Daily Lesson from Life 18 September 2008

"Thu, Sep 18, 2008 The New Paper Harsh to students? No way

FALLEN asleep during training? Sit in the 'tiger cage' as punishment. Then, crawl to the coach - or don't train any more.

That was how a Secondary 2 boy, a member of the Singapore Sports School's bowling team, was punished for being inattentive during a training session. The incident happened last year. The boy was punished by Mr Yong Ah Kee, then the head coach of the team.

Mr Yong, who is known in the bowling fraternity for his unconventional coaching methods, has been replaced by veteran coach Thomas Fox starting this week.

Recounting the incident, Mr Yong said the boy was punished because he had repeatedly fallen asleep during training sessions. He said: 'I didn't like his attitude. He was always falling asleep while I was explaining - I punished him so that he would wake up.'

When contacted, the boy's parents declined comment.

However, it is understood they were upset by the punishment and had given their feedback to the school.

The boy told The New Paper he has put the matter behind him and does not want to pursue it further.

One parent, who requested anonymity, felt Mr Yong's punishments were harsh and students should not be punished in ways that affect their dignity. The coach, however, stands by his actions.

Asked if his punishment had humiliated the student, Mr Yong said he felt that it had not. 'There is no such thing as humiliating. When I punish a student, I explain why the student is being punished,' he said."

A rather long quote as I like the readers to get more of the pertinent background information.

Here is a leader who stands by his 'unconventional' punishment to coach an recalcitrant trainee. A young boy who repeatedly fell asleep when the coach was giving instruction.

Putting aside what the coach said, my analysis are:

1. how can the 'punishment' help the boy from keep falling asleep except when he is 'crawling', which he did not comply as he said: 'he will do no such thing!'. Credit to him for standing his ground on an unconventional request that is, by normal human being's standard, humiliating. More importantly, how does this help the boy to not fall asleep? Did we discover the root causes?;

2. when you are a coach, you need to be professional about it. Unconventional methods are welcome as it shows creativity and innovations. At the same time, the unconventional methods MUST address the root causes for them to be acceptable by the students and hence increased ownership and commitment to change or improve! When there is NO clear link between punishment and root causes, it is just waste of time and even counter-productive!;

3. feedback should be focused on: what actions or behaviors have the person done or exhibited? how that will impact the task at hand, himself, and the team/organization? provide the observation and facts and then enter into a dialogue to confirm if they agree or disagree. Depending on the outcome, the dialogue will continue and try to find the root causes. e.g. could it be the coach is so bad that the trainee just lost interest and go to sleep?

Leader coaches others and must be done in the proper manner that perhaps the 'The 7e Way of Leaders' chapter on 'providing constructive feedback' can be of help! ;-))