To be the best athletic director you can be, you need to set your sights high and ask yourself some tough questions. This author offers seven key prompts.
By Dan Cardone
Dan Cardone is Athletic Director at North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pa. He can be reached at: cardoned@nhsd.k12.pa.us.
As former coaches and athletes, most athletic directors are pretty competitive. We want our teams to be the best they can be, each and every season. We want to be the best athletic director we can be, day in and day out.
While there is no win-loss column for athletic administration, there is also no single set of criteria we can follow to assess how well we perform our jobs. More times than not, the athletic director is not given meaningful evaluations by upper-level administrators.
Yet to move forward in the quest to be the best we can be, we need a way to honestly evaluate where we are today. Maybe your scheduling is seamless and your budget reports are flawless, but your communication skills could use a jump start. Perhaps you are an expert at managing a crisis, but you never seem to find time to be proactive in areas such as safety.
How do we figure out where we are excelling in our job, and where we need to improve? In the following, I've listed seven big-picture areas that every athletic director should use to self-evaluate. Improving in each of these areas will make you more successful at your job—even if there's no scoreboard to show it.
HOW STRONG IS YOUR CHAIN OF COMMAND?
One of the quickest ways to get overwhelmed as an athletic director is to feel you need to find solutions to everyone's problems. Being a great problem-solver is an important aspect of our job, but even more important is having a chain of command so problems are solved without our constant involvement.
In the short term, it can be easier to solve a problem yourself than to ask a coach to do it. In the long run, it is important that you mentor others to solve problems. This can allow you to clear your desk for more long-range planning. The starting point for letting coaches take control is evaluating the strength of your chain of command.
Is your chain of command clear to everyone? Is it in writing in all policies and procedure manuals? Does it include details on handling parent complaints, coaches' hierarchies, and teacher-coach interactions? How do you communicate it and ensure that it is clearly understood by all?
For example, here at North Hills, when parents have a complaint, our policy manual states that they must take concerns to the coach first. In almost all cases, the problem can be resolved through the parents and coach working together. Even new coaches should expect to solve parent problems. They can seek your guidance on working with parents, but they need to practice the skill of parent relations to get better at this part of their job.
Another example of an important chain of command is that all assistant coaches should communicate directly with their head coach on any concerns. Here at North Hills, our head coaches are in charge of their programs for grades 7-12. They are involved with both hiring and evaluating the coaches in their sport. If an assistant or lower-level coach bypasses the head coach and comes to me with a complaint, unless it is a very critical concern, I always ask him or her to go back to the head coach to discuss the problem.
It may seem that establishing a chain of command is restrictive. Nothing could be further from the truth. Allowing people to deviate from the established chain of command not only causes more work for you as the athletic director, but it gives the impression that the chain of command is not important. Once one parent or assistant coach is allowed to bypass the head coach, more will surely follow.
Evaluation Points:
• Do you have written policies on your chain of command?
• How well do you communicate the chain of command?
• How well do you insist that the chain is followed? When don't you follow it?
• How much time do you spend solving problems for your coaches?
• When coaches have questions, do you mentor them on how to solve their own problems, or just tell them what to do?<
ARE YOUR COACHING EVALUATIONS EFFECTIVE?
The chain of command only works, of course, if your head coaches are competent, professional, and good communicators. But they can only develop those traits if you provide them with thorough evaluations. Giving formal feedback to our coaches is one of the most important things we do, and every athletic director needs to assess whether they are doing their absolute best in this area.
Here at North Hills, we use a very formal evaluation instrument, and we give a copy to each coach when they are hired. We assess our coaches on five main criteria: coaching style, leadership qualities, performance (game and practice management), team management, and administrative duties. Within each of the criteria, the coach is rated as: outstanding, meets expectations, needs improvement, or unsatisfactory.
We also insist that the coaches be in charge of their own evaluations. It is their responsibility to complete a self-evaluation based on the five main criteria and to keep a portfolio of their accomplishments. At the end of the season, the coach and I meet and review the portfolio. We go over what he or she is doing well and what areas need improvement. If a coach is not meeting expectations, we develop a specific plan for correcting the problems.
We also use the evaluation as an opportunity to go over program goals. When a new coach is hired, we create goals for their program, and then revisit and revise those goals during their annual evaluation. The goals include progress at every program level, grades 7 to 12.
Even if a coach has well-developed methods and runs a successful program, I would suggest that the yearly evaluation include a discussion about long-term program goals. How can we make the program better? Or more consistent? Or a step ahead of others? What aspects of the job might the coach work on?
Some athletic directors have a problem giving negative feedback to a longtime coach. I know of a fellow athletic administrator whose school board was pressuring him to fire the head basketball coach, who was a close friend. The dissatisfaction was really not over wins and losses but over his coaching style. The athletic director met with his friend, told him honestly what was on the horizon, and gave him strategies to alter his approach in handling his players. He also warned him that if he fell short, in all probability the coach would lose his job.
This was a difficult, but an important and necessary, discussion. When you need to criticize a coach, you must simply remember that it's not personal, it's business. Evaluating every coach honestly is your job, and all coaches have to accept it.
Evaluation Points:
• How thorough is your evaluation of coaches?
• Are the criteria you use up-to-date and do they help your coaches improve?
• Where do you get information for your evaluation? Do you gather feedback from student-athletes, parents, and assistant coaches?
• Is your communication process during the evaluation effective?
• Do you let friendships get in the way of your supervisory role?
ARE YOU BUILDING A COMMUNITY?
Along with making sure each coach receives an individual evaluation, it is critical to assess whether all coaches are working together as a team. In many ways this gets to the heart of being a good athletic director: Are you building a community of coaches?
Team building means coaches support each other instead of working as independent or adversarial units. It means they learn from each other and help each other out. It means they work together to share multi-sport athletes.
Team building should also happen among the student-athletes on different teams through shared experiences, such as student-athlete councils or a captain's seminar. When student-athletes support each other, there is much more synergy and excitement for the entire department.
One thing we do here at North Hills to build community is hold a big pep rally for each sports season. In the fall, we invite the band to perform its pre-game show. The cheerleaders do a dance routine, and all teams are introduced. The booster organizations set up tables to promote their sports. Announcements are made throughout the rally, and the message board on the scoreboard displays the dates of the band festival, the quarterback club picnic, and the first contests of each team. The participants play competitive games, so the members of the various groups interact with each other.
Other types of interaction should occur more frequently. When one program is doing something extremely well, have its coaches share their tips with others. Start dialogues among coaches, get athletes from different sports supporting each other, and create a sense that you're all in this together.
Evaluation Points:
• Do your coaches support each other or compete for resources?
• Do your coaches share ideas?
• Do your student-athletes feel they are part of the athletic program or just part of their team?
• What do you do to build community in your department?
DO YOU PROVIDE POSITIVE FEEDBACK?
Related to evaluating coaches and building community is taking the time to tell people they have done a good job. Providing positive feedback can go a long way toward helping coaches and athletes excel.
There are a thousand ways to recognize a solid effort or a great performance. Acknowledging great effort is as important as complimenting someone for scoring in double figures. For example, waiting and giving encouragement to the last person to finish at the cross country meet is invaluable. Telling a coach you appreciated his sportsmanship after a tough loss will keep his head up.
Consider sending a coach a note on something positive you saw during practice. For example: "I like the way you get the upperclassmen working with the freshmen," or "Your drill for teaching ball control is really innovative."
One high school we compete against has bulletin boards running the entire length of the hallway outside the athletic office. The boards are covered with hundreds of articles and pictures from the local newspapers about the school's athletes and teams. There are always students looking at what is new on the board.
We have a sports-only Web site and I place as many photographs of student-athletes as possible on its pages. Student-athletes visit the site to look for their picture, and if I see them in the hallway, I'll ask, "Did you see yourself on the Web site?"
Catching someone doing something right is far more effective for improving performance than calling someone to task. You motivate people to succeed by giving recognition to their participation and effort.
Evaluation Points:
• Do you tend to look for the good or the bad in situations?
• How often do you make a positive comment to a coach about his or her teaching skills?
• How often do you compliment a student-athlete who is not a team leader?
ARE YOU PROACTIVE OR REACTIVE?
When your job is filled every day with details, phone calls, and paperwork, it can seem impossible to be proactive about anything. But being proactive instead of reactive is the key to enhancing your effectiveness. In the long run, preventing problems before they start will save you headaches and allow more time for planning. Think about it: In what areas are you reactive instead of proactive?
Two areas in which the athletic department must be proactive are risk management and emergency procedures. The athletic director must continually train coaches in the most up-to-date risk-management procedures, and coaches should know all emergency protocols and understand their role in spotting hazards.
Recently, we have also become more proactive with tryouts. Instead of bracing ourselves for the parental complaints after each team tryout and dealing with the fallout, we formulated a set of guidelines and publicized the criteria involved in the decision-making process. Now, parents can better understand why some players make the team over others, and they see that the system is fair. It also forces coaches to be more consistent in their selections, which leads to fewer parental complaints.
I also believe in being proactive in relationships, so I take the time to build connections with the teachers, administrators, and custodians at our school. For example, I always take the time to thank our custodians for any work they do with our facilities. Sometimes, I will even send them a written note of appreciation. I will also send a formal letter of commendation on athletic department letterhead to their supervisor (and give the custodian a copy) when they've helped out in a big way.
I also try to think about how to make their jobs easier. For instance, we had very old oak tables that were heavy and difficult for our custodian to manage. So we purchased some lightweight plastic tables that are much easier to set up.
These efforts will prove invaluable when situations suddenly spring up that require prompt and positive action. If a fellow athletic director calls at the last minute and informs you that they cannot play a scheduled junior varsity football game at their field due to vandalism, being able to rely on your custodians to ready your stadium on short notice can make a huge difference. (It also shows everyone that teamwork is the norm in your department.)
Evaluation Points:
• What problems arose this year that forced you to be reactive?
• How can you be proactive to prevent such problems?
• What issues are on the horizon that you should start thinking about now?
• What relationships do you need to cultivate?
DO YOU WORK ON YOUR WEAKNESSES?
The hardest part of being an athletic director today is that we have to be successful in so many different areas. There is a continuous challenge to be good at many things. An important part of your self-critique is figuring out how to work on your weaknesses.
Perhaps your strength lies in your communication skills. You are personable and likeable. You pay attention to others. But maybe the financial aspects of the position take a back seat as you have plenty of visitors and phone calls during the day. Maybe the department's ticket sales and fundraisers are flat this year but you keep putting that challenge on the back burner.
Take a close, honest look at your performance and acknowledge your weaknesses. And if you're not sure which mountains you need to conquer, talk to your principal or superintendent. Maybe you need to communicate better with upper-level administrators. Or maybe you need to revisit your hiring process, work more with youth sports in the community, or up the publicity for the program.
Once you have determined the areas of your job that need more attention, develop a plan for improving in them. Take continuing-education classes. Talk to colleagues about how they tackle those parts of their job. Figure out how to take small, concrete steps to turn your weaknesses into strengths.
Evaluation Points:
• What parts of your job do you like the least, and why?
• What would be the effect on the athletic department if you improved in these areas?
• What are three small steps you can take over the next month to work on your weaknesses?
DO YOU BRING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE TO YOUR WORK?
The final and possibly most important area to assess is your attitude. And there is just one evaluation point here: Are you a positive leader, even when there are setbacks or disappointments?
A Japanese proverb tells us that our attitude can enable us to overcome adversity: "Fall seven times, stand up eight." I like to think that our attitude determines our altitude.
The approach one takes toward the task at hand more often than not determines the outcome. You may have inherited a secretary who is a clock watcher, informing you daily that it has been a "trying day." There may be a veteran coach or two who prefer doing things "their way." A principal at the junior high school may be making it difficult to schedule teams to practice in "their building."
The only person who can turn the tide of negativity is you. Thinking positively and getting everyone to row in the same direction are critical. Some strategies include using slogans, redirecting can't do statements into can do ones, and letting everyone see that your resolve is greater than their combined negativity.
It is very rewarding to win people over, to make them into doers rather than complainers. And, in the long run, that's what it's all about: being positive for your student-athletes and your program.
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