Leadership And Management At Texas Tech Athletics

Initially when Mark began answering questions and introducing himself, it was very apparent that he is very compassionate and caring about his work and surroundings. Mark received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Later, through the trials and errors of life, he decided he wanted to pursue a teaching/coaching career and only needed to take one semester of classes at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa in order to receive his teaching degree. In addition, he received his master’s degree from the University of Southern Florida. Through many discussions with his wife and job experiences working at local banks here in Sioux Center, Mark has found that teaching and being involved as an athletic director is his passion and the job he truly enjoys.

I work diligently to treat others with utmost respect regardless of whether I agree with their point of view. By taking the time to establish authentic relationships with individual staff members, I am better able to understand their unique perspectives, needs, and concerns. Additionally, because I tailor my leadership approach to fit individuals and situations I am able to ensure the best possible outcomes. As a participative leader I look to others for input before I make decisions that will impact the group as a whole and I strive to motivate and inspire others so that they can gain professional fulfillment through autonomous practice. Finally, I believe that when individuals feel empowered and valued they develop pride in their work and are more willing to make meaningful contributions toward team goals.

The Student-Athlete Leadership Team is a program that was designed in order to develop the leadership skills of our student-athletes and will be facilitated by North Atlanta High School’s own Andre Regan. The student-athletes are nominated by their respective head coaches, most of which are team captains. The basics of the Citizen Leader Framework are leading self, leading with others, and changing your world are the core of the leadership model created by Andre Regan and so many other coaches nationwide. Discussion topics will include accountability, self-awareness, resiliency, communication, collaboration, and empathy with and for teammates and coaches, in hopes that the Student-Athlete can help their team on and off the playing field.

I have always known I love change, but from this class, I learned change is the hallmark of a leader. As John C. Maxwell says in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, “Growth = Change.”The leadership assessments allowed me to understand myself in a new way. Because I am a curious green thinker, I need explanations and answers to understand my world. I tend to see the big picture of a project and my mind motivates me toward something new or improved. I am curious about new opportunities because I easily become bored with routine. Learning I have these characteristics has increased my confidence to pursue future leadership roles in a small to a mid-sized position.

I have been helping coach high school athletics for a few years. These leadership positions have enabled me to develop communication skills, gain responsibility, improve on my management skills and build relationships with other leaders in the field of sports. My future career goals include obtaining a job as a head coach or athletic director in some field of sports. I know I will need good communication and negotiating skills and I need to understand that gender sometimes plays a role in leadership positions. Leadership is defined as a person who guides or directs a group. Successful leaders are confident and responsible. They are able to problem-solve and discover new talents in those they lead.

The democratic style of the organization’s leadership mirrors my personal leadership style. I am a true believer of inclusion constantly seeking out input of others during the decision making process. At the end, the final decision rests on the shoulders of the leader. Utilizing all three styles of leadership is essential which is dependent

Athletic directors typically appreciate working with coaches and athletes to improve teams by helping them reach their full potential by being responsible, working well with people, speaking well in front of a large crowd, and most importantly being a strong leader. Oftentimes athletic directors get overlooked, and won’t get the recognition they deserve, because all the glory and praise usually goes to the outstanding coaches who get the job done for their teams. Many people will totally forget about the tactical side of being in an athletic office. Seeing the vision long term, being persistent, and diligent is most definitely key to being a responsible leader of athletics in that particular school. Athletic directors should usually like being

It would appear that my original theory regarding the applicability and practicality of this capstone was accurate. This course has managed to successfully supplement the knowledge I had previously acquired in other courses. For example, I was familiar with and understood the basic principles of leadership. However, this course has taught me that the ability to lead is not an exact science, but an art and determining how to proceed when faced with uncertainty or a highly volatile situation is an exceptional challenge.

One of the biggest lessons learned from this course is that to be an effective leader, you must have a diverse skillset. I’m not sure if there is any one magical component or characteristic in being a great leader. One influence during my review of the literature was that; although easier for some, I see leadership as something we must continually improve upon. This is in contrast to my belief during my first day of class, when I thought leaders just

Leadership and come to mean different things to different people. One of the biggest reasons that I took this class was to become a stronger leader in my personal life, as well as professional. I did not take this class because I have a desire to me in management at this point in my career. What is important to me was to look at this way to be a better employee, in reacting to management styles. I also wanted to take different aspects of management and implement them into being a leader in my family. I have had several managers that I have respected during my career and certain attributes I wanted to emulate. My current manger David Taggerty took the time out to discuss his role as a leader and how he got into leadership. We took a look

Before this class, I had a very primitive and vague definition of leadership. Not only did I define it as per my views and ideologies, but I also said that each individual has their own definition of leadership. My initial belief was that leadership does not have a clear cut definition, but there were well defined leadership traits which made an individual. I also initially believed that personal traits did not translate into leadership traits with no strong correlation. After going through the various modules this class offered, it is safe to say that I have significantly redefined leadership and underwent a strong personal assessment. This paper talks what I took back from each of the class activities, assignments and how my self-assessment compares to the perception of others.

I believe that developing leadership skills is not a rapid process, but it is a daily process. The best place people learn how to lead is from their daily experiences. Therefore, my job experience helped me to be more familiar with this topic and I gained additional worthy information from the class materials and lessons. Writing a biography was an amazing experience that helped me to look back in my life, review it in details, know what I did in the past and discover myself better. I did many of the book’s assessments and exercises and I found them totally thought-provoking and useful materials. They assisted me to think more about my leadership potentials and skills. Doing the exercises made me more aware of my strengths and weaknesses in the area of leadership. I read in the book about 10 qualities that mark a leader and help influence the leadership process. Those qualities listed as: vision,

Borland, J. F., Kane, G. M., & Burton, L. J. (n.d.). Sport leadership in the 21st century.

Heading into this course, I wasn’t exactly sure what it was about. Aside from reading the description on the KU website, I had no idea what to expect. I thought it would be centered around what would make a good leader, and the things I should do to achieve this. After the first couple weeks, I finally grasped the purpose of this class, and slowly started to work what I was learning into my day to day life. Through this class I have been able to identify what adaptive leadership is and how to apply it to my day to day task as well as how to work within the disequilibrium. I was also given the opportunity to reflect on what I was learning, through journals and amongst my peers through discussion boards, and how I was using my knowledge to identify different challenges I was facing in my life.

Finding a leadership style is like finding the dress or suit that fits just right. It may take several attempts, but once you find the one that fits, it is usually the one you will keep. For this class, we were asked to take a 50 question survey from Kent University to help us figure out what type of leadership style fits us best. From the results provided from the test, my leadership style was typed as participative. When reading more about participative leadership, I saw a quote I was able to resonate with completely, “The leader makes the final decision, but the team to contribute to the decision-making process” (How to find, n.d.). This quote made me realized that this type of leadership fit me down to the T. In terms of effective communication, I always make an effort to make sure the listener absolutely understands what I am conveying. By asking questions or bringing up any concerns they might have, I am able to make sure that everyone is on the same page. My job presents several opportunities to help teach and train new operators. By having a participant leadership style, I must ensure new operators know how to work within their position proficiently. As a trainer, I deal with trainees who at times feel overwhelmed with the plethora of information given to them. I find it important to give encouragement and facilitate training when need be. Being a participant leader requires a great of humility: “The leader can 't know everything”