Working Together, For Each Other
When it comes to leadership in the corporate world, leaders who are overly harsh, critical, or inflexible can cause extreme levels of stress, lost productivity, and disengagement in their employees. In his book Coaching Consultant & Director of Athlete Assessments, author Bo Hansen writes, “Having flexibility includes treating their people as individuals (valuing their differences) and engaging the type of leadership style that is required given the individuals involved, the varying circumstances and situation.”
Cutthroat environments that don’t provide this type of flexible leadership run the risk of decreasing engagement by increasing employee stress. In 2012, the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology studied bank employees over a 3-year period. The researchers concluded that “the level of engagement was more important in achieving good performance than good performance was in creating better engagement.”
When we talk about leadership, captains and coaches in athletics, the same idea applies. Have you ever encountered someone who tried to tell you what to do in a way that didn’t relate to you?
Chances are, you probably didn’t listen to what they had to say, because they tried to bark orders at you without knowing how to talk to you in an effective manner. We all receive communication differently, and our ability to recognize that will determine how good of a leader we will be. Effective leaders have to cater their language and leadership style to fit everyone’s needs. Otherwise, the people they are trying to lead will disconnect.
Let’s put it this way: Leadership is a two-way street. In order to lead a group of people, you’ve got to learn who you’re speaking to and what they need to hear. Some people need a kick in the ass or a harsh critic to be motivated. But others need the complete opposite: a gentle correction and patience. But you’re never going to get a group of people on board with you until you’ve gotten to know those around you and become willing to adapt to their needs.
Out of all the people on a sports team, only a small percentage will take on a labeled “leadership” role, such as team captain or co-captain. But what about the rest of the team? Are we to assume that they all leave the duty of leadership to those who were chosen as captains? Of course not. A positive team environment cannot be created by such a small number of people alone, so this is where the “invisible leader” comes into play.
When Heather Rolls arrived at preseason of her freshman year, she had a major adjustment on her hands. An unchallenged starter on her high-school and club soccer teams, Heather’s transition to Georgetown University women’s soccer wasn’t exactly what she imagined.
“I hobbled onto the field on my first day of preseason with a broken foot, and I spent my first few months doing nothing more than sitting on the bench,” she said.
So how did she get accustomed to playing a less significant role than what she was used to?
“My commitment changed. Never before had I sat on a bench during a game, but it became a regular occurrence for me. I learned a new commitment to teamwork. I quickly found that being a good team player does not always entail commanding the positioning of your team,” she stated.
When your role changes, you turn to your teammates and look for support from them. Athletes are competitive by nature, but most of us know what it feels like to get hurt (hint: it sucks). This is where invisible leadership comes into play. Instead of complaining about being injured and their inability to play, athletes change their mindset to empower the team. If you can’t be there for them on the field, you will be there for them off the field.
Athletes who don’t receive as many minutes as they’d like also play a large hand in the team’s success by staying committed to the team’s goals. They can become invisible leaders.
“You don’t have to be a captain to be a leader. Being one of four goalies on a team, you have to learn how to be a leader even if you’re not on the field,” Heather explained. In other words, even being a goalie is a team effort.
Heather pointed out that “having a deep bench, with good players, doesn’t mean much if the players on the bench are not properly engaged with the game.” Even the most talented players can negatively impact connectivity between teammates by having bad body language or by not being committed.
The amount of minutes you play or the amount of points you accumulate does not change the fact that you are a part of a team. Positive work environments encourage things like kindness, support, generosity, and selflessness. When a star player begins to think that it’s only about them, the team does not operate as a cohesive unit and is therefore less successful.
Athletes who don’t play as many minutes as they’d like are the invisible glue that holds a team together, as Heather’s story illuminates. Heather noted that “supporting the players on the field, while also leading the others on the bench, is an aspect of leadership that goes completely unrecognized, but is an important aspect of a team’s success.”
It’s not about the individual; it’s about the group’s goals and values. If one person disengages or loses focus, others feed off of that negative energy and begin to think that it’s okay to zone out on the sideline. The inverse of that is true, as Heather learned, and being the absent player provides the opportunity for the invisible leader to step up.
Bringing this element into the workplace will only have a positive effect. Athletes are leaders because they have a purpose, and that purpose is to work with their teammates to achieve their goals. Without a positive culture and flexible leadership, a team will not be an effective unit. Engaged athletes are engaged workers. They want to see everyone succeed and, even though they may not receive equal recognition, they know that the team would not be able to function without them.
