Help Kathryn come up with a job title
Kathryn, a reader in Canada, wrote to me last week asking for some advice. Since history has shown that your advice is always way better than mine, I’m posing her challenge to you, Dear Readers.
She writes:
“I’d just finished your book, Drive, when I was approached out of the blue about taking on a new and exciting job working with a cutting edge athletic performance and rehabilitation centre.
“The role entails strategic thinking, visioning, marketing, promoting, branding, building a sense of community within the training facility and ‘managing’ a team of health care providers and trainers.
“They have in the past had two horrible managers and the team is really quite demoralized. . . . But I am looking forward to taking on this role and helping the team develop their sense of autonomy, mastery and purpose.
“The owner is calling the position the Clinic and Gym Manager. Blah!!! I’m not certain that term will endear me too much to my new team.
“Any suggestions around alternative titles?”
So, folks, what do you recommend for Kathryn’s job title?
Put your suggestions in the Comments section. Then — seriously — Kathryn will choose the one she likes best.
Director of Empowerment
Kathryn, good luck! As an educator I can see you have an important role to fill, innovate and motivate!
Title: Performance & Lifestyle Strategist
My two favorite books support what you are doing.
1. Drive – D.Pink
2. Orbiting the Giant Hairball-Gordon MacKenzie
Rehab and Athletic Performance Manager (RAP-Man)
Intergrated MarCom Manager
Where I work, we sort of shy away from titles that objectify or cast as a noun. For example in many companies, I would be called the sales manager or Business Development Manager. Instead my card reads Business Development. The only person that has a hard and fast title is our President, and that is more for legal reasons than anything else.
So here is my suggestion… and admittedly it sounds kind of soft…but that is sort of the point.
Wellness Coordination
The title is decidedly ambiguous. It will might frustrate the heck out of people who want structure, order, hierarchy… however, its seems to me that you want to get away from those management and organizational paradigms anyway.
How about something like Head Coach? You already see your coworkers as a “team”. Coaches help their teams to build mastery within the purpose of the team effort.
BobW
How about Athletic Supporter?
Sorry – I am trying really hard to come up with genuinely inspirational versions…
After listening to Richard’s Stomps TEDx talk I have adopted the title of Chief WOW officer for myself. Captures perfectly what I am trying to accomplish in the world.
Forgot the link to the video for Chief WOW officer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGr3EQU_mgY
Health & Community Team Lead
How about one of these (or a combination of them):
* Fitness and Wellness Coordinator
* Fitness Team Adviser
* Health and Training Leader
Facility Performance and Identity Director
A few years ago, I took a similar role – at Disneyland Paris after it had been open for 5 years and I asked my boss what I should put on my business card for a title.
He pulled out his business card and showed me his – bearing just his name, and said “if you are doing the job that we need you to do, people need to know your name and that will be enough”.
As with any free advice, good luck. All the best Kathryn.
Hi,
How about “Team lead – Talent and contacts”
Team builder and leader
Ask your team. Let them help you come up with a title that means something to you all. Other than that, I like Dan O’Neil’s suggestion (a lot) – no title.
I like Seth’s, but maybe put Director first:
Director of Performance and Identity
Growth Lead
Mj’s suggestion to talk to your team is good too.
Director, Community Collaboration and Wellness
Karen might want to download Jono Bacon’s excellent book, “The Art of Community”. Jono Bacon is the Community Manager for Ubuntu, and recognized as the leading resource in this field. His guide covers best-practices and workarounds, and offers field-tested knowledge on the complex issues involved with team-building and engaging participation.
The Art of Community by Jono Bacon; ISBN: 978-0-596-15671-8
Download Book: http://www.artofcommunityonline.org/downloads/jonobacon-theartofcommunity-1ed.pdf
Notes: http://www.communityleadershipsummit.com/wiki/index.php/Session_Notes
I liked Steve Job’s idea. If you’re truly passionate, you’re an evangelist. How about: Health & Training Evangelist ? … and maybe consider offering the same or a similar title to the rest of your team?
But be careful … titles DO matter, no matter how much we wish they didn’t (Dan O’Neil). I wouldn’t go changing anyone’s title (or your own) w/out getting honest input/ buy in from all levels.
We received a question from reader (an admin) on what to do because she was demoralized that management changed her/her co-workers’ titles (without even consulting them) it made them all feel “demoted.” Reader’s chimed in w/ some suggestions for them that you might want to read BEFORE you suggest anything to your new boss & team members. Here’s the link: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/20230/same-job-but-my-new-title-makes-me-feel-demoted
Achievement Instigator
Titles tend to push the job to meet what others think it should be. With the diverse set of skills you have, keep it open. In the end it seems that it is more important that you help the company be successful. Director of what needs to be done.
This sounds like a Director-level position to me, hence the suggestions below but feel free to substitute ‘Manager’ instead of ‘Director’
Director, Strategy and Marketing Initiatives
Director, Brand Management
Intrinsic Innovator
-Increasing intrinsic motivation and innovation through encouraging autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
MJ’s suggestion of getting your team’s input for your title is great. Why not go further and have your team help rewrite your job description (or parts of it)? This could even be done annually.
Well, since the team has been demoralized, and it is cutting edge. . .I have the perfect title:
Director of Awesomeness or Director of Awesome
I chose my own recently – Chief Enabler. The reason I chose that is because it fits the job and because it fits the brand of my company.
I would recommend you choose something that finds that balance of inspiring your people and aligns to your brand. Not knowing the brand I couldn’t say for certain, but it might be something like Chief Engagement Officer, or Head of People and Brand, or if the brand is “out there” you can always go a more fun route.
If you’re changing your name – are you change those of the team?
Best of luck in your choice!
Simon
I like Bob’s suggestion of Head Coach, or you might also Consider GM (General Manager), those both tie in greatly to the industry you are serving and the type of responsibilities.
Wellness Coach
Wellness Director
Fitness Steward
Wellness Evangelist
Health Strategist
Good Life Coach 😀
Director of Community & Development? Director of Strategic and Leadership Initiatives?
Here are the words I’m playing with:
– Body. (human body, but also group of people / community)
– Joint (human joints, but also something that is already joined)
– Condition (athletic term, but also a word to indicate the status of something)
-Building (upward progress.)
…maybe this will unlock someone else’s creativity?
Body Brand Builder
Brand Body Builder
Community Conditioner
There’s got to be something more in there… Hmmm. I will post again if I think of anything else…
I like 3.Marianne Hart’s idea – Rehab and Athletic Performance Manager (RAP-Man).
I also like this informal title I made up based on my previous experiences in rehab:
Director of Spills and Thrills
Best wishes in your new job!
Instead of acknowledging two silos in the organisation (clinic and gym), I would look for something that combines it in a single goal which is shared by both teams (and the patients), like Health, Revalidation, Recovery or Mobility.
If you feel the previous managers have tainted ‘manager’ as a term for the teams, Team Lead or Coordinator will downplay hierarchy issues you might have inherited.
So, my suggestion would be Mobility Team Lead, Health coordinator or another combination of the terms above
HAWC – Health and Wellness Couch
You can have the Hawk as a mascot. Good Luck!
Picking a title now could be putting the cart before the horse. It might be too soon if Kathryn does not already have a clear vision of her role. But, since picking a title might be necessary as a means to focus her new colleagues, then I suggest the following:
Director, Client Relations
As soon as I read the functional description of responsibilities associated with this very exciting role for you Kathryn- Chief Choreographer came to mind. Two reasons; 1) it seems that you’ll be composing, and cultivating the brand at the front line with the rest of the team; 2) brand (in my opinion) is the emotive remnant of the collective customer experience.
So, you set the stage, introduce the players and harmonize the customer experience through planning, composing and arranging the various elements- Chief Choreographer.
Best of luck!
Given the history described perhaps you might consider –
Team Player
or
Chief Team Player
“Head Life Changer” 🙂
Lifestyle Coach…says it all.
VP of Miracles and Hope
We don’t have titles around here. They seem to get in the way of getting things done.
You might try “Kathryn”.
“Hi, I’m Kathryn. How can I help?” could be very endearing.
Just a thought,
– Bob
I’d suggest spending less time worrying about the title (several of the above are fine)and invest more time refining the job summary that will be available for applicants to review. Next, spend even more time on the screening questions/answers, providing applicants with sample issues and give them a few minutes to outline the concept (not enough time to develop specifics) that they would follow. Continue with those who’s first steps would be to empower the team to review, assess and plan for changes.
You seem to have many excellent suggestions. I would be pleased to help you, if you should have interest. Some of my background is in team building, role negotiation, and conflict resolution, primarily within healthcare organizations. My experience stretches over a 41-year period.
Director of New Beginnings
Head of Health & Happiness
Fitness Czar
Chief of Wellness
People Engagement or People Engagement Leader
[Director/Manager/Coordinator] FOR (not of) Strategic Planning and Services Alignment
While I think that a “no title” work place can do a good job in a lot of cases, it doesn’t fit here. When a large part of the people you will work with are not your employees – it is good to have a title that works with the industry standard. It is well and good in the company to be the Director of Wow, but if I am looking for the person who can assist me with the trainer I want to praise or had an issue with – I need a manager or director of something I can associate with the question I have. So, as much as it hurts my right brain to say, I think you should go with what other people who have your position (or a position very much like it) are called.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t have a really cool informal title that dictates what you think the substance of your job is.
I also think that if you can hire, fire, dock, or promote anyone; as your employee I want your role to be established, so that I know what I can count on you for – particularly if I am doing a more creative, less definable part of the workload. I’d like to call you by your first name, but that is less important than a clear vision. Going to your employees and saying, “So, what do you think I should be doing?” would be very demoralizing for some, and too empowering for others. “This is my role as I understand it,” and then establishing an open and safe place for discussion and actionable input is cool. Some things are flexible, but in the health industry some things are not.
I worked in a place that as an institution LOVES surveys. We had really low morale, and kept getting these surveys, “What’s got you down?” The questions were more specific – but the idea is there.
We’d fill it out, and the big cheese would say at the next meeting, “We see you don’t like this, this and this, but we like those things so we are keeping to the status quo.” Finally, on the sixth survey, we were writing, “Please stop surveying us if nothing is going to change. The surveys are lowering our morale.” Or at least that is what mine said.
Congratulations and good luck.
Better to know something first about Kathryn’s unique attributes that can then be included potentially in her job title or a sub-heading.
For example she may be an excellent Controller and Finance Manager – but that as a title (or with some added overly creative but meaningless adjective)just talks about her rational attributes – her functional competency.
However if one of her core emotional attributes was fun, then she was a fun accountant and could have something like;
Controller and Finance Manager – putting the fun in front of the numbers.
Ultimately of course it’s what she does in the job rather than what the title says that counts. I had an IT Manager client in a very similar situation who became known as the Organizer of Ice Cream Socials – a reputation that eventually got her promoted to VP in a Marketing Role. But she could not have put that on her job title until she earned it 6 months down the road. The things was she earned that from the team not what she said it was.
I would advise Kathryn to consider living with the original title for now. Own the definition of who she is in the role and then ask the team to re-name her role in 6 months time.
Just my toonies worth to a fellow Canadian!
Wellness Director
Good luck!
j
Sure! you are going to become a HCA (Health Community Architect)
Director of Strategic Excellence
There is an executive title that you can adapt to this position, instead of CVO (Chief Visionary Officer), use “Chief Visionary Director”. At the executive level, CVO is a position that encompasses everything that the CEO, CFO, COO, CIO and CTO does; according to WhatIs.com “the CVO is expected to have a broad and comprehensive knowledge of all matters related to the business of the organization, as well as the vision required to steer its course into the future”. CVO is also a relatively new title (1994), so it serves to break out of the established mold, while retaining the proper gravitas for corporate structure.
By your admission, your job description and tasks are multifaceted, so your title should be more encompassing, since you are not only dealing with abstracts like strategic thinking, visioning, marketing and branding, but also the day-to-day operations and management of a diversified team of people. By including “Visionary” or “Vision” in your job title, whether it’s Chief Visionary Director, Visionary Facilities Manager or Facilities Vision Director or some variation thereof, you are conveying that you are not merely a “manager”. While some of the titles suggested by others are great, you need to balance the internal message to your team with the public or outside perception of your position. Being too hip will diminish your public identity, while being too staid can hinder your internal relationship with your staff.
Whatever title you select, I think your enthusiasm and attitude have already defined what your position will entail, and that, more than your title is what will inspire your staff.
When hired for me first nonprofit association job, when asked about what our titles would be he said this:
“Titles don’t really mean a lot to me, so let’s come up with something that is descriptive enough for external audiences and more importantly, likely to help you get your next job whenever you decide to move on.
Instant loyalty to him.”
Kathryn,
I love the way you spoke about the opportunity to serve the team; and your mission to develop their sense of autonomy, mastery and purpose. I immediately thought of Coach and performance, which is applicable in work, sports and life. Coach – how you do it, performance- the results.
Director of Vision & Performance? DVP? Denotes your at the strategic level, and as well as being responsible for both the performance of the organization, and the needs of the clientele it serves.
What an exciting opportunity, good luck!
Principal of Potential!
When I joined the Social Business Internal Collaboration group @ J.P.Morgan Chase, I got Project Manager as a title. Ew! Luckily, my boss is a great guy with a scene of humor, so I adopted ‘Digital Concierge’ Now, when I meet with execs to explain the toolset, they see me and my group as the experts here to enable them on a new tech area. I say make your title fit how you want your customer to understand you.
A little play on Jim Tressels new Job at U Akron: Vice President of Team (Student) Engagement.
Kathryn
“People Mover”
Community and Outreach Director
My school now defines itself as a Collaborative Learning Community and I’m sure many businesses could think along these lines too. As the Learning Community Director, I’m able to focus on the needs of parents (clients) as well as students (clients) and colleagues.
Community and Outreach Director
My school now defines itself as a Collaborative Learning Community and I’m sure many businesses could think along these lines too. As the Learning Community Director, I’m able to focus on the needs of parents (clients) as well as students (clients) and colleagues.
Why do you need a title?
Surely your team will judge you by your actions and not your title. Have your elevator pitch ready for when people ask you what you do.
Good luck!!
A job title matters. A job description also matters.
My favorite job title comes from the book Orbiting The Giant Hairball – Creative Paradox.
A better term would be “Conductor,” one who arranges resources to facilitate the performance of the talented individuals’ performances to create a work larger than any one person. This captures manager and coach all in one title.
AMPlifier?
Or, if you must, Performance AMPlifier.
Coach for Staff & Client Achievement
Wow! To say that I am overwhelmed would be an understatement. You don’t know how much all of your genuine comments mean to me. I’m not in a place yet to pick one. I need to live with some of the suggestions for a bit. I love the idea of asking my team to help. I like the concept of no job title, but I think it would be too far a leap for folks at this point. Director of Awesome makes me smile 🙂 Director of Empowerment, Performance and Lifestyle Strategist, Lifestyle Coach all resonate with me. And you are right tightening up the job description and roles and responsibilities are a needed first step.
I promise to keep you all in the loop. “Thank you” seems inadequate for all of your awesomeness!
Peace
Kathryn
Kathryn: I don’t have a sugggestion for a title-but I’ve worked on two team projects where other team members came up with titles for the team members. In one case they were based on (fun) movie characters. What I have to offer is the name of the organization. I was struck by your description: cutting edge athletic performance and rehabilitation centre = CeaParc (a.k.a. SeaPark). Without knowing any more then that, it sounds like it could be a fun place- someplace to dive in, splash around, have fun. You could take that and run with lots of different ideas and themes for not just your title, but the team members that you will be working with. Maybe see what titles they come up with for you and themselves. Maybe you don’t need a title (on your business card or office door), maybe a symbol or picture would be better. Good Luck! I hope you have fun at the CeaParc!
HeaLeader (Heal & Leader – some combination.
It’s curious that you’re feeling held back by in some way by the title…
You’ve got so much room to take that position in so many different directions, none of which is limited by the title.
Make the job exciting (for you and others), not the title.
Chief Energy Officer
Chief Wellness Officer (Because Chief of Wellness makes for an untoward acronym)
Fitness Queen
Head of Human Energy
Manpower Maven
Head of Health & Human Happiness (or is 4H already taken?)
PeoplePower Princess
Fitness Intelligence Tsar (aka FIT)
Director of What Happens Next! This is my title and gets a lot of talk so I think you will do well with it too!!
Director of Corporeal Development
I like Ria’s CVD: Chief Visionary Director.
Also, with gentle permission, consider playing and tweaking Kate Lackey’s: “Director of What Happens Next” to “Director of What Happens Now.”
Combining your desires and objectives: Autonomy Mastery and Purpose: “AMP Director.”
If you elicit in others enough of an existing schema, (Director, Officer, Manager) and combine it with something “cutting edge” (your words for the company)and curious, you have the opportunity to engage and captivate them with your obvious passion – and an engaging story 🙂
Wellness Navigator
Health & Wellness Navigator
Anything with “Navigator” in the title indicates you’re not the boss, but helping to move towards a goal. Fleshing out the rest of the “story” and picture and positioning yourself as someone who helps people find and move towards goals, or in a direction sounds a lot more inspiring. Good luck with it!
Director, Staff & Community Engagement
I chose that b/c it sounds like the role is all about fostering more passionate engagement in the organization as well as out to the client community.
Kathryn, At Your Service
Ambassador to Maximize Potential
I love some of the creative names, but I think it would be easier not to tell people what your title is and have them raise their eyebrows.
Director of Athletic Engagement
Director of Athletic Performance
Director of Athletic Marketing
Brand Manager, Athletic Performance
Better than Gym and Clinic Manager, but still solid enough to be taken seriously. Best of luck!
I like the title of Wait Lifter.
Find out what the customers, the team and support staff think about the facility. Get their input on your title and your priorities.
How about: Director – Health & Performance Enrichment for a title?
How about “Fitness Enthusiast”?
A combination of a few previous:
Chief Lifestyle Evangelist
Chief Health & Wellness Evangelist
Health & Wellness Evangelist
Lifestyle Empowerment Director
It needs to resonate with the clients and rehab patients and not too techincal. Hope this helps.
What a nice competition!
And what a wonderful collection of ideas you already got!
But I think we need to remain realistic, if we really want to help Kathryn.
My suggestion: Director, Health Services or maybe Director Agile Health Services…
Christian Beck, Bremen, Germany
Change Agent
Kathryn
In my experience, a slightly ‘different’ title helps to achieve two things simultaneously:
1) it clarifies what the role entails by using understandable, but not the usual, language
2) it is noticeable, but (at the same time) ensures that one does not take oneself too seriously.
For example, we hired a great General Manager for Discerning, Developing and Delivering What the Customer Wants about 2 years ago – as part of this process, the position title achieved the desired effect:
http://blog.global-roam.com/index.php/2010/05/gm-post/
It still does, in meeting clients and handing over business cards etc….
Because of the successes our Products Team has achieved, we’ll shortly be starting the process of hiring our General Manager for Initiating, Opening & Sustaining Client Relationships
Hence, Kathryn, I would suggest the following as options:
1) Chief Servant to those with aching and weary bodies.
2) Dream Enabler for busted bones and bruised bodies
3) Master Facilitator of athletic dreams and visions
… or something along these lines…
Internally, especially, any title will mean nothing (or become derisory) if the actions don’t quickly support the rhetoric.
Cheers
Paul McArdle
General Dogsbody.
I love a lot of the suggestions especially the ones including master or instigator. Sadly I wouldn’t be allowed to put that on my businesscard myself.
In your position I might just try like “Clinic and Gym Manager 3.0” as it would satisfy the old fashioned managers and give you one hell of an opening to introduce “Motivation 3.0” to your new team. Or anyone else you meet for that matter.
Because let’s face it, your team needs to hear the story behind the title only once. At most. They need you to do things, and then they need you to let them do things.
Many good ideas already given. But I sense, Kathryn, from your request that you prefer to stay away from terms such as “Director” or “Head” or “Chief” or any other such term of implied superiority (a turn off to most any member of any team, especially one made up of highly educated professionals). “Coach” is better, but may not be a particularly good fit for your position. Other possibilities might be:
Facilitator
Catalyst
Team Builder
Congratulations on your new role, Kathryn. I often try to come up with an analogous “real life” position to help me frame a role and serve as an anti-BS meter. When I had a big fancy title at an ad agency, I shrugged it off and explained my role as a preschool teacher for the global network– encouraging everyone to hold hands, share, and play nice. What would your role in a village be, minus any jargon? Maybe that’s a place to start.
Kathryn,
Just talking with a new client services manager in the organization where I work- we chatted about her real job is “How do I make people happy in their work” we decided her real job is: Happiness Helper
Best wishes in your new role!
Head Cheerleader
One more: Chief Inspiration Officer
Mission Execution Leader
Director, Making us Effective
Very interesting titles, and I would love to meet people and collect their business cards with several of these titles. By going through the role description, if I were one of the demoralized trainee, I would love to see someone with a title “Dream Enabler”
Best of luck with your title search.. 🙂
I’m late to the party – but to me you will need to be both -a leader and a manager in your new role. There is not corp term for this (try finding a company written job description for “leader”) – Give LEADAGER (leed/i/jer) a shot – It is what you will really be doing…
Wellness and Lifestyle Designer.
Curling is a winter time sport that always seems to garner interest every winter Olympics. In the sport, there is a role called “Sweeper”. The Sweeper is responsible for “altering the state of the ice in front of the stone” (Wikipedia).
I like Sweeper because it implies to me that you are trying to change things, but in a supporting/ guiding way not in an authoritarian way.
How about athletic facilitator, sounds like it covers the job . By the way congrats and good luck with your new project.
Head of Fun and Games
Fun Director
Commitment and Drive Coach
Head of Commitment and Drive
CMO – Chief Motivation Officer
How about:
Director of Performance Improvement
Or if the higher ups are not comfortable with the Director label
Performance Improvement Manager
Since essentially Rehab and Training are about performance improvement.
Athletic Supporter
You might want to consider “official” and “unofficial” titles. If you can wear “casual” clothing on the job, you could wear a t-shirt that says “She Who Must Be Obeyed”, but your business card and office door sez something else…
something with “Queen” in it was bouncing between my ears along with SWMBO, glad to see someone else with my sense of humor put one version of that in the comments.
hmmmm….Director of Spectacular Success and Lots of Fun?
I wish that we could rebrand teachers in this way…
I visited a charter school in Chicago and they do not refer to their teachers as teacher, rather, they are all called “Jedhi’s”, which is AMAZING. The entire school chooses a perspective much different than you normally find in education. With virtually 100% of the students at poverty level the school was able to achieve mastery and meet or exceed state standards…a HUGE achievement.
I’m sure Kathryn has made a choice, but it was fun to spend a few moments brainstorming and trying to both incorporate the diverse aspects of her job description and her concern for staff morale in a single Job Title.
Co-ordinator, Healing & Performance Services.
#102 final suggestion would look great on a business card-the ?
Since you will be working in a gym and physical fitness changes lives, plus your role requires social skills, leadership skills, vision and strategic thinking, how about: Life Transformation Team Leader
There is always ” Ultra Grand Poobette (female form of Poobah), Lady Most High and Master of All”, but her business card would not fit in the little plastic holder on the front counter.
More seriously, how about “CMMO”? Chief Morale and Message Officer? It is about strategy, vision, culture, managing, sharing the message inside and out, the entire package!
There you go!
Here are a couple and I hope they help inspire you!
Intrinsic Coach
Head Coach
Intrinsic Medium
Frontline Manager
Support and Relief Manager
Intrinsic Clinic Coach
Team Leader
Therapeutic Head Coach
Idea and Support Trainer
Clear Path Motivator
Next Step Coach or Manager or Supporter
Mastery Coach
First Step Guidance Coach
Purpose and Performance Manager
Mastery and Purpose Consultant
Improvement Consultant