LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 02: Gabrielle Douglas of the United States and her coach Liang Chow wave to the crowd after Douglas wins the gold medal in the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Individual All-Around final on Day 6 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at North Greenwich Arena on August 2, 2012 in London, England. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
For some reason, the concept of joy is resonating with me. I wrote a blog post about work-joy audit on your life. Since I have spent a lot of time watching the Olympics, here is another story about joy. Living in Iowa, we have been reading about Gabby Douglas, gold medalist gymnast, for over a year since her coach, Liang Chow, is in Iowa. There was an interesting article about Chow's coaching philosophy. We know how he coached Shawn Johnson to a silver medal and how he transformed Gabby in a short time to be the gold medalist and a member of the team which won the gold medal.
This is what Chow said about joy:
Chow said it took time for coach and gymnast to learn about each other. He had to discover the right way to motivate Douglas, to teach her that world-class gymnastics isn’t merely a matter of technique, but rather letting others feel your joy as you compete.
“I think she is a very loving kid and has a big heart. She wants to please you as your student,” he said. “But I don’t want to give her too much pressure. ‘You have to do this.’ I want her to feel like she’s doing the gymnastics every day and putting the hard work in. She’s doing it for herself. She’s doing it because she’s loving it.”
Chow continues to share his "leadership philosophy":
“You’re trying to help her to achieve her dreams, her ambitions,” he finally explained. “Every routine, we’re just one step closer. So the joy is out of my heart.”
What if we didn't use words such as: lead or manage--leader or manager?
What if in the workplace, we followed the way Chow teaches?
We want to let others feel our joy as we work. We want to go to work because we love it and so we are willing to work hard to help others reach their goals.
I think much can be learned from great coaches and Chow is certainly one of them.
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