What is Leadership? It is spoken about by a lot of people today. But before we delve into what it means today, lets us trace the origins of its current thinking and how it evolved in professional sport. Having done that, we also need to see where leadership is headed in professional sport.
In the good old days leadership was spelt as "COACH". There were no leadership teams or player groups or senior representative groups or unity councils. The coach was the boss, leader and decider. The head coach took all the decisions and took responsibility for them. All leadership in professional sporting began and ended there. The coach was the revered "guru" who could not be questioned.
Then leadership evolved into the concept of 'Captaincy' and nominating a 'Captain'. Team leadership then began to be shared between Captain and Coach - a kind of 'joint responsibility'. It was not too long before the demands on leadership started increasing to include media management, public experiences and 'sponsor servicing'. The aura of the team translated into the aura and persona of the captain. Now with the position of the captain attaining a halo, we began to see the emergence of Vice Captains and even Co-captains as the limelight was required to be shared to give some importance to other good players through shared leadership. The context of 'grooming the next leader' also developed.
Over time, the philosophy of leadership in professional sporting teams evolved into the present popular model of "Leadership Teams". You had the Captain, Vice Captain, Coach and Manager. The Manager handled the burden of administrative work. The leadership team played an important role in professional sport as it provided the players more opportunities to be engaged with preparation, performance, and to have some first hand inputs into standards, values and practices of the team.
Today, we face an altogether new leadership challenge in professional sport - Coaching by Collaboration. It is a time when everyone associated with the team - players, coaches, staff and management - has to take full responsibility for every aspect in their domain. So what do we call this kind of leadership - leading without leading?
It is an era where each player has to learn to lead from the front. They have to train, prepare and compete to their full potential by accepting full responsibility and accountability for their own standards, behavior and performance, both on and off the field. In the past players could be professional as far as their sporting event was concerned. But elsewhere, they had to depend on others to set and enforce professionalism in associated areas. A player who had some weakness could rely on another to cover up for him; but no longer. It is now an era of individualized peak performance. There can be no weak links in any professional sporting team. It is time for everyone involved in the team to ensure that everything they do: on-field training, off-field training (e.g. gym), social situations, recovery, nutrition, time management, values, sponsor commitments, public appearances and media management is as professional as their actual playing. Thus, with each player working at own peak professional performance, the whole team performs to its peak performance potential.
Embrace the collective collaborative coaching - "leading without leading model". It is innovative and successful. Take the lead and change the future of professional sports.
Ajit K Singh has a Masters in Economics from Delhi University. Among his varied interests is a passion for Philosophy, Psychology, Soft Skills and related subjects. Following the family tradition, he got commissioned in the Indian Air Force as an Administrative Officer. He specialized in selection of Officers for commissioning, having done a course in the Defense Institute of Psychological Research, Delhi. Post retirement he researched and became a trainer in Soft Skills and Emotional Intelligence, including Life Skills. He is an avid writer and occasional poet.
E-mail:ajitsingh140354@gmail.com
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