A football coach needs to cultivate and develop leadership both on the field and within the locker room. No matter whether one is a head coach of a professional team or in charge of the youth league, they shall have the chance to be a positive influence on the athletes. As Stacy Danley says, good leadership is way beyond just wins and losses. It is also about the type of relationship the players have with each other and the culture maintained by the team.
Stacy Danley offers insights into how football coaches can develop leadership within their team
All good leaders realize that they cannot do everything alone and need help from others. This is among the biggest reasons why great leaders try to cultivate leadership among their team members. There are several ways a football coach can help the team members to become better leaders, which is just as important as teaching a quarterback the proper footwork mechanics. Developing a foundation of positive leadership can change and improve the culture of a team.
While some people are born with innate leadership qualities, much like any other skill, leadership abilities can also be developed and honed. Here are a few suggestions to integrate better leadership within a football team:
- Build relationships: Players are always more willing to work harder if they feel valued. Strong relationships and a sense of belonging is often a great motivation to do better. A player who is close to their teammates will not want to let the team down.
- Earn respect: Coaches need to work hard to put themselves and their strategies in a position to do great things. This starts by creating a culture that people want to be part of and try to earn respect from every member of the team. To earn this respect, coaches have to be intimately familiar with the content they convey to players. If a coach is well-acquainted with the game and confident in their strategies, then the players would invariably feel more comfortable. Coaches need to do their research, practice, watch matches and make rigorous efforts to get better.
- Empower the staff: A smart coach always tries to distribute responsibility in a systematic manner among their staff and players, in order to foster collective leadership. Such coaches clearly define the roles of each member of the team member and what is expected of them. After all, every team needs a specific set of goals and direction to succeed.
- Assessment: At the start and end of every season, coaches must do an in-depth assessment of the individual performance of their staff members. They should try to identify their individual strengths and weaknesses. Doing so would help in capitalizing on individual strengths by putting people in a position to succeed. Individual weaknesses are also important to identify so that one can assist their staff members to improve in these areas.
As Stacy Danley mentions, coaches must work on their own skills and, at the same time, develop new ones – just as players need to continually practice to keep up their sporting prowess. The effort they put in is likely to directly correlate to the respect earned.
