandon it. Nate argues that they should abandon the strategy since they clearly can’t execute it, while Ted says they should stick with it. Roy, the coach who was most recently a player, weighs into the debate saying, “You should ask [the team] – they’re the ones out there actually doing the shit.”
Silence ensues in the coaches’ office while they all look at each other. Ask the team? Huh? Typically, the coaches would decide the plays and just tell the players, whose job it is to execute them on the field. The idea of asking the players what they think should happen is unorthodox at best. But Coach Beard gives an affirming nod, and Ted says, “Alright.”
They walk out to the locker room, where Ted says, “Alright fellas, the coaches and I are having a little debate and wanted to get y’all’s take on it. Should we stick with the False Nine or switch it up?”
The players look around at one another, with facial expressions that convey, “You’re asking us? Why are you asking us? You’re the coach.” How unusual that a coach would ask the team, the ones closest to the action, what to do.
Finally, however, Jan, a straight-talking Dutch player stands up and says, “The tactic is sound. And we’re all perfectly capable of executing it. It will work.” Ted looks around the room and, seeing no dissent says, “Okay’s been decided. We’re gonna stick with Nate’s false nine.” From there, the team rallies together, with a raucous cheer, to go run the play. Energized, they sprint out of the locker room and back onto the field.
Do they go on to win the match? You’ll have to watch and see for yourself, but suffice it to say, the unheard of act of a coach asking players on the front lines what they think should happen next transforms a group of melancholy men into a team that’s on fire to go out there and win.
For more on the power of asking questions, check out www.AskApproach.com or order Ask: Tap Into the Wisdom of People Around You For Unexpected Breakthroughs is Leadership and Life.