|
By: Deren Oshiro, CMAA
Identify Your Why You are sitting at your desk and it is your first day on the job. You have recently accepted a position as an athletic director. It is your first position in school administration. What do you do first? Where to start? Before you do anything, this introspective question needs to be asked: "Why am I an athletic administrator?” If the answer does not include words and phrases such as "service", "education based athletics", "for the students", "life lessons" or even "ministry", perhaps you are in the wrong profession. Thoughtfully and honestly answering this question helps set the table for everything that follows. Ideally, this was asked before you even applied for the position and went through the vetting, interview and selection process. Hopefully, each of us asked this question of ourselves at the outset of our respective careers. However, this is not something to only ask ourselves as a young or new athletic administrator. Rather, it is something to ask - and perhaps even ponder - on a regular basis. We need to revisit this place of contemplation any time we feel discouraged or overwhelmed. Life happens. Relationships come and go, change and multiply. Situations at our school, building, district and state also change, sometimes for better, other times for worse. And this baseline question could naturally evolve to questions like, "What am I doing?", "Why am I here?" or "Where am I even headed?" Regardless, there should always be an altruistic answer…always a return to your why. Set Your Priorities (Before Setting Your Goals) Once you have established - or reconfirmed - that you are where you need to be, doing what you need to be doing, the next objective is to set your priorities. In simple terms, what things in your life have the greatest importance? Spouse, partner, children, extended family, faith, finances, education, health and fitness, hobbies and career advancement may be commonly listed priorities. Yet, even if the majority of people share many of these priorities, their personal ranking of them could vary greatly. So setting your priorities - in order of your personal preference - is essential. After priorities are set, you need to identify goals and create a plan to achieve them. You should have a variety of goals. Some should be more attainable than others. Some should stretch you. Some will be more measurable than others. Many will be layered and interconnected. For instance, a basic goal can be to "get through work today, survive this school year". An equally basic but more ambitious goal can be to "learn daily, grow professionally throughout this school year." Both goals are general and therefore require the addition of specific intermediate goals. What can you add to your list of daily activities to achieve short term goals? What can you implement in your routine to work toward achieving more long term goals? What distractions can be eliminated to help with all of your goals and aspirations? As you set your priorities and lay out goals for yourself, you can begin to identify the specific tasks which can place you - and keep you - on the service path you are seeking. Find Your Circle Regardless of your personality, you need community. You need fellowship with colleagues. Our job as athletic administrators is demanding, often misunderstood and consistently undervalued. Many times we are taken for granted and only communicated with by stakeholders when they are lodging complaints or pointing out mistakes. The most committed and disciplined athletic administrator cannot succeed without tangible support, particularly in today’s challenging social climate. Find a few colleagues whom you trust; friends with whom you have worked. People with whom you share values and with whom you have confided some of your personal struggles. They should also be people who are willing to disagree with you and hold you accountable (to upholding those shared values). These folks will essentially become your athletic administrator support group, your growth group, your "team." And similar to the hopes and expectations you probably have of student-athletes on your school’s sports teams, work to develop solid, healthy relationships with your "teammates". Communicate regularly with them. Share what is working well and what may be troubling you or getting you down. Offer help and, as difficult as it may be, ask for help when necessary. Meet in person whenever possible. It helps to set a regular meeting place and time even if meetings are occasionally canceled. As the saying goes, "multiply each other’s joys and divide each other’s sorrows". Your team - your circle - will be invaluable to your growth and development as an athletic administrator. Note: While expanding your professional network to include colleagues at the national level is enjoyable and rewarding, it is absolutely essential to have a strong local network. Those are the people who have likely seen your worst moments, but who also know you best. A trusted circle of colleagues - who are in the trenches with you as you work in your league and in your state - is critical to your survival and, ultimately, to your long-term success as an athletic administrator. Personalize Your Path (You Do You!) Understand that there is no single path to success and fulfillment in what you seek for your career as an athletic administrator. One recommendation that I believe benefits all athletic administrators, regardless of anticipated career length, is to immediately begin building your foundation on a full slate of 500-level LTI courses, followed by a pursuit of the various certifications offered by the NIAAA. Other than this, everything you wish to experience and accomplish can be done on your timetable, shaped by your priorities. Once you have a comfortable handle on your job, you can extend your service further. What does this look like? This may be as a member of a committee at either the league or state level. Perhaps you can serve as a board member or even an officer. Put yourself out there. Don’t just wait to be asked. Approach others to offer help. Welcome additional responsibilities. Apply for leadership positions. Serve outside of your comfort zone. Do hard things. The singular guarantee is that you will fail at times; you will not always succeed. However, going through these processes and taking this action will assure your personal and professional growth. Another strong recommendation is to attend the National Athletic Directors Conference and avail yourself of as many courses, workshops and networking opportunities as you can. The NADC is held each December at various cities across the United States. And while there are the attendant expenses of travel and registration (and there is no convenient time to be away from your job), I have never encountered an AD who, upon completing their first NADC, did not want to thereafter return as often as they could. The conference must be experienced to fully understand the impact it can have on your work…and your attitude toward work. Apply to serve on an NIAAA committee and accept your placement (even if it is not one of your top choices). The only requirement is for you to be a member of the NIAAA. You do not need to be an RAA nor a CAA to serve on a committee. As you compile these experiences, you will learn, gain confidence, and become a more effective leader at your school and in your state and section. Perhaps most importantly, rest assured that it is never too late to get involved beyond your school and league. On this I can share from personal experience. I became an athletic director in 2000 and I have attended every national conference since 2008. I attained my CMAA in 2012. However, I chose to pass on a few opportunities to serve at the state and national levels while my children were in school. In fact this is why my first NADC was in 2008. That was about the time that I felt comfortable leaving my children at home with my wife for the duration of the conference. Early in my administrative career, I had the good fortune of having some veteran ADs share with me that their main career regret was not spending enough time with their spouses and children. A few even had failed marriages or felt distant or even disconnected from their children. All of them said the enormity of the job and stress of being an AD were major contributing factors to their struggles. Mind you, these were people for whom I had tremendous respect. They were highly accomplished ADs whose schools won many championships and whose work as fellow administrators I admired. These conversations left a lasting impression on me. I viewed them as cautionary tales. I decided early on that I did not want to be the omnipresent AD who was the occasionally present husband. I did not want to be considered an outstanding AD, but a mediocre father. In short, I did not want to win at work, but lose at home. In an effort to protect my time and honor my priority of family, I limited my service to my school and league. I tried to be a present husband. I tried to attend every concert, art show and theater production for my daughter. I tried to make every basketball game, volleyball match, track meet and cross country race for my son. Only after my youngest child finished high school did I begin serving on our state athletic director association’s board of directors. This “start” - of service beyond my school and league - was in my 20th year as an athletic administrator. During the school year mostly lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was placed on my first NIAAA committee. It was a committee that I did not think I could bring any experience or expertise to. It also was not among my top choices. However, I was advised by some NIAAA leaders to accept the appointment, which I did. I am thankful for this guidance as this initial experience with the NIAAA led to other service opportunities. In my 22nd year I attended my first section meeting which resulted in running in the at-large election - for a position on the NIAAA Board - later that year at the NADC. Now in my 25th year in athletic administration, I am in my third and final year of service on the NIAAA Board of Directors. All of this is not to say that you cannot immediately jump into service at the state and national level as a young AD. And I am certainly not asserting that I somehow care more about my family than someone who does choose to get involved earlier in their career. Rather, I am simply sharing my story - my personal path of service - as evidence that you can find fulfilling involvement at the state and national levels even if you begin much later in your administrative career. Be encouraged that anything is possible. You do you! Above all, be patient with yourself even as you are in the process of learning who you are and figuring out the career path you wish to chart. And as you learn from your peers, it is important to resist the temptation to compare your path to the paths they are traveling. Serve unapologetically on your terms, and on your unique timeline. In doing so, you will be able to most effectively serve and inspirationally lead and bless others.
|
Personalizing Your Path of Service
