Event observations

I worked a Track and Field event yesterday and have made some observations on the organization of it thanks to my Graduate work.

The timeliness, preparation and ability of the staff was very good. Everyone knew what their job was and kept the meet moving to prevent backups and lost time.

 

The organizers were not as easy to find. I was there for 7 hours in the training room and did not see a single event manager. 

There was also a problem with the spectators. Due to the venue their was limited space around the track and that is where a lot of the spectators gathered. This made it very difficult to navigate through the facility and in the event of an emergency it would be catastrophic. A better option would be to close the perimeter off to spectators and have a loading area for coaches and teams on the infield or another side location once they entered the facility. Fans should be moved to the above seating or had another area set up that did not interfere with flow. 

From my perspective, there was not enough supplies for the event and that is something that I should have noticed beforehand. I also did not have a way to track the athletes that I saw and in the future need to have a way to document who was seen, for what, and what recommendations were given. 

Overall, it is a very successful event and the number of teams make it hard to stay on time and anticipate everything. Making notes on an ongoing basis will consistently help make it even better. 

Management or Leadership

       Some people believe that leading and managing are one in the same, but in reality, there are differences between them. Management deals with processes while leadership deals with people. It is possible to be good at one and not the other.

       The manager will look at what is being done, determine what needs to be done to improve and create a plan for achieving that end. A good manager will then communicate the objectives to their employees and allow them to achieve it. They will spend time overseeing the system to ensure that it is working and make any necessary changes to it. Managers strive to ensure that their system is running smoothly and that any wrinkles get ironed out before they become a problem.

       A leader will have a vision for themselves, department or organization and communicate that vision to the staff. Leaders then try and get as many people to buy into that vision as possible and then mobilize everyone to achieve it. Leaders work to develop relationships and strive to have everyone working together for a greater goal. Leaders understand that each employee is an individual and that they will need individual coaxing.

       It is possible to be good at both, or to have a leadership team that is good at creating both systems and motivating employees. Having the ability to provide oversight in both areas of administration will keep the organization moving forward and show the staff they are valued and their work is appreciated.

Learn and Practice

I think that one of the keys to success is to learn and practice.

Investing time to learn more about a topic, skill, or job will almost always have a high return. By expanding your knowledge and critically thinking about what you learn will improve your understanding and enable you to improve. 

Learning gives one the understanding to improve. Practice creates and makes that skill better. Without understanding what your practice is for, it is hard to know if it is being correctly. Applying that practice with a purpose is what sharpens skills. 

Whenever you read a book, attend a course or see a practical it will improve your learning. Taking that new information and applying it to your practice in order to enhance what you already do makes you better. By constantly learning and practicing these new things you become better and better and your performance improves. 

Coaching is managing

           Do you notice that the successful coaches are the ones that get their players to develop their skills, execute them at the right time and come together as a team when it matters?

            Managing is very similar to coaching and a lot of managers could learn a thing or two from observing how successful coaches interact with their players.

            In order to field a good team the coach has to know what each player’s strengths, weaknesses, and limitations are in order to determine how they can be effectively used on the field. The same is true of mangers trying to establish a winning team in the office. They need to know each one of the team members and what they bring to the table. Then, they need to determine how each person can effectively contribute to make projects a success.

            Players practice in order to get better. The coach guides the practice, determines what is being addressed that day, what needs help, where to spend extra time and how to ensure that the players are being developed in a way that contributes to the overall team. A good manager will train their staff. Working with the staff members to acquire new skills, or sharpen existing skills, helps each person improve. The better the overall quality of the staff, the better the team.

            When it’s game time, the coach knows that this is an opportunity to see how effective he has been in coaching his team and how well they execute. They will look to see how the team comes together and what the skills look like that they have been working on. If there is something wrong with the game plan they make adjustments to correct it. Managers do the same thing. By observing their staff in action they can see how well they have understood the objectives and work to solve problems. If it looks like there is a problem, they can then make the necessary changes and recheck to see how it looks.

Poor coaches, just like poor managers, pace up and down, yell, holler and scream, blame the other team or the officials for not being fair and berate team members for not playing well. Good coaches sit and observe. The want to know how well the team is coming together, what is working well, what needs improvement and where to put their energy in the next practice to get better for the next competition. They do not shout or blame others; they take responsibility for themselves and the team. If there is a bad call then they voice their concern respectfully. The same is true of managers, if they are not providing constructive feedback, then how can the team improve? Instead, give clear, precise feedback about what needs to be done right now in order to be successful.

In order to get the most from each member of your staff, think of yourself as a coach. It is your job to determine what skills are needed for the position, develop training programs to improve those skills, monitor how well the staff displays those skills and make any adjustments. The better a manager gets at doing this the more productive the staff will be.

Management

The job of a manager is to create systems, train staff in those systems and monitor those systems for success.

What tends to happen is that systems do not get created, team members are not adequately trained in the system or given clear expectations, or the system is not looked after once it is created. This then leads to confusion, lack of accountability and stagnation amongst the team.

For success to happen the manager needs to be actively involved with the team and the processes to see what is working, what is not, and how things can be done more efficiently. It is the job of the manager to make sure that the systems that are created are working appropriately and that the entire team is functioning as a cohesive group. If this is not happening, then the manager needs to find out why and fix it.

If the problem is the lack of an organized process that is leading to confusion among the team, then a system needs to be created and explained to the team to provide clarification on expectations. If the systems are in place and are not being followed, maybe the system itself is poor and needs to be changed, or perhaps the team members are wantonly disregarding it. If this is the case then there needs to be a conversation revisiting job duties with clear expectations and clearly defined repercussions for not doing what is expected.

It could be that the team is following the system, but it is out of date and no longer an effective means of operation. In this case, talk with the team about what would work better and work to create a system that is going to improve team efficiency and productivity.

Constantly monitoring the processes in place and actively working with the team to make things better will create an enjoyable work environment that boosts productivity.

stretch or not to stretch

Should you stretch? If so, when should you stretch? This depends on what type of stretching, when you are stretching and why you are stretching.

The different stretches are static stretching, which involves taking a muscle to a slightly uncomfortable length and holding it for 30-60 seconds.
Dynamic stretching involves reciprocal inhibition (contracting one muscle to relax its opposite) in order to improve the range of motion at a joint.
Ballistic involves a quick contraction past the point of comfort and is not recommended.

Prior to performing an activity it is important to promote blood flow and excite the nervous system. This is best accomplished by doing some sort of calisthenics, dynamic stretching, jogging or body weight exercises to engage your neuromuscular system. The purpose of this is to prime your body prior to the activity it is about to undertake. Doing exercises that stimulate your body will prep it for the work that is to come. Static stretching prior to activity is not recommended since it can decrease performance. This makes sense since static stretching is meant to be relaxing and calming to your nervous system. This is the exact opposite of what you want when it comes to exercise and competition where the goal is to excite your nervous system to perform well.

At the end of a workout, it is ok to static stretch. It may not decrease the change of being sore, but if it feels good, then go for it! You can also static stretch throughout the day if you have muscles or regions that are chronically tight, such as hip flexors and shoulders if you are sitting all day long. Stretching like this can help alleviate that tension in your body.

Static stretching may also be used if you are recovering from an injury that has caused some muscle tightness and restrictions. You may need to stretch that area in order to improve your health and functioning at that joint.

You can also try a yoga class if you are trying to improve general flexibility. Different types of yoga have different goals, but they each involve holding varying degrees of positions in order to strengthen your body (and your mind). By holding the positions you can reset your muscle tension and improve general flexibility.

Get organized

Have you ever been to an event that had a bunch of people working, but no one seemed to know what was going on?

I recently had that experience and it was very frustrating trying to find anything or check out. I even saw 8 people by the check out area and not one could offer any help. Why is it that people coming to an event seem to know more of what is going on than the ones working the event?

If you want to run successful events you have to educate your workers. This is not something that needs to be challenging, but going over the layout, the flow, and how to field questions can easily help make the event more successful. Managers also need to get more involved by walking around and seeing how things work, or don't work. If there is a problem, address it. Do what has to be done to make it an enjoyable experience for the customers.

Spending time to make sure that the event layout makes sense and that your workers all know what their job and expectations are will go a long way to ensuring that your event is successful.