⏳ Read Time: 3.5 min

New here? Read about the BETTER Team and Mission here.

PS — A few big things happening at BETTER this month (see the end of the newsletter).

📌 What’s inside:

• 🧭 Why December matters for leaders

• 🔎 What the best coaches pay attention to this month

• 🛠 Five simple practices to finish the year strong

📖 Anecdote: The Month Everyone Underestimates

December is one of the strangest months in athletics. It’s one of the busiest for athletic departments. Fall seasons are wrapping up. Exit interviews with players. Coach evaluations. Playoff games. All while winter seasons are getting into full swing.

Half the team is still competing.
Half the department is planning for next semester.
Everyone is tired.
Everyone is trying to finish strong.
Everyone is already thinking about January.

Here’s what we’ve learned after working with hundreds of teams and leaders:

They slow down the pace.
They simplify expectations.
They reconnect with their people.
They take stock of their leadership.
And they make small decisions now that create momentum later.

December isn’t about doing more.
It’s about doing the right few things to make January smoother.

📊 Research Insight: Small Wins Matter

Research from organizational psychologist Teresa Amabile (Harvard) shows that progress, even tiny progress, is the number one driver of motivation and performance.

This is called The Progress Principle, and it matters even more in months where energy is low and demands are high.

When leaders help their people make small, meaningful steps forward, performance rises, not in bursts, but sustainably.

🛠️ Putting It All Together:

💡 5 Simple Things Great Leaders Do in December

1️⃣ Reconnect with their people: Briefly + Intentionally

Doesn’t have to be long or a formal review.
“How are you doing?”
“What’s on your plate right now?”

“What’s one thing I can help you with?”

Small relational interactions build relational trust and momentum.

2️⃣ Clarify one priority for January

Not five.
Not seven.

One.

Teams entering a new semester with a single clear target get aligned faster and waste far less energy.

3️⃣ Celebrate underrated wins.

You probably talked a lot at the beginning of your season about your values, what was going to matter, and the culture you wanted to build. Now that we are halfway through the school year, how are we doing?

It forces you to ask, “How are we measuring what matters to us?”

Most leaders only celebrate outcomes.
Great leaders celebrate progress.

• A young coach who grew

• A process that improved

• A cultural behavior that stuck

• A problem you prevented

Recognition fuels energy heading into the break.

4️⃣ Reset their own pace.

December exposes leaders who are going too fast too quickly.

Great coaches slow down enough to ask:

• Where am I in a rush?

• Where am I reactive?

• Where do I need to recover a little?

Your pace becomes your team’s pace.

5️⃣ Tighten communication instead of expanding It.

People don’t need more messages this month — they need clearer ones.

Use simple, grounding language like:

• “Here’s what matters this week.”

• “Here’s what doesn’t.”

• “Here’s what happens first in January.”

Clarity is a gift during crowded months.

🏁 Conclusion: Don’t Chase Perfect

December doesn’t need to be perfect.
But it can be purposeful.

If you choose a steady pace, reconnect with your people, and focus on small wins, you’ll head into January with clarity, energy, and momentum.

📣 Keeping Up With BETTER

🎙️ The CALS Podcast!
We joined the CALS Podcast — one of the top executive development groups in NCAA Athletics — to discuss leadership identity and culture. (Our section starts at 52:03)

🏐 BETTER at AVCA
Seth and MAYBE Kevin will be at the AVCA Convention during Volleyball Final Four week. If you’re attending, reply and let us know — we’d love to connect.

📘 PowerBook 3 Drops Next Week
Our next PowerBook release is soon (targeting the middle of next week). If you’ve pre-ordered our upcoming book, it’ll hit your inbox automatically. So, be looking forward to that!

Once PowerBook 3 is available digitally, we hope to have hard copies ready immediately for anyone who would like one!

🧑‍💻 Public Webinar in a Couple of Hours - Answering Your Questions!
We are hosting the final webinar of the year in our Coach and AD Culture Playbook Community at 12 PM EST today, where we will answer all your questions!

There’s still time to join us! Just reply to this email to get the link to the Webinar and share your questions with us!

Download our FREE Digital PowerBook: You Are The Culture!

You Are The Culture is the first chapter of our self-leadership system for coaches called Lead Yourself First. We’ve released two chapters so far. The first is below. The second PowerBook: Know Your Voice, Coach From Identity, you’ll get with an implementation guide as soon as you pre-order our book for $10!

Pre-Order The Full Book: Lead Yourself First!

When you pre-order, you’ll get:
✅ Immediate access to the next two PowerBooks as soon as they’re released
🗒️ A downloadable implementation guide for PowerBooks 1 & 2
🎥 Access to our monthly leadership webinars inside the BETTER Community
📗 A physical copy of Lead Yourself First when the full section is complete

🛠️ Want to Build Elite Culture?

Get BETTER’s Culture Playbook. A system designed to install a thriving, healthy, high-performance culture. Join over 1,000 coaches who use our Culture Playbook from youth club teams to national championship NCAA programs and everything in between.