The result of this process will hopefully contribute to a positive, safe, and challenging environment for our players and our staff on and off the ice. It can for you too.

I’ve recently discovered the difference between pressure and stress. 

1. Pressure

Primarily positive, pressure exists during situations in which we hope for the best possible outcome. I want to succeed in a new role and I want the people with whom I’ve surrounded myself to succeed because the success of the players, the program, and our place within our community depends on it. Usually when I describe these elements someone will chuckle and say something totally hilarious like “no pressure!” As though it’s a bad thing. It’s not. Pressure is a privilege. We feel pressure when we’re empowered to make decisions that affect our future on a daily basis. 

2. Stress

The reason I discovered my new-found appreciation for pressure wasn’t because I smugly proclaimed I LOVE PRESSURE, it was because I discovered what it isn’t. It’s not stress. Stress hits me when I feel out of control. I realize there are things I don’t control, but that’s easier to type on a relaxed afternoon in the off-season than it is on busy morning before a game-day skate when a player is asking for a new stick and the marketing person wants to talk about sponsorship and someone else can’t figure out how to set up their email address. This is stress, and it usually nestles in following a failure of preparation. (I am currently in the middle of four separate conversations with people who can’t figure out their new email addresses).

What’s Important To Your Operation?

I want people around me to feel empowered to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. I’ve surrounded myself with a lot of intelligent, progressive, highly-competent human beings. I want them to feel the pressure to do a good job in building a junior hockey program from scratch that might one day become a destination program north and south of the border. For most people, it’s easier to work at your specific field if you’re free of stress. It’s the same for hockey players. We’re all better when our minds are free, focused, and confident. 

A gigantic chunk of that confidence comes from laying out the foundation with purpose. Hiring good people and setting them loose in their department is easy. I believe leadership ought to go a step further. 

I’ve hired 12 people in one capacity or another over the past two months, with more to come. They’re all unique individuals who bring their own perspective to the organization. Which is great! And that doesn’t prevent me from establishing a baseline when it comes to the way we interact with each other, how the reporting hierarchy is shaped, and how we’ll deal with conflict when it inevitably arises. 

Building a code of conduct was a valuable process for me. It granted me a preview of our team functioning efficiently on and off the ice. Neglecting this process would leave things up to chance, which sounds a lot like a failure to prepare, which leads to stress. Developing an in-depth code of conduct frees us all from the stress of the unknown and steers our wings straight into the windy skies of pressure. 

Here are some of the key areas of our code of conduct.

Ethical & moral issues: anything that could potentially put a person in our organization in danger must be reported. There’s no grey area here. I understand that some issues might not necessarily have an easy definition, but over-reporting doesn’t hurt, while under-reporting certainly can.

Perception: organized sports is the reward for a functioning society. As such, people involved in organized sports are held to a high standard. Your players are role models in the community whether they like it or not, and I believe it’s important for staff members to feel the same. It’s a privilege to have the pressure to represent the team in a public setting, let alone during team events. 

Personal health & wellness: few coaches outside Rod Brind’Amour are in better shape than their players, but following a healthy lifestyle as a coach or a trainer isn’t about competition with others as much as it about competition within yourself. People function better with more sleep, exercise, and a healthy diet. Personally, I fully believe team-building amongst your staff with a couple ciders is important as well. Our code of conduct states that staff members must maintain an honest effort to uphold their personal physical and mental health and wellness. Be an example for the players in your habits, even if the end result isn’t the same, nor should it be. Everybody has down days, and that’s fine – you’re allowed to have dark thoughts or difficult moments. It’s what you do that counts. You could be the inspiration for helping a team member out of rut, and one day the’ll return the favour. Or you could be the opposite. Negative energy is contagious, but so is positive energy. Says so right in our code of conduct. 

Internal information: it’s important to protect the integrity of your team on and off the ice. Hockey in Canada attracts some, uh, passionate people to say the least. Everyone wants to know what’s happening behind the scenes. And junior hockey is incredibly accessible. We’re not separated from the public by the media. Minor hockey is even more accessible because the parents who pay the registration feel are entitled to answers. Our code of conduct protects our staff by keeping conversations regarding individuals internal. In the past I’ve asked coaches to get comfortable talking without saying anything. Now I’ve built a clause right into their contract that prohibits them from speaking about players or internal operations with anybody outside of hockey operations. Now they can say “sorry, can’t talk about her or him” when they’re getting shaken down for information at the grocery store. 

Respect and camaraderie: I usually try to avoid borrowing suffering from the future, but for this portion of the code of conduct it was necessary. I tried to picture the most pressure-filled situations in the game so I could define what failure might look like. Disagreements among coaches is common, even welcome, but not in front of the players. When coaches or trainers disagree with each other with the players present, the damage can be irreparable. The players need a unified message, a singular path to follow. Anything beyond that sows confusion and doubt. Our code of conduct demands internal respect, courtesy, and politeness at all times.

Abuse: I haven’t covered each point of our code of conduct, but I left the most important to the end. The only way our game can become a reflection of society’s best and brightest is by describing the most abhorrent actions its experienced in the past. Our club has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind: physical, mental, and emotional. We are determined to uphold inclusivity of the LGBTQ2S+ community. We will practice tolerance, understanding, and eliminate racism, misogyny, and further discriminatory actions, behaviours, and language to the best of our abilities. We will be comfortable with the pressure of uncomfortable conversations, because it’s a privilege to hold a position of influence within a community. 

These elements are important to me. They’re important to the people I’ve brought on as well. I know this because they’ve told me. I had to ask the question, though. Our code of conduct is a developing element that we can turn to at any time. The result of this process will hopefully contribute to a positive, safe, and challenging environment for our players and our staff on and off the ice.