Why Sports Builds Leadership
Playing sports provides participants with opportunities to develop leadership skills .Sports are highly competitive, and their nature is to push enthusiastic participants to achieve more . In fact, the basis of competitive sports is rivalry, and it is in this competitive atmosphere of team sports that pushes people towards “taking one for the team”, and fostering team spirit. It is within the cohesion of a team that a captain will stand out and acquire the position of leader.
“Inventories can be managed, but people must be led”
Leadership is something people are born with or indeed, if it can be learnt; whether it is natural or an acquired skill. We believe the era where leader needed to belong to certain social class has thankfully gone. Participating in sports helps people develop confidence and make quick decisions necessary to succeed in leadership roles of all types and sports provides a platform to develop and nurture skills while different situation requires leaders to display various leadership qualities in different measures.
Leader makes the team add up to more than the sum of the parts
A leader’s skill lies in understanding players, in bringing out the best from each player. There are people driven by different emotions and so as captain you can’t have a one size fits all approach to everyone . Under Ganguly’s captaincy , many young players flowered. He empowered them and gave them confidence to become match winners. A captain or coach needs to make them feel happy and good and create a team climate that supports trust and cooperation. Many people in team not realize how good they can be and it needs a leader to encourage wards to challenge themselves to set high goals and grow.
Leader is the captain of the ship who sees the calm beyond the storm
What really differentiate a leader is his vision and ability to look beyond what others see. Strategy and goals emerge from this vision and players need to be clear about these goals and the importance of their role in achieving them. Shane Warne is another who believes very strongly in each player knowing his role in the team. The most important thing is to let the players know what their role is , what they are expected to do . Injecting some positive turbulence in team shakes them up and gets them going . Leadership is alive to the need of getting ready for what the future might throw up, and getting ready for it in advance. Optimism is a key quality that leader must possess , ’can-do’ attitude is a defining one which never allows the slightest negativity to creep in.
What Makes a Leader Good
Whether in business or sport, decision making is an integral part .Some people enjoy being leaders, Virat Kohli said before he became captain , he was always involved in the game , running up to the captain to offer suggestions . A leader has to be a ‘hear-a-holic’ because the best ideas comes from where you least expect them. Yet, the final decision has to be the leader’s alone. It’s also not possible for leaders to make everyone happy in the final outcome. The Wins and Losses go against captain’s name. A leader has to believe in his decision and to keep looking ahead however steep and unlikely the outcome. A leader’s positivism can generate hope in a team that believes that defeat is imminent. A confident leader can also be the glue for a team in a crisis.
When Leaders are tested
True leaders like challenges so they can prove themselves in tough situations because it is lonely at the top, teams that are down look to him for direction and would rather see a calm captain like Dhoni . The most natural reaction of leader would be to focus on improving the performance but this is hardly likely without morale being boosted. Sometimes leaders need to take a tough call like giving negative feedback or dropping a player but such decisions can neither be avoided. A leader needs to see the bigger picture . Authentic leaders earn the respect of their teams and even their competitors. A leader command respect only if he is able to say ,’If you can’t do it , I will.’
Leaders come with a Shelf-Life
While discussing leadership issues we often talk about different situations needing, almost demanding ,different kinds of leaders. In year 2005 ,India were respected around the world but Ganguly’s own form was taking a dip and there was a feeling he might be a touch insecure . The small town Dhoni was just about perfect to lead India and its aspirations which he could understand better than anyone else. Leaders also have a shelf- life too, there comes a time when speeches seem tired ,the new ideas seem familiar and the tricks become repetitive. Sometimes pressure takes its toll and the leader can feel spent; that could start affecting his performance as a player. That is something that those who appoint leaders need to keep an eye out for. That is why , as with players , leaders need to be picked and culled at the right time.
