Book Review: Coach Your Champions

If I could say there was one book that had the most impact on my career in development it would be Eric Foley’s Coach Your Champions. This book highlights one of the main topics that I addressed last week — the importance of volunteers and how you are using those who love your organization.

I chose the word “using” intentionally. Often times we can fall into the trap of overlooking the people that show up every day and forget they could be offering solutions if only we would ask. I challenge you to look at your orgnization and ask who are your champions?

One of my volunteering experiences was interesting, they never called me, they never asked me to come back, but I fell in love with the work, so I just showed up. This helped me stay in touch with the organization and eventually created a wonderful working relationship with the director, some impactful events, and a job offer. The sad thing is, I know that if I had waited for the calls, I may have moved on in those first few months. DO NOT DO THIS to your volunteers.  Engage with them, help them to feel like they belong in the organization, and most importantly, treat them like you care about their contributions to your organizations.

I believe in this concept of coaching your champions so much, I have a copy of the book setting on my desk. At the end of this week, I will choose one person who commented or liked this post on social media to send this copy to. What do you say, are you ready to be a coach?

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