Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group, LLC Blog

Are We There Yet?

Posted by Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group on Wed, Oct 20, 2010 @ 08:10 AM

ev

I heard a story recently about a basketball coach that will “get lost” on his way back to campus from the airport after picking up a recruit in an effort to intentionally place the recruit in an uncomfortable situation.

Two things happen.

1. The recruit will sit quietly, put their head down and perhaps jump on their cell phone, text message friends, headphones in and wait for the coach to find his/her way back to campus.
or
2. The recruit will ask questions about general directions, look for street signs that may aid in their quest back to campus and even some will use their technology packed phone to locate their whereabouts on GPS and plug in the schools address providing the coach a clear and decisive path back to campus.

With all things being equal, which kid would you rather have on your team?

Are you worth being recruited to a better team or are you quietly sitting at your desk, minding your own business waiting for others to figure things out?

 

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.


 

Topics: Art Horne, basketball conference, athletic training conference, hockey conference, motivation, Good to Great, everything basketball, development

Real time feedback

Posted by Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group on Thu, Sep 23, 2010 @ 06:09 AM

everything basketball

 

Every four years, athletic administrations across the country conduct student-athlete exit interviews. It’s a time where student-athletes can reflect on their athletic achievements and make comments like how a pineapple-lemonade soda machine would have been helpful in the student-athlete lounge or a Swedish masseuse would have been nice during their training.  They hand it in, administration pats themselves on the back noting that the student-athlete didn’t make any “realistic” comments on problems that they could have fixed and then the paper is quickly crumpled and discarded in the nearest receptacle. 

The problem with these exit interviews is that they provide little opportunity for improvement.  First, the feedback is not asked in real time. Do you really want to wait four years to fix a problem that could have been addressed at the end of the first semester?

Second, the questions are never specific or thought provoking … it’s usually a formality put into place so that management can have a safety net to fall back on, claiming after a problem surfaces that they did their due diligence and asked for comments year after year, “how was I suppose to know that our cafeteria wasn’t open past our last practice time? I asked for general comments every year.”

Lastly, asking for general comments only ensures you of one thing: general, non-specific comments in return (read: vanilla).  If you are serious about making change, then your questions will reflect this. Asking specific questions regarding the hours of operation of your facility and if it meets the needs of your student-athletes will evoke a much different response then simply asking for comments about the Athletic Training Room or Strength and Conditioning Room in general.  Basically, specific questions generate qualified comments.

I once heard a story of a department that placed a suggestion box out for their customers to leave comments in.  They didn’t read them of course; but having customers leave suggestions made them feel as if they had a voice, they said.  Talk about a lost opportunity to tap into your customer base. 

Is your exit process an interview or does it provide opportunity?


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.

Topics: Art Horne, hockey conference, motivation, customer service, development

Hello my name is:

Posted by Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group on Tue, Sep 21, 2010 @ 06:09 AM

everything basketball


At the end of this next semester how will you introduce yourself?

Will your boss know you simply by the name on your driver’s license or as the leader of a new project? The staff nutrition expert? The master coach? The staff liaison to the health center, athletic training room or weight room?

If you want your colleagues and prospective employers to know your name you must be willing to bring your work to the world.  You must be willing to rename yourself as "the person who gets things done."  If you are not willing, well, that work will simply get outsourced to someone else who is.

Either or, the work will eventually get done.

You might as well have your name on it.

 

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.

Topics: Art Horne, Strength Training, motivation, Ownership, Good to Great, discipline, athletic trainer, managing

Waiting for inspiration?

Posted by Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group on Mon, Sep 6, 2010 @ 06:09 AM

everything basketball


In a recent post by Seth Godin he challenges one’s normal approach to problem solving which is usually the “wait to be inspired then act” method and asks us to instead actively seek out inspiration.

Seth states, “Simple example: start a blog and post once a day on how your favorite company can improve its products or its service. Do it every day for a month, one new, actionable idea each and every day. Within a few weeks, you'll notice the change in the way you find, process and ship.”

My challenge to you is to take Seth’s example of blogging, but instead of blogging about your favorite company, write down one new actionable idea each and every day this coming month that will improve your department’s service to your student-athletes. It may be as simple as greeting each athlete or patient with a high five as they enter your office or as complex as a new pre-participation exam that actually screens them for risk factors that matter. Or how about an idea that will provide your staff with more opportunities to ship?

Once you’ve committed to writing down these ideas you’ll not only discover there are a number of easy ways to improve your services, but you’ll actually find yourself leading others to the trough of change.

Warning: you can lead a co-worker to water, but you can’t make them drink. But gosh darn it, seeing you drink first makes it a whole lot easier for others to drink the cool-aid.

 

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.


 

Topics: athletic training, Strength & Conditioning, motivation, Ownership, Good to Great, discipline, customer service, evidence based medicine, development, Leadership, managing

What motivates you?

Posted by Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 @ 06:08 AM

motivation

A good friend from Australia sent me this clip about workplace motivation. Besides the awesome animation, it’s just under 11 minutes and worth every second of it. 

It may surprise you that monetary incentives are not the lead motivator in the workplace, but instead the three factors that lead to better performance and personal satisfaction are:

Autonomy: desire to be self directed.
Mastery: our urge to become better.
Purpose: When profit motive becomes unmoored from purpose motive bad things happen (bad customer service, crappy products, etc).

How does this change your management strategy this week?


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.

Topics: basketball conference, athletic training conference, athletic training, Strength & Conditioning, motivation, autonomy, purpose, mastery, Good to Great, discipline, customer service, development