by Dr. Cory Dobbs, The Academy for Sport Leadership

Every team has players who always do less than they are asked; still others who will do what they are asked, but no more; and some who will do things without anyone asking. What every team needs is more of the third group, players who serve to inspire those around them to do things that will make the team better. These are the players who constantly renew their commitment to being their best for the team and whom others would do well to model.

A fun and energizing environment is much more productive than a routine and stale environment. Student-athletes who enjoy their sport and their teammates come to practice with moare energy—more passion. And this can be contagious.

To help lift your team’s performance look for ways to infuse your team with passion. Help teammates believe in themselves. Build their confidence and self-esteem. Search for ways to make your teammates feel important and appreciated. Celebrate and get excited about
the successes and accomplishments of your teammates. Make it a daily goal to point out the strengths and contributions of those around you.

You can infuse your team with passion by the acting out the following eight principles in your daily activities:

1. Keep Your Fire Burning. Fill your energy tank frequently. Your teammates feed off your fire. Avoid burn-out by regularly relaxing and refreshing your mindset.

2. Take Charge of Your Moods. Recognize your present mental and emotional state and take time to reflect on how your attitudes impact and influence your teammates.

3. Listen to Teammates. Spend time with your teammates and attempt to understand their feelings, perspectives, and experiences. Make it a way of life rather than a onetime event.

4. Be There for Others. Team building is about recognizing, respecting, and appreciating your teammates. Your friendship can be just the encouragement a teammate might need to make it through a challenging time. The smallest gesture, a simple act of kindness, at just the right time can make a big difference.

5. Act with Integrity. Blaming, finger-pointing, and accusing others will lead to negative reactions. Do what you say you will do. In other words, walk the talk. Your attitudes and actions should be consistent with your words.

6. Be Genuine. Your teammates will see right through you if you are phony and superficial. They want you to care about them and help them achieve their goals. Belief in your teammates will breed trust and healthy relationships. Point out others’ strengths and contributions—daily!

7. Refrain from Excuse-Making. Players that are committed to excellence identify what top-notch performance looks like and then take action steps towards that standard, never making excuses for disappointments and failures along the way.

8. Mend Broken Fences. Great teammates are those willing to admit mistakes. Durable and enduring relationships are built by pushing through adversity. Conflict is natural. Restore relationships where conflict has caused tension. Be patient, persistent, and pleasant when restoring a relationship.

To find out more about and order Sport Leadership Books authored by Dr. Dobbs including Coaching for Leadership, click this link: The Academy for Sport Leadership Books

About the Author

Dr. Cory Dobbs is an accomplished researcher of human experience–a relentless investigator always exploring “how things work.” He is the founder and president of The Academy for Sport Leadership and A Leader in Every Locker and has written extensively on leadership development of student-athletes.

Cory Dobbs, Ed.D.

Founder, The Academy for Sport Leadership

Lessons from the Art Studio

“Students who are truly student-athletes have a chance for a life-transforming, life-shaping experience. I can tell you how thankful I am for having had that experience and how it’s shaped me in countless ways. It’s an absolutely formative experience.” –
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan,
Speaker at the 2010 NCAA National Convention in Atlanta, Ga.

Leadership is one of the most important topics of our time. And it’s likely one of the most important attributes for effectiveness in any human endeavor. The success of any institution, organization, group, or team, is grounded in the effective application of leadership. For any organization to sustain success it must invest in the development of leaders—current and future— to avoid a regression towards mediocrity.

Since the dawn of civilization, groups have utilized leadership for various purposes beginning with the need for survival. Organizations today view leadership as a necessity for success and it is hard to find a person today who does not give at least lip service to the importance of developing leaders.

Yet despite this apparent intent to nurture the development of leaders, we still find ourselves desperately searching for leaders that can create and sustain success. Perhaps part of the problem is the way we teach leadership.

I teach leadership courses in two different graduate colleges for the same university. Different students, same classroom. The classroom consists of a podium, tables with chairs and a white board. The rooms are designed for teachers to stand and students to sit.

However, the classroom in which my colleague teaches art is quite different. In her art studio she often does not stand and students don’t sit. The simple reversal of classroom roles leads to a different mode of learning. Students in the art classroom poke around, observing the work of their fellow students. They ask questions, share stories, exchange insights, and offer praise or constructive critiques.

I’ve learned some powerful lessons from studying learning in the art studio. Two, of them in particular have reshaped the way I approach leadership development.

1. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.
2. The fear of failure will guarantee failure.

Anything Worth Doing is Worth Doing Badly
Not the orthodox way of looking at excellence. However, leadership is a messy proposition for anyone learning to lead. Since leadership is a social process, it follows that team leaders will need to experiment with such things as peer accountability. Invariably, the beginning leader will stumble. Encourage your student-athletes to get going, start leading, and take the lumps that come with learning to lead.

The art studio encourages the student to explore. Taking risks—experimentation—and being willing to do leadership badly are part of the learning process. In the art studio students are encouraged when they do something badly. They quickly look at the bad product and figure out how to improve upon their work. Poor outcomes are not seen as failures. Rather, the art student returns to the canvas to try again.

To offer some real-world perspective on bad leadership as a learning opportunity, take a quick look backwards to when you took your first coaching job. Who among us can’t look back and see incompetence and failure in some leadership efforts during our formative years? I’m on pretty safe ground here knowing that all competent coaches attended Hard Knocks University.

Here’s a simple way for you to guide your student-athletes to face the fact that risk is necessary for them to fully develop as a leader. Have them set up a matrix that involves listing leadership goals on one side of the ledger with possible risks on the other.

Sample Leadership Goal

To promote team unity through a weekly players only meeting.

Risk

One or more team members do not want  to attend and see the leaders as “better than them”

Fear of Failure Will Guarantee Failure
While the artist’s palette contains a wide-array of vibrant colors, the only color emerging leaders see is gray. Nothing appears to be black and white for the beginning leader. She’s not sure where to start, what to do, how to take leadership action. Fear of failure is real.

Failure often affects confidence and self-esteem. However, failure is not fatal. Giving your leaders the license to fail is a starting point. Creating a learner-centered approach to leader development can help the novice and the experienced team leader. Artists that persevere face their fear of failure. Failure in the art studio is guaranteed. Perfection is desired, but failure is acknowledged as part of the process.

I’ve noticed far too many young leaders fearful of leaving their comfort zones, clinging to what is comfortable and secure. The art student is encouraged to venture out and explore new styles and tools. In the art studio it is folly to discount mistakes and failure.

In the art studio, students are confronted with reality. What they put on canvas is available for all to see. Sometimes the visible picture doesn’t match the artist’s heart and effort. Such moments can be both disheartening and empowering. Vulnerability is a vital part of learning to become an artist—and a team leader.

Leadership certainly can begin to be taught in a classroom. Yet conventional methods of leadership training often fail to prepare students for the messiness of leadership. The art studio provides another model to explore as a bold approach for developing your team leaders. Experimentation, exploration, and action will involve mistakes and failure. Guiding your young leaders through the risks of leadership may well be the most important role you assume as a leadership educator.

To find out more about and order Sport Leadership Books authored by Dr. Dobbs including Coaching for Leadership, click this link: The Academy for Sport Leadership Books

About the Author

A former basketball coach, Cory’s coaching background includes experience at the NCAA DII, NJCAA, and high school levels of competition. While coaching, he researched and developed the transformative Becoming a Team Leader program for student-athletes. Cory has worked with professional athletes, collegiate athletic programs and high schools teaching leadership as a part of the sports experience and education process. Cory cut his teeth as a corporate leader with Fortune 500 member, The Dial Corp. As a consultant and trainer Dr. Dobbs has worked with such organizations as American Express, Honeywell, and Avnet.

Cory has taught a variety of courses on leadership and change for the following universities:

Northern Arizona University (Graduate Schools of Business and Education)

Ohio University (Graduate School of Education / Management and Leadership in Sport)

Grand Canyon University (Sports Marketing and Sports Management in the Colangelo School of Sports Business)

Visit www.corydobbs.com to read Cory’s leadership blog.

Championship teams have great leadership.

They have great leadership from coaches and players. Coaches must help players become more effective leaders. Teaching leadership is just as important, or more so, than anything else you teach in your program.

Your ability to train your team leaders will be directly correlated to your success.

In the two clips below Greg Dale,Director of Mental Training and Leadership Programs for Duke University Athletics, discuss how to begin the process of developing your team leaders.

The clips are from a DVD entilted The Coach’s Guide to Developing Great Team Captains. For more ideas on developing leaders click on the link above.

The YouTube videos have sound, so please make sure that you have sound and that you have access to the site (some schools may block access to YouTube)