Phil McNichol has dedicated his professional life to alpine ski racing, achieving significant milestones throughout his career.
Now, he is focused on sharing the insights he has gained in the industry with clubs, academies, and other organizations to help them develop, grow, and succeed.
He has observed a significant issue in numerous organizations that restricts success: the tendency to get trapped in an ongoing cycle. When the cycle runs on a continuous loop, organizations struggle to determine when the work of one year or a season ends and when the next begins. They also neglect to allocate enough time for the team to reflect on achievements, set goals, and identify areas for improvement.
McNichol states, “Finding time for personal and organizational development is challenging when faced with the overwhelming year-to-year winter sports calendar.”
Nevertheless, it is crucial for organizations to ‘kick the endless cycle’ by finding time to honor or devote additional time to rest and recovery, and coming together as a team to set priorities.
The Yearly Cycle Presents Itself in Different Phases
McNichol references Wade Gilbert’s book, “Coaching Better Every Season,” when discussing a practical approach to the yearly cycle.
Gilbert breaks down the year into phases for a successful approach. He refers to the four different phases as the Four Es.
The Four Es
Envision (preseason)
Enact (in-season)
Evaluate (end-of-season)
Enhance (off-season)
McNichol states, “In alpine ski racing, our sport rapidly enters the two remaining phases of the current year’s cycle: End of the Season and Off-Season.”
“These phases come and go in a flash, making it hard to identify when one year ends and the next begins,” he continued.
However, recognizing what needs to happen and increasing effort in these two phases are essential to breaking the never-ending loop.
The End of the Season
The end of the season is a crucial time for reflecting on and evaluating your work, including processes, results, and accomplishments achieved.
This phase requires focus and dedication to ensure a thorough evaluation, laying the groundwork for the upcoming year’s cycle. Interestingly, this crucial work occurs during the briefest yearly phase (for Alpine and other Winter Sports).
The Off-Season
The off-season phase is a time to utilize reflective work and apply evaluation outcomes. It offers opportunities to enhance the team’s knowledge and methods, strengthening program content and delivery. This period is exciting and crucial for growth, development, and personal satisfaction.
The Importance of Kicking the Endless Cycle Starts Now
As we enter the End of the Season & the Off-Season phases, we must consider their importance and how the organization can step back, come together, reflect, and create.
McNichol simplifies, “You need to think of cultural work almost like rebooting your computer. If you are so busy that you can never turn off your computer, then it is tough to do an update.”
Evaluating, enhancing, and tweaking the team culture is mandatory, despite winter sports being mainly seen as individual sports. Team culture encompasses all aspects of athlete interactions, from communication and mutual respect to their attitudes towards and approach with their coaches, practice, and competition.
A positive team environment fosters unity, dedication, and responsibility, which are essential to success on the snow and in life beyond competition.
Guiding Organizations to Success
Phil McNichol has applied this concept within his consulting practice to help teams achieve impactful growth. These decisions will come to fruition during the busy winter months ahead.
This past season, McNichol worked on various projects with various organizations, including the Stifel U.S. Ski Team, the Tri-State Alpine Racing Association, Okemo Mountain School and Competition Center, Alyeska Ski Club, Big Sky Education Foundation, and Ski Roundtop Racing Club.
Working with Ski Roundtop Racing Club
Ben Shirk, the Head Coach of the Ski Roundtop Racing Club, shared that he invited Phil to join the team to help navigate the difficulties posed by several tough weather seasons and limited opportunities for on-snow training: “Phil re-grounded us and got us back into the right mindset. He taught us how to properly format our practices to get the most out of them for the most amount of kids.”
“We worked out a plan for the rest of the season, not just for the week or for a practice or two. We created a step-by-step game plan from start to finish,” Shirk stated.
He continued, “If you care about your kids and you care about the sport, Phil is a great way to ensure that what you are doing will provide the most benefit for your team and your athletes.”
Working with Alyeska Ski Club
Kaleen Haines, the executive director at Alyeska Ski Club, brought in Phil to enhance the standards for coaching certifications, and he delivered a series of presentations on culture to support the club’s ongoing growth.
“We are in this really cool growth period, but we don’t necessarily have our values defined. We have our mission and we have foundational elements, but Phil was there to help us start that process and begin to think about who we are. He went through how we can better operate with each other and how we build the team and create the culture that makes everyone want to be there day after day,” Haines explained.
She continued, “He gave us a lot of tips, tools, coaching frameworks, and resources while not putting pressure on us to create something big at that moment. So, we have now taken a lot of his stuff as our summer and fall projects and use it for our board to create a strategic plan.”
Haines would recommend Phil’s work for everyone on the team and the board: “If you did utilize his services, cross sections of the organization will benefit from it, not just one user group.”
McNichol remains dedicated to supporting organizations seeking improvement, believing he can significantly enhance their yearly cycle.
He is eager to support your program and highlights the importance of fine-tuning strategies and methods ahead of the challenges and rapid pace of the competitive season.
If you want to explore working with Phil, you can contact him via email at pmcnichol63@gmail.com.
About the Author: Ellie Hartman
