Business, Sports & Gaming

Make a Habit of Motivation

Coach K

Lesson time 17:33 min

Learn how to use tone, time, place, and emotion to elevate your team’s performance. Coach K shares his memory of preparing Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and the other members of Team USA to compete at the 2008 Olympic games.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Pull the Right Lever • Motivate the Individual • Motivate With Emotion • Fear as a Motivator

Preview

[MUSIC PLAYING] - As a leader, you don't just wait for a big moment. Motivation should be like a habit. They expect that from you. That-- yo, that'll always be open. All right? Back up. Let's go double. Go! Go, mark! MIKE KRZYZEWSKI (VOICEOVER): I think over the years, if you ask my players about me, they would say-- Coach was always on. But being on means that you're ready to motivate in an instant. - Go, Powell. I'm getting your man. And then I'm going-- you go right there. If I see something, I'm not going to wait, you know. But this is a really good expression-- you seize the moment. In those moments, like before action, to lighten the room by telling a joke-- or maybe we don't have their chairs there. They don't sit down. And so I come in earlier, and I said, no chairs. You're already ready. We're not going to sit down today. You know, we're running. We're defending. We're winning. We're going to be great. So today at practice, practice being on that stage. Practice being in the biggest game. And you know what? If we can do that today, and then tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, that commitment to that level of performance will be our habit. And then we'll explode during a game. [MUSIC PLAYING] You know, AJ was going to make a mistake. And two or three you guys said right away what he should do. That's what we got to start doing. MIKE KRZYZEWSKI (VOICEOVER): If you want to be a powerful motivator, you have to think about the levers you can pull to spark something in your team. Obviously, the tone you use-- - We'll split up for individual work, okay? All right, let's go. Let's go. MIKE KRZYZEWSKI (VOICEOVER): The time of the motivation, and the place-- where are you at? You know, do you do something publicly? Privately? - The last four minutes of the game-- PLAYER: Whew! MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: You locked them up. Your defense was unbelievable. And this kid right here. PLAYER: Hell yeah! - What does tone mean? Tone means being soft and sensitive. Tone means being matter-of-fact. Tone means being excited. Tone means being unbelievably passionate. You know, which one? Or a number of things in between. And what tone does the team need at that time, you know? And who are you saying it to? There are some guys that you coach that you never would raise your voice to. It would knock them back. Where some guys want-- they like to get blasted every once in a while. Timing is-- are you under time pressure? It has to be done in the next 10 minutes, by tomorrow. Or do we have time? We're trying to take our group or an individual to another level, and we have time to work on that. And then the place-- is it just me and you? Is it just me and the team? Is it me and the team during a game in front of tens of thousands of people and millions of people on TV? And you weigh all those things. Look, I believe you follow your heart. You follow your instin...

About the Instructor

Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski is the winningest coach in men’s college basketball history. For the first time, he’s sharing the secrets to building an environment conducive to success. Learn how to read body language, deliver difficult feedback, and identify talent. Whether on the court or in the office, you’ll be confident exercising leadership strategies that influenced players like Kobe Bryant and Shane Battier.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Coach K

12x “Coach of the Year” Mike Krzyzewski teaches how to motivate a team. Discover your innate leadership skills with drills to prepare for success.

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