Interpersonal skills are another very important factor which makes up a good leader. The leader must be able to communicate with their teammates in the most successful way.
To do this they must get to know the people surrounding them to understand the most affective way of getting a message across. They must also understand the importance of teamwork and make sure their team mates understand this.
"A productive team has players that share common goals, a common vision and have some level of interdependence that requires both verbal and physical interaction" (www.brianmac.demon.co.uk)
Peer respect is all about the captain or leader knowing that they are equal to every other person in their team. It is important that a leader respects their peers as this will lead to them gaining respect themselves. Having good communication skills is very important to be a good leader because it links in with motivating. Knowing the best way to speak to team mates would affect the way that they would be motivated. Empathy is important for a leader because they are at the same level and experiencing the same things as any other team player, only they have a little more responsibility. By understanding what a performer is feeling, they would know how to motivate that person to get them performing as well as possible.
A good leader must also be consistent in their performance, but more importantly their attitude. They must always be determined and ready for the performance ahead. In a way this makes a leader a role model to the people around them.
There are many different styles of leaders. A leader can adapt to different styles to learn how their team responds best. The two main categories of leaders are task oriented and person oriented.
A task oriented leader is someone who pays special attention to tactics
and has authority within a setup. They tend to have a very good
understanding of the sport in which they are involved and this may be the reason that they were appointed as a leader.
Task orientated leaderships links in with the style of autocratic leading.
This is when the leader is very much a controller and they make decisions for the team to follow.
"They dictate what should be done and the group are expected to follow"
(Windle&Sprarks 2007 p32)
An example of a task orientated leader in an individual sport would be Colin Jackson. He is very knowledgeable in athletics and so would take a more tactical view on leadership.
A person orientated leader, on the other hand, would have much better inter-personal and communication skills. This would make them much better motivators, although they may lack a little knowledge about the game. Person orientated leader’s link in with the style of democratic leading. Democratic leading involves taking advice from others and listening to other opinions. They would often go with the majority rather than taking control and dictating matters.
An example of a good person orientated leader in football would be David Beckham. He is known as a very good motivator and an inspirational player as he plays with his heart on his sleeve. Having a player like David Beckham in your team will boost team moral tremendously. The ability to have this effect on a team is a great quality to have as a leader.
Other types of leaders include prescribed and emergent. Prescribed leaders are people who are picked to be a manager for example. The F.A prescribe a leaders as the manager of England, for example Fabio Capello, the manager of England's football team.
Emergent leaders are people who perhaps come through the ranks of a team to eventually become manager or coach. An example of this would be Roy Keane who is an extremely experienced footballer, becoming the manager of Sunderland.
Advantages of this kind of leadership are that the person who has become manager could already know a lot about the players and the club they are coaching if they remain at the club where they played. There are however disadvantages, as the manager may not be taken seriously by the players who he or she used to play with.
There is also an unorthodox method of leadership. This is called laissez-faire. This would be used by a coach in such situations as assessments, as laissez-faire is French for "leave to do". This would also be used by a coach who is in charge of an elite performer. Someone such as Tony Roche, who coaches Roger Federer, would perhaps use this as Federer is good enough to know what he needs to improve on and so on.
My style of leadership may vary to be successful in leadership of a sport depending on many factors these include the situation as different situations require different styles of leadership to be efficient; for example with teaching younger children the autocratic style of teaching would be best because younger children require a leader to take control, they would also expect the leader to behave in autocratic way. Also when leading young children a leader must take into account the age of the children as this would determine the style of leadership needed, many female tennis players play at their best when they are in their teens.
The gender of a performer may determine the style of leadership required, women may often be perceived differently as a leader, however a leader should take into account the gender of a performer as they are expected to behave in a certain way.
To conclude; Different styles of leadership are more appropriate and successful in different sports and situations.
"Thee position, the approach and the role of the leader will often depend on the situation and the group itself."
(Windle, Sparks Acquiring Skill p.29)
These different situations may need different styles of leadership. For
example an athletics coach would find it much easier to be person
orientated than a rugby coach. This is because athletics is more one to one.
Resources
Books:
Galligan et al
Advanced Physical Education Through Diagrams
Windle, Sparks Acquiring Skill
Internet:
htpp://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk
www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/acsc/99-061.pdf
Word Count
1285
