by Eric McDowell, Union College (NY) Assistant AD/Sports Information
As a sports information professional, you immerse yourself in the promotion of others. Yet, as Eric
McDowell, Union College Assistant AD for Sports Information and a CoSIDA Hall of Famer writes, you need to show your supervisors what value your department, budget, yourself and your assistants bring to the athletics department. As the new year approaches, McDowell shares some ideas on how to document your value to your employer. Use his tips for this year-long personal project. At year's end and for your evaluation, you will be able to demonstrate your value is as a sports information professional. McDowell shared his thoughts at the Table Topic session during the 2009 CoSIDA Convention, and his entire presentation (with document examples to use) can be found in the PDF below.Evaluating Your Value, by Eric McDowell, Union College (PDF)What happens at the end of the year when evaluations come up, and it is time to promote the value of your department? How do you have the time, find the time, and take the time to show your value, your department’s value, and if applicable, the value of your assistants and students to insure that you receive what you deserve? You need to show your value for your budget and your department, as well as yourself.
Here are some tips about how you can take a little time here and there to
Evaluate Your Value.
• More Than Just Wins and Losses
The members of this profession cannot and should not be judged on the wins and losses, the performances of the teams. Many tremendous SIDs find ways to get coverage for teams that do not have the success and stars of other teams. In addition, SIDs are not fund raisers, they do not meet sale quotas, they do not sell tickets, they are not considered “marketing directors” per se.
Yet, you bring attention to your student athletes, which brings in money from alumni, which gets valuable space in print and on television that would normally be costly, the arena gets crowds because you make the fans aware of you team, and your alums donate money to your department because you keep the website updated. So in many ways, you do it all!
• The Season Review Notepod
When a season is winding down, and things are fresh in your mind, jot down the successes and accomplishments of your department.
This is like exercise. “When can I do it, it will take too long, etc.” Excuses, excuses!
I was guilty as well (well, take a look at me and you’ll say that I am still guilty in the exercise dept.). But jot down the total events you worked, the stories that were produced, the special projects that came up that you worked on. A student can assist in this project. Don’t leave anything out, but you can edit down later in the year. Come May, when you are told your evaluation meeting is coming up and we’d like to go over this in the next few weeks, you can tweak it and package it together in a crisp and organized format that spells out your value.
• The Daily Hour Update Get a calendar - either a hanging calendar or those great daily trivia calendars. Jot down when you came in, when you left. Could be 8:45 a.m., left at 1:30 a.m. Just do it every day, and then have a student keep an excel sheet to show what type of hours you are truly putting in. This can assist in a department addressing things like staffing, insuring personal time, health issues, taking things off your plate, etc. Don’t get behind, just do it every day then once again, package it together for your evaluation.
• The Good, Compliment Folder Throughout the year, you will receive emails that are complimentary. You need those now and then to keep you refreshed and positive.
Start a folder called the “Good, Compliment Folder” and anytime you get one of those gems, save it there. A parent that appreciated the hometown news hit … a director pleased about your work with the banquet … a coach thrilled with your promotion of their All-American … an alum happy about the hall of fame … a media member pleased with your efforts … a senior thanking you for all you did for her career.
Come evaluation time, put these together in groupings by category and provide in one sheet with direct quotes from these individuals. Add this sheet to your evaluation.
In addition, if you are a staff supervisor, solicit compliments on your assistant from the media, coaches and others to assist in providing a quality evaluation of that individual.
In the PDF, you will find copies of documents to assist you in this year-long project.
Remember, students can assist in crunching numbers. Just take the few quality moments each day and each season and when May rolls around, you will be pleased, excited and ready to Evaluate Your Value!