What is the Loyola Greyhounds Leadership Academy?

 “Developing the World’s Next Generation of Leaders”

I wanted to share the vision and mission behind the Loyola Greyhounds Leadership Academy.  I hope you can take a couple minutes to read and share any suggestions with us.  This program is for Loyola Greyhound student-athletes who are selected by their coaches to participate in a seminar based program during their sophomore, junior and seniors years.  Go Hounds... dg

OUR VISION

To create and sustain a world-class leadership development program that has a significant impact on you as a student, athlete, person, and leader; and ultimately a strong, positive impact on the success and satisfaction of your team, campus, and community.

OUR MISSION

The Loyola Greyhounds Leadership Academy develops, challenges, and supports student-athletes and coaches in their continual quest to be world-class leaders in academics, athletics, and life.

WHAT JANSSEN LEADERSHIP WILL DELIVER TO YOU

Ø  Provide you with the best insights, ideas, and information available on successful leadership.

Ø  Challenge you to stretch and grow as a person and leader.

Ø  Support you through the tough times and when there seems to be no easy answers.

Ø  Fully respect your confidentiality and trust at all times.

Ø  Be honest with you and tell you the truth.

Ø  Care about your success and development as a person, student, and athlete.

Ø  Be open to your ideas, comments, compliments, and criticism to make this program the best.

Ø  Be available to you within 48 hours and often 4 to 8 hours when you have question, comment, or concern.

I am always available to you. Please contact me 24/7 if you ever need anything.

Becky Ahlgren-Bedics     bbedics@jeffjanssen.com     317.372.7413

WHAT YOU WILL DELIVER TO THE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

Ø  Invest yourself.

Ø  Be honest.

Ø  Respect confidentiality.

Ø  Be yourself and look to grow.

Ø  Be open to new insights, experiences, and ideas.

Ø  Make every effort to do the right thing.

Ø  Hold yourself, your teammates, coaches, staff, and me accountable.

Ø  Develop a working and trusted partnership with your coaches.

Ø  Communicate often with your coaches, teammates, and staff.

Ø  Make all meetings. If you cannot make a meeting or will be late because of competition, travel, or a class conflict, please notify me and your coach by phone or email BEFORE the meeting. Two unexcused absences and you will be dropped from the program. You must attend at least 3/4 of the meetings to officially complete the program.

Ø  Do your readings and assignments.

Ø  Help this Academy grow and improve with your ideas, suggestions, and constructive criticism.

Ø  Play an active role in developing your teammates into respected leaders who can take your place when you graduate.

Can conflict help you grow?

Hello Loyola Greyhound Leadership Academy –

In Chapter 10 of The Team Captain’s Leadership Manual, there are two things I wanted to share that are vital for your team’s success.

They are - Six Steps for Resolving Conflicts and Ten Tips for Constructive Conflict.
In this week’s email, let’s take a look at the six steps for resolving conflict.  Many times having a framework to have a discussion helps move things along and sets up a method to get through difficult times.  Jeff Janssen lays out the following six steps for resolving conflict –
1) Define the problem
2) Brainstorm possible solutions
3) Evaluate the possible solutions
4) Decide on a solution
5) Implement the solution
6) Evaluate the success of the solution

Before you can resolve a problem, you really need to understand or define what the problem or conflict is.  Many times things bubble under the surface only to rear themselves usually at hard times during the season.  Maybe it appears or intensifies after a difficult loss or after some negative that might have happened off the field.  By defining the problem and really making sure everyone knows about it and how it has manifested itself in the locker room or in practice is the first step to getting to the solution.  And you will learn that as a leader defining and dealing with problems comes with the mantle of leadership.

Leaders build consensus.  By getting people to brainstorm, evaluate and decide on possible solutions to the problem, you as a leader help to get your teammates bought into the solution and its implementation.  Sometimes this implementation of the solution is where the leader really earns the respect of teammates and coaches.  Being a leader means you make tough decisions and you have to back the decisions up with action.

An after the solution is implemented to bring this process full circle, you need to review the solution and determine if it was the right decision.  This is analogous to watching game film, how did that new play work?

There are many levels of conflict and the best way to deal with them is to not let them fester and grow.  Leaders need to recognize when there are issues that need to be dealt with and they need to act to resolve the issues.

There are many times that the leader does this without having to go to the next level.  Has your coach given you the ability to deal with conflict?  Talk to your coach about this and see what ideas they have.

Here is a great summary of how communication is a powerful tool for eliminating conflicts.

Be heard, be vocal!

The following is by ― Shannon L. Alder
“The Anatomy of Conflict:
If there is no communication then there is no respect.
If there is no respect then there is no caring.
If there is no caring then there is no understanding.
If there is no understanding then there is no compassion.
If there is no compassion then there is no empathy.
If there is no empathy then there is no forgiveness.
If there is no forgiveness then there is no kindness.
If there is no kindness then there is no honesty.
If there is no honesty then there is no love.
If there is no love then God doesn't reside there.
If God doesn't reside there then there is no peace.
If there is no peace then there is no happiness.
If there is no happiness ----then there IS CONFLICT BECAUSE THERE IS NO COMMUNICATION!”


Thanks for reading the Leadership Email - Have a great evening…

Last Year's Leadership Conference at USNA

This is an email I sent out to our student-athletes last year... I will be attending this conference again in 2015.

I returned yesterday from a trip to the United States Naval Academy.  I had the pleasure of attending the USNA Leadership Conference with Andrew McGill (Men’s Golf), Anna Bosse (Track and Cross Country) and our two student interns from Campus Ministry Ed Ortiz and Christin Campbell.  (If you bump into them ask them about the conference!)

There were 220 student leaders from over 60 schools.  There were regular students, ROTC members, Midshipmen and Cadets from military academies and also student-athletes.  The theme of the conference was Followership: The Evolution of a Leader.

I wanted to share just a couple highlights from the event and will share some more in the future.  The conference featured talks by former Vice President Dick Cheney, current VP for US Public Policy for Facebook Joel Kaplan, Lieutenant General Sattler of the USMC, Astronaut Chris Cassidy, and many more. It was amazing and the takeaways were numerous.

The first talk that I want to talk to you all about was by Captain Will Byrne, Commandant of Midshipmen at the USNA.  

The best way to describe his role in terms of Loyola is his position is similar to the Dean of Students.  He shared a simple message that when you take a look at it a few times you will smile and say I can do that.

He started by talking about a book that has all the secrets of life – All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum.

The following is from that book-

“These are the things I learned (in Kindergarten):
1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don't hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don't take things that aren't yours.
7. Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life - learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first worked you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.”  

It is so simple but so true.

His other point shared with us was based upon what he says to the new midshipmen when they arrive in Annapolis. 

“Be Excellent.”

That is it.  Be Excellent. 

He did expand to add the following –

Be Excellent – to yourself

Be Excellent – to each other

Be Excellent – to this place

He went on about each area briefly as well.

Be Excellent –

To yourself - eat right, work out, study, tell the truth, know the rules

To each other – be a good listener, share your time, be an active bystander

To this place – take care of your school, your dorm room, your locker room, etc.

These are two simple points to share with your teammates.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and please touch base if you have any questions.

Confidence + Composure

 

Last week, we talked about confidence. The more confidence you have in yourself the better equipped you will be to deal with the many different things you have going on in your life.

Your academic success gives you confidence. Your athletic success gives you even more. Your social life being under control and living a healthy lifestyle adds even more to your confidence.

All of these areas feed upon each other and the balance you have in your life helps you to be successful in all of these areas.

What do you do when the pressure is on? How do you maintain your composure? In chapter 4 of Jeff Janssen’s The Team Captain’s Leadership Manual , you get a great dose of information on how to deal with pressure, but, even more importantly, you get some pointers on how to recognized pressure situations and how they can potentially impact your teammates.

The traffic light analogy is a simple method of assessing where you and your teammates are in regards to managing collective emotions. Think Green, Yellow and Red lights. Read up on this and it will really help you in your ability to lead by example and to help your teammates when they are looking to you for guidance. How do you handle a red light or yellow light and get it back to a green light? Look at some of the refocusing strategies presented on page 56-59.

Your ability to lead in pressure situations will teach life lessons that will by the example you set be contagious with your teammates!

I am going to leave you with one of my favorite poems. I really think you can apply it to your everyday life and your time shared with your teammates.
Just like confidence is contagious – so is composure.
Take a second to read Rudyard Kipling’s If.

If 

BY RUDYARD KIPLING
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Source: A Choice of Kipling's Verse (1943)

Loyola Greyhounds Leadership Academy Wrap Up Dinner

A group of 50 Loyola University Maryland Student-Athletes gathered to share a meal and some conversation about being leaders and to share what leadership means to each of them. 

Before the dinner began, the student-athletes took a moment of silent reflection to collect their thoughts following another busy weekend. 
The group considered this quote from Albert Camus– Life is the sum of all your choices.

As an icebreaker, the student-athletes talked to at their table about the following from the leadership perspective – Who Am I? (Am I a leader?) Why Am I Here? (Someone thinks I am a leader, Do I lead every day?) Where Am I Going? (Am I leading people in the right Direction?)

They then enjoyed a nice meal and more conversation about the role of self in leadership. 

As the meal was wrapping up, the conversation continued and moved into a discussion of “The Total Package.”

The question of “Are You the Total Package?” was presented and framed in the “Life is the sum of all your choices.”  The group talked about leadership and how leading by example in the areas of Athletics, Academics,  Spiritual, Social  and Service helps each student-athlete create a culture of winning and a culture of commitment.  

The first are that was considered was where each student-athlete currently stands in each of these areas and how this impacts their commitment level on a daily basis. They then took some time to share with their table some of individual thoughts.

In the future The Leadership Academy will continue with 3 sections – Emerging Leaders, Veteran Leaders and Leadership 360.  The student-athletes gathered with their teammates for the final discussion and they thought of other teammates, both current first year student and others that you see has real leadership potential. These recommendations will help select the next group to be part of the Loyola Greyhounds Leadership Academy. 

Finally as they were gathered with teammates they talked about how leadership can help propel your teams to even more success.
Loyola University Maryland has made a big commitment to provide leadership development training to our student-athletes.  This dinner was the culmination of the first full year of the Academy and the student-athletes that were in attendance all highly praised the program and look forward to being part of it in the next academic year.

visit here to see some pictures of the event - https://plus.google.com/106554644781305721427/posts/MVjn7pgqFDz

Loyola Greyhound Leadership Academy Thursday Email - Conflict Resolution

Hello and welcome to the Loyola Greyhound Leadership Academy Thursday Email


In Chapter 10 of The Team Captain’s Leadership Manual, there are two things I wanted to share that are vital for your team’s success.

They are - Six Steps for Resolving Conflicts and Ten Tips for Constructive Conflict.

 In this week’s email, let’s take a look at the six steps for resolving conflict.

Many times having a framework to have a discussion helps move things along and sets up a method to get through difficult times.

Jeff Janssen lays out the following six steps for resolving conflict –

1) Define the problem
2) Brainstorm possible solutions
3) Evaluate the possible solutions
4) Decide on a solution
5) Implement the solution
6) Evaluate the success of the solution

Before you can resolve a problem, you really need to understand or define what the problem or conflict is. Many times things bubble under the surface only to rear themselves usually at hard times during the season. Maybe it appears or intensifies after a difficult loss or after some negative that might have happened off the field.

By defining the problem and really making sure everyone knows about it and how it has manifested itself in the locker room or in practice is the first step to getting to the solution. And you will learn that as a leader defining and dealing with problems comes with the mantle of leadership.

Leaders build consensus.

By getting people to brainstorm, evaluate and decide on possible solutions to the problem, you as a leader help to get your teammates bought into the solution and its implementation. Sometimes this implementation of the solution is where the leader really earns the respect of teammates and coaches. Being a leader means you make tough decisions and you have to back the decisions up with action. An after the solution is implemented to bring this process full circle, you need to review the solution and determine if it was the right decision.

This is analogous to watching game film, how did that new play work?

There are many levels of conflict and the best way to deal with them is to not let them fester and grow. Leaders need to recognize when there are issues that need to be dealt with and they need to act to resolve the issues.

There are many times that the leader does this without having to go to the next level. Has your coach given you the ability to deal with conflict? Talk to your coach about this and see what ideas they have. 

Thanks for reading the Leadership Email - Have a great evening… https://plus.google.com/106554644781305721427/posts/eFG4kCefm6W

Loyola Greyhound Leadership Academy - Be Excellent

Good Afternoon Loyola Greyhound Leadership Academy – I returned yesterday from a trip to the United States Naval Academy. I had the pleasure of attending the USNA Leadership Conference with two student-athletes: Anna Bosse (Track and Cross Country), and Andrew McGill (Men’s Golf), and two student interns from Campus Ministry: Christin Campbell and Ed Ortiz. (If you bump into them ask them about the conference!) There were 220 student leaders from over 60 schools. There were regular students, ROTC members, Midshipmen and Cadets from military academies and also student-athletes. The theme of the conference was Followership: The Evolution of a Leader. I wanted to share just a couple highlights from the event and will share some more in the future. The conference featured talks by former Vice President Dick Cheney, current VP for US Public Policy for Facebook Joel Kaplan, Lieutenant General Sattler of the USMC, Astronaut Chris Cassidy, and many more. It was amazing and the takeaways were numerous. The first talk that I want to tell you all about was by Captain Will Byrne, Commandant of Midshipmen at the USNA. He is the Dean of Students at USNA. He shared a couple simple messages that when you take a look at it a few times, you will smile and say I can do that. He started by talking about a book that has all the secrets of life – All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum. The following is from that book- “These are the things I learned (in Kindergarten): 1. Share everything. 2. Play fair. 3. Don't hit people. 4. Put things back where you found them. 5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS. 6. Don't take things that aren't yours. 7. Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody. 8. Wash your hands before you eat. 9. Flush. 10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. 11. Live a balanced life - learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work every day some. 12. Take a nap every afternoon. 13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. 14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. 15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we. 16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first worked you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.” It is so simple but so true. His other point shared with us was based upon what he says to the new midshipmen when they arrive in Annapolis. “Be Excellent.” That is it. Be Excellent. He did expand to add the following – Be Excellent – to yourself Be Excellent – to each other Be Excellent – to this place He went on about each area briefly as well. Be Excellent – To yourself - eat right, work out, study, tell the truth, know the rules To each other – be a good listener, share your time, be an active bystander To this place – take care of your school, your dorm room, your locker room, etc. These are two simple points to share with your teammates. Thanks for taking the time to read this and please touch base if you have any questions. David Gerrity

Thursday Loyola Leadership Academy Email

In honor of Throwback Thursday, here is a look at some of the basics with the Team Captain’s Leadership Model. Do you remember way back in the first chapter of The Team Captain’s Leadership Manual? Jeff Janssen lays out how you can break leadership down into two areas – Lead by Example and Vocal Leader. Leading by example, although tough at times, is really about pushing yourself. It is about your commitment, your confidence, your composure and your character. If you push yourself every day to be the best student-athlete you can be even when times are tough, you are leading by example. Leading by example is extremely important for the team to be successful. By setting the bar high in all areas - academically, athletically and socially – you are saying “I am a leader and I want my teammates to follow my example.” Leading by example can have a powerful impact on the team, especially when that team has most of the members “on board” or as Janssen says “committed or compelled!” Your leadership by example pushes members of your team who are compliant and existent. But this can only go so far and this is where Vocal Leadership kicks in. There are two types of vocal leaders – The Encourager and The Enforcer. Read the start of section 2 in the leadership manual pages 73-76, it will give you a really nice introduction to vocal leadership. Think about your team and make a list of teammates who are the encouragers and the enforcers. Both are vital to your team’s success. Now that you have that list, ask yourself another question – “How did these people become the vocal leaders on my team?” Many times it is people who are extroverted and outgoing who do not mind stepping out in front and communicating the team’s vision. Many times the vocal leaders are seniors on the team and this is great but this sometimes will stifle younger players who are worried about stepping on the toes of their older teammates. This is where communication is key – if you are an older member of the team try to nurture the younger players’ leadership – give them the opportunity to speak up too. If you are a younger member of the team, talk to the vocal leaders and see how you can be a part of the leadership team. Janssen says it best – “Remember your team must have one person who is willing to step outside of themselves to be a vocal Leader. Are you that person?” Thanks to Jeff Janssen and The Team Captain’s Leadership Manual. Pages 16, 73-76.

Are you winning everyday? Maybe Lou Holtz can help...

A friend shared the book by Lou Holtz - Winning Every Day - The Game Plan for Success - and it is an easy read and has some basic and fundamental messages that can help you succeed in what ever you are doing.

The book is written by football coach Lou Holtz and it is full of short vignettes from his life in coaching.  During his time as a young coach he started to develop his personal philosophy and he did admit to borrowing some ideas.  In general I think you would enjoy reading the book as it is simple and to the point.

He offers up ten steps and the book follows along these steps.

The steps are

                The power of attitude

                Tackle adversity

                Have a sense of purpose

                Make sacrifice your ally

                Adapt or Die

                Chase your Dream

                Nurture your self-image

                Foster Trust

                Commit to excellence

                Handle with Care

 

As you read through the text it is clear that Holtz feels that you need to be responsible for your own actions and by your example you will be come a leader.  If you can not lead yourself, how can you lead others?

The best takeaway for me was the acronym - WIN - which means - what's important now?  Think about it for a little bit and it will show you that you need to focus on what's important now and by prioritizing and putting things in the right places you will be successful.

Do the little things well and the big things will fall into place.

What do you think?  Let me know your POV....