Master's Degree in Action

I was really excited at the start of the year when Jason told me I would be in charge of the work study staff. It was a real opportunity to exercise the management and leadership skills I learned in two years of graduate school studying the subject. I'm not going to go into what makes a leader or what leadership actually is right now, because it's a broad topic and there are a lot of ideas. In fact, it took me two years to get through it all.

But as the person in charge of the staff, especially a staff with a lot of new people and first time workers, I wanted to be efficient in my scheduling methods, balanced in how many hours each person works, but most of all, I wanted to be someone that the kids WANTED to work with. Sports is fun, so sports information should be, too.

So far, I've had to be a little bit of everything. I've been the nice guy, the caring guy, the guy that looks out for others, the instructor, the friend, the mentor, the manager and even the stern guy. Yes, I've actually had to give a lecture about responsibility and be courteous to your fellow workers.

What I've found out is that I have to be patient, I have to empower and give the workers responsibilities, but at the same time, people want to be instructed and led. Especially the newcomers to the staff. Sometimes you have to hold a hand or two before they feel comfortable, and that's fine. Above all, though, people want to feel important. Therefore, I'm going out of my way to recognize every one that is working, shaking their hands when they show up, asking them about their day, talking about their interests. I'm also trying to push for staff lunches or football watching parties. Anything I can do to help build relationships amongst the staff.

The goal, after all, is to have enough help at every event so Mercyhurst game management can function. I love having the opportunity to be a leader and it's great experience for the future. Of course, I know there are people reading the blog that have much more experience in this area than I. I would love to hear a suggestion on how to build camaraderie, be a better leader and make people WANT to work for sports information.