Juan Pedraza
Mrkt 201
22 March 2015
Core Competencies
One of my core competencies is football. Football is an 11 on 11 sport in which there are two teams. The teams compete on offense to try to score a touchdown worth six points and defense to try and stop the opposing teams’ offense. If the defense stops the offense the special teams units come out. Special teams’ job is to kick or receive the ball and put the team into effective field position. The field is 100 yards long and 53 1/3 yards wide with two 10 yard end zones on the end. Growing up playing football gave me a chance to learn teamwork, discipline, and accountability. Being competent in football is great, however; it’s the personal attributes that stem off of learning the game of football that is important.
While becoming competent in football I have learned how to work as a team. Football is the most team oriented sport someone could play. If every person on the field is not doing their individual job we cannot succeed as a team. Its takes everyone working together cohesively, towards a common goal, and working off each other’s individual strengths to increase team performance. When a task is handed to a well-trained and efficient team, the team's work pace assures that the task will be completed quickly and accurately. Today teamwork is a very important attribute to have in the workplace. One reason why is because it creates synergy. Synergy is when two or more things work together in a positive way that produce an effect which is greater than their individual efforts. Synergy is important in the workplace because employers do not want an employee who cannot communicate or causes problems with other workers. Teamwork has taught me that working together is an effective way to get more done.
Another thing I was taught while playing football was discipline. In football discipline is about having self-control and awareness. This means players who are disciplined have the ability to not jump off sides and maintain composure at all times. They know when and where to be so that they do not disrupt flow. This relates to having discipline in the workplace because it’s very important for enhancing business performance. Many times discipline in the workplace is seen as supervisory personnel correcting behavioral deficiencies. This is similar to football captains keeping the players in check. Someone who is disciplined in the workplace is clean, organized, friendly, and efficient. Football has taught me all of these qualities and forces me to practice them every day.
Football has taught me to be accountable. When the team has work outs and practice it is my responsibility to go and be early. If I do not go I am the only one accountable for my actions and I hurt my team. When someone loses accountability with their team they lose trust and in football trust is everything. Trust relates to teamwork, discipline, and accountability. When your teammates do not trust you, you cannot play as a team. When it comes to accountability in the workplace football has taught me this means a few things. Accountability at work is important to a business’s success as a whole. Every employee, no matter what level of seniority is equally responsible for aiding in the success of the company. In order to achieve the goals of the company, long and short term, it is important that all people within the company work together and share accountability. Employees who work together towards the same overall goal help their workplace to become more accountable, in turn make the business more productive and efficient.
Another competency I have is scuba diving. I am Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) advanced open water certified. This has trained me to safely dive