Watching another coaches practice can be an eye opening experience. I have seen a lot of practices on all levels. When you watch another practice, you can always pick up something that you would like to use in your practice. This practice was a pretty good one. There were some very good things going on our there. Almost every player was moving at all times – my mark of a good use of ice time. Teachable moments were being applied to individual players and the team as a whole. What happened next, was the gauntlet drill. Checking in hockey is one of those items that is important to teach the proper technique. For those that don’t know the gauntlet drill is supposed to help the player with puck control while  receiving a body check. It usually is done along the boards with the player with the puck skating with the puck up the line of the other players wait to check the player into the boards.  Most coaches use the drill to get every player used to receiving a check… Getting other players to check more… This particular drill has to be well supervised. Coaches need to insure that proper checking technique is used. What typically happens is not good. Hands start to raise up towards the head. Players move in close to each other (not giving the player time to recover). Hence someone gets hurt. In this case, it was the teams best player that suffered a concussion when the biggest player used his size and improper technique to smash the players head against the glass. It was not the first check that was improper, but the drill ended when one player got hurt. There were a number of opportunities to have a teachable moment before the injury, but every player and coach was excited about the crushing checks that were being delivered.

With all of the focus on concussions in football and hockey, it is time for coaches to make sure that they are protecting their players and teaching proper technique. I used to tell the parents, “checking is a part of the game. It happens. I will do my best to teach each player the proper way to give and receive a check. Realize, the best part of my responsibility is to teach players how to play in a safe environment and have fun doing it!” If we were to use a checking drill, it was in a controlled and safe way. Never will you see my team run a gauntlet drill. We may have a one on one situation like that, but it will have a coach watching and instructing after each check.  I used to get mixed emotions from some parents on that. The gauntlet has been around a very long time (I used to have to run it). Many of the parents remember their experience. My only comment was did anyone ever get hurt? Where the checks always properly delivered? We will check, but we will do it right!

I met the parents after the practice and gave them my observations. I asked them, if they told their son that I was coming to watch him practice. They said “no.” Practice is important. Sacrifice is important. Does he shoot pucks at home? Does he do stick handling drills with a golf ball at home? How much effort do you think he is putting into hockey outside of scheduled practices? They said some, but not a much as he could. I didn’t want the parents to think that he should only be focused on hockey. He is  young and needs to experience life. He should set goals around how much time he will work on shooting, passing, fitness, stickhandling and studying the game – outside of practice. Have him record his time on what he is working on. He then can see if his work is paying off in playing time, effectiveness on the ice or just how he feels about what he is doing. I stayed till the player came out of the locker room. Asked him if he felt that he gave his all in practice? He said, not really. Stressed to him the importance for him to take advantage of the ice time given. Work hard and excel every time you take the ice. Passed along to the player the same things that I told his parents. I felt honored that I was called. I thanked them all for that honor and wished them well.

Now, I am wondering if I need to get back to being involved…

Photo Credit: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

How do you normally react doing those tough times?

• Maybe a little short with answers to questions?
• How about frustrated when things are not going right?
• Start micro-managing your team?
• Little slow with answers to tough decisions?
• Take a day off when a key deadline is due?

Hopefully you did not say yes to any of these behaviors. These were not made up examples, I have seen them throughout my working career. I can almost put a face and a name to each of them. As I have written in past blog posts, learning from ours examples (both failure and success) can be very helpful to you in the future. I have taken those bad examples above and changed up how I perform under extremely pressure.

What I typically do is:

• Insure that the pressures that I am under are not outwardly visible to my team. I try to maintain my positive and cheerful attitude everyday that I in the office.
• Sometimes this is extremely difficult, at the very least, I communicate to my team what is going on. Letting them know the pressures and how they can help, usually is a good thing.
• Come in a bit early and stay late if needed. I always like to get in early to help me with quiet time. Helps me focus on what is important. I want my team to understand that I am here, no matter what.
• Prioritizing and delegating workloads. Work assignments may need to be shifted in order to meet some extreme deadlines. Asking the team their input on how best to accomplish this has been helpful in the past. Sometimes, a team member may have a skill in something that they don’t especially care for doing, but when times are tough – they step up and get it done.
• Pressure situations need to bring out some creative solutions – more minds working on that creative solution the better.
• Most importantly – Be myself! At the end of the day, your character and being true to yourself is what matters. If I am not happy with myself for any reason – I am the only person that can fix it.

How best do you handle those pressure moments?

• List of 2010 accomplishments: Many of them I have shared within Spin-O-Rama. Replay: Completed my fourth sabbatical and the trips for 2010 were some of a lifetime (Baltic Sea, Bahamas); Decided to retire; Kept writing; enjoyed time with my family and friends; celebrated 28+ years with many of my co-workers.
• Plans for 2011: This year will definitely be different… As many of the past 28 years, I would go to work for the same company. In 2011, I will be searching for that second career.. Many of my posts for 2011 – will be around my experiences in the job market again. This should be interesting. 2011 will be an increased writing period for me – here in Spin-O-Rama and other opportunities. Travel will continue – especially as my time is open (for now). Time with family and friends will always be the biggest part…

Have you done your 2011 planning yet? I still have much more to do… But, I have the critical items pretty much figured out. I hope that 2010 was better than you expected it to be. Here’s hoping that 2011 is really special for all of us…

My last post was on knowing your people, which will help with providing direction. As a manager all eyes are on you. Each individual is looking to you for guidance and providing direction. So, which way is your map facing? Do you have clear goals that you have for your people? Are you looking both at those goals as work tasks and individual development? There is so much that needs to be done, that sometimes your job feels a bit overwhelming.

The foundation to the management task cycle is making goals clear and important. I use SMART goals to help me step through insuring that any goal that I provide for my people (and myself) are SMART. This approach has worked for me.

• S pecific – it’s easy to tell exactly what is being produced.
• M easureable – there are concret success indicators that both your people and you can see.
• A ttainable or A chievable – it can reasonably be accomplished
• R elevant – it fits with your business objectives
• T ime bound – the completion date and conditions are clear.

There is one item that I add before publishing anything.. Is this goal really something that I want to celebrate after completion. When I am working with an individual – I normally like to have them write their rev 0 first. Gives them an opportunity to think about what needs to happen and by when. We normally would sit down in a one on one to discuss in greater detail. With the end result in mind – that we would agree mutually on the overall SMART goal (work tasks and personal development). Working together on this helps to stress the importance and understanding of what all is being delivered. When we both have skin in the game… We get it done!

There are many templates for capturing goals. My favorite is a Management by Objectives method. Expectations at the top. With the support deliverables below – with success criteria and by when. At the bottom I like to leave a notes section.  Whatever you use or want to use is up to you. Just make sure that you have all of the SMART items on your template. To this day (some 28 years later), I still use my template.

Links to some templates -

• SMART Goals template
• Another one

Key Tips.. Use SMART goals for anything that your employee or you would celebrate success. Make sure that you work together to get a mutually agreed upon expectation and deliverables for both work tasks and personal development.

So what does this sound like? Have you ever heard any of these?

• “I shouldn’t have to do this – it’s not part of my job description.”
• “Our department is always having to clean up after others’ mistakes (messes).”
• “The boss just doesn’t get it.”
• “Management only cares about the bottom-line.”

When you hear those – you are arguing with reality. Judging your situation in terms of right or wrong instead of confronting what is. Time to respond to facts. Always easier said then done. Think what is woven into the story; ego, insecurities and identity. The story makes us look and feel better. Most stories have someone or something that is not quite good enough (not always placing blame, but enough to point to it). This insures that the criticism is setting us apart from others (which in turn does not help them).

When you start judging, you stop leading. Judging is in the land of the story… How do you make sure that you get back?

• Step back and really getting the facts. Do you have all the information or are you judging what you think you know?
• Focus on actions for success. Too many times I hear – I was right. Are you trying to prove yourself right?
• Trust others. Not to worry about what motives are driving a team or individual, but how can you help them achieve success.
• Clear and solid expectations. Those expectations have to be of your team and yourself. We all have challenging goals to achieve. Work with your team to best figure out the right approach for success.

Back to the story.. That horribly negative group that I know am the leader of… I took it upon myself to say, I am the biggest obstacle in making this work. It was my judging of the team that needed to change first. Respond to reality.. The phone rings – I pick it up. Email comes in – I answer it right away. Team asks a question – I answer it or teach them to fish. Team discusses how things worked in the past – I listen and learn – then lead them toward the future. Engaging with them all the way. I started to see changes in the team. I mostly started to see changes in myself. With every experience comes some key learning’s – if you want to learn.

I wonder, if you think back to a situation – where you telling yourself a story? Were you doing any judging of individuals or departments? Was it reality? Did you lead in that situation?