Colonel Stas Preczewski Case Study

Improved Essays
Colonel Stas Preczewski, also known as Coach P, was the coach of the Army crew team for the United States Military Academy in May 2002. He mentored two teams, Varsity and Junior Varsity with the best eight rowers in Varsity team. However, the JV team started to continuously defeat the Varsity team though Varsity had the best individual rowers. Despite several efforts by Coach P like conducting objective tests such as seat racing and pairwise racing, he could not achieve any improvement in the Varsity team’s performance compared to Junior Varsity. This had put Coach P in a tough situation in terms of winning the National championship race which was just 4 days away. In my view, Coach P should try a combination of options to improve Varsity’s performance. First option is to improve team morale and spirit by motivating them towards a common team goal. Secondly, help resolve the conflicts within team members so that they are comfortable communicating with each other.
As the National championship is due to start in just four days and with this short time constraint, the idea of switching teams seems a viable option. But, given that, Varsity team clearly has stronger rowers, it does not seem fair on part of the Varsity rowers and their capabilities. So, the idea of developing the internal team dynamics
…show more content…
This pessimistic nature about the co-team mates demotivates the team and hinders the winning spirit. As rightly quoted in HBR article How will you make your team a team that- “Teams that cannot hold one another accountable are susceptible to allowing individual and department priorities to supersede the goals of the team”. To overcome this, Coach P must get the team together and involve them in harmony building exercises like fun team activities and

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Hunt, James B. McMillin, John G. White, Gordon B. Adam, Charles Day, Roger Morris and the coxswain, Robert G. Moch. All of the boys came from very different backgrounds, and their personalities majorly clashed at the start of their freshman year. Some on the team were extremely wealthy and full of themeslves, while others were terrified during tryouts because in order to stay in school they would need the scholarship money that being on the team would bring them. As the season went on, they began to bond and became a very successful unit, and even beat the junior varsity and varsity teams consistently in practices, as well as winning the big race in Poughkeepsie. They were coached by the very talented and inspiring Tom Bolles, and were surprised by the major shift in personality when they were led by the head coach, Al Ulbrickson the following year.…

    • 1190 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Assignment You have asked me to research the Padilla claim to determine whether our client, Piotr Budziszewski, had ineffective assistance of counsel because they failed to let him know that he would face deportation if plead guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell. Legal Issue When counsel fails to notify their client of the immigration consequences that would come from pleading guilty, are they guilty of ineffective counsel thus violating the client’s rights guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment? Facts Piotr Budziszewski, a Polish man and lawful permanent resident of United States plead guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, an aggravated felony. He was originally charged with two counts of selling narcotics by a person who is not drug-dependent in violation of General Statutes § 21a-278 (b), and two counts of possession of a narcotic substance with intent to sell in violation of General Statutes § 21a-279 (a).…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Every team has a universal goal for success. Every team desires to operate at optimum performance. Through a fictional account, Patrick Lencioni illustrates how talented teams fail to be successful. Lencioni identifies five defective traits of that will impede upon the achievement of teams. Additionally, Lencioni offers ways to remedy the situation.…

    • 1450 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    George Boiardi was the unsung hero of every team that he graced with his athletic ability. George was a Cornell lacrosse player up until 2004 when he lost his life mid game from a shot that hit him square in the chest. It wasn’t necessarily his statistics that impressed everyone George encountered, but rather his work ethic and the way that he held himself stood out to everyone. George was truly an inspiration to everyone on his team. A selfless, driven, class act that wanted nothing but perfection, is the reason that George earned immortality amongst his peers.…

    • 1829 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Recommendations for Struggling Managers Identifying the difficulties that managers may be having in establishing self-directed, high-performing teams, first you have to look at the basics that include team building, having a clear purpose, problem solving, decision making, negotiation, setting goals, conflict, effective leaders, and proactive planning. All of these together help create a self-directed high preforming team, so you need to look at each of these to find out what problems you are experiencing in your teams and then assess what steps you need to take. We will look at the ineffective issues we find and look at what will make them effective, with the team. We found that the team was not a cohesive team, using ineffective work methods…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Leadership Challenge The Leadership Challenge book provides great perception on ways to become a better leader. The author will review lessons learned from the first three chapters and provide insight on how some of the leadership qualities have been displayed in her life. When Leaders Are at Their Best At the start of The Leadership Challenge book in the first chapter, it discusses a success leadership story that generates thought into what the author has done in her own past and what can be done from here on out to create a high level of leadership success.…

    • 1481 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Brooke Black Midget SAS Essay Brooke Black Midget SAS Essay Being a Junior Trojan has changed my life and taught me so much. Through these years I’ve learned teamwork, responsibility, and to never give up. Not only does this help me in cheer, but I can practice these skills in school. Teamwork is an extremely significant skill to obtain to be successful in school.…

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As the current coaching staff knew, we were struggling without the guidance of our previous coach: every meet was like going into enemy territory, with little hometown crowd support. When our new Coach reminded us that we were unified and could stand with one another knowing that we’d triumph, we were rejuvenated. Commencing our execution of every meet in intention, we were conscious that our effort would amount to…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    So, even if the team doesn’t succeed in winning there is still quite a bit of developmental experiences (Vella, & et. al, 2013). Gordon Bombay created team cohesion by developing a feeling of ownership among the players (“Who wants to be a duck?” locker room speech), providing a mastery motivational climate, and spending time together outside of playing. When a team is socially cohesive the individuals are…

    • 1562 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As an adult I still play competitively and for the last 15 years have coached at the University and High School levels and I have found that truly investing in the success of others is a daily necessity. Teamwork is vital and having a collective objective is the basis for being a Transformational Leader; motivating subordinates using the common goal through, encouragement, support and respect to achieve the desired result is the ultimate target. Coaching is in general top- down and whether it is in athletics or business a transformational leadership style can be a “salient feature to attract and retain members who have similar characteristics in teams (Ehrhart & Klein, 2001; George, 1990; Schneider, 1987).…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I was able to inspire them by sharing my goals and they quickly became our goals. Having a negative mentality was very short lived if it ever showed up on our team. After a few missed shots in a drill, it is easy to bring yourself down and start to believe you are terrible. However, with some encouragement from other teammates, it is easy to pick yourself up and get back on track. With my leadership, I helped fuel our team’s positivity, which also help us reach our goals and be…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The present text explores the relationship between cohesion and team sports, specifically as demonstrated in the movie Remember the Titans (2000). Cohesion can be described as either task cohesion, in which the individual is interested in fulfilling the goals of the team, or social cohesion in which interpersonal relationships are made within a group. The process of team building is described as four stages; forming, storming, norming and performing. Several factors affecting cohesion are explored including group size, team communication, homogeneity, distinctiveness and leadership behaviours. Finally, the cohesion-performance relationship is analyzed in sport situations to conclude that there is a positive, circular relationship between the…

    • 1601 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Walking on the pool deck my freshman year I was nervous yet excited. I questioned what I was doing as I had never played water polo, but I decided to give it a try. I thought, ‘how hard could it be.’ My first practice proved it was truly brutal. I was out of shape, did not perform the drills correctly, and I could barely swim with the ball.…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Coaches have the power to change lives. I can humbly say this as all my coaches, both good and bad, have taught me in some way what it takes to be a good athlete and most importantly how to be a good human being. They have taught me life lessons that I can only hope to preserve by instilling them into my athletes in my time as a coach. The articles I have chosen to highlight in this essay show how coaches have helped to develop character in athletes, how they pushed them to be the best on and off the field of play, and illustrate how they stepped into the lives of athletes and became so much more than just a coach.…

    • 1577 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Unit 2 – Approaches to learning theories Learning is the demonstration of knowledge of an action, which they did not know before” (Honey and Mumford. 1996) Understanding teaching and coaching it is important to have knowledge regarding the different approaches in learning styles and how they can be applied in a sporting scenario, which enables coaches and athletes to maximize their potential. The definition of learning can be contextualized by two paradigms, which are humanism and behaviorism Humanism…

    • 1591 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays