What makes a chief?
Alright, we've all been there . . . doing the grunt work on a crew at a meet. There is someone else in charge, the crew chief. What makes him or her special?
What are the qualities that make a crew chief? Is it personality? Knowledge of the rules? Charisma? Something else, or a combination of things? And if so, what things?
Let's talk about what makes good, and not so good, crew chiefs. Please, no names or other ways of identifying who they are ("At the 2004 Trials in the discus . . ."). If we can identify what are the good and bad traits of crew chiefs, then we can begin preparing the next generation of leaders in our officials ranks.
What are the qualities that make a crew chief? Is it personality? Knowledge of the rules? Charisma? Something else, or a combination of things? And if so, what things?
Let's talk about what makes good, and not so good, crew chiefs. Please, no names or other ways of identifying who they are ("At the 2004 Trials in the discus . . ."). If we can identify what are the good and bad traits of crew chiefs, then we can begin preparing the next generation of leaders in our officials ranks.
posted by Hammer at
Thursday, August 09, 2007
1 Comments:
I'll tell you what I think makes me a good/bad crew chief. Disclaimer - this is my perspective only.
On the good side, I make sure that everything that is needed for my crew to perform the tasks is: a) available, b) has been tested and working properly, c)working environment is orderly and FRIENDLY. I get to the venue WELL ahead of the other crew members to ascertain the above and WELL before the first event is scheduled to start INCLUDING warmups. I give each of my crew members a chance to learn the different duties/aspects of the position (rotation). I TEACH the new members the different duties and tasks they will be performing and EXPAND the teaching of the more experienced crew members. I try not to be condescending while doing this teaching - I assume that the crew members are genuinely interested in learning more and are dedicated to being good and better T&F officals.
On the bad side, I can be a micromanager and I have to be reminded not to interfere when the situation doesn't warrant it. I can be impatient, but thanks to my crew, they assure me that things are under control (and they usually are). Because of the long hours officiating meets, I can get tired and have to guard against mental errors late in the meet. I then rely on my crew to handle the tasks appropriately.
I try to rest my crew members, if we have enough to do so (to prevent the fatigue I describe above).
The bottom line has become my mantra - I put my crew in position to be successful so that they can "do their thing" successfully.
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