Team Leadership
Tuesday, September 29th 2009 @ 7:42 AM
Leadership & Accountability
Every fall I like to place my upperclassmen in leadership positions. This fall I have six seniors on our team that are in leadership positions within our program. I meet with each senior 1x/week for 30 minutes during the schoolyear. Leadership and team topics will be discussed and plans for the week implemented by the leaders. I feel it is very important to develop the leaders on a team – by putting them in leadership positions, giving them a stake of ownership in the program, helping them keep the program accountable to the mission and goals of the team and developing and mentoring their leadership development. All of our Seniors automatically become IRON MAN COUNCIL Members and when issues arrive on the team we hold council meetings and cover the ways to solve problems and increase organization efficiency. Our first official college practices begin October 1st – most high schools begin practices in November – so you could adapt this leadership building philosophy according to the needs your program. During the first month each one of our seniors is given a small group of underclassmen to mentor. This helps the experienced wrestlers in your program get to know the new wrestlers on the team and the new wrestlers build a relationship with the upperclassmen. It also aids in building team unity, program development and communication between new and returning wrestlers and allows the upperclassmen to train the underclassmen as to the philosophy and expectations of building your championship program. My seniors meet with their group weekly to cover training in process goals for the week and then implementing the plan for the week. Process topics will be in areas such as the lifting program, techniques, lifting schedule, team meetings, etc. This is just one of several areas they cover with their group – we call this the “ISI” Group meeting or “ISI” which stands for -Iron Sharpens Iron – (Proverbs 27:17) – “As Iron Sharpens Iron” so one man sharpen another. In essence they sharpen each other by placing high standards of excellence and accountability on each other for each week. When the standards for the week are not met – i.e. late, etc – there are consequences listed on their “ISI” goal sheet. The team starts to take accountability for their individual & team goals/mission. I will go into more detail about goal setting in a later blog – but in essence – the goals that they set early on are process oriented goals. This means that they are very specific to the process that the individual needs to focus on or “WIN” – with win meaning focusing on “What’s Important Now” . For example – instead of stating I want to be a National Champion – we let them know the NCAA Tournament is not this weekend so becoming a National Champion this weekend is not going to happen – instead we are going to train like National Champions this week – by (ex) - attending all team lifts 5 minutes early, working 30 minutes 2x/week on front headlock counter offense and leg counter offense, make all the captains practice(s), etc. The more specific the better. Fortunately we have a returning National Champion in our room so seeing him go through the process makes “Buy In” much easier – but with good leadership training in place the system works with programs in the development phase. We also cover process oriented goals in terms of academics and wrestling - which I will be posting for Members on our Resource Section. The leadership and accountability are being developed in the month of September by having the Seniors mentor and train the freshmen. By October 1st, the accountability begins to transition from the Seniors to every member of the team as we move into wrestler to wrestler “ISI” goal setting and accountability. Each wrestler gets with another wrestler to cover their weekly process orientated goals. The “ISI” goes from group to individuals. If I have a couple of weaker “accountability wrestlers” I will put 2-3 in the group. Since we begin our official practices October 1st – this works well now as the “ISI or Iron Man partner is now responsible for the accountability of his “ISI” partner to get to all the team practices and functions and hold each other accountable for their weekly process training goals. This phasing of mentoriship from Seniors to individual “ISI” partners allows for proper training and leadership and accountability within small groups of the team. I will cover more ideas in greater depth on selecting captains, team and invidual mission, vision, and goal setting in a later blog.
Team Leadership & Accountability
Tuesday, September 29th 2009 @ 7:37 AM
Leadership & Accountability
Every fall I like to place my upperclassmen in leadership positions. This fall I have six seniors on our team that are in leadership positions within our program. I meet with each senior 1x/week for 30 minutes during the schoolyear. Leadership and team topics will be discussed and plans for the week implemented by the leaders. I feel it is very important to develop the leaders on a team – by putting them in leadership positions, giving them a stake of ownership in the program, helping them keep the program accountable to the mission and goals of the team and developing and mentoring their leadership development. All of our Seniors automatically become IRON MAN COUNCIL Members and when issues arrive on the team we hold council meetings and cover the ways to solve problems and increase organization efficiency. Our first official college practices begin October 1st – most high schools begin practices in November – so you could adapt this leadership building philosophy according to the needs your program. During the first month each one of our seniors is given a small group of underclassmen to mentor. This helps the experienced wrestlers in your program get to know the new wrestlers on the team and the new wrestlers build a relationship with the upperclassmen. It also aids in building team unity, program development and communication between new and returning wrestlers and allows the upperclassmen to train the underclassmen as to the philosophy and expectations of building your championship program. My seniors meet with their group weekly to cover training in process goals for the week and then implementing the plan for the week. Process topics will be in areas such as the lifting program, techniques, lifting schedule, team meetings, etc. This is just one of several areas they cover with their group – we call this the “ISI” Group meeting or “ISI” which stands for -Iron Sharpens Iron – (Proverbs 27:17) – “As Iron Sharpens Iron” so one man sharpen another. In essence they sharpen each other by placing high standards of excellence and accountability on each other for each week. When the standards for the week are not met – i.e. late, etc – there are consequences listed on their “ISI” goal sheet. The team starts to take accountability for their individual & team goals/mission. I will go into more detail about goal setting in a later blog – but in essence – the goals that they set early on are process oriented goals. This means that they are very specific to the process that the individual needs to focus on or “WIN” – with win meaning focusing on “What’s Important Now” . For example – instead of stating I want to be a National Champion – we let them know the NCAA Tournament is not this weekend so becoming a National Champion this weekend is not going to happen – instead we are going to train like National Champions this week – by (ex) - attending all team lifts 5 minutes early, working 30 minutes 2x/week on front headlock counter offense and leg counter offense, make all the captains practice(s), etc. The more specific the better. Fortunately we have a returning National Champion in our room so seeing him go through the process makes “Buy In” much easier – but with good leadership training in place the system works with programs in the development phase. We also cover process oriented goals in terms of academics and wrestling - which I will be posting for Members on our Resource Section. The leadership and accountability are being developed in the month of September by having the Seniors mentor and train the freshmen. By October 1st, the accountability begins to transition from the Seniors to every member of the team as we move into wrestler to wrestler “ISI” goal setting and accountability. Each wrestler gets with another wrestler to cover their weekly process orientated goals. The “ISI” goes from group to individuals. If I have a couple of weaker “accountability wrestlers” I will put 2-3 in the group. Since we begin our official practices October 1st – this works well now as the “ISI or Iron Man partner is now responsible for the accountability of his “ISI” partner to get to all the team practices and functions and hold each other accountable for their weekly process training goals. This phasing of mentoriship from Seniors to individual “ISI” partners allows for proper training and leadership and accountability within small groups of the team. I will cover more ideas in greater depth on selecting captains, team and invidual mission, vision, and goal setting in a later blog.