Our Coordinator, Community & Player Programming, Kristina Flynn @flynnkristina, is our Guest blogger this week and shares here on a rare and pretty unique experience some of our People participated in recently:
” ‘It was one of the best experiences I’ve had during my time at MLSE.’ Matt O’Brien, Manager Fan Loyalty wrote in an e-mail after.
We at MLSE are fortunate enough to do what we love, in an industry we’re passionate about, every day. There are often many perks to the job. So to have an employee refer to an experience as the quote states above, immediately you know it had to be something pretty special. And it was…
It started with a workshop invitation to our MLSE People: How do you prepare, develop and lead a team to WIN? What does it take to WIN an NBA Championship? How can MLSE staff contribute towards a WINing objective? I don’t know there’s anyone better suited to answer those questions and more on engagement, leadership, and transferable skills than a panel of Raptors coaches and human performance experts with a combined 97 years of NBA experience.
In three separate interactive sessions, close to 120 MLSE employees sat down with Dwane Casey, Micah Nori, Eric Hughes, Johnny Davis, Tom Sterner, Scott Roth and Jon Lee to have their “keys to success” questions answered – from a coaching perspective. An over-arching message from the panel to the staff revealed itself…whether you’re in the office or on the court, the key elements to success are the same – hard work, persistence, teamwork, accountability, continuous learning and respect. Some memorable messages included:
‘Throughout the years I’ve realized an acronym that many people live by – WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) – more people need to start subscribing to WIIFU (What’s In It For Us). In order to WIN in any environment you have to take the emphasis off yourself and put it into the team.’ ~Johnny Davis
‘If you show people that you care and that you’re willing to work hard, opportunities will be provided to you.’ ~Eric Hughes
The discussion was a fantastic opportunity – lessons from the court to the office floor – and had employees craving more. So more they were given. This time to join the coaches in their office…the Raptors Practice Court at ACC. In two different sessions, close to 100 MLSE staff members got their “sweat on” beginning with a warm up led by Raptors Director of Sports Science, Alex McKechnie, and Head Trainer Jon Lee. From there they switched to offense with ball handling drills and three-man weave, with a quick transition into defensive shell drills and the like.
Did we mention that not all MLSE People are All-Star basketball players? Just ask Raptors Reporter Mike Ulmer 
Either way, I can’t help but think that our People left the practice court with a better understanding and appreciation (albeit a very sweaty appreciation) of the X’s, the O’s and the people behind pulling it all together.
~Kristina
Response to "Got Game?"
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How can I get an Internship with Alex McKechnie? I am a recent graduate of the Exercise Science program and would love to have the opportunity.
If Jeremy could speak Mandarin, I would respect him even more. Not becasue he is of Chinese descent, but becasue he is born and bred in USA and by right he wouldn’t need to speak Mandarin cos there is no need to.Knowing one roots is very impt and it shows a lot about a person’s integerity. In my country,there are tons of what we call banana ppl which means those Chinese who looks Chinese but who acts and talks just like a westerner in Eng and not knowing well of their mother tongue.
In my despair I have not been ready to read reapcs of that horrible day last week until now. Yup, the real knife in the heart piece was the unrealistic but oh-so-easy-to-hang-on-to hope that was offered us the very day before. Talking about a friggin’ emotional rollercoaster. And, yet, I ride the yellow line past the Rose Garden and I get that little lift, that memory of the crowd rocking the place, the sounds of the shoes squeaking, our boys playing and I’m excited all over again.Thanks for such a nice piece of writing.
I feel shameful for such ppl, cos they have fottrogen where their ancestor come from. Knowing Jeremy is a Harvard graduate in economics, I guess he would have seen the hugh potential in the chn mkt and would have learned Mandarin earnestly if he didn’t know it. Cos if he fail to make it in NBA, he could venture in his ancestor’s motherland (Taiwan is part of China in the past, now maybe (I wouldn’t say yes), but the Taiwanse would not agree.) to start up a business.
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RLS: thanks, buddy. Glad you like the style & thghout it was a good likeness — I’m usually terrible at doing likenesses.Kyu: thanks, Q. Yeah, I love Wrightson’s stuff — his pen and ink Frankenstein book made my eyes pop out as a kid. It was the kind of stuff that was so good, I didn’t even understand how it was done.Paul: thanks, Paul. Nice entry you got for the fistacuffs event thing, btw!Jack: thank you!
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