OTB chess for my league team i have played five drew five. I am wondering how to improve my chess to get better and turn draws into wins. How does everyone else find they improve? Reading books, doing chess puzzles .....? I am playing very passive in my games and feel like i don't really know what i'm doing with my pieces.

IMHO the best way to improve is just... practice, practice, practice. Especially if you're getting past the openings OK. Look for weaknesses to attack and have a plan - and practice.

i couldn't have said it better

the plan part is the problem .... as white i try to play the Colle system but it doesn't always work .... and i am not comfortable with e4! I don't seem to be able to find weaknesses or openings and seem to be waiting for my opponent to blunder!

Clearly you should be opening with 1.e4 :)

Still, if you've played passively and not lost yet, you can't be playing too badly.

I don't like e4 'cos i don't know what i'm doing with e4 ..... but i might try playing with it .....

I think if you invest some time in a few common e4 openings you'd be fine.  Most people I've played don't know much theory, even in their pet openings.  Most people at amateur levels don't have time to invest in chess study.  They have lives.  Losers.

Yes i definitely might look into it ..........

If planning is your problem you should probably read some middle game books.

http://www.chess.com/article/view/getting-better-in-chess-critical-mistake-to-avoid

http://weaksquare.blogspot.com/

These links can only be helpful...

Well, did you feel like you should've won these games?  Maybe they were just meant to be draws (that happens sometimes)...I once drew 4 in a tourney.

In the "learn" choice in the drop-down menu is something called the tactics trainer. This has been a great help to me in learning how to take advantage of an apparently even position. I find it helps me visualize a plan of attack.

 I played a 5 round swiss once drawing my first 4 games ! I had never had this happen before, nor since. The last round looked headed for a draw too and I was thinking to myself : well, I can say this is a tourney in which I played like Petrosian , with all these draws !  As I was thinking of the retorts I would get from my fellow chess addicts my opponent blundered !! I actually considered offering him a draw anyway just so I could honestly say I had one event in which I drew every game.......but he was lower rated and I decided I didnt want to lose those rating points and won the game. I look back on that now and wish I had given the draw...

When done with tactics trainer--chess puzzles, and more chess puzzles/plus books, articles, blogs on strategy.

How to improve in otb chess?

Learn about different things in the game of chess. 

I know I am brilliant. 

Seriously though, there is no magical answer.  Just learn about different things.  Endgames you have trouble with(or have no idea how to approach or what your plan should be), middlegame ideas(which can and or should be in good opening books for beginners and intermediates.),  the ideas behind the openings(sort of related to the last comment-eg gaining a large pawn center, allowing the pawn center and then attacking it etc).  Tactics(some universal things to keep in mind loose pieces, switching around move orders and even if you don't win material does the "tactic" structurally damage the opponents position)

Chess like life , you learn as you go on,

 Yes, Tactics Trainer helps out a lot. Another choice in the "learn" drop-down is Chess Mentor. There are only so many "classes" you get as a free member, but when you finish them, you can still go to the "Chess Mentor" page and go over them again as often as you wish. Continually going over these will improve your game. Soon, during games you will have thoughts of "I can pin that piece" or "I can set up this discover attack here" or "My opponent can pin my piece, better get my queen over there"...

1) Study the games of strong players you can learn tons lessons by going over them repeatedly (Three Hundred Chess Games-'Dreihundert Schachpartien' by Tarrasch or Mikhail Botvinniks 100 selected games both great books)

2 Solve tactics daily and all kinds of checkmates and problems but solve the problems directly from a diagram position in a book or print out don't move the men on a real set or computer screen if you want to attain real skill 

3) Play lots of slow games 45 minutes/60 minutes regularly  

4) Play correspondence chess (sharpens your game) 

thanks