What factors contribute to make a good Leader and how might your style of leadership vary To be successful when involved inIndividual, Racket, and Team sports

AS and A Level Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

Michael Haines Task 1 Mr. Taylor

What factors contribute to make a good

Leader and how might your style of leadership vary

To be successful when involved in

Individual, Racket, and Team sports

Leadership is important in all sports because it influences behaviour. Team captains, managers, and coaches all have to have leadership qualities, they also have to be men and women of genuine inspiration. The value of such captains and leaders cannot be underestimated weather they have a laser tongue and short fuse such Roy Keane at Manchester United FC or a man of few words and shows little emotion such as Martin Johnson of Leicester Tigers RUFC and England. Both of these players are both incredible leaders but they have different leadership styles, but they both have one thing in common they have the respect of the other players around them.

We must remember that leaders are not just team captains, they can be coaches managers, and in individual sports the athlete themselves. The captain is basically the manager’s eyes and ears in a team. He is the one the rest of the team confide in, which is why it so often appears that a manager and captain have be carved from the same mould, they operate on the same wavelength and have the same aspirations.

So what makes a good leader, all the points explain this,

Communication skills
High motivation
Enthusiasm
Having a clear goal or vision
Empathy
Being good at or having knowledge of sport themselves
Charisma

There are many factors that affect leadership. Chelladurai identified three main factors that affect leadership.

The characteristics of the situation
The characteristics of the leader
The characteristics of the people who are to be led (the group members)

Below is a diagram of this theory.

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So what makes a good leader, all the points explain this,

Communication skills
High motivation
Enthusiasm
Having a clear goal or vision
Empathy
Being good at or having knowledge of sport themselves
Charisma

There are many factors that affect leadership. Chelladurai identified three main factors that affect leadership.

The characteristics of the situation
The characteristics of the leader
The characteristics of the people who are to be led (the group members)

Below is a diagram of this theory.

The more prominent the factors in a leader the better they will be or become. If the leadership qualities are what the group member’s desire, they are more likely to follow the leader.

According to Carron (1981) there are two ways to become a leader;

Emergent Leaders- come from within the group because they are skilful or because the rest of the team have selected them. A good example of this is, Steve Thompson of Northampton Saints. He was voted as captain by the rest of the team.

Prescribed Leaders- are appointed from an external source to the team. An example of a prescribed leader would be David Beckham of the England team, he was chosen by the England management team.

If the leader is an emergent leader they will normally be respected more and have the support of the team as they have chose the person they wish to lead them. Whereas prescribed leaders aren’t always the best choice as “resentment often occurs if the team already have a good cohesion (before a captain is chosen) or if there is an individual within the team structure members feel should be their leader.

Task orientated or person orientated leaders are also different and gain respect in different ways. Fielder (1967) said task orientated leaders are those who have good activity related skills/knowledge. They are those who can lead the team due to `their understanding of the task and they lead because of this knowledge or experience’. Most coaches are task orientated leaders, so this type of leadership is seen a lot in athletics and a racket game such as badminton. They use their knowledge and experience to tell the athlete or player how they will have to train or perform so they can achieve their task. For example if a sprinter was fast but was losing power because they weren’t driving there arms enough out of the blocks a coach would pick up on this and help them correct it.

Person orientated leaders are, however the ones with good inter-personal skills and know how to get the best out of each player, they are also good motivators. They are interested in the well-being of the players, more than the task in hand. They believe that if the players are happy and team spirit is high, they will play better therefore complete the task. This is much like the style adopted by David Beckham as he will guide the young with an arm round the shoulder approach.

There are three subsections of leader, these are

Autocratic
Democratic
Laissez fare

Roy Keane (football) or Martin Johnson (rugby) are examples of autocratic leaders. They lead from the front and they encourage and inspire the team through such factors as their own performance, especially if they are playing badly or when they are losing. This style of leadership requires good decision making skills as the captain is responsible for what to do in critical situations when the game can often be on the line. A situation like this can make or break a leader. England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson was criticised for failing to show these guidance skills and passion in the recent World Cup due to an un-inspired second half performance from his squad against a 10 man Brazil.

Democratic leaders are similar to person orientated leaders they Listen to and act on opinions of the group. they may go as far as taking a vote and this type of leader will always listen to others. A long jumper could have a democratic coach, if it is debatable weather he learns the correct technique or keeps his natural, more comfortable one then the coach may seek help from other long jump coaches.

Laissez fare leaders make very few decisions and give very little feedback, the group members do mainly as they wish. It could be argued that this style does not actually involve leadership. It’s a more of anything goes sort of group, this could improve confidence as the group feels trusted in making their own decisions, however it could also lead to a drop in moral due to lack of guidance and poor motivation.

In conclusion I think that leaders are born not made. In terms of man-management this can be learnt. Leadership derives from the individual’s own personality. Emergent, person orientated, autocratic leaders are seen as the most suited for team games, whereas a tactical task orientated leader is suited to athletics or badminton. All leadership styles have positive and negative effects, but it is down to the leader himself to deliver and inspire in the most crucial of circumstances regardless the style of leadership. I think the best example of this has to be the great Martin Johnson as he led England to a Grand Slam Six Nations And Lifted The IRB Rugby World Cup.

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