A new-world mentoring program for athletic administrators.

Temple's six senior athletic administrators have their own "coach" and a unique agenda

As life and careers become more complex and demanding, our colleges and industry are turning to professional coaches and psychologists to help with problem-solving, decisionmaking, task improvement, and myriad other related issues.

Such experts, it is believed, can help our administrators achieve their full potential and close the gap between where they are now and where they ultimately would like to be.

That is what I was brought to Temple University to do - to mentor ("coach") the six top athletic administrators in the development of staff cohesion and efficiency and ultimately produce superior coaches and teams.

Having come from a sports background as a coach, athletic director, and success mentor for various business groups, I look upon the Temple assignment as a dynamic challenge.

Among the administrative tools we brought with us are focused listening, advanced communication skills, the strengthening of weaknesses, and the tempering of concerns and stresses in the administrators' personal and professional lives.

Besides providing the requisite therapy, we attempt to serve as a sounding board and guide to help the administrators sort through their day-to-day triumphs and struggles.

Another essential facet of our agenda is to help them maintain a healthy balance among home, work, and play and to establish a strategy for each.

Unlike the basic psychological approach which looks at the past to deal with the present, I prefer to help our people solve their current problems and move on to set personal and professional goals for the future.

Lynn Snyder, our Senior Associate Director of Athletics, is a firm believer in utilizing coaching modalities to build a stronger and more unified administrative staff.

From a group standpoint, this has led to stronger communication and group growth - breaking down the barriers that impeded the free flow of helpful feedback.

Various methods can be utilized in implementing the Coaching Model for organizational development. They include in-house service workshops, group coaching, spot coaching, one-on-one coaching, and teleconference coaching (telecoaching).

I am able to mentor one-on-one and larger groups with teleconferencing technology and have had groups as large as 50 at a time on telecoaching calls.

The Agenda

My "coaching" (mentoring)work at Temple started with a brief introductory group session explaining what my "coaching" was all about and how it would be utilized with the administrators.

Following that session, I initiated a three-month program of telecoaching. I worked with each administrator via telephone (30 to 45 minutes) once a week, three times a month.

That three-month period was followed by a three-hour in-service workshop for all six administrators as a group, after which we launched the final phase of our program - another three-months of individual telecoaching.

The weekly sessions offer dynamic ongoing support and development that are responsive to the changes and growth in the individuals and the group as a whole.

"Coaching" is all about developing the individuals into a strong, collaborative group that can produce maximum results. Our major objective at Temple is to have every administrator learn to trust the entire group and feel safe enough to make the judgments that lead to superior group results.

While there is a major distinction between the Coaching Model and standard teaching, training, and consulting, the Coaching Model does contain certain aspects of the other modalities but with a difference.

Whereas in the other models, the professional provides expertise and advice in the form of directions, in the "coaching" approach the focus is usually on coaching the individual through strategic questioning, specific actions to take, and focused listening, which give the individual a more active role.

The Coaching Model contends that the individual client (individual) has the answer; he just has to be asked the right questions to arrive at the answers.

The concept of coaching is gaining momentum throughout the country, as evidence in a February 5, 1996 Newsweek article that states: "Part partner, part consultant, part motivational speaker, part therapist, part rent-a-friend, coaches work with managers, entrepreneurs, and just plain folks, helping them define and achieve their goals - career, personal, or, most of the time, both."

When implementing a new program anywhere, I always like to start with an exercise called the "Personal and Professional Clean Sweep," which helps me learn more about where the client is in his/her career and personal life.

I also ask the client to identify his biggest challenge professionally and personally, and to identify and list the top 10 things they are tolerating - the things they are putting up with or don't like.

In our society, we are taught that this is part of the human condition and that we should not complain about it, we should grin and bear it, not rock the boat, go along with it, etc. We are taught that there is something noble about carrying around a large burden.

What we are not taught is that the things we merely tolerate can drain our energy, crush our natural creativity, stunt our work, and fatigue us.

In our professional lives, we may feel stressed out, inadequately trained, bullied by a tough boss, poorly paid, and ill-equipped for the job at hand.

I like to know what my clients are tolerating so that I can help them divest themselves of all their debilitating baggage.

This is a somewhat radical approach, especially when dealing with a group. However, as people begin to work on their tolerations, their biggest challenges seem to become less overwhelming.

In our model Coaching Model, we also work hard on building strength and dealing with weaknesses.

It is amazing what happens when people start accepting their own weaknesses. They become more willing to accept the perceived weaknesses of others and tend to become much less critical of others in their organization. This is a key step in team building.

In an effort to deal with weaknesses, I use an exercise called "What They Want to Do vs What They Feel They Have to Do."

What comes up in the first category ("what they want to do") is their strengths. People get very excited working on the things they love to do, and that can be valuable in building a team. One person's strength can be another person's weakness and by paying attention to both, we can wind up with more people doing what they like doing.

The ongoing educational component of this kind of mentoring, or "coaching," is that you wind up with better listeners.

In all our individual relationships in businesses and organizations, the lack of effective listening skills poses one of the biggest obstacles in communication.

We are often tempted to think about our responses rather than our listening. Or we believe that we al ready know what the other person is going to say and so we simply interrupt or wait impatiently for our turn to speak.

Listening with our whole being is a tremendous skill. When we call someone a "good listener," we may be bestowing the highest compliment we can pay him or her.

Listening Rules

The following listening rules can help develop this skill:

1. Stop talking! It is difficult to listen and speak at the same time.

2. Put the other person at ease. Give him or her space and time and "permission" to speak at their own pace. How we look at them, how we stand or sit, make a huge difference. Relax, and let them relax as well.

3. Show everyone you want to hear them. Look at them. Nod your head when you can agree. Ask them to explain further if you do not understand.

4. Remove distractions. Good listening means being willing to turn off the noise around you. Close the door, stop reading your mail. Give the speaker your full attention, and let him know he is getting your full attention.

5. Empathize with the other person, especially if he is telling you something painful, or something you intensely disagree with. Take a moment to stand in his shoes to look at the situation from his point of view.

6. Ask a lot of questions. Ask the speaker to clarify, to say more, give an example or explain further. It will help him speak more precisely and it will help you hear and understand him more accurately.

Benefits

The benefits of this mentoring program to a university and other groups and organizations include:

* Solves problems within the school/workplace environment.

* Develops more powerful communicators.

* Enhances the leadership tolls necessary to sustain a dynamic work community.

* Develops skill in dealing with grievances.

* Creates a sequence of goals and a system of accountability.

* Streamlines and facilitates the administrative tasks.

* Inculcates better methods of managing time and energy.

* Defines opinions more clearly and promotes more intelligent decisions.

* Helps one gain confidence in is talents and communicate with more clarity, ease and power.

* Preserves or rekindles the vision that drew you to your career by connecting that vision to your daily activities and responsibilities.

Any time the coaching and administrative staff is communicating more effectively and becoming more cohesive, no one will ever have to worry about team morale. The final result will be superior mental and physical performance from everyone.