Developing Influential Leadership, and Dynamic Culture – [NIAAA]

By: Scott Battas, CMAA - Mascoutah High School (IL)

Athletic programs at every level focus on details that will cultivate success on the field, court, or track and maximize the potential to reach goals and meet expectations. While every sport is specific as to what skills ultimately determine success in their arena, one common trait is essential to the continuity and production of any team or group: influential leadership.

As coaches and athletic directors around the country constantly look for ways to improve skills and refine techniques, teaching young people how to become influential leaders amongst their peers may be the most essential of all productive behaviors. At Mascoutah High School, we have developed our L-EAT-ERSHIP Academy with the intent of equipping our student-athletes with tools to be successful both as a competitor and in society.

Defining your Culture

Designing an effective leadership program must start with a defined culture. A culture that is relevant and influential gives an athletic department the opportunity to set the tone for a successful atmosphere within the school buildings and throughout your school community. Let it be known and understood your culture will not be for everybody, as it is impossible to reach every soul and their motivational needs. A successful culture will captivate most of its stakeholders that are proud of your school district and the students it serves. Find a foundation. Believe in it, but most importantly, live it.

The key to implementing a successful culture is giving your coaches and athletes a guide to incorporate your philosophy on a daily basis within their programs. At Mascoutah, our philosophy is based on one acronym: E-A-T. (Energy, Attitude, and Toughness). These are the values we preach, and I expect our coaches and my own family to emulate them on a daily basis. In our culture, a lack of success can be directly related to a deficiency in one of the three principles outlined in our EAT philosophy. We ensure these terms are implemented into daily practices and interactions between our staff and student-athletes, and we invite the community to support and incorporate them as well. At Mascoutah, we use what we call EAT Weeks to inject our culture directly into our programs. Every week has a theme, and it is carried out through using a 4-week cycle.

Week 1 is Energy Week. Throughout these seven days, we expect the term "energy" to be used often both in a motivational way during practice, as well as a correctional way when things aren't going as planned. If I stop by to visit a workout during Energy Week, I expect to hear that word repetitively, as coaches maximize practice and challenge their athletes. We urge our coaches to highlight positive examples of exceptional energy, encourage energy levels to grow from drill to drill or play to play, and we also expect them to call out poor examples of energy and how a lack thereof is detrimental to the team and its goals.

Week 2 in the cycle is Attitude Week, where the word "attitude" and its significance are used throughout practice and games in the same manner as "energy" was in week 1. Week 3 holds the same goal, but the focus is on the word "toughness." Finally, week 4 gives coaches and each program a chance to instill a word or phrase that is unique to their program or something that a coach really believes in. For example, if a coach believes that "courage" is a term that helps define their culture within their own program, they can focus on that for the fourth week.

We give our staff the flexibility to use one term for that fourth week throughout the year, or the ability to change it each time depending on the needs and the focus of each program. This gives coaches some stake in the culture and allows them to blend our E.A.T. philosophy with their own beliefs on what it takes to be successful.

At the conclusion of each week, we reward one student-athlete in each sport with a bracelet that displays the concept that was focused on in a particular week of practice. These bracelets have become extremely popular, and it allows us to recognize athletes who continue to live our culture and demonstrate the concepts we believe help propel us to success both on and off the field.

E.A.T. Weeks allow our programs and our student-athletes to grow on a daily basis. Many great leaders have come up with creative ways to implement their culture and philosophy into their programs or groups. While there are several ways to accomplish the goal of establishing a winning culture, find a method that fits your personality and the needs of your programs. You will see kids and coaches buying into being a part of the process. I know our community has embraced our athletic program and our culture. Every time we see a shirt around town that says, "Let's EAT," it's a reminder that while not everyone will be on board with your philosophy, many people are, and it gives us a tremendous opportunity to lead and serve our communities.

Develop Leaders with Intention

Now that we have defined what our culture looks like, let's take a look at how we can develop a leadership program that uses our program principles as a starting point to expand our knowledge of what authentic leadership looks like.

We do not believe leaders need to be chosen by coaches or teammates. It is our philosophy that the L-EAT-ERSHIP Academy is open to any student-athlete who is willing to join us for these critical discussions on a regular basis. If they are already effective leaders, they get better. If they currently are not very good leaders, perhaps they can be molded into one. Children mature at different paces and develop in unique ways. Teenagers are at such an impressionable time in their lives, and it is our responsibility as leaders to influence them to the best of our ability and give them the tools they need to be successful. The cream will rise to the top, and in many cases, it comes from the kids that you least expect!

Our L-EAT-ERSHIP Academy meets every other week for 30 minutes, just before school begins. I believe in this method because those who are going to be effective leaders are willing to show up early and stay late as needed. These kids make a conscious decision to get up early and find their way to campus for these meetings. In leading this group, it is paramount that my own energy, attitude, and toughness displays exactly what I expect from our student leaders as they navigate their days.

Our L-EAT-ERSHIP Academies are based on three different areas of discussion:

1. Critical Topic Discussion - Introduce a leadership topic to the group. Discuss the topic in detail and ask for feedback. If time allows, break student-leaders into small groups and have them discuss and share their thoughts. Find creative ways to apply the topic to their everyday lives.

   Choose topics that are relatable to real life stories and outcomes. Show pictures and tell stories. Students must realize that what we are covering works and has worked in real time, with real people. Oftentimes we use programmed thoughts and ideas that are more conceptual than realistic. Our discussions are based on true events with exceptional results.

   One example was the story of Private Martin Treptow who famously was killed in WWI. On his body was a diary with the following inscribed inside, "America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me and me alone."

   The power of this message has always stuck with me, and I used it to point out that organizations and teams will never fulfill their potential unless the blame of failure is owned by me, and me alone. This story certainly had the attention of the audience and was a powerful example of accountability and the willingness to shoulder the burden of leadership. While we could never magnify what we do in athletics to that of a soldier in WWI, we can relate to the fact that leadership is a lonely place very few people are actually willing to go to.

2. Toolbox Time - Ideas or tangible items that can be used to benefit student leaders in their everyday lives. Discuss how the tools can be used to benefit them in their everyday lives. Demonstrate how we use them to lead in our profession and life outside of our arena.

   One example of a tool we shared was the concept of a vision board. It's an idea I took from recent interactions with sports Psychologist Brian Cain as we navigate maximizing mental performance. It has been very useful in my own life, and I felt like it could be beneficial to our group's lives as well. This board is a collage of significant pictures, words, or reminders, that can keep us driven and focused. In an era where young people are glued to their cell phones, a vision board screensaver would allow them to constantly see reminders of what their goals are and what their purpose is. As they open their phone, they are instantly reminded of what drives them to be successful, and what road they are determined to travel on.

   The toolbox time is a great opportunity to share ideas, concepts, and real tools to help our young leaders grow in influence and leadership. The idea is for them to embrace the tools that can most benefit their lives in a positive way.

3. L-EAT-ERSHIP Challenge - A challenge that promotes critical thinking and visualization. The challenge can be directly related to the overall topic of the day, or just a unique concept. Give the students an additional challenge that has immediate impact today while they are in leadership mode.

   One challenge we recently used in a leadership season was simply to answer this question: what is one thing you could be doing, that if you started doing it consistently, would most positively change your life?

   I told them to think long and hard about this question, and when they had an answer, to write it down and bring it to the next session. When we arrived at the next session, we broke into small groups and had them share amongst their peers. We ended the discussion with how consistency in anything can positively change your lives and they all left that session with several ideas on what they could consistently do to change their lives in a positive way.

   We always end each session with a daily challenge. A recent example was a simple task: Send a text to someone today who needs to hear that you appreciate or love them. This simple gesture can positively impact someone's life instantly. After all, that is what leadership is all about. Lastly, we leave each leadership session with a short sentence I hope they all hear and believe I am here for you. If we are going to educate kids on what effective leadership looks like, we must be the most consistent example of that behavior.

Leadership programs, by and large, should be designed to meet the specific needs of what you expect of leaders within your programs. I highly recommend establishing a curriculum that allows you to establish yourself as an influential leader of your athletic program. Immersing yourself into these opportunities will allow you to keep a great pulse on your programs, stay ahead of issues and conflicts, and consistently build relationships with the kids and coaches that are willing participants in your culture. While it will always be a challenge to connect with every single student-athlete that you represent, a leadership program allows you to establish expectations and consistently connect with most significant stakeholders within your culture.

Community Impact

Our community has completely embraced our philosophy and our programs. Citizens are often outspoken about the impact our athletic program has had on the city and the younger generations that look up to our high school athletes. There are signs in local stores and ships that display our E.A.T. mantra and the "Let's E.A.T." slogan itself has made its way all throughout the town and into our youth programs.

The student-athletes that make time to be a part of our L-EAT-ERSHIP Academy have found that arriving at school 30 minutes early has empowered them to lead because it is a sacrifice they are willing to make.

Our leadership program and commitment to culture equips our student leaders with tools they can use in their journeys forward in life. When our student athletes get to their next phase, and they are ever asked what they learned in their educational based athletics journey, it is our hope they talk very little about sports themselves, but rather how they have used athletics to benefit their lives and the lives of others. This program is intended to provide that foundation.

Scott Battas, CMAA
Athletic Director - Mascoutah High School - Mascoutah, IL
battass@msd19.org