The Academy of Work Science

Supporting those who support the multiple goals of the student-athlete

AWS’s Student-Athlete track provides the tools and knowledge to support those who support all elements of student-athlete success: On-the-field coaching support, academic support, career guidance, and early career professional development. Through extensive research working with thousands of professional, D1, and other elite athletes, we have identified a model of success that supports athletic success at the highest levels of competition. Coupled with our research and practice that has uncovered the psychological skills for early and on-going career success, this track empowers athletic directors, coaches, mentors, educators and others who’s goal it is to help student-athletes achieve their athletic, academic, and professional goals.

As a first step, participants become certified in assessment and coaching techniques within the framework of 4 psychological skills that are critical for career success across performance domains. Participants start by completing the Psychological Skills Profile (PSP), an assessment of 16 psychological facets as they apply to 1) Mental Toughness, 2) Emotional Intelligence, 3) Intellectual Curiosity, and 4) Achievement Striving. Customized reporting provides interpretation of scores as well as detailed developmental content tailored to the individual’s assessed strengths and development gaps. Participants are then scheduled to work with one of our consultants for deeper interpretation of results and to formulate a comprehensive development plan.

From there, participants engage in self-directed, online training to become certified in the interpretation and application of the psychometric assessments, as well as in the Cognitive Behavioral coaching techniques that are designed to enhance the 4 psychological skills in student-athletes. Application will focus in the areas of providing 1) on-the-field coaching support, 2) supporting students’ academic success, 3) career counseling, and 4) early career professional development. Content will also focus on the widening skills gaps observed in students and recent graduates in areas such as self-regulation (dealing with adversity, remaining adaptable, emotional management), social skills (e.g., professional communication, collaboration, understanding norms, cultural sensitivity), work ethic (e.g., being persistent, taking initiative, engaging in ongoing development), as well as critical thinking (e.g., effectively formulating problems, thinking analytically) (Burrus, Jackson, Xi, & Steinberg, 2013; Casner-Lotto & Barrington, 2006; Conley, 2010; Kyllonen, 2012).

Upon completion of the program, participants will be certified to support students-athletes’ development in these skills . While not everyone starts at the same developmental point with respect to these skills, we now know that each can and should be consciously developed in early career professionals across all performance areas. Further, the science tells us that the psychological and neurological bases for performance in these applied areas continue to develop though the college and early post-college years (ages 18 through 25). So, the earlier these current or soon-to-be early career professionals begin focused development, the greater the impact on overall career success. While this program is offered as a structured certification program, it can be configured to meet the specific pedagogical and development goals of individual programs.

The certification process is almost entirely self-directed and can be completed after approximately 30 hours of engagement. The following table describes the courses required and available through his certification process:

Becoming certified in the PSP Assessment (Complete all)

PSP 100: Applying the Academy of Work Science Career Success Model Extensive organizational research shows that there are 4 psychological constructs (Mental Toughness, Intellectual Curiosity, Emotional Intelligence, & Achievement Striving) that significantly support work performance and career success. Participants learn how to identify these traits in others, as well as how to begin to leverage these traits to improve the career success and performance of individuals and teams.

PSP 102: Interpreting and Applying the Psychological Skills Profile (PSP) I The Psychological Skills Profile (PSP) is a psychometric assessment that measures 4 broad psychological constructs (Mental Toughness, Intellectual Curiosity, Emotional Intelligence, & Achievement Striving) that have been found to support career success across a wide range of performance domains. Participants learn how to interpret the 16 facets that underpin these psychological skills, and how to provide constructive feedback, as well as career and performance coaching, based on interpretation of various combinations of facet scores.

PSP 103: Interpreting and Applying the Psychological Skills Profile (PSP) II This course is a continuation of PSP 102 and focuses on application of PSP results and associated deep developmental content to a wide variety of career and performance contexts. Participants also learn how to apply the assessment results on the team level, as well as in support of individuals’ education, athletic, and early career success.

Applying AWS Coaching Techniques (Complete all)

COA 200: Cognitive Behavioral Techniques (CBT) for Coaching I The Cognitive Behavioral approach is a set of scientifically developed techniques used to improve individuals’ motivation, behavior, performance, outcomes and well-being. At the core, Cognitive Behavioral Techniques (CBT) challenge individuals to interrogate their own patterns of thought, how they perceive the social environment, how they come to fix their beliefs, and how they come to make decisions. While CBTs are employed in a wide range of development context, this course will focus exclusively on those techniques most consistent with needs of coaches in the professional business environment.

COA 201: Cognitive Behavioral Techniques (CBT) for Coaching II This course is a continuation of CBT for Coaching I and guides participants through the application of specialized techniques that are customized for the coaching setting. The techniques learned in CBT I will be applied more specifically to development with the context of Mental Toughness, Emotional Intelligence, Intellectual Curiosity, and Achievement Striving.

COA 204: Addressing the Unique Needs of Students and Early Career Professionals

Coaching for Mental Toughness

MT 101: Driving Through Obstacles and Challenges Incorporating findings across diverse performance contexts such as professional sports, sales, entrepreneurship, and the military; participants learn what it takes to persevere in overcoming difficult challenges, setbacks, and obstacles to achieve critical objectives. Participants develop and learn how to leverage psychological strengths as they apply to self-regulation, self-efficacy, and locus of control to eliminate fear of failure, avoid distraction, and reverse a “fixed mindset.”

MT 102: Building Resilience Participants learn the psychological skills required to adapt positively to significant adversity, threats, setbacks, rejection, and other sources of stress. Participants will learn and apply techniques based on the most recent advances in the science of resilience, with strong focus on factors that are amenable to targeted development.

MT 103/EI 103: Regulating Emotions This course provides insight into the science and function of emotions, with emphasis on identifying triggers, recognizing patterns of thinking, and effectively managing emotionality toward better decisions and positive performance outcomes. Participants learn to apply techniques in the three components of emotional regulation: 1) initiating actions, 2) inhibiting actions, and 3) modulating responses triggered by emotions, with basic cognitive behavioral techniques (CBT) such as cognitive reappraisal, mindful awareness, and ABC functional analysis.

MT 104: Strengthening Self-Efficacy Self-efficacy is one’s belief in their capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance levels and goal attainment. Participants learn how to identify and manage cognitive self-evaluations that influence a sense of control over one’s motivation, behavior, social environment, and career outcomes. Application will focus on developing self-efficacy as the basis for enhancing resilience, self-regulation, curiosity, initiative taking, communicating persuasively, and performing under stress.

Coaching for Emotional Intelligence

EI 101: Empathy and Open-Mindedness Participants learn to apply the techniques of active listening and fostering two-way communication. Techniques applied in specific business contexts include perception check, interpretive listening, paraphrasing, and questioning.

EI 102: Managing Others’ Emotions Participants learn to recognize and predict the response patterns of others in various contexts, with emphasis on stressful, emotional, and challenging situations. Leveraging basic behavioral cognitive techniques, participants will leave this course better able to diffuse highly charged situations, respond optimally when others react emotionally, and help others re-channel emotions in constructive ways.

EI 103/MT 103: Regulating Emotions This course provides insight into the science and function of emotions, with emphasis on identifying triggers, recognizing patterns of thinking, and effectively managing emotionality toward better decisions and positive performance outcomes. Participants learn to apply techniques in the three components of emotional regulation: 1) initiating actions, 2) inhibiting actions, and 3) modulating responses triggered by emotions, with basic cognitive behavioral techniques (CBT) such as cognitive reappraisal, mindful awareness, and ABC functional analysis.

EI 104: Influencing and Persuading The ability to win respect, influence people and cultivate cooperation is essential to career success to get them to support a specific agenda or to take a specific course of action. Participants learn to apply techniques for both rational (central) and emotional (peripheral) appeals. Application will focus on communicating ideas, presenting proposals in a compelling way, and motivating others to act.

Coaching for Intellectual Curiosity

IC 100: How We Come to Believe The process by which people fix their belief about events and the world around them is a complex coming together of cognitive, emotional, motivational, and situational factors that frame the way we perceive and think. In turn, these beliefs serve as the filter through which we continue to adjust and reinforce the interpretations we make about our environment. Participants learn how work and other performance contexts interact with personal attributes to give rise to the beliefs, perspectives, values, and personal philosophies that significantly impact just about all work and career outcomes.

IC 101: Critical Thinking for Business Participants learn to identify and formulate problems, opportunities, and challenges within the framework of the organization’s mission, prevailing business environment, relevant business model, and strategic goals. application will focus on assessing business-related threats and opportunities, building on compelling ideas, developing rational arguments with strong construction and support, and communicating proposals in a credible and persuasive manner to garner support.

IC 102: Eliciting Ideas and Opinions from Others

IC 103: Enhancing Creativity Through Paradox Mindset In this course, participants learn to leverage apparent contradictions in order to break down assumptions, spot hidden connections between diverse ideas, and discover new ways to look at business problems and opportunities. Participants learn to use contradictions and to re-frame everyday work paradoxes such as dual performance requirements (e.g., minimizing costs while maximizing innovation) and resource scarcity (i.e., having to perform at high levels under limited time or financial resources) to fuel creative and divergent thinking.

IC 221: Thinking Globally With a focus on increasing diversity of experience, perspective, and thought in organizations; participants learn how to integrate values, beliefs, and points-of-view from different cultures. Participants learn to recognize situations in which demands from both global and local factors impact organizational performance, and combine an openness to and awareness of diversity across cultures and markets with a willingness and ability to synthesize across this diversity. This course is especially useful for those who are, or plan to be, working in global organizations.

Coaching for Achievement Striving

AS 101: Why Do We Work?: Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation Participants will learn how to leverage intrinsic motivators to encourage behavior change. this course explains the science behind internal motivation and shows how to apply these techniques to everyday motivation challenges. Application will focus on the the special needs of the student-athlete, focusing on building on motivation in the athletic, educational, career, and business domains.

AS 102: Personal Work Values and Ethics Recent research has uncovered 5 intuitive systems that form the basis for how we develop our moral ethical beliefs. These intuitive systems form the basis for a number of ways in which employees perceive and interact with the organization and work environment. Participants learn techniques to identify these intuitive systems in employees, as well as coaching strategies to help those employees become more self-aware. Application focuses on how these systems relate to effective leadership communication, employee engagement, performance and organizational citizenship behaviors.

AS 103: Setting Performance and Career Goals

AS 104: Creating Healthy Competition

AS 105: Achieving Flow Flow describes a motivational state in which one is so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it (Cziksentmihalyi, 2008). Leveraging the psychological nature of this active experience, participants learn techniques that support greater awareness and perceived control over one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors.