Why I No Longer Have an "Open Door Policy" (And What Works Better)

The open door policy feels like the right move, but here's the truth - it's actually making communication worse. Grab the free Player Impact Plan template → https://elitecompetitor.kit.com/6639eaaf9f 

I used to tell my team "just come talk to me" at the start of every season. I genuinely wanted to be approachable. But athletes don't come to you first when they have issues. They spiral, catastrophize, and create stories in their heads. By the time they work up the courage to approach you, the situation is 10 times worse. 

Here's what I do instead: Player Impact Meetings at the start of the season (15 minutes to clarify role, playing time, strengths, development plan) + bi-weekly 5-minute check-ins throughout the season. 

👋🏼 Hi, I'm Coach Bre, a 4-time state champion high school volleyball coach with 12+ years of coaching experience. I'm also a Certified Mental Performance Coach and co-founder of The Elite Competitor, where I help coaches build mentally tough, confident girl athletes who perform when it matters most. My signature frameworks (like the Snapback Routine and 3-2-1 BRAVE) are used by thousands of coaches to teach mental training without adding hours to their schedule. 

In this episode, you'll learn:
✅ Why open door policies don't work for teen athletes
✅ The three problems with reactive communication
✅ How to structure Player Impact Meetings
✅ The exact three questions I ask in bi-weekly check-ins
✅ How this system saves me hours of drama management 

This proactive approach eliminates drama before it starts, creates equity across all players, and removes intimidation barriers. It catches issues early instead of waiting for explosions. 

⚡ If you want the exact Player Impact Plan template I use, comment PLAN below. 

Want the complete system for building mentally tough, confident athletes? Join the Championship Program Membership where I break down communication systems, mental training frameworks, leadership development, and team culture - all the things no one teaches you in coaching school. 

This month we're diving deep into captain selection and leadership development. Check it out here: champions.elitecompetitor.com 

🕓 Key Moments:
00:00 Introduction
00:59 Why Open Door Policy Doesn't Work
02:48 The Player Impact Meeting04:19 Biweekly Check-Ins
06:16 Why This System Works Better
08:16 Championship Program Membership 

💬 Coaches - comment below: How do you handle athlete communication and expectations? 

📌 Free Tools & Next Steps🔹 Grab our in-depth FREE training → https://coachfreetraining.com🔹 Follow us on IG → @elitecompetitorcoach🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame🔹 Championship Program Membership: champions.elitecompetitor.com🔹 Player Impact Plan: https://elitecompetitor.kit.com/6639eaaf9f 

🔔 Subscribe for More → Never miss an episode of Coach Her Game!  

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:

• 88% of teen athletes say they want more communication from their coaches about their role and playing time expectations (Positive Coaching Alliance, 2022)
• Athletes who receive regular one-on-one feedback from coaches report 43% higher confidence levels (Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 2021)
• 67% of high school athletes say they've experienced anxiety about approaching their coach with concerns (National Federation of State High School Associations, 2023) 

The Coach Her Game Podcast is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coac

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

Transcript

1:04

I used to pride myself on having an open door policy as a coach, like at the beginning of the season, I would tell my team, Hey, if you ever need anything or you have any questions, just come talk to me. My door is always open, and I genuinely meant it. I wanted to be approachable as a coach. I wanted to let them know that I cared. I wanted to be the coach that was there for their players. But here's the truth. Did it work? No, that open door policy actually ended up making things worse, not better. And maybe you're seeing that as a coach with an open door policy as well. So I shut it down. I do something different now, and it's actually made a big difference in my communication and honestly my sanity. Now, if I haven't met you, I'm Coach Bri, my high school volleyball coach and a four time state champion coach. I also help coaches build mentally tough, confident athletes who perform when it matters most. And today we're talking about why the open door policy that's super popular. Doesn't really work and what's actually happening when you say, just come talk to me. And the two part system. System that I use instead, that's worked way better for the past several years. So let's break it down first, why the open door policy doesn't work. I think that as coaches, we all have really good intentions with this because there's just wanna be approachable. We want athletes to come to us, but when you tell athletes, Hey, if you have an issue, just come to me. Here's what actually happens. Problem number one. They don't, they don't come to you first when they have an issue. When an athlete has a problem with playing time, a teammate, a conflict, or whatever. They don't think of you as the first step. In fact, they actively avoid you. Sometimes what they do instead is they create a story in their heads about it, right? They spiral, they catastrophize, they make assumptions. They go and talk to their friends or their teammates or their parents, and by the time they actually work up the courage to come to you, this situation is probably 10 times worse than it needed to be. So that's number one. Number two, you are putting all of this responsibility on a teenager. When you just say, come talk to me, you're asking a 14 to 18-year-old kid to number one, recognize they have a problem. Number two, figure out how to articulate the problem. Three, overcome the intimidation of approaching a head coach about it, and then initiate a difficult conversation. That's a lot to ask of an adult, let alone a teenager. And honestly. Most of them aren't going to do it. It's too big of a leap, and it's not because they don't care. It's because they, and it's not'cause they don't trust you, it's because they literally don't know how. Problem number three, it's a reactive approach, not a proactive approach. The open door policy is inherently reactive. You're waiting for problems to become big enough that athletes are forced. To come to you, which means you are always playing catch up. You're always putting out fires, and so instead, can we prevent the fires in the first place? So if the open door policy doesn't really work, or maybe you're seeing this too, then what does, okay. Here's what I do instead. It starts at the beginning of the season with what I call a player impact meeting. Okay? This is a one-on-one meeting that I have with every single one of my athletes and also with my assistant coach there before we really get into the bulk of the season. It's about 15 minutes long. And in this meeting I actually give them something called a player impact plan, where I outline their role on the team, what their playing time looks like, anticipated for the season, their strengths, their development plan for the season. So from day one, they know where they stand. This doesn't mean that this won't change, it's just where I see them at that moment in this season. So they're not guessing where they fit. And here's why this really matters when athletes don't have clarity about their role. They fill in the blanks themselves. You've seen this, right? They fill in the blanks with the worst case scenarios too, like. Coach hasn't talked to me about playing time, so I must be getting cut or she didn't say anything about my serves. She must thinks I'm a ter, think I'm a terrible server. And that uncertainty and uh, you know, just not really knowing creates anxiety and it creates drama and it creates problems that didn't even need to exist in the first place. But when you give them that clarity upfront, which is what we do with the player impact plans, you eliminate. Some of that, most of that, and I actually share their player impact plans with their parents too, so that the parents are on the same page and they may not love what their role is, and that's okay, but at least they know and knowing is so much better than guessing. Okay. So that's part one of the system. And if you want a copy of My Player Impact plan template, I've linked that in the description below part two of the system. Is basically following up on that foundation that you set at the beginning of the season. I create biweekly meetings, individual check-ins with every one of my players throughout the season. It's on the calendar, it's the same time, same place every two weeks. And they're short. They're like five minutes max. Okay. And if you're thinking that sounds like way more time than the open door policy thing, it actually saves me time. Okay. Here's how it works. Number one, put it on the calendar. At the beginning of this season, I schedule every single athlete for a reoccurring five minute check-in every two weeks. I have 12 players on my team. That means I'm checking in with three athletes every, like two times a week. So we do these typically during, uh, the JV and C team games. I sit up in the stands so I can still watch the game. My assistant coaches with me. Athletes know when their time is. I ask them pretty much the same. Three questions every time. What's going well? Um, what do you want to improve on? What are you working on improving on? And do you have any questions for me? Okay. So it doesn't actually add a lot of time to my schedule because I have to be there anyways. And yes, I'm coming off the bench for a little bit. Those, those, those of you that coach sports where you're like actively involved in the JV and the C games? Yeah, I might be pulled off the bench for a little, but I'm still there and it's. It's set for them. They know what to expect. Okay? So asking the same questions. They know what to expect. It's on the calendar. And then that's also where we check in with our player impact plan. So their, their role is outlined. They know what they're working towards because I've given them that information. So we're checking in like, Hey, remember we're working on your serve mechanics. How, how's that going? Remember, your role is to bring energy off of the bench. I've noticed that you're doing a really good job of this. How do you think? So it keeps everyone aligned in that communication. Is open. Okay? And it prevents so many problems before they even start because then they're bringing up little things to you before they become big problems. Okay? Now you're already probably seeing clarity on how this might work, and maybe you have some questions about, well, what if my team is big? What if I, you know, all the other things. So if you have that, you can comment below and we can chat about it. But here's why this works way better than an open door policy. Number one, like I said, it's proactive, not reactive. I'm not waiting for problems. Problems to explode. I'm catching things early before they spiral, before the drama starts, before confidence tanks. Okay. Number two, it's equitable. I'm not just checking in with athletes who are struggling or the ones who are bold enough to come to me or giving like more feedback to my more talented players. I'm checking in with. All of them, because that's what they deserve, right? My quiet kids, my vocal kids, um, you know, my, my kids that are starters, my kids that are non-starters, like everyone gets the same attention so that everyone feels seen. And as a coach, you know how important that is for belonging and psychological safety, all of those things that actually make teams perform. Okay. Number three, it removes the intimidation factor. Yes, there's probably still some of that going on because they're meeting with a coach, but the more repetitive it is, like the more meetings that they have, the less, you know, intimidated they are So. A lot of the athletes, especially the younger ones, and especially quiet ones, will never approach you with an issue unless you set something up like this. And that's not because they don't trust you or because you know, they don't think that it's important. It's because they're intimidated. They don't wanna bother you, they don't know how, and so you're building this check-ins, you're creating the structure. You remove the barrier completely. Another reason is that this saves me time. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but these five minute check-ins actually saved me hours of time dealing with drama, misunderstanding, emotional meltdowns, because again, we're catching things early before they blow up. And honestly, I don't know about you, but I used to dread this whole, like a player would come up to me and be like, Hey coach, can I talk to you after practice? And I'm like, oh gosh, here we go. What are we gonna talk about? Like I'm racking my brain for like what? What happened in the past week that, what did I do wrong? And then I just am unfocused the whole practice.'cause I'm worried about that meeting at the end of the, um, at the end of the, the practice. And honestly, after practice I'm like, I've got a family. I wanna go home. I'm starving. Like all of those things. So this actually builds in a cadence. So of course if there's things that come up, yes, athletes can approach me, absolutely. But. I get a lot less of that because these are on the schedule. Okay. Now, these Player Impact meetings and the biweekly check-ins are part of a bigger system that I teach inside something called the Championship program membership. This is our membership for high school coaches to build the foundation and the structure. Of a high performing program because communication is just one piece of building a championship level program. You also need systems for mental training, for leadership, for team culture, for parent communication, um, you know, fundraising, all of the things that go into coaching that really nobody teaches you. So inside the championship program membership, we give you every single month a complete template like this. So last month we had the. Um, the Player Impact Plan template, so loaded into a portal is the template that you can use, and then every single month we hop on a call to build your version of it. This month we're talking about the captain selection process, so there's a template with four different process. Um, ideas for you. And then on the call we'll build it together. And then later in the year we're talking about things like, um, fundraising, how to do a camp, how to build your leadership core, um, how to do end of season and beginning of season meetings. All of these things again that people typically don't teach you. So if you're interested in the championship program, membership link for that is below as well. It's a simple way for you to be able to have plug and play templates. That you don't have to create yourself because you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Okay. Hopefully this was helpful. Hopefully it'll help you rethink kind of how your open door policy has been going for you and potentially put something more in place and coaches below. In the description, you have the link to the Player Impact Plan template and the Championship program membership where we break all this down. And I'd love for you to comment below. Do you have an open door policy? And how's that working for you? I will see you in the next episode of the Coacher game. Podcast.