I am writing this on the day of arguably one of the greatest sports spectacles known . . . Super Bowl Sunday. This is a day where the top two teams in the NFL compete to be world champions. This is a day where leaders get to prove themselves. Leaders on the field who make great comebacks and plays. Leaders on the sidelines who coach their teams to victory and challenge them through the struggle of this final battle. Even leaders behind the scenes who support and assemble the teams.
Since I knew this day was coming I gathered some information for today’s post. I have the privilege of being in contact with many individuals who have coached teams for years. Specifically sports teams. Since this is Super Bowl time I asked these coaches one question: What are three keys to leading a team?
The coaches graciously replied with a wide array of responses. Some of the responses were: being flexible and adaptable, creative, willing to learn and grow, passion for what you do, serving, dedication, attitude and more. Out of these responses and more, I want to highlight the three responses many of these coaches agreed were key elements to leading a team.
- Clear Vision. One coach put it this way: “starts with a vision for what he wants for himself, those around him, and his team to become.” Whether the team you lead is a small youth sports team or a multi-million dollar organization, you must have a clear vision. Notice this coach said the vision is not just for the team, but for where he wants to be as well as those directly supporting him as the coach. As is evident with any championship caliber team nothing happens without a clear picture of where they are going and high quality co-leaders and team members to make it become a reality.
- Lead by Example. Multiple coaches stated this as critical and one even put that as his three keys “example, example, example.” I recently had a situation where this principle clearly applied. I was leading a meeting and the goal was to provide feedback for some content we were creating. One individual had put together the first draft and I requested participants to provide feedback on how we could improve the content. I am comfortable with silence, but the silence I felt in those moments after was the silence of people thinking “I don’t want to be the first person to be critical” so I stated the first observation to get us rolling. You see I was the one in charge and I had to be the example. If a leader expects their team to do something, they better be willing to do it themselves and if they are leading others will follow that example.
- Relationships. Although I have put this last, this response more than doubled the other two answers. Why is this? Leadership is about people and helping them along the path to get to the goal. Management is dealing with systems and processes which people follow. Leadership is influence. How do we have influence? We must develop relationships. Two words that came up often were: love and know. In order for the team to follow the leader they must believe they are loved and known more than just as a number. This takes time and intentionality in the fast paced world we live in. Find out about your team beyond their performance, do you know when their birthday is or what their favorite activity to do in their down time is? Do you know what gets them really excited? Take time as leadership expert John Maxwell states “walk slowly through the crowd.”
These three principles are easy to understand, but not always easy to implement. What do you need to do to grow in these areas? Do you need to think into what exactly your vision is for yourself and your team? Do you need to adjust your life so you are demonstrating what you expect of your team? How can you be more intentional about developing relationships with those you lead? Write your thoughts below and in the meantime continue to lead well at work and home.
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