The majority of people love sports with many leaning towards team sports. I tend to use team sports in some of my leadership trainings sessions to emphasize the importance of team work in the work place. Most of the time, we end up speaking about football (soccer) and I am constantly fascinated at how the participants speak with such passion about their favorite teams.
They are able to highlight in such detail the pros and cons of the different teams, the strengths and weakness of individual players. In addition, they critique with a lot of energy the team’s coach, calling for some to be fired immediately.
Interestingly enough, when it comes to leading their own teams at work or analyzing their own performance as leaders, that level of passion and understanding is simply not there. One manager once told me that the responsibility of the team is not theirs but that of the company. The reason I use team sports in my training sessions is to simply emphasize the following points:
1. Every team has a coach. As a leader in your organization, you are your team’s coach. Just as the fans are critiquing the performance of the coach, your team and employer will be critiquing you.
2. The performance of the team is usually tied to the coach. We have heard it said before, “your team is as good as you are” or “the team is a reflection of the leader”.
3. Effective coaches, have a vision for their team. As a leader, you need to understand and have a vision for your department or team. You then need to be able to properly communicate this vision and subsequent strategy to them. Do not assume they will figure it on their own.
4. Coaches are always by the side lines, watching every move, assessing the game as it is played and giving constant direction. When necessary, they call a time out to quickly re-strategize. As a leader, you need to be by your team’s side, watching, communicating, and assessing their performance. They need to hear your voice and feel your presence.
5. Flexibility – Coaches are flexible. We see this during games when they sometimes, change strategy mid-game. As a leader you have to be flexible, if you see something is not working out the way you had planned, re-group and assess what the problem may be and see if you need to make a change. Flexibility does not mean you have changed your goals; it just means that you have changed your approach to attaining the goal.
6. Each team member has a role to play – Coaches understand this. A team is made up of individuals who bring different skills and talents to the table. Leaders need to take note of each individual’s strengths and understand how to maximize on them and also understand how to help them improve in areas they are weak.
Being a leader, if you find yourself struggling with your team, take a step back, think of your favorite sports team, place yourself in their coach’s shoes and through their eyes, try to assess what may be going wrong and what you as the coach should do.
