Gaining & Delivering Effective Feedback To Your Team As A Leader

Nov 29

In the dynamic realm of athletics, the role of an Athletic Director is akin to that of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) steering a corporate ship. Beyond the roar of the crowd and the victories on the field, the organizational intricacies and leadership responsibilities mirror those found in the business world. Athletic Directors are not just team managers; they are the CEOs of their athletic organizations, navigating a complex landscape where strategy, vision, and effective management converge.

Any sports organization regardless of the level or size is a business. The servant leadership of every sports organization no matter how big or small, is crucial to the success of every team that exists within it.  Feedback is the foundation of transparency. Transparency can fuel your organization and lead to new opportunities. Follow the content below to read the headlines to design your personalized SWOT framework and begin tracking organizational performance with use of myPerforma.

Operating and Scaling Your Organization

by GaryVee

In today's video, Gary is joined by the CEO of Carta, Henry Ward, where they discuss leadership, the struggles of middle management, and how to be more efficient with your time in the workplace. Business owners and leaders especially those in middle management will get so much value out of this video. Today’s highlight comes from the segment below.

18:56 - 23:05 How to deliver feedback to your team as a leader

Connecting The Parallels

Much like CEOs, Athletic Directors are entrusted with shaping the overall vision and mission of their organizations. They set the tone for success, establish goals, and chart a course that aligns with the values of the institution. From recruitment strategies to facility management, they orchestrate the myriad elements that contribute to the overall success and reputation of the athletic program.

Financial stewardship is a shared responsibility between CEOs and Athletic Directors. Both must balance budgets, allocate resources strategically, and seek additional revenue streams. In the competitive arena of college and high school sports, financial decisions directly impact the ability to attract top-tier coaching talent, invest in cutting-edge facilities, and provide student-athletes with the resources they need to excel.

Communication is another parallel that underscores the similarities between these leadership roles. CEOs and Athletic Directors must be adept communicators, fostering relationships with key stakeholders such as alumni, donors, coaches, and student-athletes. Clear and transparent communication is paramount for garnering support, managing expectations, and maintaining the integrity of the organization.

Just as CEOs are responsible for cultivating a positive corporate culture, Athletic Directors shape the culture within their athletic departments. They set the standard for sportsmanship, teamwork, and academic excellence. The values instilled in student-athletes under their purview extend far beyond the sports arena, influencing their personal and professional lives.

In the ever-evolving landscape of collegiate and high school athletics, effective leadership is non-negotiable. Athletic Directors, much like CEOs, are at the helm of multifaceted organizations, requiring strategic vision, financial acumen, and strong interpersonal skills. Recognizing and embracing the parallels between running an athletic organization and a business not only enhances the success of the sports program but reinforces the indispensable role of Athletic Directors as the CEOs of their athletic domains.

Discover myPerforma, the ultimate Athletic Relationship Management platform meticulously designed to empower Athletic Directors. Unleash the power of data-driven decisions to elevate performance, foster growth, and drive success across collegiate, high school, and club sports teams.

Setting Your Objectives With A Simple Formula

What’s Your True North?

Management By Objectives (MBO) is a performance management approach in which a balance is sought between the objectives of employees and the company goals. MBO was developed by Peter Drucker, a renowned American author and consultant in the field of Organizational Development and management.

What is in Drucker's management by objective approach?

The essence of Peter Drucker 's basic principle: Management By Objectives is to determine joint objectives and to provide feedback on the results. Setting challenging but attainable objectives promotes motivation and empowerment of the team. It also creates a performance based work environment.

In his book that coined the term, Peter Drucker set forth several principles for MBO.2 Objectives are laid out with the help of the team and are meant to be challenging but achievable. Team members should receive regular weekly feedback, and the focus is on 1% improvements rather than punishment.

What are the Drucker's five guiding principles of management?

The late Peter Drucker's secrets of managing effectively: first, how good are you at the five functions of the coach?

• setting objectives.
• organizing the team.
• motivating and communicating.
• measuring performance.
• developing people.

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Coaching by Objectives Formula

Standard (S) + Expectations (E) + Priorities (P) = Objectives (O)

Standards are the same person to person. Standards are consistent. Standards don’t change. Example: In basketball, a coach expects his point guard to rebound like his center from a technique standpoint. Watch this video to frame the definition of standards.

Mike Krzyzeweski - Setting Standards with 2008 Gold Medal Men’s USA Basketball Team 7mins:46sec

Expectations are different from person to person as well game to game. Factors dictate expectations for how to perform. Using the example above, a coach might not expect his point guard to rebound as much as his/her center simply because of height, and position. Watch this video to frame the definition of expectations.

Priorities are different from person to person and game to game. Opponents change. The game plan changes to adjust to strategy based on talent, athleticism or body type of personnel. Again, using the example above, the priorities for a point guard are vastly different in comparison to a center. Watch this video to frame the definition of priorities.

In team sports, teams must learn to work towards a common goal by organizing the skills, talents and abilities of the individuals. However, players must work to achieve both team and individual goals. How do teams work to achieve a common goal and balance individual objectives? Watch this video to frame the definition of performance objectives.

A Conversation About Performance

The Problem — Most if not the majority of coaches don’t ask their players how they think the game went before they TELL them everything good or bad from their biased perspective. Are post-game speeches really effective or counter-productive? Why don’t the majority of coaches in sports today have a consistent conversation about performance with players game-to-game instead of telling them how they did, as a basic practice? Do you have a similar practice that you maintain?

The dialogue (conversation) between athlete and coach is one of the most important aspects of developing positive relationships in sports. Athletes should develop a post-game habit of assessment to reflect and evaluate performance quality and effectiveness to compete with greater intent. In doing so, it supports developing individual and team accountability, self-awareness and focus to improve performance.

This is what happens in many locker rooms across the country and the world after games or competition. Watch this real life video below.

Texas Baseball Coach Augie Garrido Flips out

A Mindset Performance Indicator (MPI) is a performance q&A assessment that creates a conversation between player and coach with each game, at scale. The pattern that the Mindset Performance Indicator (MPI) establishes is a feedback loop and regular practice that reveals trends and tendencies of teams down to the individual. It creates an ongoing conversation that routinely asks the questions:

• Coach: How do you think you did overall?
• Coach: What do you think you did well?
• Coach: What are your areas to improve (or AIMs)?
• Athlete: Coach, what do I need to work on?
• Athlete: Coach, what do I need to do to improve?

If the game/competition is the test for athlete and coach — how do you define success and failure with performance? Stats? Wins — Losses?

Success and failure with performance looks different coach to coach, team to team and level of competition. However, the foundation to performance success is based upon the character of the individual. Success and Failure is based on how YOU define it but the root of it all should be the effort you aim at the result you pursue.

It is the responsibility of every athletic director and head coach (with staff) to coordinate individual efforts for collective success. In order to do this, coaches must effectively communicate S + E + P = O.

Creating your Standards + Expectations + Priorities = Objectives Planning

Use the following framework to organize your customize a plan and pair it with a new post game habit to engage your teams this season using Mindset Performance Indicators (or MPIs).

• Model Standards - A Roadmap for catching Above the Line Behavior and converting Below the Line behavior

• Define (10) Who you’re going to be - How U: Draw the Line
• Define  (10) Team Behavior Ability Attributes you desire to see, most.

• Shaping Expectations - A Roadmap For Shaping Behavior

• First, set clear (defined) standards, that way you close the gap of interpretation
• Second, catch “above the line” behavior
• Third, manage “below the line” behavior (the art of coaching)
• Fourth, Be the example of the standards

• Developing Priorities - A Roadmap For Developing Character

• First, discuss the goal of a team
• Second, identify what will get in the way
• Third, pick character skills and pair with struggles
• Fourth, build team awareness

• Achieving Objectives - A Roadmap For Aligning Shared Objectives

• Establish how Character (defined) drives the Process (ever-changing expectations & priorities) which drives the Result (goals and outcomes). (WDW strategy)

The Frequency of Communication

myPerforma’s performance self-assessment for athletes is designed for use game-to-game and creates a competition review index composed of quality ratings, strengths, areas to improve and hindsight notes.

Three important things, whether in sports or life is mindset, discipline and habits. Self-reflection and self-evaluation communicates mindset. Doing it after every game requires discipline. Developing the habit of consistent self-assessment fosters greater self-discovery for the individual.

myPerforma’s provides three-fold objective is to serve the athletic community as: 1) a post-game routine evaluation practice (REP), 2) a multi-sport coaching tool that focuses on developing character/culture/identity and 3) a system for communicating sport performance information.

Games are the test for athletes/players and coaches. In contrast, a student always knows where they are in class because of a grade but how do athletes understand performance? On the flip side, how do coaches communicate progress for the team down to the individual? Because sports performance is such a moving target, myPerforma provides a universal scale for communicating success and failure. It is a qualitative measure that communicates mindset, highlights the needs of the individual and showcases collective growth.

How Sherri Coale, Head Women’s Basketball Coach, University of  Oklahoma uses Post Game Thoughts

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