Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group, LLC Blog

I had a manager from another company give me a call recently for a reference on a employee that worked for me several years ago.  He explained a little about the position and then I in turn told him a little about the employee's responsibilities here and how this particular person fit in with the group.  When I was done, he asked me how this employee stood out from the rest.  Great question.  My answer was immediate and without hesitation; they were one of my top students because they took ownership of their position. 

What is ownership exactly?  It's the difference between someone who does the minimum of what is expected of them and someone that takes a legitimate interest in improving their workplace.  Let's take the Ownership Quiz . . .

* During staff meetings, are you the person who volunteers for new tasks/projects or are you the person who lowers their eyes hoping someone else raises their hand?
* Do you take pride in the work you do on a day to day basis or do you simply do what is asked of you and be glad it's done?
* Do you take the initiative, bringing ideas for positive change to your office or are you the person that simply complains about how things could be better?
* If there is an issue outside of business hours, do your coworkers know it's alright to contact you or are they under the impression that would be a cardinal sin?
* Do you subscribe more to the idea of getting your job done rather than the phrase "business hours" or are you punching a clock at 9a and 5p every single day?

What if your well-being was tied directly into the performance of your whole office?  Well, I've got news for you.  It is.  Ownership is about treating your position as if you owned your own business.  It is about being a catalyst for positive growth in your environment regardless of whether you are the VP or an entry-level employee.  When you own your position, you are telling your supervisors, your co-workers, and the employees under you that you care.  You are providing a positive example for all and working towards bettering your environment regardless of the situation.  The highest compliment that I can give to any of my employees is that they took ownership of their position.  These are the ones that stood and continue to stand out from the crowd, even years later. 

Are you taking ownership of your workplace or just getting in the way of those that do?

Shaun Bossio is the Assistant Business Manager and ProShop Manager at Boston University FitRec.
He can be reached at sbossio@bu.edu

Every fall, we host a team-building/appreciation event for our student staff at the beginning of the school year.  It is a mixture of games, team activities, and learning in a fun environment.  I find that it's an important event for a few reasons.  First off, it is a chance for a large chunk of the 400+ students that work for our facility to get to know each other when otherwise they might not have an opportunity to.  Secondly, it is an opportunity for us to teach them a number of things about the facility and what we do in general and impart some basic departmental philosophies in them.  Finally, it is a way to give back to them for the excellent job that most of them do and for us to say that we encourage them to enjoy what they do, who they work with, and where they work.  It takes some work to pull off during a busy time of year, but it is something that the students have really enjoyed participating in and we feel that it is not an opportunity to be missed.

Recreation centers, athletic and other university departments all over the country are staffed by large numbers of the very students that their university has been built to service.  While their contributions can range from simple office tasks to critical on-the-job training and internships, they are a crucial cog in making any department run smoothly.  Let me ask you this question though; how often do you take time out to recognize them for their contributions?  I know some departments where students are just employees paid to do a task, no different than a Walmart.  They fill out their timesheets, they receive their check and they are told when they do things well/poorly.  Shouldn't that be enough?  Well, if you expect the bare minimum of effort from your student staff, then yes, the bare minimum of attention is what you should provide.  If however, you are trying to cultivate an environment where your students are enjoying where they work and giving out a maximum effort as a result, then I would encourage you to try a little harder to recognize them.  It doesn't take a lot of effort on our part, but the results can be phenomenal. 

When is the last time that you thanked your students?  What are you doing tomorrow?

Shaun Bossio is the Assistant Business Manager and ProShop Manager at Boston University FitRec.
He can be reached at sbossio@bu.edu
 

Whose toes were you going to step on?

If you translate “I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes” from its ancient Latin roots you will find that it means, “I really didn’t want to perform job/task “x”, so this is my way out.”  When we use this “excuse” we are missing an opportunity to do the right thing. Yes, it takes a little extra effort and yes it may require you to work through your coffee break, and yes it will require you to become exceptionally unordinary at work.

But who wants to do ordinary work?

For arguments sake, let’s say you are sincere, (I’ll say it again for emphasis) and I mean really concerned that you’ll be stepping on someone’s toes.  Do it anyways.  Because when it comes to doing the right thing, it’s better to act now and apologize later. 

You’ll often find that there is never any apologizing and instead simply a thank you from the mouth of the toes you stepped on.

Art Horne is the Coordinator of Care and Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Men’s Basketball Team at Northeastern University, Boston MA.  He can be reached at a.horne@neu.edu.

Do you like ice cream?

Do enjoy beer?

How many of you enjoy drinking beer and eating ice cream together?

Just because two things are both good, doesn’t mean that they are compatible or complimentary to one another and should go together.

The challenge with rehabbing an actively participating athlete is that the rehab in the sports medicine room may be good, and the strength exercises in the weight room may be good, and even some of the individual skill work on the court or field may be good as well.  However, whether it be total volume, or time frame within the week, all the the "good" parts, might just not be all that good together. 

The totality of all good things (or stressors) should be juxtaposed so that not one takes away from the one before, or the one after, but instead fit together to improve the athlete’s end performance profile.  The main obstacle which prevents all those professionals who are caring for that athlete from being on the same page is that each one usually presents an argument for why the athlete should do x,y and z from a posture which protects their own interest and not necessarily the interest of the athlete. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for arguing, as long as the arguing and debating is on behalf of the athlete and their best interest. 

So when you’re done arguing why your athlete just has to do 30 weighted jump squats, or that extra set of straight leg raises check with the guys and gals down the hall and make sure that the time spent doing those exercises are actually in the best interest of the athlete and not what’s best for you.  Because if you’re not willing to put all the pieces together for your athlete then you might just be serving beer sundaes this coming season.

Art Horne is the Coordinator of Care and Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Men’s Basketball Team at Northeastern University, Boston MA.  He can be reached at a.horne@neu.edu.

If you show up 10 minutes late for work, but stay an extra 20 minutes at the end of the day, that’s a net of +10 minutes extra that you put into your day. You should be applauded for working overtime, right?
 
Maybe, but that probably won’t happen. Because at 8:30 a.m., when all the workers are at their desks ready to start the day, yours is noticeably empty. And trust me, people notice.
 
The simple act of getting to the office and being ready to work when the day starts shows your office that you are a team player. At the very least, being on time will help you avoid the devastating perceptions that come with habitual tardiness. In the age of Blackberries and iPhones, we can all send emails from bed at 11 p.m. But true commitment starts with being ready to work when it’s time to work.
 
Think about it: If you were the manager of a gym that opened at 6 a.m., do you think your customers will give you a pass when you open at 6:05? Do you think the prospective clients in California will enjoy listening to the background music while you are five minutes late for your conference call?
 
It’s no different in whatever job you have. Be on time. It’s an easy way to start your day right.

Mark Harris is the Assistant Director of Athletic Development at Northeastern University.

The next time you have the opportunity to implement a new technology or process to your line of work ask yourself; is it peanut butter or is it fluff?

 
Peanut butter is substantive, it is a great source of protein, and you can build a sandwich around it.  Fluff meanwhile, well it's fluff.
 
We live in an age where technology changes the way we work almost daily. For example, those massive printing budgets for media guides and workout packets which we once considered a cost of doing business, are a thing of the past. But if we take those savings and invest them in high-tech, video-laced digital media guides, what is our end result? At the end of the day, it is the same information, at the same (or greater) expense and a whole lot of fluff.
 
Maybe we should consider reallocating the old printing budget for summer workout packets towards actual exercise research to make more effective training programs?  In the case of media guides, rather than make the information we already share look more appealing with color and videos, why not invest in digitizing and organizing our historical statistics to offer a more comprehensive archive?
 
No matter what field or industry we work in, technology will continue to enhance the way we do our jobs. As managers and leaders, we need to be mindful of whether we are loading up on the peanut butter or on a whole lot of fluff.
 
 
Mark Harris is the Assistant Director of Athletic Development at Northeastern University.

What’s keeping you from doing your job –I mean your real job?

Remember? The job you signed up for – practicing sports medicine.  I know I signed up to provide care for collegiate student-athletes aspiring to make it big. I signed up to help and I know the vast majority of you did too.   Unfortunately, as time passed I found myself practicing sports medicine less and less and spending more and more time filling water bottles, filing insurance claims and cleaning up at the end of the day.
I also remember the day it all changed back to the way I envisioned.  

It was the day I decided to stop doing the “3-C’s” and started practicing sports medicine again.  Tom Cronin, a mentor of mine and the Director of Sports Medicine at MIT in Boston, told me about the “3-C’s” over breakfast as I was complaining to him about all the work I was doing.  He kindly pointed out to me that the majority of my work day was not being spent doing the work that I signed up for, but instead work consisting of the “3-C’s” – Catering, Clerical and Custodial.  If you could manage to take away all the tasks involving any one of the “3-C’s” how much time would you have left in the day to actually practice your craft? No more cleaning whirlpools, filling water bottles or chasing down insurance companies for authorization of services (I had a co-worker who once proudly told me they sat on the phone for over 40 minutes obtaining pre-authorization for an MRI – how many patients could you have seen and cared for during that same time?)

So when you walk into work tomorrow, find just one task that is keeping you from actually doing your job and stop doing it.

There, feels good right?

Now get back to doing your job! The real job you signed up for.

Art Horne is the Coordinator of Care and Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Men’s Basketball Team at Northeastern University, Boston MA.  He can be reached at a.horne@neu.edu.

Though my department does not have a dedicated IT specialist anymore, there is a small group of individuals that services our particular area of campus.  Out of three desktop support personnel, two of them know exactly zero members of our staff, are severely lacking in response/response time, and let's just say that small talk is not their strong suit.  The third individual however knows the name of everyone in my department.  He also responds almost immediately to every inquiry sent his way, even if it's to say that he is working somewhere else, but will be by at an approximate time later.  What is his best quality?  When problems arise he doesn't mutter under his breath and he takes the time to not only address the issue, but to explain to the staff where the problem originated in terms they can understand.  Who do you think is going to get the better reviews when their boss calls around to the various departments for feedback?

One of the things that I always find interesting is when someone says something to the effect of, "Yeah, well I'm not in customer service."  Maybe it's time to take another look at your business model.  Aren't we all in some form of customer service?  Whether they are internal or external, we are all serving someone as a customer base.  How likely are we to return to the doctor that spends 30 seconds explaining what's wrong with us vs. the one that takes the time to break down all the angles.  I think we have all had that fantastic experience AS a customer somewhere whether it's at a doctor's office, with an IT guy, or at a retail establishment.  If they didn't make you a customer for life, then at the very least they significantly increased their positive word-of-mouth.  In an age where information and opinion travels instantaneously to millions of potential customers, how can you afford not to put your best face forward?  I mean, we are all busy, but are we ever too busy to go the extra mile for our customers? 

Can your operation afford not to?

Shaun Bossio is the Assistant Business Manager and ProShop Manager at Boston University FitRec.
He can be reached at sbossio@bu.edu