Who am I as a leader?
I am very proud of my leadership qualities. Even though I am only 21 years old, I have some really great experience in leadership across several different platforms. I think what distinguishes my style as a leader is the perspective I take on leadership. As a leader, I am someone who not only leads by example, but in order to lead, I need to "get my hands dirty". I need to be in the mix, solving problems, working with the group.
My leadership qualities were cultivated during my sophomore year at Saint Michael's College when I was put into the role of team captain. I had to lead from an underclassman position in a very hierarchical team setting.
In my field of work, where I train soccer players from 8 years old to 18 years old, I take a leadership role in designing training plans and programs. Often, I take the lead coaching role over men and women who have been in the industry for 20-30 years.
I find some qualities that make me a good leader are the ability to make a decision clearly, then communicate and execute that decision quickly. In a sporting environment, where resources (field space, cones, pinnies, balls) are limited, decision making is important to decide how the resources are used. Furthermore, parents can be one of the largest roadblocks to training and coaching kids. Communicating with parents and developing trust is key to a successful relationship.
Within my college soccer team, there are situations leadership is important. Often, my teammates who want to be captain because they get to wear the armband and tell everyone that they're the 'captain', end up being terrible leaders. A good captain, or a good leader on a sports team has many responsibilities. Two of the most important roles i've found revolve around team bonding and damage control. Creating a team culture conducive to winning is key for a successful team. This can take many shapes and forms, but the culture is always a cornerstone. The other large role that the team leader takes on is damage control. Helping teammates through difficulties, limited playing time or lack of confidence is always important. The ability to recognize a teammate who is struggling and having the ability to lift him up is really key.
My leadership qualities were cultivated during my sophomore year at Saint Michael's College when I was put into the role of team captain. I had to lead from an underclassman position in a very hierarchical team setting.
In my field of work, where I train soccer players from 8 years old to 18 years old, I take a leadership role in designing training plans and programs. Often, I take the lead coaching role over men and women who have been in the industry for 20-30 years.
I find some qualities that make me a good leader are the ability to make a decision clearly, then communicate and execute that decision quickly. In a sporting environment, where resources (field space, cones, pinnies, balls) are limited, decision making is important to decide how the resources are used. Furthermore, parents can be one of the largest roadblocks to training and coaching kids. Communicating with parents and developing trust is key to a successful relationship.
Within my college soccer team, there are situations leadership is important. Often, my teammates who want to be captain because they get to wear the armband and tell everyone that they're the 'captain', end up being terrible leaders. A good captain, or a good leader on a sports team has many responsibilities. Two of the most important roles i've found revolve around team bonding and damage control. Creating a team culture conducive to winning is key for a successful team. This can take many shapes and forms, but the culture is always a cornerstone. The other large role that the team leader takes on is damage control. Helping teammates through difficulties, limited playing time or lack of confidence is always important. The ability to recognize a teammate who is struggling and having the ability to lift him up is really key.
There is so much we can learn about leadership by studying the way athletic teams function (or don't). I love the key elements of leadership you share in this post, especially the importance of team bonding and damage control.
ReplyDeleteI think your comment about "damage control" is very astute. An awful lot of what leaders have to do is to respond to the problems that emerge and the "stuff that comes up" over the course of any given project. I think one of the hardest things about leadership, in fact, is balancing the time and attention given to pushing the work along, against the time and attention given to "maintenance and repair" of people and relationships. It's easy to get this wrong in either direction.
ReplyDelete- Matt
I really like what you said about creating a team. I think effective leaders develop a lot of trust with their teams and truly view them as such. It only takes one bad experience or one intimidating experience with a supposedly trusted leader to ruin the overall morale of a team.
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