If you work in collegiate athletics, and perhaps specifically small college athletics, you know that crises come to you daily. These crises can easily become overwhelming and dominate your day-to-day actions.
And while putting out fires is always going to be a big part of any athletic director’s job, it shouldn’t displace other important management and leadership functions. Are seemingly urgent issues preventing you from attending to more important matters that will advance and improve your department?
In this episode, I provide three essential elements to keeping you focused on what is important to your department, not simply urgent.
Make Time for Just Thinking
This is not time to think about all the things you need to do or to create your to do list. You need to take time to reflect on recent activities and review your department’s purpose and core values.
Plan Weekly (and Adapt Daily)
Enter each week identifying 2-3 things that are important priorities for you to accomplish, and make sure that you commit to getting those things done. These are not the daily crises that come to your desk. Nor are they the ‘must-do’s’ like scheduled meetings, hosting competitions or recurring management tasks. These priorities should be action steps tied closely to your department’s purpose and values that will move you closer to accomplishing your goals and vision.
Use a Tool
There are many different productivity tools and methodologies out there. Find one that fits your style and will work for you. The key is using a tool to take time to write down your priorities and keep track of progress in a place other than your head.
Responding to daily crises will always be a part of small college athletics leadership. However, making conscious effort to stay focused on what you know is important to your department’s purpose and core values will allow your leadership to help you reach goals.
Referenced Stephen Covey quadrant system from his book ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People‘:
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