Rick Ceh is my coaching mentor and National 'D' License certifying instructor. Rick is back in college with a goal of becoming a personal coach as well as a soccer coach/coach instructor. This survey is for a Communications Class at Elgin Community College.
1. What kind of job do you have right now?
a. I am a nationally licensed soccer coach working for Skills First Soccer in McHenry Illinois. I also am a self employed as an Executive Leadership Coach working with CEO/COO level managers in larger companies and corporations. I also work with entrepreneurs and small business owner collectively also coaching them through leadership issues. I am also a published author and speaker on topics ranging from leadership and networking to just plain old story telling.
2. How long have you been working in your current field?
a. As an athletic coach, for 37 years
b. As a leadership coach, for 7 years
c. As a speaker, author, for 25 years
3. What do you do during a typical day? What are your responsibilities?
a. A typical day for me begins between 5:30 and 6:30 in the gym, either playing basketball, studying martial arts, or lifting and cardio workouts. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am in networking meetings from 7:30 to 8:30 growing relationships with other business owners. Between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm, I am meeting with individual clients, coaching them through the 11 leadership principles, the 14 leadership characteristics, or teaching them the Be-Know-Do style of leadership. At 2:00 pm, I begin changing my mind from business to the athletic field. I am currently coaching 7thgrade girls basketball, and have two club level soccer teams that I coach either at practices, or at games. When I get home in the evening, I catch up on my communications such as texts, e-mails and voice-mails that I received during technology down time, which is my coaching time, when the athletes deserve my undivided attention.
4. How much of your job is related to communications? (Listening, speaking, reading, writing)
a. 110% of my day is spent doing one of the above.
5. Please give some examples of the types of communications you engage in at work. (Write memos, letters, give presentations, group meetings, etc)
a. I Emcee between 10 and 20 events every year, many of them charitable events where I define myself as a ‘Separator’. I separate people from the wallets for good causes.
b. To build my leadership coaching practice, I do about 50 engagements a years teaching leadership at the chamber and networking level, giving the attendees the opportunity to enter a coaching relationship if they so desire.
c. I communicate to my soccer teams and their parents through e-mail and group meetings.
d. I do story telling for all ages from 4 to 94. As a published poet and speaker, we all have a lot of fun at these events.
e. The list goes on
6. Have you ever taken business communications classes or had workshops in high school? In college? In the work place? If yes, what kind of classes or workshops did you have?
a. Yes. Yes. And, Yes. In high school I enjoyed speech so much that I was entered in state competition against other schools, from which I earned a superior+ rating. My degree is at General Studies degree with a triple minor in Business Administration, Management and Psychology. I am also a certified Military Instructor Trainer have been the Senior Drill Instructor at the Officer Candidate School. What type of training? Pretty much the whole spectrum from instructional speaking to motivational/inspirational talks. Did I mention that I am also an ordained minister with several sermons in my bag of tricks?
7.
Discuss a difficult communications situation you have had to face and how did you deal with the situation? I was once asked to speak at a meeting about three months before the meeting. As we approached the meeting, I called the organizer to get more particulars on the meeting. Time, topic, etc… I was informed at that time that I was not on the agenda. We attended the meeting anyway. We arrived a few minutes late due to weather conditions and were seated as the first speaker was just finishing her presentation. Following the round of applause for that speaker, the Emcee stepped up the microphone and said, “Our next speaker is Tim Stewart.” I had not prepared or planned a single note. I had from my seat to the podium to prepare my talk. To this day, it may be one of my best presentations ever. (excluding the toast at my daughter’s wedding)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXV_XRlZ3dM
8. If you could learn/study anything to help you become a better communicator, what would you learn/study? Why?
a. I study the great speakers to see what works for them. I watch their mannerisms, their speech patterns and their timing. I am personally a big fan of Mr. Zig Ziglar and pattern much of my work after him. I have had the opportunity to present in the Ziglar offices in Plano, TX three times. I must be doing okay, because they keep asking me back.
9. Name the three most important things you have learned about communication in the workplace.
a. Listen/read well before you speak/write. If you are unclear on what is being said or asked, restate it in your own words to ensure you are on the right track.
b. When you speak or write, ask for feedback to ensure what you said is what their heard.
c. Wait 24 hours before responding to emotional outbursts. Give yourself and the other guy/gal a cooling off period so things are not said in the heat of the moment that are neither kind, respectful nor fruitful.
10. Do you have an advice for me or anything you would like to add in relation to communication in the workplace?
a. Steve Martin says, “Some people have a way with words. Others, not have way.” I believe that everyone has a way with words, if they will take the time and practice the right things to say and the right way to say them. In the military the tree elements of war are to move, shoot and communicate. If any one of these elements is compromised, the war will be lost. Good communication is the background for success in any organization. Poor communication is a ticket to failure.
