Joe Paterno’s situation amplifies pitfall #8 from Coach to Win the Leadership Game…Assistant coaches who betray the coach’s core values.

8. Misaligned Assistants
I have worked with organizations that have senior executives who are able to model the company’s values, yet allow a few of their mid-level managers to act in ways that are not in alignment with company stated values. The most common reason for this is that the mid-level managers are technically excellent or produce high levels of financial results, but are unable to model the company’s values.
You can see the slippery slope this creates for senior executives. This behavior sends the message, “We really believe in our core values and want everyone to follow them but when it comes down to it we are tolerating misalignment because certain people produce great (technical or financial) results and we are unwilling to draw a line in the sand.” That is a recipe for disaster from a leadership standpoint.

Stay tuned since we will discuss the other 7 pitfalls that will undermine coaching!