by Steve Heintz | Feb 2, 2018 | Integrated Athletic Solutions Blog
Many of us love to read, and learn in other ways too. Something in many of us was pricked by something we read when we were young, and that desire to learn about faraway lands, or how to fix a bicycle, or solve a case with a great mystery writer just stayed with us. The simple love of learning is often enough to keep us on the path toward knowledge, but I would say there’s another reason to maintain a love of learning. From personal experience, I have found that I have so much more to offer others because of this continuous quest to learn. In fact, we who lead in the athletic environment are teachers, aren’t we?
We are more effective and more credible the more we know. Sometimes knowledge allows us a more complete way of conveying something to our coaches and athletes. The examples that I often used in the midst of an intense basketball practice had nothing to do with offense, defense, or fundamentals of the sport. Sometimes something needed to be said in a different way, and because knowledge becomes instinctive the more one knows, it allows the teacher in us to figure out a more effective way to communicate what we need to. I also felt that I could relate more effectively to a broad group of coaches, with their own varied personalities and relatability by bringing information that I often took from the non-sports world. Often in staff meetings we would have the most spirited dialogue on something we took from those very books.
I believe that the more we appear to be more than simply a ball coach, the more credibility we have in the eyes of our players, and their families. When we care enough about our own lives to better ourselves by learning, and we offer that to those we lead in a constructive manner, it’s motivating for them to be around. They’ll be more willing to learn, too, and that’s the goal!
(For a list of my recommended readings, you can visit the ‘Resources’ page of my site – my list is always growing!)
by Steve Heintz | Dec 11, 2017 | Integrated Athletic Solutions Blog
I recently read an article in the sports section of a major newspaper about a very successful high school coach who stepped down from her position due to the consistent and overbearing impact of team parents. It detailed the repeated challenges she faced from just a couple families that questioned everything from her methods, to her use of personnel, to her empathy for the players off the court. A few different emotions ran through me, but the prevailing one seems to be sadness. From the article, this coach had built a girls high school hoop program that would make others envious – 63 wins in a row, two state titles, another runner-up finish, and a record of 166 and 25 in eight years – in the largest classification in this state. And it seems that the players absolutely loved her, and played hard for her in a demanding, yet rewarding program. But her decision to step down indicated that it wasn’t worth the aggravation of dealing with parents who could never be satisfied unless their kids were the center of attention.
While I think there are several components to this issue, my point here is to encourage school leaders (Athletic Directors, Principals, Heads of School, Board Members, etc.) to have unequivocal, direct, and anticipatory language that communicates proactively that school leadership stands behind the athletic staff, and that parental interference not only won’t be tolerated, but it will have repercussions. That type of language may require legal assistance, but nowadays, that is the land we live in.
I have worked with very strong and opinionated parents during the season, and while there are coaches who can sometimes be second-guessed in strategy, policy, or playing time issues, these have to be the jurisdiction of the athletic administration, not the parents. I was fortunate to work for strong school leaders who recognized the cauldron of emotions and lack of objectivity in the youth sports environment, but they would not allow parents to have negative influences around our programs. One leader, who I so appreciated at the time, would ask me first if he should approach parents to have a conversation. His point was that not everyone belonged in our environment, and that he had the authority to disinvite parents and their kids from enrollment, if they could not accept the mission and leadership of our programs (that was in the private school setting, so I do recognize that that is not always feasible in other environments).
However, participation in sports should be viewed as a privilege, and not a right. Conduct and decorum, from the players and their families, have to be determining factors of that privilege, and parents who compromise the standards of a program must learn that schools are teaching environments, and there are consequences for those who don’t comply with the expectations. We first want to work with all parents so that they understand behavioral expectations in our athletic program, and we do want them to be advocates for our sports teams. But if they cannot be outwardly supportive, then it’s critical to attempt to redirect them.
As a leader, be sure that you and your superiors have spoken about how to work through issues with parents, and how situations involving them will be handled. Much of the discord can be prevented by having a proactive and effective communication policy. And by the way, the large majority of sports parents are positive and supportive, so this will hopefully be a rare occurrence.
by Steve Heintz | Apr 6, 2017 | Integrated Athletic Solutions Blog
My wife and I met with the director of a nonprofit recently where my wife is a board member. She wanted me to go along to provide some input on organization and leadership within a particular area of this group where I have some prior experience. I was there first of all to listen, since I was not as knowledgeable on the company as they both were, and then to contribute any way possible. Before too long, it was apparent that while this leader had tremendous passion for the outreach and impact of this organization, it wasn’t crystal clear to me what the leader felt the true mission of the group was. The leader expressed with much heart-felt excitement all the wonderful things they did, and conveyed with animation the impact their group had on many people’s lives, but the more I heard, the more I was convinced that the mission wasn’t crystal clear. See, it is not that the leader didn’t know what they did, or certainly that they did not know why they were in existence – those things were very clear. Rather, the leader could not express it in clear, concise terms that conveyed the absolute and repeatable mission of the organization. So I felt that she must give a lot of thought to developing a mission statement.
Two challenges will emerge very soon if you are not crystal clear in expressing your mission: the first is that your staff and others around you will not be certain of what is expected from them. You could soon find them working in areas that are admirable and impactful, but they aren’t necessarily what your organization wants to do “better than anyone else in the world”. Your mission is specific to your company or organization, and it should differentiate you so that it is ever present and repeatable exactly the way you want it. It doesn’t imply that you’ll never try new things or think of additional means to work toward your impact, but those things should always assist your team toward this unambiguous purpose.
The second issue is that as you express to those who don’t have first-hand knowledge of the group, you must use direct and concise language, or you will clutter their understanding of your exact purpose. You speak with countless stakeholders or potential stakeholders, all who need to fully comprehend, for their own benefit and reason, exactly what you do. If it’s a prospective family interested in your team or school, or a potential donor who can impact deeply with financial resources, clarity of your mission is what will compel them to come on board with you and your work.
So back to my earlier example of my meeting with this organization. I encouraged the leader to use clear and brief wording to develop a powerful mission statement for her company, and to use memorable language to help others visualize the amazing work they performed. Before you think this will require a full paragraph to expound, I did an internet search on purposeful mission statements and found that the average length of 100 top non-profit mission statements is 15.3 words! Brevity allows for everyone to remember it more effectively, and remembering allows for better execution.
When our friend, and you as the leader of your group, can develop a potent mission statement, everyone on your team will be more mission-focused, and those you want to support your group will be more inclined to do that. So go forth and create a mission statement, or look at your existing one to be sure it says what it should in clear, brief, and memorable language!
by Steve Heintz | Feb 28, 2017 | Integrated Athletic Solutions Blog
Sounds unnecessary, doesn’t it? Of course, everyone wants to win. There wouldn’t be a scoreboard if no one cared who won. But there are many assumptions that your stakeholders make relative to winning in your program. Whether it’s a coach, a player, a parent, a school employee, or a fan, you are subject to whatever interpretation that person makes about the value you place on winning and losing. Since people are accustomed to seeing a scoreboard at a game, and seeing the results of games in the sports news, and unless human beings could be truly and absolutely objective, which is rarely possible when it comes to the sports world, each person sees it through their own lens. So as a leader, you must define for your community what value you place on winning. You must define how your culture treats the complicated subject of winning!
The place of winning has to be well thought out and articulated within the context of your program’s culture, what age group you may be working with, the historical success of your program, the level of players you typically attract, the level of coaching your program is known for, and possibly a few other details. As you’ve deeply considered these and other ingredients, and come up with something meaningful, then you must articulate it to the stakeholders in your community so there is full knowledge of your philosophy of winning. Your coaching staff deserves to understand what they are striving toward, and where winning and losing falls into those expectations. Your athletes and parents certainly deserve to understand this completely, so their conversations over the dinner table reflect a similar tone.
Say, for example, that you state that “winning is an outcome of a process, and our staff is committed to teaching and instructing the techniques, fundamentals, and sportsmanship ideals of each sport, and then inspiring each athlete to perform to the best of their ability, individually and collectively, and reflect the values of our program”, or something like that. But that all goes out the window when someone on your coaching staff rants and raves about a loss, or loses control over a bad call in a game, or doesn’t necessarily have an effective process of coaching and teaching. Each and every day the process that your staff applies to his/her team is the measuring stick of whether your philosophy on winning is actually truthful. When your coaches coach as if they are committed to your philosophy, then your families will know with certainty where you stand. Systemic commitment to your philosophy of winning is a stronger statement than winning by itself.
Lastly, don’t shy away from this process, and don’t be afraid to support your philosophy with some examples and data where necessary. You also need an effective measurement and evaluation tool for post-season review of each of your teams, and that must reflect what you’ve been articulating about winning. Those examples will support where you fall on the value, or importance, of winning in your environment. When winning’s place isn’t defined in your culture, gaps are filled by the people who are less inclined to put it in the proper perspective, and that’s when trouble soon follows. Good luck with this very important process!
by Steve Heintz | Jan 11, 2017 | Integrated Athletic Solutions Blog
This question doesn’t necessarily reflect the mission of your athletic program, which is the overarching reason for being, but it allows stakeholders to measure the effectiveness of your program. You should know how to measure outcomes so that you are always on track toward something tangible.
This shouldn’t necessarily be a set of goals that you as the Athletic Director establish, but rather an exercise your Board of Directors and/or Upper Administration create. The reason for this is two-fold: first, they understand and are committed to high ideals for the school in a global sense. They have the entire school’s value in mind, and will set the athletic standards in line with the overall institution’s standards. Secondly, their involvement in this activity will establish buy-in and support, where they will be closer observers than they might be without ownership in the goal-setting process. Don’t look at this as a negative, or a potential threat to your job security! It should induce a true partnership toward outstanding athletics. It will also allow for honest dialogue if you as the athletic leader assess that some of the established goals and objectives are set too high, and need a higher level of support from the school, financial or otherwise.
As an example, my former school undertook this task. We were a private, Christian independent college preparatory school where the academic experience was outstanding. Our Board wanted athletics, which wasn’t necessarily at that same level, to aspire and achieve a growing level of excellence. It’s often complicated when you set goals for athletics, since winning and losing are always part of the discussion, yet come with preconceived notions, threats, opinions, and pressure. Our Board was comprised of wise and seasoned leaders, several who had athletic experiences of their own in high school and college. And they realized also that we had to be aspirational in our goals, yet realistic at the same time. So after much back and forth, they established four primary goals, in no particular order:
1) Consistently Finish in Top Half of League Play
2) Finish in the Top Quartile of Year-End Sportsmanship Voting in the Conference
3) Be in Contention for Post-Season Tournament Play
4) Maintain Significant Participation Percentage of Student Body
You can see that two of these goals were results-based, in terms of scoreboard and record. But they didn’t exactly put pressure on to win – it was implied, and probably more effective that way. The two other goals supported school ideals and objectives. We wanted to have teams and individuals establish a high level of decorum for the program, establishing that you should aspire to be successful (win!) and be a sportsman at the same time. There was also a commitment to the multi-sport athlete wrapped up in goal #4, since as a smaller school we relied on our student/athletes to participate in more than one sport. That reflected the school’s mission to cultivate balanced young men and women – body, mind, heart, and soul. The outcome of these objectives became the impetus for a very successful athletic experience, since as we worked toward these goals and objectives, and put in methods to help us execute them, we became very effective in the process of building successful athletics – and many of us believe that winning is a byproduct of a process done well.
In closing, it is vital that goals and objectives be established for athletic programs. They must exist so that Athletic Directors understand what outcomes are important to the school, and so that Athletic Directors can guide coaches toward an understanding of success in their particular culture. If coaches aren’t held to specific goals and objectives, they can begin to create their own definitions of success, and that is often not in the best interest in the overall institution. As I stated above, another positive result is that school leaders participate in the process so that they understand and support the process of athletic success. The result of this process is that all school leaders are on the same team – as a result, everyone wins!
by Steve Heintz | Dec 13, 2016 | Integrated Athletic Solutions Blog
Most great coaches acknowledge that it’s almost impossible to have a great team without great team leaders. Specifically, it’s usually those who have been named team captains that have an incredible influence on the team culture, the effort level of other players, and the willingness to sacrifice for the team’s goals. They best reflect the mindset of the coaching staff, and so they are invaluable.
But I’m here to say to those coaches who are frustrated, or who think they don’t have leaders, take a look in the mirror and ask what you can do to better prepare potential leaders to have the impact you want. Young people, in particular athletes who strive to be successful in their sport, are potentially great leaders who may simply need the coach to assume the duty of preparing them in the same way they are preparing athletes. In fact, the work you do for them as leaders will last longer than the work you do with them as athletes, and I know we all say we want to have our athletes become great people who influence the world.
Don’t assume that it is enough to simply name captains. Without true teaching and leading from you, coach, that captain can make mistakes that alienate teammates, or he/she can hold back from leading effectively for fear of not really knowing what to do. They will get very frustrated if all they do is call the coin flip before the game. They’ll know that being a captain doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re a leader.
Set aside some time each week to build into your potential leaders. In the end it won’t take as long to build great leaders as it will take to repair poor team dynamics. There are some outstanding model programs out there and they’re not hard to find.
Two of the most practical and effective resources are the National Federation of High Schools Captain’s Course and Jeff Jannsen’s Team Captain’s Leadership Training Manual. They are absolutely worth the small investment and will pay huge dividends.
You will never regret developing your young people into better leaders.
