Live your life

Henry David Thoreau is famous for saying to live the life you have imagined, but many of us are not sure what actually means. How does one decide what kind of life they want to live? What steps need to be taken in order to live that life? What if the life you want runs counter to norm? I believe that living your dream life starts with your values and principles. When you determine what is important to you, it becomes easier to craft your life.

When determining your values, you need to think about what you personally want. While this seems like an easy, logical step, it can be anything but. It can become very complicated to sift through your thoughts and feelings about money, relationships, location to live in, type of career you want and spiritual decisions. To help improve the process, start by making a list of the things that are important to you. 

Once you have a list you can look it over for consistent themes and narrow it down further. This list can then serve as a foundation for writing a personal mission statement or manifesto.

Review your list and write your principles into a series of action steps that reflect those values. At the end of this exercise you should have a page or two that you can use to evaluate the opportunities in your life. Those that are in line with your values can be acted upon, those that don't can either be passed over or changed to meet those values. When you take the time to really think about what is important to you and what life you want, you can create a framework that guides your decisions to  improve and amplify your life. 

This paper reflects who you are and who you want to be. Like anything, it can change over time and there may be some corrections, but when you know what you stand for and the mark you want to leave, your life takes on more meaning. 

ACL prevention

New research came out today touting the effects of the FIFA 11 exercises. These exercises were developed to address ACL injury prevention in young female athletes and have been validated a few different times. This latest research confirms the efficacy of incorporating this type of training into your routine.

The key to injury prevention is neuromuscular training, which is the fancy way to say performing exercises properly. Learning how to move correctly improves your efficiency, decreases energy leaks, improves performance decreases risk of injury.

Typical ACL exercises involve strengthening the hamstrings through Nordic or Russian Hamstrings, Straight leg deadlifts and ball curls, learning how to squat properly with your hips back and knees over toes, not coming together, single leg squatting and lunging, core strengthening through planks and side planks and cutting drills that focus on keeping your foot under your base of support and not outside of it.

To learn more about ACL prevention talk to an athletic trainer or strength coach with experience in developing ACL exercises.

Further information:
http://f-marc.com/11plus/home/
http://www.sportsmedres.org/2014/12/fifa11-improves-performance-and-reduces-injuries.html#more

Posterolateral corner injuries

When an athlete ruptures the ACL or PCL in the knee, there is a risk for a posterolateral corner injury. This is more common in contact injuries, or with a force applied to the anteromedial aspect of the tibia. When the posterolateral corner is injured, it can affect the stability of the knee and have poorer long term outcomes if not addressed.

The posterolateral corner is composed of the LCL, popliteus tendon, capsule, biceps femoris tendon and lateral gastrocnemius tendon. An injury to this area results in tearing or those structures that cause the tibia to sublux posterior to the femur.

When assessing the knee, and the posterolateral corner, look for an increase in external rotation at 30 degrees of flexion. You can also assess for rotary instability of the knee or for posterior displacement by abducting the hip and externally rotating the tibia. A depression over the lateral aspect would lend credence to the involvement of the posterolateral corner.

Injuries to this area can result in greater instability of the knee. Even if the cruciates are reconstructed, leaving the posterolateral corner can result in graph failures and early onset of OA and degeneration of the menisci. There are different surgical approaches to fixing the posterolateral corner that would involve discussion with a surgeon.

When assessing your athletes with a suspicious mechanism, remember to check out whether the posterolateral corner is involved to aid in treatment and rehabilitation decisions.

Online etiquette

The digital age that we are currently in has definitely made the world smaller and communication easier, but also somewhat impersonal. It is easy to get caught in a habit of having your online persona clash with your personal one. 

When someone writes an article/blog or posts a video, picture or other form of communication it is important to respect it. You do not have to agree with them, and part of the digital age is open dialogue, but do so in a professional manner. No one likes to see threads of people attacking and antagonizing others. Keep your responses short, constructive and polite. If you wouldn't say what you write to someone's face, then don't write it. 

When someone posts an article, they are sharing their thoughts and ideas with others. If they have done their reaearch, this should be in a persuasive manner. It takes courage to write and put yourself out there, so be respectful. Engaging with them can help clarify points and reach new perspectives. 

If your posting something use the mom rule. Do not post anything that you would be embarrassed about if your mother saw. This will help you make smart decisions in your posts. 

I have seen quite a few posts that do not follow simple etiquette. If you want to be seen as smart and articulate, then proof all your posts and comments first. Make sure that it is what you want to say and that it elevates the conversation. Adhering to those guidelines will improve your online persona. 

Marketing

Between my graduate coursework and my taking on more marketing responsibilities at work, I have come to realize how vitally important marketing is to an organization. Before learning more about it I did not fully grasp this importance and was ineffective in my ability to market the programs that I was in charge of. While I thought the programs themselves were good, they were not advertised properly where the potential customers would see and become excited about them, which led to lower sales.

This leads me the first thing I learned; marketing is customer focused. Advertising is sales focused with the result being to buy the product. But, marketing is placing the product in front of the desired customer and having them see at it and realize this is what they were looking for. It is geared toward the wants, needs and desires of the customer.

The typical marketing plan consists of understanding the P's, product, price, placement and promotion. While these are very important in helping to understand what the product is and what the value is to the organization, it is not necessarily meeting objective number one. The P's are indeed important, but need to revolve around the needs of the customer and therefor meet the needs of the organization.

Understanding your customer involves a lot of work. There are a lot of people available to see your product on any given day, but how many of them are potential customers? You need to know where they live, what the competition is and how you are different. It is important to engage with your customers to learn what they want, need or desire and then deliver it to them. Trying to dictate to them what they need is advertising, and not successful in the long term. Communicating with them about they actually want creates a deeper bond and establishes brand loyalty.

Be wary with how you utilize social media. Social media has made it easier than ever to engage in dialogue with your customers and learn more about them. It can also be very tempting to place a lot of advertising and promotions on social media for your customers to see. If your posts are routinely advertisements, your customers will start to tune you out. Instead, use social media to develop a greater overall picture of your organization. Incorporate educational material into your posts so that your customer can learn more information that is valuable to them. This leads them to see you as the expert. Incorporate some personal information and fun into your posts. Social media is personal and it allows your to showcase your personality. This helps your customers see the real people behind the organization. If some of the posts are fun, the customers feel that they are missing something if they are not engaging with you. Once they start to see that your posts are fun, education and personal they will respond better when you do place that product advertisement  or promotion in front of them. First, develop a relationship to learn about their problem, then place your product (or solution to their problem) in front of them.

Good to great

I just finished reading 'Good to Great' by Jim Collins and I learned quite a bit. It was pretty interesting to discover the results of their research on what made some companies thrive and others stagger. The following is what I learned when I completed the book:

Great companies have Level 5 leaders. I know that this has been studied by numerous people since the book was published, so I won't belabor the point. Concisely, level 5 leaders come from within the organization and use that understanding to drive forward growth. They focus on establishing a great team and a culture of discipline that allows the people in the organization the ability to thrive. They focus success outward and channel failure inward.

 Great companies focus on their people. They hire the best people they can find and give them the flexibility within their culture to be great. Good people are self motivated and driven for success and the challenge for the leader is not to motivate them, but not to de-motivate them.

Great companies face the truth. When companies look to determine the potential for growth it has to be done in a truthful manner that really takes into consideration the total environment. Great companies understand themselves, their product and the business landscape and they do not enter the field if they cannot be successful.

Great companies focus on developing a hedgehog concept. This concept is the simple truth about what their business is: what do they do better than everyone, that they are passionate about and that fits their economic ratio? The energy is focused into this concept with extreme discipline to achieve success.

The economic denominator is the ratio by which great companies determine their success. It varies depending on the company, but can be profit per customer, profit per customer visit, profit per purchase, etc. Each decision is graded on how well it fits this ratio.

Great companies are not made overnight, rather it is the accumulation of their drive and discipline over time that leads to continued success. Great companies focus on the process: get great leadership, get great people, face the truth, and create a culture that leads to consistency over time to produce outstanding results.

From a management standpoint, we can learn that in order to have a great product we need a great team with a common vision for shared success and the discipline to do what needs to happen to make it a reality. If the vision is line with the abilities of the people, the available resources and the discipline to maintain the course then greatness is indeed possible. This is true of large national and international organizations, small local businesses and athletic teams. If the pieces have been thoroughly understood and placed together then they will achieve greatness within their realm.

From an investment standpoint, if you are able to identify those unique companies that have been able to curate their hedgehog concept and be consistent over time you will find an opportunity to beat the market by far. These companies produce returns that are far superior to the general market and their competitors, so including them in your portfolio will increase your holdings.

Business planning

You have probably heard of the adage ‘failure to plan is planning to fail’ or the proverb of the 6 P’s Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. The moral of both of them is that by taking the time to plan ahead of time can help with a crisis later on. A crisis may not always be averted, but having a framework in place makes it easier to manage when they do occur.  Taking the time to write a business plan is a very important step and failing to do so will lead to a crisis later on.

A business plan does not necessarily have to be a long complicated document, but it does need to put your business idea down on paper and identify the purpose of the business. It should cover the following:

• The customer
• The environment and market conditions the customers reside in
• The strategy of the business including its structure and function
• The financial feasibility of the business including all costs to build it

This document then serves as a reference for the decision making process. When deciding what avenue to grow the business or how to adequately spend your time, this plan helps to align your end goal with the steps needed to get there. If something does not fit with the strategy of the business then choose something that does.

It appears that one of the reasons businesses struggle is they either lack a coherent plan, or they veer away from that plan. There was  a reason the business was started and getting away from that vision may not prove profitable. If the proper effort is put into identifying the current and potential future market position and determining the avenues for generating revenue, and hopefully profit, then the business should be in a position to achieve its initial objective (assuming that the vision is realistic and attainable). By changing direction without a plan in place, there is less of a certainty of future success.

It is very important to take the time to really think about the business, why the business exists and who it exists for and then trying to identify the markers for future success. This process of thinking through what the business is helps to clarify the mission and objectives. Putting the time in up front will save a lot of time, and money, later.

Effective communication

One of the most common causes of work and personal relationship struggles is communication. I know you have undoubtedly heard on numerous occasions that communication is vital for success, but it bears repeating. The ability to communicate effectively with all of your stakeholders will improve your leadership ability and overall success.

Communication requires a two way exchange of information: a sender and a receiver. In this model, there are several ways for communication to breakdown; the sender can fail to send the communication, the receiver can fail to receive the communication,  or the receiver may not be decoding the communication message properly.

In the first scenario, the sender fails to send the communication. This is when someone does not initiate the communication process: no verbal, nonverbal or written communication exists. In this case, there is no message for the receiver to retrieve and therefore, cannot be acted upon. Always make sure that if you say you will do something, follow up with it and let the other parties know.

The second scenario is the receiver not receiving the communication. This may happen due to interference in the communication medium: crash of the server, distracted surrounding when listening, different language. This is the case when the receiver is not readily engaged with the sender and is not getting the message correctly. To fix this, make sure that you are readily engaged with the sender and able to decode the message properly.

The third scenario regards decoding the message. If the sender sends a message to the receiver and the receiver gets the message, but does not decode the message accurately then there will be a lapse in communication. The prime example of this is when the receiver hears what they want to hear and neglects the rest of the communication. They got the message, but did not properly translate its meaning. To help with this always speak back the message to the sender to confirm accuracy, or ask the receiver to repeat back what you have asked.

Communcation is vital to the success of relationships and businesses. In order to communicate effectively try these tips:

• Communicate whenever somebody other than you needs to know something. People like to know what is going on if it affects them
• Keep the message clear and simple. This makes the message shorter and thus harder to be misunderstood
• Actively listen to understand the full meaning. This avoids distractions and focus on the sender
• Repeat back what is said to confirm understanding of the message

Taking the time to make sure that the messages that are sent and received are the same will go a long way to creating better understanding among groups and build a foundation of trust.

Long term athletic development

There is some buzz in the athletic performance and strength and conditioning industry regarding 'long term athletic development', but what exactly is that?

The main process behind LTAD is the realization that youth athletes have a lot of years to play sports, grow physically, socially, and emotionally and develop skills at each stage in their athletic career. A lot of current programs, for all ages, promise quick results, fast gains and reaching your peak in a short period of time. LTAD involves taking a step back, looking at the athlete as a whole and developing a process to make them a better athlete globally.

In order to achieve ongoing results, you first have to know the athlete. What their goals are, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, how they move, how they perform exercises and what is the process in which to create global improvement. This global improvement is not geared toward one sport. Playing a single sport does develop motor skills, coordination and specific movements for that sport, but it can also limit total development of the athlete and stunt their potential. An athlete that only plays soccer can be predisposed to hip injuries and never develop any throwing skills or quick start and stop skills that could improve their game and make them better athletes.

LTAD is the foundation used to make athletes better athletes. It involves a systematic program to introduce exercises, progress those exercises and tie those exercises into a sport. Many programs focus on only one facet of a program and neglect the other pieces. There are speed schools, agility classes, core classes and strength programs for athletes of all ages, but few places take all of those components and put them together in a larger framework to create well rounded athletes: that is LTAD. It is understanding that athletes need a combination of strength, power, speed, reaction, acceleration, deceleration, agility, endurance and recovery and then creating a program that systematically addresses each component in an organized manner to deliver consistent results over time. Does this mean that a youth player will experience significant growth in 6 weeks? No. It means that the youth player will develop a foundation for ongoing engagement and learning that will lead to improvement and growth this year, next year, the year after that and so on.

The best way to have healthy, happy athletes is to expose them to different sports and challenge their ability to improve in a consistent manner over time.

Choosing a system

As a strength coach working with teams to improve strength, speed, agility and conditioning I quickly learned how important it was to develop a system in order to make my life essier and my programs better.

When I first started out I would write each workout a day or 2 beforehand and give only minimal thought to the other sessions. It did not take long to learn how much more work it added since I had to look at what I did last time, decide what to keep and progress, what to introduce and what to phase out. My lack of work up front turned into a lot of work later.

Once I had more than one group or team I was training it became imperative to develop a system for what I wanted to accomplish. My approach then became to talk with the player and coaches to develop the goals for the team and then the time paremeters I had to work with to work toward achieving those goals.

The fitness industry abounds with different programs, philosophies and ways of doing things. As you learn more, progress professionally and train the same types if clients you start to have your own way of doing things. This way of doing things that you adapt starts to form the framework for your system. I believed in training athletes how to move more efficiently, develop body weight strength and power and get quicker, faster and more fit. Once I knew this, I began to put a system in place to achieve my goals and replicate it with other teams and groups. 

The most important factor I learned in developing my system was that it had to be easy for me to teach and easy for the players to learn. I do not necessarily believe that there are bad systems (although some may be better than others) but there is bad implementation, both in teaching it to athletes and them learning it. 

I believe that this is the most critical favctor in creating a system for business, training and life. It has to be easy to teach and easy to learn. It will change and evolve over time as you learn new things and make adjustments just like any other good program, but if the foundation is not strong then no matter how much you learn you will not effective. 

Your system is a reflection of you: your philosophy, values and personality. When you create it as a reflection of yourself you will improve your ability to implement it. 

6 E's of personal leadership

While working with teams I noticed that I was not always successful in creating the environment that I was looking for. As I took a step back to look at how I behaved and the goals I was trying to establish I came up with my 6 E’s of personal leadership.

Envision: Think about the direction to take the team based on your assessment and discussion with the individuals and coaches.

Empower: Create ownership of the task at hand so that the team wants to achieve it. Involve them in the decisions so they know what the plan is and that their input is valued.

Engage: Connect with each team member as an individual. Ask about their day and get to know them. Develop a personal relationship with the individuals and the team.

Encourage: Push them to achieve more. Know what their limits are and get them to push those limits so they set new ones. If they are always comfortable they will not improve.

Energetic: Always bring your best self every day. Be happy and excited to be there. Energy is infectious, both positive and negative. Positive energy creates a positive environment.

Enthusiastic: Complement the little things and support everyone. Be their cheerleader as well as their coach. When things are not going as planned it is easy to get down, but turn it around and work for something greater. Small improvements make big changes over time.

I encourage everyone to take a step back when working with teams to evaluate how things are going. When you notice patterns in your, and others, behavior, come up with a way to change it. 5 E’s works for me, what will work for you?

Knee pain in runners

Anterior knee pain, or knee pain over the front of the knee, is a very common malady with runners. It generally results from too much strain being placed across that joint by the quadriceps taking too much force on impact. While this injury can be very painful and limit the ability to run effectively, it is generally non-surgical and can be treated and prevented.

Strengthening the hips: Increasing the strength of the glute muscles aids in force production and force absorption that decreases the stress on the knees. Perform band walks, bridges, bird dogs and proper squats/lunges to strengthen the hips.

Strengthening your core: Core strength helps with maintaining your hip alignment and posture. When you tire, your body is not maintaining form and other muscles have to work harder. Perform various plank variations and bird dogs to increase your core strength and endurance.

Running mechanics: Having your form assessed can see if there is anything wrong with your gait that is predisposing you to knee pain. There are also numerous books and blogs about how to improve your running gait. There are a few consistencies: run at 90 steps per minute, this means decreasing your stride length and increasing stride frequency. Along with this is landing with your foot under your hips which puts you in a good position to push off again.

Ice: Ice after a run can help calm down any discomfort.

Monitor your volume and intensity. Training too hard too quickly is a sure fire way to end up in pain, so make sure that you increase gradually.

Working on strengthening up the chain helps to increase strength and decrease impact across the knees. Add these in to your routine and your pain should decrease.

New Power

Social media is bringing about a new paradigm in the realm of power: a transition from the typical Institutional view of power, to a larger, participation driven influence. With this change comes the struggle to adapt to the changing atmosphere. How can companies maintain their influence in this new era?

Power used to concentrated in the hands of a few. These institutions had the knowledge and used that knowledge to get customers to come to them. In the shifting world, knowledge is shared across networks, increasing the collective knowledge of all. This shared knowledge takes power away from the Institutions and makes it harder for them to use their typical sales approach of 'come to me'.

Even though the Institutions are making changes in an effort to adapt by creating social platforms and trying to engage with customers, they are struggling to do it effectively. These organizations need to focus on their customers and the influence they can have upon them. Engaging on a platform is not enough, they need to have a central theme, show value to their customers and provide a forum for ongoing discussion. When the Institution is able to actively engage with their customers in this new use of media, they will be able to expand their influence and garner greater power.

Reference
Heimans, J and Timms, H. (2014, December). Understanding 'new power'. Harvard Business Review.

Hip flexor tightness

I was talking with a  friend of mine who is having hip pain and wondering what to do for it. She has been seeing a practitioner for active release, but is not sure what to do on her own to help keep it from being too tight. Tight hips are a common malady in the population since so many of us sit throughout the day which puts our hip flexors in a shortened position. In order to restore normal motion focus on these things:

 

Strengthen the glutes: your muscles act as opposites, so if your hip flexors are tight it means your glutes are not tight enough. Focus on bridges, squats and lunges to strengthen them.

 

Reverse lunge with overhead reach: I really like this one for stretching the quads, hip flexor and abdominals. Perform a reverse lunge and reach both arms up as high as you can and hold for a few seconds, then switch legs. Perform 3-5 reps each.

 

Kneeling stretch: get into a half kneeling position and reach your same arm as the knee on the ground in the air, push forward and raise your foot for a greater stretch. Hold for 60 sec.

 

Self-release: Get into a half kneeling position and apply pressure over the hip flexor then lean forward at your hip to relax the muscle and then extend your hip and sit up straight to increase pressure. Perform 2-3 sets of 10 reps.

 

Value of Marketing

I just read Theodore Levitt's Harvard Business Review article "Marketing Myopia" where he argues that every industry used to be a growth industry at some point in its history. He explains that companies go through similar life events; growth, maturity and decay and that without adapting to the world around them, companies die.

He believes that there are no growth companies, rather, companies take advantage of growth opportunities, and the better a company is able to identify those opportunities, and exploit them, leads to its growth and survival.

Companies need to spend more time looking outward and not be as focused on what is happening inward. This allows them to understand their customers; their wants, needs, and desires and then place their product in front of them in a manner that meets those needs. Companies that focus inward only work on trying to create the next big thing or to develop their product that they then try and get customers to like and buy. But, if they never understand what it is that they want, they leave themselves open to stagnation and competitors who deliver superior products.

In order to understand the customer, companies need to develop a relationship with them and engage in meaningful dialogue. This has never been easier than in the era of social media where customers expect companies to be available. A company is now able to reach their customers (or at least the percentage of their customers that use social media) and perform their own market research. They get instant feedback on their products, what is liked, what is not liked, what they wish it did, and in turn bring that information to their product developers and challenge them to make it better. This new, and customer inspired, product is then brought out for consumption and the process can begin again.

In order to avoid the declining stage of a company's life, it needs to be aware of what is happening in its environment and adapt accordingly. The old adage 'adapt of die' is very true in business. In order to stay relevant and maintain their customer base, business have to create products that customers want, improve the product over time and adapt to what the market shows.

Evaluations

When it comes to evaluations, don’t wait until the end of the year to have yours. People need ongoing encouragement and check ins to ensure that they are improving what was talked about and waiting for a yearly review will not be in anyone’s best interests. To make the review process more smooth have more ongoing discussions to prevent any problems from surfacing later. No one likes surprises when they could have learned about it, and changed it, earlier.

 

It is also important to remember that what gets measured gets changed. If you have an employee with a poor attitude, but who performs well and the only that is measured are sales, then they will probably not change their attitude. If the attitude needs changing, make it a larger part of the weighted total.

 

Set specific goals. Make sure to really get to know the person, what their job is, what they think their job is and what goals they have. Use this information to customize their job description to accurately reflect them as an individual. Then, set specific goals for them to achieve and measure that progress on an ongoing basis. When people feel that they are understood and involved in the process, they are more likely to succeed.

 

Align their personal goals with organizational strategy. Once their job has been customized to reflect them and you know what their personal and career goals are, you can put that in context to the larger strategy. Work with them to see how their performance interacts with the organization. This can create better engagement and make them feel more valued in their role when they see how it relates to the bigger picture.

 

The review process is not meant to be done only once or twice a year. It is a time to really discuss the job, the concerns and work together to solve problems on an ongoing basis. As people and relationships grow, so too should the process. Waiting until the next review to let someone know how they are doing is not going to improve trust, efficiency or success for anyone. Getting to know people, their insights, their values and their goals and working with them consistently will have a positive impact on everyone.

Coaching and accountability

There was an article that was published today in Precision Nutrition that discussed why people struggle to attain the look they want.

Even though people are educated, eat well,  and exercise, they are not always able to achieve their fitness goals.

Part of the problem is the fact that people are not accountable to anyone, and therefore, are not working hard enough to achieve them. Something happens to derail them, and these common setbacks make it harder for them to realize their ideal version of themselves.

Achieving the body you have always wanted is very hard; it requires commitment, determination, hard work, clean eating and adequate recovery. If you are finding it hard to achieve your goals, then it may be time to try to recruit others to your cause.

Find a workout buddy. Having to meet someone at the gym who has similar goals to your own can increase your chances of following through on a workout.

Hire a coach. There are plenty of options for this one: personal trainer/small groups/online or virtual coaching. The main thing is that someone else is overseeing your plan and checking in with you to check on your compliance.

Partner. The nutritional aspect of your plan is often the hardest, and it is harder when you are busy, have a family to worry about and struggle to make food. Talking to your partner about your goals and getting their support can be a huge weight off your shoulders. That person is there with you every day keeping you on track, and may even join you in your adoption of a healthy lifestyle.

Reaching your goals is possible, but it takes hard work and proper coaching. Working with others can help you get there, and stay there.

Respect

In an article in the Harvard Business Journal, the author notes that 50% of employees do not feel respected by their bosses. This directly translates into poorer employee engagement and performance.

 

The simple act of respecting those that you work with, and who work for you, will increase the productivity of the staff. The challenge is that some managers may not be aware that they are not respecting their staff.

 

It is important to respect those you work with and make the effort to treat them how they want to be treated. If you are not sure how your actions are perceived, ask a trusted colleague or mentor to keep an eye out for you. When you learn how your actions affect others, it can be easier to change.

Characteristics of High Performance Organizations

I just read a paper that attempted to determine the factors that create a high performance organization. They author's definition of high performance organization is 'an organization that achieves financial and non-financial results that are exceedingly better that those of its peer group over a period of time of five years or more, by focusing in a disciplined way on that what really matters to the organization'.
Based on the literature review of over 200 articles, the author categorized the factors that influenced success. Those organizations that were high performing had the following characteristics in common:
Autonomy 
1. The organisation has a flat structure: there are few hierarchical layers.
2. In the organisation people of different organisational units can easily cooperate.
3. The management of the organisation allows experiments.
4. The organisation has an open culture.
5. In the organisation organisational members have the freedom to decide and act.
Continuous Improvement and Renewal
 6. The organisation has adopted a strategy that clearly sets it apart from other organisations.
7. In the organisation processes are continuously improved.
8. In the organisation processes are continuously simplified.
9.  In the organisation processes are continuously aligned.
10. In the organisation what matters to the organisation's performance is explicitly reported.
11. In the organisation both financial and non-financial information is reported to organisational members.
36.  The organisation continuously innovates its core competencies.
37.  The organisation continuously innovates its products, processes and services.
Openness and Action Orientation 
12.  Management of the organisation frequently engages in a dialogue with employees.
13.  Organisational members spend much time on communication, knowledge exchange and learning.
14.  Organisational members are involved in important processes. 26.  Management of the organisation allows mistakes to be made.
29.  Management of the organisation welcomes change.
30.  The organisation is performance driven.
Management Quality 
15.  Management of the organisation is trusted by organisational members.
16.  Management of the organisation has integrity.
17.  Management of the organisation is a role model for organisational members.
18.  Management of the organisation applies fast decision making.
19.  Management of the organisation applies fast action taking.
20.  Management of the organisation coaches organisational members to achieve better results.
21.  Management of the organisation focuses on achieving results.
22.  Management of the organisation is very effective.
23.  Management of the organisation applies strong leadership.
24.  Management of the organisation is confident.
25.  Management of the organisation is decisive with regard to non-performers.
31.  The management of the organisation always holds organisational members responsible for their results.
Workforce Quality 
27.  The management of the organisation inspires organisational members to accomplish extraordinary results.
28.  Organisational members are trained to be resilient and flexible.
31.  The management of the organisation always holds organisational members responsible for their results.
34.  The organisation has a diverse and complementary workforce.
41.  The organisation grows through partnerships with suppliers and/or customers.
Long-Term Orientation 
38.  The organisation maintains good and long-term relationships with all stakeholders.
39.  The organisation is aimed at servicing the customers as best as possible.
41. The organisation grows through partnerships with suppliers and/or customers.
42.  Management of the organisation has been with the company for a long time.
43.  New management is promoted from within the organisation.
44.  The organisation is a secure workplace for organisational members.

By learning and implementing these characteristics into your own organization you can improve your processes, leadership, employee engagement and customer satisfaction and become high performing.

To read the complete article:
deWaal, A. (2012). Characteristics of high performance organizations. Journal of Management Research (4) 4, 39-71.

Create positive impact

I just listened to a speaker who said that the purpose of life is to create positive impact. Wow! How profound when you stop and think about that, create positive impact.

When you adopt this philosophy your life takes on a different meaning. You approach life, relationships and work in a different manner. One in which you do your best to improve the world around you and leave it better than when you arrived. 

I will personally take this as a challenge and I encourage everyone to do the same. Create a positive impact in whatever you do. Make decisions for the right reasons. Be great at whatever you do and strive every day to leave a good impression and improve your life and the lives of others. 

People and processes

Leadership is about people.

Management is about processes.

Those individuals that truly want to be successful and help themselves, their coworkers, employees and organization grow will use both.

Leadership is the ability to connect with people and influence them toward a central purpose. Leaders are present at multiple levels in and around organizations and teams and some leaders elevate their group while others bring it down.

Ideally, leaders work to improve and bring people up, but that is not always the case. Effective leaders hold high standards and their influence is to raise the bar for performance.

Managers seek to create systems and make things run more smoothly. They seek to understand what is the best way to accomplish a task and then create a system to do it that all the time. In this way, there is little energy wasted and things run smoothly. Unfortunately, this is assuming that there is one way to do things. Most of the time there are numerous ways of accomplishing tasks and the environment is always changing so that the process is evolving. Managers that seek input and are constantly striving to make things better will be successful.

Managers that seek to have operations run smoothly, elicit input from their people and work with them to achieve greatness are the most successful. These are the individuals who have blended their ability manage both their people and their processes.

Power of systems

Yesterday, I was at an event and saw a bunch of people scrambling around to prepare. This particular situation was due, in part, to having new employees who were not fully aware of their responsibilities, but it got me thinking about the value of creating systems.

When an event or a process needs to be completed more than once, and needs to be done the same way, it is wise to create a process for how to do it. This makes it very easy to create consistency, decrease set up and take down time, and systemize the process so that everyone knows how things are going to be done and what needs to be done.

When organizing an athletic event, this includes making sure the floor is clean, the gym is scheduled and blocked off, the bleachers are out, the facility is set up for the sport, the score board is set up and in running order, the referees are scheduled, the benches are set up for home and away teams, there is water available for athletes and other necessary equipment is set up and ready to go.

This can be put down into a checklist to be done the day of, just prior, and at the conclusion of every event for that sport. Once this is created, it should be communicated with all the individuals who are responsible for that sport and copies should be kept in an easily accessible manner.

Having a system in place makes it much easier for everyone involved and allows updates to be done easily, and errors to be evaluated and addressed quickly.

 

Helmets do not prevent concussions

This is a nice article that discusses the fact that helmets do not prevent concussions.

The type of helmet worn did not have an impact on sustaining a concussion, or the amount of time lost in the case of sustaining a concussion.

 

This reinforces the fact that helmets are not able to prevent a concussion, although they can prevent other head and facial injuries.

 

A lot of concussion prevention is strength, awareness and proper technique training. Focusing on those aspects of prevention may be more beneficial than strapping on a new helmet and thinking you are safe.

The Essential Drucker

The more I learn the more I realize how little I know.

This book was no different, Peter Drucker is an expert on management theory and his viewpoints forced me to think and expand my understanding.

 

He argues that having a product is irrelevant if there is no consumer. In order to have a consumer, one has to understand them: who they are and what they want. Only by learning about the customer can he create a product that the customer wants.

 

The consumer is the one who defines the business. Their purchasing decisions determine where the products go and how they are being used. Learning how customers use the product can improve the ability to meet customer needs and wants more effectively.

 

Knowledge workers need a challenge. They become stagnant and mentally bored without it. They can achieve a challenge by performing new tasks, starting a new job, or volunteering time in a non-profit organization.

 

People respond differently to leadership strategies. It is important to know how each person reacts and then apply that strategy with that person.

 

The foundation for effective leadership is thinking through the organization’s mission, defining it and establishing it, clearly and visibly. These basic tasks, although not easy, determine the future of the organization. It sets the table for the product, the customer, the objectives for success and how the organization seeks to finds its place in the world.

 

The essence of management is to make knowledge productive. In this era of knowledge workers who are paid to think rather than perform manual labor, it is important to get them to contribute effectively to the organization’s mission.

When managing workers it is important to ask them to identify what they feel their role is and how they contribute to the organization. Bases on this, ask them to define their own performance goals for accountability. Their view will not be the same as the manager view and this approach helps to bridge that gap. 

 

He also discusses time management and how we do not know how time is allocated in the day. Keeping track of the day to see how it is spent is effective at noticing patterns. Once patterns are formed, it is then a matter of eliminating the non essential tasks and focus on what each person does that contributes the most.

What I learned about leadership

I just finished writing an essay for class on the role of leadership in strategy. Here is a summary of what I learned after doing the research and writing the essay:

1.       There are many different types of leaders and the effective ones have the ability to assess their surroundings and develop a vision that fits their unique circumstances taking the staff, organizational structure, internal and external environments into consideration and motivating all the staff members and subgroups to achieve that organizational vision.

2.       Ineffective leaders fail to accurately assess their surrounding and they attempt to craft visions and strategies that are not possible to achieve with the current resources. This incongruence leads to frustration, poor performance and mistrust.

3.       Effective leaders change their interactions with their followers as the situation calls for. If a task is closed, routine and there is limited time and then the leader is more autocratic. If the task is open, non-routine and there is more time the leader is more democratic.

4.       Followers in general prefer their leaders to be transformative and different followers of separate groups prefer social support, democratic decision making or autocratic decision making

5.       Transformational leaders are most effective in navigating an organization through a change or a period of upheaval. Once the objectives have been met and the organization is stable, then the leader must change their style toward more transactional in order to maintain their current course. Constant organizational change is not an effective long term strategy.

6.       Lassiez-faire leaders are ineffective. Their followers do not trust them and do not understand what their role is.

7.       Communication is important. Leaders need to be able to articulate what their expectations are, what the steps are to achieve the organizational strategy, what objectives they are going to use to evaluate their success and how each person can contribute to the overall success.

8.       When there is a change in leadership, the organizational will experience an initial decrease in performance until the new leader can change the strategy and motivate the members to perform for will. The longer a leader is in their role, the more successful the organizational (in general).

 

It is clear that every situation is different and this is why it is so hard to identify key features of successful leaders, and why some leaders experience success in one role, but failure in another. It takes constant monitoring of the overall circumstances to achieve success and every change demands a different approach. Successful leaders have the ability to either change the situation to their benefit, or choose situations that best utilize their skill set.

Running drills

Nothing is easier than running, right? You tie on your shoes, open up the door, and start.

Why then, are there so many injuries?

If something is that easy, why are we always trying to improve upon it?

 

As it is, running is a good form of exercise and it is easy to do. However, like other forms of exercise it is important to understand where you are and develop a plan to get to where you want to be. Everyone has a different ability to run and tolerate the stress of running. It is important to start easy while building a base and then progressively increase the activity either through time, distance, speed, hills, frequency or any combination of these.

 

Like other forms of exercise, if there is pain, back off. Take some time to cross train and recover before trying again.

 

It also helps to use good form. This link has some good tips with how to keep your form strong so that you get the most out of running and decrease your risk of injury.

 

http://naturalrunningcenter.com/2013/11/17/40-tips-improve-running-form/

 

 

Supplements

When you are trying to improve your performance, gain size or lose weight their are some thing that will help.

1. Follow a good nutritional diet. There is no replacement for eating right.

2. Proper training. Make sure your training plan is approriate and that you out forth the required work. 

3. Rest. Your body repairs itself with adequate nutrition and rest so make sure you get enough sleep. 

If you are training for a specific purpose there are additional things that can assist you, if the above are adhered to. The International Society of Sport Nutrition has listed these as apparently effective and generally safe:

Muscle building-weight gain powders, creating, protein, essential amino acids

Weight loss-low calorie foods, caffeine

Performance enhancement-water, sports drinks, carbs, creatine, caffeine, post exercise carb and protein mix

Depending on your goals, training, and nutrition, some of those supplements can help with achieving the goals. 

Acute Achilles Tendon Rupture

This morning I had the opportunity to assess a semi pro football player who injured his ankle. Upon exam he has a clinical picture consistent with an Achilles' tendon rupture. That got me thinking of the treatment options for these injuries and is surgical or non surgical treatment preferred?

I did some research and it appears that there is no clinical significance between surgical or non surgical treatment. Non surgical care has a slightly higher incidence of re rupture, but surgical has great her incidence if complications including nerve damage and infection. Both outcomes show improvement at 6 and 12 months but less than the non-injured side, as expected. 

Two treatments that seem to help regardless of surgery or no surgery are a functional brace instead of casting an early rehabilitation. 

Active individuals who want to return to activity may lean more toward surgical treatment. 

firms of endearment

I just finished this book and it was great. It is based on the premise of stakeholder centered management.
Companies can be very successful by putting their people, customers, suppliers and distributers at the forefront of everything they do. By estsblishing strong ties with these groups and working together to solve problems they have been able to create strong, successful brands and increase their performance.
By managing in a way that respects all they do business with, they have more people that want to do business with them. They maintain high quality standards that lead to increased sharsholder value.
Give it a read, it offers a different perspective to typically managed corporations.

Keep things simple

The more I learn and interact with others the more I realize how much I want to simplify my life.

Creating principles to guide what you do and what you stand for helps you keep your programming, networking and interactions simple. They can guide you in what you do and provide your basis for  your system. 

Over time you can evaluate your principles for their effectiveness and make any necessary changes to it. These principles also serve as talking points when you talk with others about how you are different and how your system provides results. 

Depending in your client base, their goals and your background, the principles you use may be different. They main thing is to understand what those are, how they work together in a system to provide results and how you evaluate their effectiveness. 

By simplifying your approach and streamlining your process you can maximize your time for other things. 

Power of a team

As much as we can try, we can't know everything. This is when it is nice to call upon those who know more than you do.

When you devote yourself to developing a specialty you learn as much as you can in that area. While your knowledge can, and often does, expand in other areas, it is hard to know everything about those subjects, too. 

When you are presented with a challenging case or a client that wants a specific outcome you need to know who to send them to. Cultivating relationships with others that have specialties different than your own can help ensure that you meet all your client's needs. 

Your clients appreciate knowing that they can ask you a question and you can find the answer. This will keep them coming back and continuing to trust you.

When you choose people to refer to it is important to make sure that they perform work at the same high level you do. Keeping the client satisfaction levels high will increase referrals and continue to expand your client base. 

Fitness Secret

Whenever you see someone really fit, strong or looking good, it is tempting to ask what their secret is. Unfortunately, there are no secrets.

The truth is it takes hard work and dedication to meet your goals, both fitness and otherwise. 

I was talking a colleague about this and some of the new research and, really, we know what works. We know that following a clean, calorie controlled diet will assist with weight loss. We know that lifting weights is important for muscular strength, power and health. Interval training will help with weight loss and fitness improvement. Doing these things will help when it comes to losing weight and building muscle. 

It is important to structure your workouts to achieve maximum results. Your goals will dictate the type of workout and training you need. In order to get the best results it involves committing to the workouts, working hard for each one, and eating and resting enough to adequately recover and adapt. These secrets will allow you to meet your goals. No shortcuts, no gimmicks, just hard work and recovery over time. 

Hamstring injuries

I was visiting a friend over the weekend who injured his hamstring a couple of months ago and is still having discomfort.

He asked me for some help and this is what I discussed with him. 

Hamstring injuries are tough: they are a main leg stabilizer and decelerate your hip and knee. When they are injured they heal weaker and shorter. Treatment is dual phase, increase the extensibility to restore normal motion and increase strength. My favorite exercises combine these things. 

Airplanes or single leg Romanian dead lifts. Hinging off the hip with the knee in one position puts stress on the hamstring to eccentrically strengthen it. 

Single leg drops help to improve the flexibility of the hamstring. 

Russian hamstrings are a very tough exercise and excellent for increasing the strength in the hamstrings. Once again the focus is on eccentric strengthening. 

Baseball presentation yesterday

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to work with a youth baseball team for speed and agility. The coaches asked me to show them some skills that they could incorporate into practice and during the off season.

Since the kids were younger pre teens or early teenagers my goal was to show some basics and not overwork them.

Our focus was on a warm up and speed drills, full speed sprint work and base stealing techniques for shuffling and transitioning to a sprint. We also did some shuffles and runs into a fielding position in order to prepare for the season. 

The kids worked hard and were pretty tired by the end. 30 min sessions over 2 hours is a lot to stay focused on and theywere struggling by the end. 

It was a good workout and prepared them for when they get outside in a couple weeks. 

Achieving fitness success

In order to effectively meet your fitness goals you need to decide what those goals are. If there are several goals then rank them in order of personal importance so you know what to focus on.

Once you have decided what your goal, or goals, are then you can create a system to achieve them. In general, the human body is very good at adapting. When you apply a stress to your body it responds. Ideally, this stress will result in changes that make it easier to withstand that stress again. This is how strength and fitness is achieved. 

If you follow a structured workout that is meant to achieve specific results then your body will undergo stress. Recovering from that stress allows your body the chance to adapt. 

Following this process of progressive overload and adequate recovery will lead to long term, consistent results. 

When injuries occur, it is attributed to your body not adapting properly. This may due to too much stress, not enough recovery, or both.

Remember, long term gains are made over time. Your workout is only as good as your ability to recover and adapt. 

Youth strength training

             When should young athletes start to strength train? Is it safe? These questions are asked of us all the time and it can be a challenge to convince parents of the safety of training since they have grown up believing that it can inhibit growth or affect the growth plates.

            It is safe for young athletes to start a resistance training program prior to puberty without risk of inhibiting growth or sustaining an injury. The American Academy of Pediatrics has published a policy statement outlining their position. The greatest risk of injury in young participants is poor coaching, and I would add unrealistic expectations.

            While a lot of us do not work directly with young athletes, we do see injuries and compensations that have originated from when they were younger. The goal of resistance training with young athletes should focus on the development of neuromuscular control, coordination, balance and movement. With this population, it is vital to lay a foundation that they can build off of as they grow and develop over the years. Programs should start with body weight exercises to develop movement and kinesthetic awareness and progress over time to include the introduction of typical strength training exercises once they have demonstrated movement proficiency. 

            Instruction should focus on teaching basic movements such as squats, lunges, lateral lunges, planks, pushups, pull-ups or rows, landing mechanics, and deceleration and change of direction drills. These key movements form the base of their sporting movements, as well as their future strength and conditioning protocols.

            Every athlete is different and has different needs, so they will progress at a different rate. Working with them to maximize their movement quality and efficiency will pay dividends for them later on. 

What do you do when you work with young athletes? What do you start doing with them? What recommendations do you give to parents of young athletes?

Resources:

American Academy of Pediatrics. Strength Training by Children and Adolescents. Policy Statement. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/121/4/835.full

IYCA. Kids Fitness Programs, should they really lift weights? http://iyca.org/kids-fitness-programs-should-kids-really-lift-weights/?inf_contact_key=5741d93b459a43e2580d5eda2335479261206ebaa7255ec5b8e680dff0b0c96f