"Winning" with Alternate Plans

In mid-December, I had the great fortune of attending the American Volleyball Coaches Association annual convention in Tampa, Fla. There were a number of terrific presentations, many of which applied to any role in an athletics department, not just coaching. I felt I benefitted greatly from having attended the convention and, at times, felt like it allowed me to see my role of athletics communications director from a different perspective.

By far, the best session that I attended (and maybe the best I have ever attended) was called "Tips and Tools to Maintain Your Passion in Coaching" by legendary former UCLA softball coach Sue Enquist. The lesson that I most took away from her presentation was what she called "Winning with Plan A, Plan B and 911."

This is a lesson that I think many athletics communications professionals could benefit from. Let's be honest, many times our operation is expected to go perfectly in order to give our coaches and staff (and, also the media covering our event) the best opportunity to be successful. Completely understandable.

I'm going to analyze Sue Enquist's philosophy as it, in my opinion, relates to athletics communications. It took Sue's philosophy to get me thinking about this. Most of what I say hereforth are my ideas and interpretation of her lesson as related to my particular job.

Let's look at the various plans:
*Plan A: Everything goes according to plan - the ideal situation
*Plan B: You are forced to go to your back-up plan, but you're already prepared.
*911: More than one thing goes wrong at once and you may or may not be prepared for handling the situation.

For most of the athletics communicators out there, pat yourself on the back. Most of us are masters at thinking on our feet and adapting to things going wrong. We are resourceful, usually find a way to get through any situation and make things work. But are we "winning" at Plan B and 911? We need to be.

What I mean by winning is that we need to be flawless and seemless in operating under any of these three situations. If fans storm the court following a victory, but you need to get that star player to an ESPN interview, you have to find a way to make it work. Maybe this is a 911 situation for you. You weren't expecting to have to deal with a swarm of fans making your post-game operation an unsafe environment. You still have to remain calm and find a way to accomplish the task in a safe and, most importantly, professional manner. That's winning at 911.

A really effective communications professional can respond effectively to any situation, no matter how much of a crisis it appears to be. Thinking on your feet and coming up with a quick (not to be confused with hasty) and effective decision is a key to what we do. Believe me, I'm as guilty as the next person for what I'm about to say. BUT, we can't allow emotion to get the better of us, especially in these times.

So, how do we prepare for each of the situations?

*Plan A: Make sure you actually do have a Plan A. It sounds silly, but most of the time in what we do, we are operating off the cuff and going with what has worked in the past. "Off the cuff" is reserved for 911. Make sure you have a solid Plan A in place to avoid, at all costs, falling to Plan B or 911 (which will happen anyway, but you are trying to reduce the number of times you have to resort to that).

Have that plan written down and follow it. Maybe it's chronicling your gameday operation from the first thing you do pre-game to the last thing you do post-game. It sounds silly, but writing things down keeps it organized. As Sue would emphasize, leaders know how to articulate their vision.

Most importantly, COMMUNICATE that plan. We are communications directors in our jobs, but sometimes we fail to communicate effectively with our staffs and gameday workers because WE know what we mean, shouldn't they? Bad assumption and one I've made in the past. Communicate that plan, get everyone on board, open it up for questions or input and discuss possible improvements.

If that person has been your scoreboard operator for two years, let's say, they are the expert at that position, not you. Just because you are the athletics communications director doesn't make you the expert at everything, even if it's a position you oversee. Ask their opinion - remember, there's no such thing as a monopoly on wisdom. You don't have it and I don't have it.

Here's why you need to communicate Plan A. You don't want to be forced into Plan B or 911 because your staff doesn't understand their roles in Plan A. Plain and simple. It's preventative, it's easier this way and it just makes sense.

*Plan B: You should also have a written Plan B in place that is communicated to each member of your staff. This is your back-up plan. In all honesty, you learn your best back-up plans from experience. Let me give you an example. Say your printer burned up and died during a basketball game and, since you had no back-up plan in place, you were immediately launched into 911 mode. Since that point, you've always had a back-up printer on site in your arena for such an instance. If your printer dies, you go grab that one and you're up and running with no stress.

I am amazed at the athletics communications students at various places who are assigned to transcribe quotes at a press conference and show up with only their recorders. Record the press session and keep shorthand that would allow you to as closely replicate the quotes as possible, if for some reason your batteries die or the sound quality on your recording is poor. Sure, the recorder is your Plan A, but it shouldn't be your only plan. Why are these students being taught not to have a back-up plan?

Let me clarify one point, however, and that's how long you try to ride out Plan A before going to Plan B. Since most athletics communications directors are perfectionists and Type-A Personalities, you're going to want to go with Plan A.

A phrase that a lot of perfectionists - especially myself - mire themselves in is "supposed to." This is how this is "supposed to" work. This is how they were supposed to react. I'm supposed to get that promotion. And the list goes on and on.

I'm not telling you to change how you think or that you shouldn't be a perfectionist, I'm saying that in a situation where you have to make a split-second decision, this is going to work against you in a big way.

Here's my suggestion: the third time's the charm, right? Try Plan A three times and if it doesn't work, abandon it IMMEDIATELY. If you printer jams and you try to print again, don't try it more than three times. You're slowing yourself down. Disconnect that printer and grab your Plan B printer. Now you have a printer that works and you're not stressed.

We want to keep pressing that key or shaking that toner or testing that phone cord. Because it's SUPPOSED to work. But, guess what, it doesn't. Odds are extremely high that if it doesn't work on the third try, it's not going to (at least under the time constraints and under the pressure you are feeling. You don't necessarily have a clear head when Plan A goes awry.)

Again, Plan B should not be stressful. For everything you have listed on your task list for Plan A, you should have a complement in Plan B. You and your staff should be able to easily shift into Plan B for either that component or the entire operation upon your direction. Your staff, if qualified, should be empowered to shift into Plan B mode in his or her task at their discretion. If possible, they would inform you so you can adjust the "big picture" success of your operation.

Say the copier in Plan A is out of staples when making final books, make your copy chief aware of where the copier in Plan B is located and how quickly they can slide from Plan A to Plan B.

Why is it important to have everyone aware of the back-up plan? Because, if you don't, you're likely going to cause panic and jump from Plan A to 911 without ever hitting Plan B. You're going to approach your staff in a panic saying "If this happens, then do this, then do this and try this and try that ..." That's incredibly confusing for them and odds are, you won't win. The job may get done, but you won't win.

If your staff knows what Plan B is, they are empowered to jump to that plan on their own. They don't have to check with you to see "what do I do now?" You're not stressed and they're not stressed. You don't have to make a decision on your feet because you've already made it in your planning and preparation months before that game was even on the schedule.

Remember, you have to articulate that plan to empower your staff. That's what leaders do - they empower their employees to achieve their best. If everyone knows what Plan B looks like and when to slide into it, you're winning. From the outside, one would think you had planned to do things that way all along, because things are running smoothly and efficiently. There is no lapse in performance and no panic in execution.

*911 - Here's where your real skill as a leader is going to come in. Both in how you handle this situation and how your staff responds to your leadership and subsequently performs.

In my personal belief, don't ever let your staff think they are in 911 - maybe call it Plan C. There may not be a clear plan in place, but your global view and their empowerment places your team on a good path for winning, despite the odds.

You as the leader are going to most likely need to make the call in these types of situations but, remember, you don't have a monopoly on wisdom. Quickly ask the person in that role what their suggestion would be and take that under advisement before making your on-your-feet decision.

911 occurs when either both Plan A and Plan B fail, or it was a situation that you didn't forsee and thus don't have a Plan B in place. Try to have as many Plan Bs as possible to reduce the likelihood of 911 status. Maybe both of your copiers in the venue die. Have enough paper, enough ink and a manual stapler in your supply closet readily available so that you can print final books from your courtside printer and can compile them with your manual stapler.

Maybe a critical member of your staff doesn't show up. Always know the strengths of the members of your staff that are there. Maybe Person A, your scoreboard operator, can work the scoreboard and can do the shot clock. Maybe Person B usually answers the ScorePhone but can also handle the scoreboard. Put Person B on the scoreboard and Person A on the shot clock. Sure, these are things you deal with on a daily basis, but you need to have a plan in place to go about it strategically so you can Win and operate with ease.

It's like those GMAT math problems - how many combinations can you put together in what order to make a situation work. To win. Sometimes in 911, you're quickly working your Rubik's Cube, but you'd better be experienced in how to work one and you'd better remain calm. That's really what it's all about. Knowing how to handle even the worst crises with a combination of experience and resourcefulness that make it seem as if that was the way you planned to handle that situation.

I am greatly simplifying the principles - there are far bigger crises in the athletics communications world than a jammed copier, but I have chosen situations that all of you can easily relate to, for the purpose of an example.

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned over the past year is how to win in Plan B and 911 (even before I knew what that meant). It has helped my "win total" go up and I hope it will help yours as well.