O'Neil Blake, Football Graduate Assistant - An Explanation of the Skills That Project Managers Need

In addition to being a standout college football player, O'Neil Blake also developed a range of business skills while studying at Lenoir-Rhyne University, particularly during the course of studying for his Masters of Business Administration at the college. This has equipped him with the skills that he needs to be an effective project manager when required, with the below all being essential to success in the role.

Communication

Good project managers understand that they need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively to people at all levels of their companies. When speaking to team members, they must be able to relay instructions plainly and concisely, while also providing reasonable explanations for why certain tasks need to be completed. In speaking to upper management, they must be capable of translating the efforts of their teams into deliverables to improve corporate buy-in on their projects.

Organization

Project managers need to be capable of organizing their own time effectively, while also managing the time of their team members. They should be able to break down their project goals so that they create achievable milestones that take their teams’ skills and availability into account.

Leadership

O'Neil Blake developed his leadership skills while playing football and continues to improve them in everything that he does. Project managers need to be able to take authority and provide guidance to their teams in an effort to ensure that their projects are seen through to fruition. In doing so, they must understand the needs of their team members and how to provide effective feedback on their efforts.
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O'Neil Blake, Former Collegiate Football Player - How To Get Healthcare Administration Experience

After completing his undergraduate studies at Lenoir-Rhyne University, where he graduated with Magna Cum Laude honors in Sociology in addition to being a collegiate football standout, O'Neil Blake attended graduate school at the same institution, graduating with his Masters of Business Administration, with a concentration on Healthcare Administration, in May 2016. He is now focused on obtaining the experience that he needs to carve out a career in the healthcare administration industry. The following pointers should prove useful to any former students who are looking to do the same.

Know Your Discipline

Healthcare administration is a vast field, so it is important to understand the specific role that you wish to work in before you start searching for employment opportunities. Failure to do so could lead to a lack of focus in your efforts and may also result in you starting down a career path that you find unsatisfying. You should have considered you desired area when selecting your educational courses, so make sure that your efforts are focused entirely on gaining experience in that area, starting with your collegiate studies.

Investigate Internships

Many graduates make the mistake of disregarding the value of internships, often because they pay less than full-time positions, assuming they even pay at all. However, they can prove to be invaluable when it comes to developing experience within your chosen area of healthcare administration, in addition to potentially providing opportunities for full-time employment at the facility where you intern. Upon landing an internship, make it a point to work as hard as possible by demonstrating enthusiasm for every task you are given and asking questions of those with more experience than you to discover what else you can do to further your career.

Consider Additional Courses

While your formal education will prove invaluable as you search for roles within the industry, you should not assume that what you already know is going to be enough. Healthcare as a general industry is constantly evolving, so it is a good idea to demonstrate that you have a desire to keep learning and developing your own skills. Furthermore, by enrolling in additional courses you can learn more about the discipline that you hope to work in. You will find that there are many seminars and courses available, many of which are completely free of charge.

Be Proactive

O'Neil Blake Football, who is a former collegiate football player, recognizes the value of showing initiative in order to further your career. Instead of just waiting for opportunities to come your way, try being a little proactive by contacting institutions that you believe could provide you with valuable experience. Even if they have nothing available for you at the time of calling, you will place yourself on their radars should a position come up.

O'Neil Blake, Former Collegiate Football Player - Habits of Successful Personal Trainers

In his role as a Football Graduate Assistant at Lenoir-Rhyne University, O'Neil Blake is able to use his experiences in playing the game to offer guidance to younger players who need to adjust to college life. In addition to providing advice on how to balance their educations with their athletic careers, Blake also helps many students with their personal fitness, providing training and coaching services when required. In order to do this, he has needed to develop a number of habits over the years that make him ideally suited to the role, including all of the below.

Be A Role Model

If you don’t practice what you preach, it is very unlikely that the people you are coaching will follow your instructions. Remember that developing respect amongst those you train is crucial to your efforts, so don’t ask your students to do things that you are not capable of doing yourself. Furthermore, any advice that you provide in terms of nutrition or healthy living habits should be advice that you follow yourself, especially when working with younger people who are looking for role models to provide them with guidance.

Know The People You Work With

It is important that personal trainers understand the specific needs of each of their clients, as this allows them to create tailored fitness programs that help them to make gains in the areas that they need to, while also taking into account any obstacles that their clients need to be able to overcome. Those who fail in the industry tend to approach it with the mindset that they can knock together a few different workouts without really putting much thought into it.

Get Educated

As a personal fitness trainer, you need to be an authoritative source of information that your clients can trust. If you are unable to demonstrate your knowledge of the industry whenever it is needed, you will quickly start to lose the trust of the people you are working with. As such, you need to endeavor to update your knowledge base whenever you can, while also being capable of explaining why you are placing your clients in certain fitness plans and what they will be able to achieve should they follow your instructions.

Learn To Listen

As a former college football player who now provides the benefit of his expertise to current students, O'Neil Blake Football recognizes that there are many different things that a personal trainer must do to connect with clients. Understand the value of listening to the people that you work with, rather than dictating to them. This will allow you to gain a better understanding of their goals in life, while also putting you in a better position to help them through personal issues that might affect their training.
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