By Brian Gerrity
Contributor Brian Gerrity, currently completing a fellowship at Springfield College, shares a few of the lessons he’s learned while pursuing a career in athletic administration. These teaching points are great food for thought for up-and-coming administrators, and important reminders for established veterans and leaders in the profession.
"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but by how we react to what happens. Not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes—creating extraordinary results.”—origin unknown.
When I was interning at Yale University, Senior Associate Athletic Director Wayne Dean, who is in charge of Tickets and Marketing, sat down with my intern class to share his background, philosophy, and feelings about athletic administration. Wayne’s background is as a teacher and coach at every level from high school to Division I. He shared with us a list he developed of qualities that every administrator should possess.
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Qualities every administrator should possess:
1. Works hard to find a way to say yes. An administrator who is dedicated to being open-minded and who is not resistant to change can have a great deal of success by simply finding a way to say yes when it is easy to just say no instead. This is an especially important quality to me. I am someone who loves to engage in creative thought. Many times I look at tasks, processes, projects, and problems in ways that are different than other people.
I think my lack of experience in the athletic administration field helped me in several ways during my Yale experience. Because Yale was my first collegiate athletic work experience, I wasn’t familiar with the way a Division I department operated. Because of this, I was constantly thinking of ways I would do things differently, improve on current ideas, or tweak the system. However, without leadership that is open to new methods of operation, there is no advantage to creative thought.
2. Is flexible and open-minded. This is similar to the previous point. Throughout the career of an administrator, the coaches, other departments, outside groups, and others that depend on efficient decision making will bring up issues and problems that are outside normal departmental routine. The ability to adjust to these elements and rework schedules and protocol is a great skill to have. In addition, new technology is constantly entering into the industry. An administrator without the ability to adjust and accept advances would struggle. The routine is never routine in an athletic department.
3. Is honest and works to develop trust and confidence. These two qualities determine how far one can go within the framework of an institution. By instilling trust and confidence, a supervisor will be more likely to give some leeway and assign more projects. My supervisor at Yale, Associate Athletic Director Ryan Bamford, did a tremendous job of giving me more responsibility as the year went on. The gradual build was primarily due to the trust and confidence that was fostered over time. Early in the year he was honest with me when I did something wrong or right, and I always told him the truth. Because we openly communicated and I showed him I had genuine passion for my job, he gave me more projects and responsibilities.
4. Is never condescending. There is nothing more emotionally draining than someone who is condescending. This is a something I have dealt with first hand. Former co-workers who used condescending tones always had less success than those who are positive, willing to help others, and are team players. There have been countless times when I didn’t know answers or didn’t know how to handle situations and had to ask my supervisors for help. Looking back, it would have been easy for a more experienced administrator or coach to use sarcasm or condescending comments. Instead, the vast majority of higher-ranking administrators have gone the extra mile to help me develop. It is imperative to understand that just because someone is having trouble understanding something, or needs help to complete a task, it does not provide grounds to be condescending.
5. Respects those who came before them. At both Yale and now at Springfield, I have developed friendships with the people who held my position before me. Through meeting these people, I have gained insight about how to do my job better, pointers on how to avoid mistakes, and numerous details that are not listed in a job description. In addition, these contacts could prove to be useful in a future job search.
6. Sees the BIG picture. Daily routines make it is very easy to lose site of the overarching goals of the department. By narrowing focus and just concentrating on what you need or looking at how decisions affect your division, the direction of the department as a whole is lost. During my time at Yale, I attended several meetings to discuss and define the direction and focus of the department. The meetings did help to create a “master plan,” but more importantly, it gave the athletics staff a feeling that we were working toward a greater goal.
7. Doesn’t look for credit, he or she gives it. This adage goes beyond administration and applies to coaches as well. My college basketball coach, Joe Reilly, taught me this lesson. As team captain, I met with Coach on an almost daily basis. One frequent topic of discussion was different leadership tactics. A quote that he lived by was, “As a coach, it’s YOUR fault when you lose and when you win it is due to the players.” I always took that to heart—and although it is tempting to seek credit, I have found that plenty comes along without hunting for it.
8. Never says they’re sure if they are not, and gets back with answers. In today’s work world, employees many times fear not knowing an answer. I know that early on it was tough to ask my supervisor how to create certain documents on the computer, how to manage certain aspects of events, or something as simple as where the campus mailboxes were. I have learned that it is okay to ask for help. It is okay to not know the answer.
But, on the other side of the coin, it is important to learn quickly and get back to someone with the correct answer. The compliance officer at Springfield does an incredible job of sticking to this value. Coaches manage to constantly challenge her with strange rule interpretations and questions that fall into the grey areas of NCAA bylaws. Instead of responding on the spot with an answer that may not be correct, she always does the research and gets back to the coach as quickly as possible.
9. Feels that no duty is unimportant. There are countless tasks that are crucial to the success of an athletic department that may seem mundane and unimportant to an outsider. As an intern last year, many of those jobs that are seemingly unimportant become primary responsibilities. One task I was in charge of completing each week was creating a contest management handout. This is a document that shows all the home games scheduled for the coming week. I never thought of it as an important job, but as the year progressed I noticed it on the desks of almost every administrator who attended the meetings. Although it may have seemed unimportant to an outsider, people relied on that handout to be accurate so they could plan their weeks.
10. Has a sense of humor. Between office professionalism, fear of not being taken seriously, and stress, sometimes it is difficult to remain an individual in the workplace. I have found that people who are dynamic characters are much easier to talk to and work with. Meetings can feel as if they drag on forever if the person in charge does not have a sense of humor or is lifeless. It is very important to be efficient and competent in the workplace—but good work and humor do not have to be mutually exclusive.
11. Has appreciation and passion for the mission of the organization. This was at the center of a big dispute at Yale during my tenure as an intern. It is my belief that at different institutions, administrators need to hire coaches and make decisions with the scope and mission of the department in mind. That being said, the ethics involved with hiring should change with different institutions. It is my argument that if I was the athletic director at UNLV, the qualities I looked for in a basketball coach would be different than if I was hiring a coach at Williams College. The core values of coaching would be the same—passion to win and strong basketball intelligence, among others. The overarching mission of each of those departments, however, is very different. The coaches need to reflect that mission.
12. Always goes the extra mile. Going the extra mile is vital to success in college athletics. At Yale, I served as a contest manager in one sport and assisted with another each season. During the fall I ran women’s soccer and assisted with football. Over the course of the year, weekends are rarely free. Most games in the Ivy League are played on weekends, so that is when overtime work is usually had. As an intern, I gave up several of my free weekends and free weekday nights to help other administrators in the department.
One example is giving up each Thursday night to run the clock at a men’s hockey league that Yale hosted. Another example is covering a game for an administrator who has another commitment that prevents them from attending the event. While it was very tiring at times, going the extra mile to help other administrators really went a long way. Because I was willing to give up some of my free time to create time for them, I know that in the future they will be willing to give me a good recommendation or needed advice. The extra mile is also a key component to developing friendships.
13. Puts themselves in other people’s shoes and is respectful of everyone. Knowing and respecting what other people within the department are going through is very important to understanding your own job. The classic saying is to give respect in order to get respect. This is true within the working world as well. By understanding the stresses of other divisions, it makes me more respectful and helps me to do my job more efficiently. It is easy to put personal needs and projects ahead of others. Similar to seeing the BIG picture, putting yourself in other people’s shoes can go a long way in helping a department to run smoothly.
14. Listens more than speaks. Everyone has been in a meeting where the facilitator lectures for the duration. Most people, however, tend to tune out others when they talk too much or too long. Thinking back to college, the classes I enjoyed the most were the give and take, debate style classes where the professor challenged students to think and share their feelings about the topics covered. The work world is similar. People enjoy sharing their thoughts and ideas—giving others the chance to talk breeds creativity and motivates the entire group to contribute.
15. Takes on challenges with enthusiasm. When assignments are passed out, one of the biggest energy draining reactions is an unenthusiastic response. Enthusiasm is a two way street—if a supervisor is not excited about the job it will rub off on an employee. If the supervisor is genuinely excited about a project or challenge, that will trickle down to the people working on the details. Positive feelings and enthusiasm is infectious, and someone who brings either excitement or enthusiasm to the workplace is a valuable commodity.
16. Takes time to get to know people. Each day, the average person spends far more time with coworkers than their own family. Between working office hours and contests, I am away from home over 50 hours a week. Without taking the time to get to know the people around me, those hours would feel much longer. By getting to know the people in the department, the workday feels much like spending time with a family away from home. Life is much too short to be miserable for eight hours a day. By getting to know the people around me I create a connection that goes deeper than the work I do.
17. Inspires people around them. This is the final point on the list, but I feel it is one of the most important. Inspiration is what leads to major changes, advances, and breakthroughs. Inspiration turns mediocre teams into winners and winners into champions. Feeling inspired makes people go above and beyond what they felt was their limit. Without inspiration, the workplace is lifeless.
Brian Gerrity is a 2005 graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where he was a two-year captain and a 1,000-point scorer for the men’s basketball team. In 2006-07, Gerrity worked at Yale University as an intern in the varsity sports office, where he acted as contest manager for Yale’s nationally ranked women’s soccer and women’s ice hockey programs. Gerrity has accepted a fellowship to attend Springfield College in the fall of 2007 to pursue a master’s degree in athletic administration. From time to time, he will share his experiences with AthleticManagement.com.
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