“You cannot manage men into battle. You manage things; you lead people.” Grace Murray Hopper

This month’s tip may seem like a slight diversion from ‘psychology’ however I believe it is the number one issue that I see in coaches and managers in football today, at all levels!

I’m talking leadership.

There is an old saying that ‘if all you’ve got is a hammer then every problem is a nail’. It is becoming more and more frequent for me to see that many coaches, and again I’m talking at every level, only have hammers.

It’s going badly – lets blast the players. It’s going well – let’s blast them to bring them down to earth. They need to be more motivated – let’s blast them. I could go on and on.

I strongly believe that the missing piece for many of these coaches is an understanding of what it takes to lead people.

You can manage tactics, you can manage arrangements, you can manage coaching sessions but to perform at their best people must be led.

In their book “The Leadership Challenge” (ISBN 0-7879-5678-3) Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner introduce five practices that great leaders do to get the most from their people. These aren’t just ‘made up’; they are the practices that coaches and managers who get the very best from their teams do naturally.

These five practices are:

Modelling the Way, Inspiring a Shared Vision, Challenging the Process, Enable Others to Act and Encourage the Heart

I’m certain that if football coaches can raise their awareness, and do more of these, then their results will improve.

How Can You Become A Better Leader?

“You get the best effort from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within.” Bob Nelson

We often invite clients to complete a questionnaire that helps them assess how well they ‘lead’. Here are some example questions that might help you to reflect on how well you do. Remember we firmly believe that these are applicable to any coach, of any age group, at any level.

When you make a promise to your players, do you keep it without fail?

Are you always first in and last out at training and on match days?

Do players know what is important to you? Do you walk the walk?

For example if you say that discipline is important, is your discipline excellent?

Does the squad know what your aims are for this year and for the next three years?

Did the squad have any input into these aims?

Do you talk about these aims with genuine enthusiasm? In training, are you innovative?

Do you try new methods, techniques and approaches? When things aren’t going well on or off the pitch, do you experiment rather than leaving things and ‘keeping your fingers crossed’?

Are you your own coach or manager, rather than simply doing things the way you were coached and managed?

Are you willing to let others input into your decisions?

When players disagree, are they able to discuss this with you (in the right way at the right time)?

Do you know what is important to your players?

Do you appeal to what is important to them in a positive way to get the most from them?

Do you encourage a ‘togetherness’ in your team?

If you can honestly answer ‘yes’ or ‘usually’ to most of these, then well done; you are in the minority. You’ve probably got a very successful team.

For the rest of you, maybe now is a good time for a change? The good news is most of these can be put right quite quickly (and of course we can help!) Spend some time doing the actions below and notice the difference in your players and results.

“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” Kenneth Blanchard

What to do now…

Answer the questions above… Think about what you can do to say ‘yes’ to more of them. If you are stuck for ideas, email me and I’ll help you.

Put a note in your diary to do the questionnaire again next preseason, it is a great time to start leading more.