Emulate, Assimilate, Innovate — A 3-Step Framework to Grow as a Coach or Leader

I stumbled across a Mel Robbins podcast titled “3 Steps To Finding Your North Star: An Exciting New Approach To Designing Your Life.”

The episode is slanted toward personal growth and development (things like business, weight loss, etc.), but while I was listening I couldn’t help but think this would be a great tool for our Hoops Companion subscribers.

It’s a 3/4 step process that can be repeated at any time.

Here are the “steps”:

Note: I’m going to break down the basics of this and then provide two samples — one for a coach and one for a program — afterward. Here’s a Google Doc (with a sample) to help you go through this process.

0/ FIND YOUR NORTH STAR/ANCHOR

• To try and get somewhere new or reach new levels, it’s helpful to have a guiding “north star” to try and reach.
• There are a couple of different routes you can take with this — you could choose a coach that you want to be more like, a team or program that you’d like yours to model, or even an offensive or defensive concept that you’d like to “steal” from another team.
• Regardless…before you move forward in this framework, you must have a guiding reference point.

1/ EMULATE

• Once you have your North Star, it’s time to dig in and do some research.
• Digest and consume EVERYTHING you can find on your North Star. Listen to the podcasts, watch the YouTube videos, read the blog posts and interviews, check out their websites, learn about the history — do it all.
• A key note here is that you don’t have to like EVERYTHING about your North Star. You’re choosing the things you want to embody.
• Your goal here is to figure out exactly how they do things…so you can start the next step

2/ ASSIMILATE

• This is like the 10,000-hour rule. You now know how they operate, you’ve done your research, and you have a strong grip on the important things.
• Now, it’s time to start adding these things into your daily practices and procedures. Do what they are doing, and start developing the new skills you need.
• Start repping it out daily!

3/ INNOVATE

• Add your own spin on it and make it yours.

Now, let’s take a closer look at a few examples of how this might look.

Using This Framework as a Coach

0/ Find Your North Star — choose a coach who you want to be more like

• Tony Bennett

1/ Emulate — research everything about the coach

• read articles about the Pack Line, read his dad’s book, listen to every podcast you can find, watch his interviews, dive into the core values at UVA, understand his story and how he came up as a coach, dive into film of his teams, watch clinic videos, etc.

2/ Assimilate — start doing what he does

• you might do things like select a few core values for your program to discuss with your players, add some drills or concepts from his coaching, start adopting some of his communication styles, etc.

3/ Innovate — add your twist to this information

• The goal isn’t to BE Tony Bennett. The goal is to take what works for Tony Bennett and then mold it into who you are as a coach.
• Take the time to analyze what is working, what you like, and what just doesn’t fit — and even add wrinkles/adaptations/”innovations” to it to make it your own

Using This Framework as a Program

0/ Find Your North Star — choose a program with similar demographics/resources that YOUR program has…that is winning on a high level

1. North Star High School

1/ Emulate — go into heavy research mode about this program operates

• go to their team camps, watch the way they act on the bench, check out their website, analyze their feeder program, look at how they warm up, research what they run offensively and defensively, look at the way players and coaches interact, get a good idea of their summer and fall and spring schedules, interview/email their head coach

2/ Assimilate — start doing what they do (that fits in your program)

• Do they go to team camp at State College and play at the Upper Varsity level? Go do that.
• Do they lift 2x a week during the season? Do that with your program.
• Start implementing the things that you think make them successful…into your own program

3/ Innovate — keep what works and then alter everything else to fit in your program

• This is where you add your special sauce as the leader of your program.
• You probably can’t BE that other program…but you can probably innovate what they do to best fit the kids, community, school, program, etc. that you have
• You might add a few wrinkles here; you might take a few away — this one is on you as a leader

A few other quick notes:

• You can break down your North Star into categories. The podcast suggested:

Character (this might be something “culture-based” when thinking about your program)

Skills (what skills does your North Star have that your program doesn’t?”

Career (this would be something like skill development/feeder program)

• Think about what the future version of you as a coach/your program looks like as a version of a North Star.
• You’re never going to BE your North Star…but you can get closer to being more like them. Every step forward is a positive thing.
• Along the way, you might not end up where you think when trying to emulate, assimilate, and innovate…but you’ll learn new things and make progress in areas you might not expect
• Don’t get stuck in merely sitting back and admiring your North Star. Digest who they are and what they do…but do NOT skip the take action part. It’s very tempting to be in awe of what others are doing and think that you could never get your program to those levels. You won’t know if you don’t take action.

Emulate, assimilate, innovate.

These 3 steps can be used in short-term and long-term situations, they can be returned to over and over, they can be applied in every aspect of your coaching, leadership, and even personal life.

I highly recommend listening to the full podcast for a deeper dive.

Until next time!

Oh yeah, and here’s a Google Doc to help you use this framework!

P.S. — Whenever you’re ready, there are a few ways I can help you as a coach!

1. Hoops Companion Master Playbook/Drill Book with almost 500 pages of plays and drills
2. Program Audit — everything you need to do a deep dive on your team/program; the best and most practical thing Hoops Companion offers
3. Follow us on social media (we are everywhere)