Many years ago I worked at a gymnastics camp in Upstate New York. It was a great place where I learned a ton as a coach. What I didn’t realize is how much I learned as a leader.
Although there was a crew of people who worked at camp year round. One person in particular stands out. The Assistant Director Chris. His total gymnastics knowledge was that he knew the names of the equipment and knew that boys didn’t do beam and girls didn’t do rings. He had charisma and integrity. If you screwed up, he let you know. Then he helped you fix the problem. If you went above and beyond the job, he made sure he thanked you. If you saw him out in town he would always buy the first beer and then make sure everyone made it home at the end of the night.
He had NO gymnastics knowledge. His job was THE CAMP. Basically everything OUT OF THE GYM. From making sure the cabins were ready for campers to making sure the counselors who stayed with the gymnasts were well trained and prepared for the job ahead. He had a thankless, never ending job. If their was a storm and the power went out- he was out with a flashlight making sure everyone was safe. If a tree fell across the road, he was up there with a chainsaw. He worked around the clock. Anything to improve on the experience for the campers and the staff. I remember walking back from the gym late at night. I had stayed after to take care of paperwork and phone calls to parents. It was close to 1 AM. I thought someone had left a light on in a maintenance shed. I went to shut it off. NOPE- he was in there. Working on one of the boats so that the could take the kids and coaches tubing the next day (his DAY OFF).
He was constantly looking for solutions. Finding a way to fix the problem- not the blame. We “employed” a local football team to assist with set up of the gym. One time the FLOOR EXERCISE got set up about 5 feet off. With the FLOOR being out of place, no other equipment would fit in the right place. While some people stood around and were trying to figure out the best way to take it apart and move it, He drove his truck into the gym- threw a tow strap around the ENTIRE FLOOR and pulled it into place.
We knew he had our back and we would do anything for him. Many times you found yourself doing some undesirable task and think- “HOW DID I END UP DOING THIS?”. In one particularly bad summer storm I found my self at midnight setting sandbags in front of a cabin (no kids were there yet) to divert the water. Then I am dragging pieces of a tree that he was cutting up because it fell across the road. When the sun came out the next day you could almost see the grass grow. The gymnasts were arriving that afternoon and the regular grounds crew was busy cleaning up storm damage. I look in the athletic field and there is a 2 time Olympian sitting on top of a tractor mowing. I was using a push mower to mow around the cabins (maybe I would have had a riding mower if I had made the olympics!). More gymnastics coaches were out clearing branches that fell and making sure all the cabins were clean and ready. Things FAR beyond what they had been hired to do.
His name is CHRIS SCHEUER. We would joke around about getting “Scheuered”. Those times where you found yourself doing some task that was a LONG WAY from “your job”. It was a job that needed to get done and Chris had asked. You would never want to disappoint him. It got to the point where if you saw that something needed fixed or that if there was a problem- you just did it. You knew he was busy and you didn’t want to let him down.
What I learned from Chris is that your goal as a leader should NOT be to have people do things when you ask. It should be to make people WANT to do things before you ask.
Yes, you need to have the right people in your organization but you also need to be the right person at the head of the organization. No job should be too small for you. No job should be too messy. And when you are over your head. Get Help.
Here are some questions to ask your self to see if you are doing a good job.
- Does your staff do things outside of their job descriptions without being asked?
- When you are struggling to get a sub for a class do they step up OR is their begging and bribing involved?
- Does your staff take on a nasty job and not let you know. Just because it needed to get done?
- Are you the ONLY one who SEES when maintenance needs to be done? When they see it- do they TELL YOU or do they fix it?
Some common sense rules to follow
- If you want a hard working staff- You must be the hardest worker
- If you want a staff that CARES about the facility and the program- You must care about THEM
- If you want an educated staff- You must value education. You cannot just send them away to a clinic or a congress. You must go as well. You should also have people IN TO YOUR GYM.
- Praise your staff when you see them going ABOVE and BEYOND their jobs.
- Catch them doing something right or when they find a creative solution to a problem- and then maybe have them present this at your next staff training
- When they mess up (and they will) you will have to speak to them and then help them navigate the situation and find a solution.
I wish I had a photo of Chris to post here. That way anyone in the Cleveland area who runs across him can tell him I said thanks.
That’s him in the center
