Working With Both

Even though I am only 19 years old, I've had multiple jobs. Being younger than most of my coworkers always made me nervous that I would fall behind, or be given the worst work. This is why I strive to be adaptable to whichever style of management I am placed under, and maintain competition with other workers. The bosses that I have had exhibited both sides of the continuum. Working as a youth umpire for a first official job taught me that in order to get opportunities for hours, I would have to work for it. Because of the nature of the job, a ref can do multiple games a day per venue, if they are lucky to be scheduled. My manager had a "first come, first serve" policy, which meant that you chose when you worked , and if you didn't sign up fast you didn't get any games. That meant a lot of the pressure was on you to figure out the work schedule, how to transport to games, where to park, etc. It really taught me to become my own boss and keep myself on schedule.
Working at Target as a cashier and floorwalker was a completely different experience. The managers I had not only scheduled all work hours for you, but were also responsible for giving workers directions and tasks continuously. I never had to make my own agenda, I was told what to do and got the job done. Personally, I prefer a more structured type boss, such as the engineering style. Once I have a task I will work hard to make sure it gets done; possibly harder than if I give tasks to myself.
When I coach, I tend to be both parts of the continuum. I believe in discipline and an outline to practice. I expect players to be there with cleats on ready to go when practice starts. I also, however, improvise practice with drills that the players are interested in or collectively decide they want to do. Since sports are meant to be fun, I see no reason for withholding creativity, as long as players are working hard in a drill!