Wrestling Successful Teams
Ten years ago, I started coaching middle-school wrestling. Like many parents, it was supposed to be a volunteer, part-time thing to support my child’s enthusiasm. Today, I’m a high-school wrestling coach and am fortunate to have the flexibility in my schedule to manage my projects and my group of student-athletes.
As my Frontier Energy project management responsibilities and skills grew, I saw them reflected in the success of the wrestlers and wrestling team. I also found the skills I developed to keep teenagers focused and motivated also keeps my colleagues going.
At work, we know how important project planning is and I brought this skill to the wrestling program. Unlike work, I couldn’t just create milestones, assign tasks, and budget funds. I needed to understand all the personalities involved, parents and athletes, and their individual reasons for joining the team. I brought this lesson back to the office — a project plan isn’t an edict; it needs to be a starting point that enables others to bring their ideas forward.
The team was pretty small when I became head coach; many of the star wrestlers had graduated and we hadn’t been promoting the program. To rebuild, we needed to advertise. At Frontier, I lead outreach activities for several of our clients and I implemented those ideas for the team. We redesigned the logo and bought modern wrestling gear. We attended back-to-school events and talked to parents. We focused on non-traditional wrestlers and leveraged our female alumni to reach out to girls. We changed how people thought about wrestling and made it cool, accessible, and equitable. It’s the same way we market energy efficiency and electric transportation.
I also write a weekly summary about matches and tournaments that the school staff read over the loudspeaker and post on the school’s social media sites. The kids yearn for this attention, and it was a reminder that my staff yearn for it, too. I’m much better at acknowledging my colleagues and their contributions.
The most important work/coaching blend is about motivation — bringing out the best in people. All my projects have goals and metrics, a regular review of progress, and an end of year report. I do the same for the wrestlers. At the beginning of the season, each student-athlete writes down their short- and long-term goals, which we review throughout the season. Every practice becomes a step toward achieving goals, instead of tedium of repeating moves. We review goals during the season so they can reflect about their growth and identify the skills they need to develop next. It’s an application of best practices and lessons learned.
My work team and my student athletes inspired me to develop more skills, too. Last month I competed in my first Iron Man competition and beat my goal time. Next month I’m taking on new projects that will expand my technical skills. It’s great to work for a company that encourages both sides of my project management coin.
Originally written by Ben Xiong, Frontier Energy — https://frontierenergy.com/blog/#wrestling-successful-teams
