by Stephanie Zonars, LifeBeyondSport

Most of us have a boss.

Someone that has a lot of say as to our professional fate.

For head coaches overwhelmed with the demands of running a program, investing time in building a better relationship with their athletic director—often called “managing up”— can seem daunting.

Many coaches don’t feel heard by administration and don’t believe that their administrator is in it to help them.

I recently attended a panel discussion that addressed the challenges both coaches and athletic directors face in creating a stronger relationship.

The panel included:

• China Jude (Assistant VP/Athletics—Queens College)
• Elizabeth Naumovski (Head Women’s Basketball Coach—Queens College)
• Lindy Roberts-Ivy (Senior Associate AD/SWA— Oklahoma)
• Sherri Coale (Head Women’s Basketball Coach—Oklahoma) and
• Patti Phillips of NACWAA as the moderator.

The discussion offered some helpful ideas for coaches to develop a stronger connection with their boss.

8 Tips for A Better Relationship With Your Boss

1. Ask for two formal meetings a year (certainly you will meet more than this, but these two are the bare minimum)

• The first is to set expectations and mutually agreed upon objectives. This can help administrators take away obstacles in order for the coach to achieve his/her goals.
• The second is a mid-year review to check in on progress.

2. Attend other sporting events and take the opportunity to engage in conversation with your AD there.

This is a good way to address things that come up in a less formal way that doesn’t require setting up a meeting.

3. Be proactive and talk about things as they come up, not just at annual meetings.

Nothing should be brought up in an annual review that hadn’t been discussed earlier in the year. [Tweet That!]

4. Invite your administrator to practice.

And keep inviting them if they say no!

5. Ask for what you need, not just what you want.

6. Add value on campus.

Get involved by serving on committees, scooping ice cream, tasting chili, etc. How can you enrich the culture?

7. Be consistent in communication.

Talk about the great things happening with your team and make sure that he/she hears anything negative from you before getting a phone call about it.

8. Take the initiative to understand the climate/culture on campus.

Stay informed about campus happenings through whatever means available (daily or weekly emails, social media, etc).

A little proactivity and effort can go a long way when it comes to building a strong relationship with your boss. What would you add to this list?

8 Tips to a Better Relationship With Your Boss appeared first on Life Beyond Sport.

About Stephanie Zonars

Stephanie Zonars helps coaches build and maintain winning team cultures through her business, Life Beyond Sport. Teams at Penn State, Notre Dame, West Point and over 60 other schools have built stronger trust, communication and teamwork through her workshops. Stephanie spent three years on staff with the Penn State women’s basketball team, assisting the team to back-to-back Big Ten Championships. She’s also the author of three books. For more tips on leadership and team culture, visit LifeBeyondSport

This are article was provided by Coaches Network

Dr. David Hoch, CMAA, CIC

In the local newspaper, a coach was quoted as saying, “We didn’t bring our A game today. It wasn’t a very good effort.” That may be a very honest statement, but it might not be how you want to present yourself to the public.

A coach is responsible for preparing a team to play. This comment, therefore, simply points out that the coach did not do his or her part.

Another common quote from a coach is, “The kids have to learn how to win tough games.” Again, this is the coach’s responsibility–learning to win is part of the equation.

It’s okay to be disappointed after a game. But it’s not okay to say things to the media that put the blame for a loss on the athletes instead of yourself as coach.

The following suggestions should help you to avoid miscues when dealing with the media.

1. Take five minutes to compose yourself after a game. You may be frustrated and angry, or just exhausted. Be aware that these emotions may exist and resist the impulse to vent to the media. As the spokesperson for not only the team, but also the athletic department and school, you need to measure your post-game comments.

2. Never degrade or say anything negative about your opponent. Even if your team made mistakes that contributed to the loss, always give credit for the win to the other team. You can be a little more direct and dissect the team’s performance during the next practice session, but not in the media where everyone can see or hear it.

3. Complaining about or blaming officials is never acceptable. No missed or poor call, even late in a game, ever causes a team to win or lose. Any negative statements concerning the referees will always come across as sour grapes and demonstrate a lack of class.

4. Think about how your remarks will be viewed. Most individuals react better to positive comments as opposed to criticism. Being critical and throwing your players under the bus is not a good method for motivating your team.

5. Remember that negative and controversial comments sell. Don’t fall prey to questions from reporters that could inflame an issue or create a problem. You can always refuse comment on any subject. One last hint is to refrain from referring to your group of athletes as “my” team. A team is a collection of many individuals. Therefore, it should always be “our” team. In education-based athletics, the focus has to be on the growth and development of young people. Therefore, the proper designation of “our” team and serving as a positive spokesperson for the team, department, and school is important.

David Hoch retired in 2010 after a 41-year career as a high school athletic director and coach. In 2009, Dr. Hoch was honored as the Eastern District Athletic Director of the Year by the Nastional Association for Sport and Physical Education. He was also presented with the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Distinguished Service Award, and in 2000 he was named the Maryland State Athletic Director Association’s Athletic Director of the Year. Dr. Hoch has authored over 460 professional articles and made more than 70 presentations around the country.

This article provided by Coaches Network

By Wayne Goldsmith, also known as the “Sports Coaching Brain,” has 25 years of experience coaching and providing advice to others. With a nod toward Stephen Covey, he offers “The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Coaches.”

Train beyond the target: Goldsmith urges coaches to train athletes for challenges greater than the competition they face. Strengths and weaknesses need be assessed, and the next step is to raise the bar “physically, mentally, technically and emotionally” so players enter competition with an invaluable edge over opponents.

Evolve faster than your players: Age may rob an older coach of a few steps on the field, but experience (coupled with resources on the Internet), give him savvy and wisdom. Life-long learning is a good idea for anyone. For coaches it is vital. In addition, Goldsmith advises coaches to be rigorously honest about their abilities and if necessary request professional evaluation of their own skills from a trusted adviser.

Know your opponents better than they know you: Coaches who can get inside the heads of an opponent’s leader have a distinct advantage come game time. Here again, the Internet can be a coach’s best friend.

Get out of your sport and think creatively: Great coaches understand that they can only know so much and do so much in their programs before stagnation and copycatting threaten. Creative thinking is the ability to approach any situation from a number of angles. The off-season should be a time to boost creative thinking capacity. Some coaches enroll in classes that have little to do with sport but everything to do with thinking outside their field, such as music or art or philosophy. Great coaches are innovators and you can’t innovate without thinking creatively.

Coach the individual: “There are no true team sports left,” writes Goldsmith. The science of performance analysis offers highly detailed information on every athlete’s strengths and weaknesses. No matter the sport, all competition comes down to a series of one-on-one moments. Every player on a team needs direct engagement to inspire them to excel beyond any pregame analysis of their limits.

Make every individual workout a rehearsal for game day: Winning coaches create an environment where a culture of excellence underpins everything and everybody,” writes Goldsmith. It’s not just brains and muscle–it’s heart and soul. A great coach trains the one to teach the others and in doing so catalyzes a group of individuals into a cohesive unit that is both mentally tough and flexible. Add hardcore training to that mix and the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

No two training sessions should be exactly the same: “Adapt your training plans to optimize their impact on each individual athlete at every training session,” Goldsmith writes. The best laid plans of the smartest coaches can go astray at the training level. Each training session must be about preparing an individual athlete for every performance possibility at the moment of contact with the opponent.

It’s not practice that makes perfect–its performance practice that does so: Goldsmith puts a new twist on the old adage of “practice makes perfect.” He says the great coaches take it further. Skills can be mastered by practice. “(But) to master a skill so that it can be executed the right way at the right time in competition? … Follow the performance practice philosophy.”

Follow an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to developing talent and performance enhancement: Most athletes at the high school level will spend about one or two hours a day at their athletic tasks; that number moves up in college. So most of their time is not spent training. Great coaches encourage their players to use some of that “free time” to concentrate on the performance ahead.

Great coaches are great leaders. “They dare to be different; they do things others are not ready for; they (are) drivers of change,” writes Goldsmith. They are risk-takers within reason and thrive in conflict without losing their heads. They are not shy about pushing for the win; nor do they complain when they lose. Accepting responsibility is part of their credo.

This is part 2 of thoughts were collected from various sources.  Whether you agree or disagree with these statements, I hope you can take a few ideas that fit your needs, put some sustained thought and writing to them and turn them into something that helps you program.

If you didn’t see part 1, here is the link: Coaching Wisdom to Ponder Part 1

1. All successful teams start over new again every year.
2. The essence of coaching is the vision you have for your team and how it is
   communicated.
3. Success is a matter of never-ceasing application. You must forever work at it diligently. Otherwise, it takes wings and flies away. At no time can you afford to rest on your laurels-a pause for self admiration-because there are others who have eyes on your coveted place and who would like nothing better than to push you out of it, especially if they observe you have a weak hold on it or doing nothing to strengthen your position.
4. Systems don’t win, execution of systems wins
5. To coach someone to be the best is a much higher an honor than being the best – Coach Dan Gable, University of Iowa Wrestling

 

6. Part of success is preparation on purpose. Jim RohnSuccess is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day, while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the cumulative weight of
   our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure. Jim Rohn
7. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenges, wish for more wisdom. Jim Rohn
8. Don’t join an easy crowd. You won’t grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform are high. You must constant ask yourself these questions:
   1. Who am I around?
   2. What are they doing to me?
   3. What have they got me reading?
   4. What have they got me saying?
   5. Where do they have me going?
   6. What do they have me thinking?
   7. What do they have me becoming?
   After you answer those questions, then ask yourself this question: Is that OK?  Jim Rohn
9. You get whatever you expect to get. The only question is “What do you want?” Jim Rohn
10. Life is an inside-out game. The trust is that all our situations and circumstances have their beginnings in our minds. Our idea of who we are creates who we become-the great news is you can change your self-impressions and change your life. Jim Rohn

 

11. Colin Powell’s Rules
    1. It isn’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.
    2. Get mad, and then get over it.
    3. Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when you position fails, your ego goes with it.
    4. It can be done
    5. Be careful what you choose. You may get it
    6. Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision
    7. You can make someone else’s choices. You should not let someone else make
    yours.
    8. Check small things
    9. Share credit
    10. Remain calm. Be kind
    11. Have a vision. Be demanding
    12. Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayer.
    13. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier
    14. Sometimes being responsible means pissing people off.

 

12. Notes from the book “The Commandos” by Douglas Waller about Navy Seal Teams
    1. The level of preparation is incredible-they leave no stone unturned.
    2. They are prepared for any scenario they face.
    3. No one deviates from the roles each team member is assigned. The mission could be jeopardized if someone does their own thing.
    4. Team members are true team players. There are no lone wolves on the teams.
    5. Individual creativity is allowed within the team framework.
    6. There is no second chance-get it done right the first time.
    7. Mental attitude is highly stressed on each team.
    8. Each team member must have an attitude toward learning. This is essential for
    training and preparation.
    9. Individual mistakes affect the whole team.

     

    Quotes from the book Leadership Secrets of the Navy Seals
    “The ruthless effectiveness and efficiency of the SEAL teams stem from the fact that we always start from, perfect, and practice the basics.”
    “The team is a dynamic that works toward success and is not hindered by pride,
    preservation, or self-interest”
    “To some, leadership is exemplified by the blind obedience to orders. It is a
    misconception that to coerce another person to do your bidding makes you a leader.”
    “The point to the intensity of any training program is, and should be, to identify those who are going to work when it counts.”

     

    The following selections are from Jeff Jansen, a peak performance coach. You can find out more about Jeff and his material at www.janssensportsleadership.com

    Lesson from The Legends of Sports Psychology
    1. Forget about the Zone, Help Athletes Refocus When Adversity Strikes. Regularly
    simulate adverse conditions in practice.
    2. Coaches Must Find and Develop Team Leaders. Give your players leadership
    opportunities
    3. Help Athletes Deal with Fear. Fear is based on past event or future worries. Keep players focused in the present.
    7 Steps to Building Your Athletes Confidence (from the book The Seven Secrets of
    Successful Coaches)
    1. Focus on potential: What you see is what you eventually get.
    2. Plant seeds of success
    3. Sell athletes on themselves: Help them feel capable.
    4. Give them a specific and simple plan to succeed
    5. Emphasize working hard and deserving success
    6. Set people up for early success
    7. Accentuate the positive

     

    Ideas from Marty Schottenhemier, current coach of the San Diego Chargers
    Good competitors make mistakes. Bad competitors repeat them.
    When things are going well, you can win with anyone. When things aren’t going well, the only way you can win is with people who have character.
    This is about a system. Not a system of X’s and O’s, but a system of the way you
    conduct your business. It’s about the environment you create, the teaching you present, the ability to communicate and get them to value the goal.
    One of the things I think is really important if you want to be a good teacher is that when something happens rather than screaming at the kid, ask them what happened.

     

    What You Need To Know about People by Dr. John C. Maxwell
    1. People like to feel special, compliment them.
    2. People look for a better tomorrow, give them hope.
    3. People need to be understood, listen to them.
    4. People lack direction, navigate for them.

     

    What Your People Need to Know About You by Dr. John C. Maxwell
    1. Followers want to see character in their leader.
    2. Followers want to sense competence in their leader.
    3. Followers want to be challenged by their leader.
    4. Followers want to feel conviction from their leader.

These thoughts were collected from various sources.  Whether you agree or disagree with these statements, I hope you can take a few ideas that fit your needs, put some sustained thought and writing to them and turn them into something that helps you program.

1. A coach must possess mental toughness. A coach must be ready to practice every day.  The athletes realize when a coach is not prepared. The top coaches at every level are the ones that are mentally prepared every day.
2. Building character is the real commitment to winning. A coach who doesn’t stand by his or her convictions is doomed to be a big loser, regardless of the win-loss record.
3. Ability is what you are capable of doing, motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. – Lou Holtz
4. It is the loose ends with which men and women hang themselves.
5. The major part of my job isn’t to tell the players what to do. The most important thing I do is to create a setting for them to work in. I think that is the key to any coaches job—creating an environment that’s organized, free of distractions, ready.

 

6. A team has to be a melting pot. It’s going to face a lot of different challenges and it has to have a lot of potential responses.
7. Hustle isn’t a god given talent. It’s something that a person develops through sheer will. It’s a state of mind.
8. Any team can be a miracle team. The catch is that you have to go out and work for your miracles.
9. Keep the faith in times of difficulty. Every team goes through a period of unusual
   difficulty. If you’re confident that what you’re doing is right, then just work at it harder.
10. It’s getting so everyone wants to harvest, but nobody wants to plow.

 

11. To love what you do and feel that it matters – how could anything be more fun
12. A great team isn’t built by just having top talent. It matters how these top talents combine with each other. Attitude and chemistry are the factors that kick people up to higher levels of winning, no matter what talent they have. A great collection of talent with unbalanced chemistry and poor attitude can get beaten by teams of lesser talent.
13. Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you. Never excuse yourself.
14. To have a great season requires not only a big commitment but a long and lasting commitment.
15. Nothing is carved in stone, you can change anything in your life is you want it bad enough.

 

16. Face it, nobody owes you a living; what you achieve or fail to achieve in your lifetime is directly related to what you do or fail to do.
17. All coaches have a powerful ally, but most are afraid to use it—the bench.  You can modify behavior. You cannot rehabilitate character.
18. Anybody who gets away with something will come back to get away with a little bit more.

 

19. The 8 Rituals of Visionary Leaders
    1. Link Paycheck to Purpose (The Ritual of A Compelling Future Focus)
    2. Manage by Mind, Lead by Heart (The Ritual of Human Relations)
    3. Reward Routinely, Recognize Relentlessly (The Ritual of Team Unity)
    4. Surrender To Change (The Ritual of Adaptability and Change Management)
    5. Focus On The Worthy (The Ritual of Personal Effectiveness)
    6. Leader Lead Thyself (The Ritual of Self-Leadership)
    7. See What All See, Think What None Think (The Ritual of Creativity and
    Innovation)
    8. Link Leadership to Legacy (The Ritual of Contribution and Significance)
    – from the book “Leadership Lessons from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin Sharma

 

20. Qualities of A Great Teacher
1. Model/mentor; teach kids individual responsibility; give players what they need,
not what they want.
2. Caring/loving
3. Wise use of time
4. Sense of humor
5. Have a mission (overriding purpose)
– Coach Don Meyer

 

21. 11 Hard Facts In Coaching High School Athletes
Coaching is a learning experience, in the same way that being a student or an athlete is a learning experience. Season after season, coaches have to learn more about game strategy, practice organization, community, and school relations, and philosophy.  Probably the best learning tools are sharing ideas with fellow coaches and dealing with young people. The coach who becomes more perceptive about how athletes think and feel is going to establish a better relationship with them and get more out of them. What exactly should every coach know about his or her players?

1. All players dream about being starters, but very few are willing to pay the price
for total commitment.
2. If the coach does not make them do it, it will never get done.
3. Players are looking for direction, though they may not realize it.
4. What motivates one player may not motivate another. The coach must discover
the trigger for each individual.
5. Unsupervised play creates more bad habits than good habits.
6. If just one player does not commit themselves 100% all the time, their teammates
will sense it and let down the same way.
7. Every player consciously or otherwise chooses a role model. Some choose good
models, others choose bad ones. The player will make their choice by
themselves. The coach can only influence and hope.
8. Regardless of how much time or effort a player puts in, nobody wants to win as
badly as the coach.
9. The player who lives for “next year” rather than doing it “this year” will never
realize their potential.
10. The one common denominator of successful high school athletes is confidence.
The coach can build it up or tear it down.
11. Remember, every player is an individual.

 

22. Coaches, especially young ones, must understand the enormous challenge inherent in directing and supervising young people, of dealing with their multifaceted personalities. And the first step in the training process is to get to know the players personally. Remember, a salesman cannot sell anything unless they know the product inside out- or outside in. Neither can a coach show up with just a whistle and expect to coach effectively. A coach must develop perspective, perceptiveness, sensitivity, and an understanding of athletes.  Once they do this, they will be able to create an atmosphere of mutual understanding, and
cope fully with their players problems.  – Author Unknown

23. Athletes may not remember what coaches tell them about the technical aspects of their sport, but they will never forget the coach.