For those of you who prefer to digest information by reading as opposed to listening, here’s a recap of our Management podcast:

We beg the question:

“Are you aware that you’re in a management position every single day as an athletic trainer? Are you conscious of the fact that you may potentially be molding the future of our profession based on your management model?”

While there is a world of information available regarding management, we chose to focus on characteristics that make up a good manager, as opposed to skills. Here’s how management applies to ATs:

• We manage our own space, own schedules, supplies, and patient outcomes.
• We manage student athletic trainers and education programs both in the high school & collegiate settings.
• We manage coaches, administrators, athletes, parents, and sometimes other medical professionals.

Three main characteristics were focused on:

1. Empathy
2. Compromise
3. Fairness

Empathy is identifying with the feeling, not to be confused with sympathy, which is agreeing with the feeling. While many of us are taught about this during our ATEP in relation to athletes, we struggle to use it with ourselves or our peers.

We see it displayed to ourselves in work-life balance, having a voice/ speaking up (see compromise for more details), or acknowledging that we aren’t perfect and don’t have all the answers. And for our peers, we could all work on not cutting each other down, understanding that ATs make decisions and choices for the best interest of our athletes. Instead of demonizing a decision that has been made, we could try to understand where the other AT may be coming from.

Why is empathy important to be a good manager? Because management is about being able to relate to others, and empathy is a primary component of that.

If you want to watch an awesome TED talk on empathy, I can HIGHLY recommend Jeremy Rifkin’s “On the Empathic Civilization.” Its quick, informative, and has those cartoons drawn all over it for visual stimulus!

Compromise is settling the differences, coming to a mutual understanding. Here, we look at how much Athletic Trainers are being compromised or compromising in their daily duties. Compromise is supposed to be about each side finding mutual ground; both parties should get something of what they want but neither should get everything they want.

In the book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey, Habit #4 is the Win-Win Principle. Striving for a win-win in all compromises is an ideal outcome. Here’s an excerpt from to explain:

“Most of us learn to base our self-worth on comparisons and competition. We think about succeeding in terms of someone else failing–that is, if I win, you lose; or if you win, I lose. Many people think in terms of either/or: either you’re nice or you’re tough. Win-win requires that you be both. It is a balancing act between courage and consideration. To go for win-win, you not only have to be empathic, but you also have to be confident. You not only have to be considerate and sensitive, you also have to be brave. To do that–to achieve that balance between courage and consideration–is the essence of real maturity and is fundamental to win-win.”

There are times when compromise is not appropriate:

• When ethics are in question – the general welfare of both parties should not be endangered by the decision to compromise.
• When your values are at risk – if it is unrealistic to satisfy both parties, compromise should not be an option.
• When your thoughts are not valued – both parties involved should have equal merit & importance.

How does this apply to a management role? It’s important to see the power of compromise and how to leverage different components to find a win-win solution. Though, also being cognizant of when compromise is inappropriate is important in protecting yourself as a professional.

Fairness is free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice. Fairness should not be confused with equality. Fairness is based on merit & level of work, equality is about treating everyone that same, regardless of their level of work.

A study done by the Harvard Business Review  asked “Can you have respect and power?”  Initial findings showed that respect & power are seen as mutually exclusive, one cannot have both. However, early follow up research showed that managers who display respect can earn power.

We then took it a step further to look at the role a fair v. powerful manager played in relation to how those being managed responded. A 2013 Forbes article looked at employee engagement (read: student athletic trainer engagement) where the author stated “widespread lack of engagement is a costly, substantive problem.” Thinking about lack of engagement on behalf of the future of our profession would certainly be a substantive problem! The author continued on to say “If significant numbers of “fair” (i.e. respected and well-liked) managers are routinely losing out to powerful managers who are “less fair” (i.e. controlling and less well-liked), what does that say about the implications for how productively employees will work in a potentially “less fair” environment?”

Consider how you were managed as a student. Or jobs that you have had since being certified and their management statuses. Did you respond better to those who utilized their power to strong arm you or those who explained their methods and went about decisions in a fair way?

Take time to determine what kind of manager you want to be, the impact that has on those who you manage, and the potential impact it has on the advancement of our profession.