Written by I received a call from a coaching colleague this week, we will call her Tracy. Tracy and another coach were hired a few months ago to lead different teams in a world-renowned organization. Tracy was extremely excited to begin, especially since sports were in full swing again in the United States. Tracy and the other newly hired coach, we will call Joe were offered long contracts and good compensation for the specific coaching roles.
Tracy never thought about how she had way more relevant experience than Joe, had a master’s degree in sports performance while Joe only completed a few college courses, she had high-level sport-specific certifications and Joe did not, and that she was a minority over 40, which was decades older than Joe, or that their compensation package and title were identical. Tracy was just ecstatic that she was able to coach high-performance athletes in what should have been a positive setting.
In their first month, the organization had Tracy and Joe just observe practices, training, and competitions. Tracy and Joe felt underutilized bet was excited to start coaching their own teams. The coaches arrived on their first day, expecting to coach, but only one team was available. The organization gave the team to Joe and told Tracy to support, with the promise that in a few days that she would be coaching her own team. They told Tracy that her temporary support role was continuously clean up, take out garbage, set up and remove equipment, and make sure that water was always available for the athletes. Tracy was also told not to interact with the athletes at any time.
You obviously know where this story goes for Tracy. Tracy was never given a team to coach and was relegated to doing menial tasks. Tracy of course began thinking that she was inferior, not only to Joe but to everyone else in the organization. When Tracy tried bringing this issue to the head coach and front office, she was initially ignored, then told that they were working on remedying the situation, then the organization told her that she was really hired as an equipment manager and she was mistaken in what role she was hired for. Tracy went back to the recruiter who reached out to her to interview for the position, along with the head of the search committee for the sports organization, and asked both of them what position she interviewed for. Both of these individuals responded in writing that she was interviewing and hired for the assistant coach role and to lead her own team within the organization. Tracy’s contract also stated that her title was assistant coach. Tracy brought the contact and written correspondence to the head coach, general manager, and front office, for her to be told that she knew that she was not hired for that role.
Was this issue poor management, unforeseen team issues, because Tracy did something wrong, or discrimination since she was older, a woman, or a minority? Tracy tried addressing this situation in many directions to just be met with being shut down with no response. Tracy genuinely wanted to know what the problem was so she can help fix it or change her behavior if it was something she was doing. It was obvious that the organization was circling the wagons to legally protect themselves…Meanwhile, all Tracy wanted to do was coach.
So Tracy called to get my opinion on the situation as she was referred to me through a mutual colleague. I had actually been following Tracy’s career for many years and was a fan of her energy, focus on athletes’ personal and professional success in sports, and her unique way of building teams and driving success. Tracy was a visionary and I was humbled by the referral and the call. After listening to her experience, my recommendation was to leave the organization and not waste her talent on an organization that had extremely poor leadership and a negative organizational culture. There was nothing that Tracy could do to remedy the situation and if the organization did put her in the role that she was originally promised, the trust and relationship that was there in the interview and hiring stages had evaporated and would never return. Tracy needed to find an organization that matched with who she was as a person, coach, and had similar values to her own. That is where she would find the most success.
My advice was not initially well-received by Tracy but after thinking about it, she decided it was the best course of action. Tracy realized that sometimes teams and coaches do not match well, especially when their morals, values, and ethics do not align. And that is okay. Tracy is now focused on finding the right match for her as a coach.
I do have a parting question for you as readers: Was the situation just not a good match between the organization and Tracy, discrimination, or just poor management, culture, and leadership?