What factors contribute to make a good leader
...s no hard or fast rule as to what makes a good leader however, (Carron, 1981) provides an overall view, identifying the following factors to be some of the essentials for a sports leader to succeed which can relate to all activities: • sport-specific skills/knowledge • interpersonal skills • good communications skills • empathy • consistency • fairness Not only are characteristics that led to successful leadership but the implementation of the right style or approach needs to be taken into account. Task-orientated leaders are leaders who have a good activity-related skills/knowledge. They are those who can lead the teams or person because of their understanding of the task and who lead because of this knowledge or experience. This would apply to many activities but mainly to team sports, such as a football manger who would have normally play the game professionally before hand, however a mountain climber would need a leader with previous experience and knowledge as well to know the area, terrain, routes, techniques etc. While Person- orientated leaders are those with strong inter-personal skills. They are motivators and will be aware of how to get the best out of the individual, which is why it is normal implemented in individual activities as the coach would know the performer, rather than concentration on just completing the task. A group also lacking in motivation will require a person –orientated leader to gain the best performance from them. (Fielder, 1967) They are also contained in 3 common leadership approaches: 1. Democratic leadership: are person-orientated. The leader seeks majority decision and listens to needs. (Fitts, 1967) This is more common in individual and racket activities as it’s easier to accommodate the needs of the performers involved as there is not as many to deal with. For example the coach of a runner or badminton player focuses on the performers needs, identifying their strengths and weakness that they can work on or implement on his opponent. They need to prepare the performer well with no time to readjust or alter anything when the match begins. This applies to most individual and racket sports apart from the Davis cup where coaches are allowed to talk to players, like a coach during quarter in a netball match. 2. Participative leader: involves the people in decision making but retains final authority. (Biddell,1995) This is the median between the extremes. 3. Autocratic leaders: takes control and ignores others needs. This style is suited more too dangerous situations, like relegation, where decisions need to be made quickly. This style suits team based activities more, often task orientated as well, as little notice is taken of the individual. (Fitts, 1967) Fiedler’s Contingency Model however, relates effective leadership to “situational favourableness” if things are going well for the coach/team/performer than a personal-orientated approach can be adopted, where there is no need for decisive change, less input is needed and then a leader has the time to focus on individuals. However if the situation is unfavourable, for example, difficult opposition, poor league position or poor facilities, then the leader needs to be task-orientated, needs to take control, set targets, tactics and produce clear objectives. (Fiedler, 1967) The Chelladurai’s Multidimensional Model also identifies the various links, the relationship between the leader’s personality (characteristics), the group and the situation. This relationship will produce behaviours that may not deviate from “expected” or “preferred” behaviours and will, in turn, influence the outcome or performance satisfaction experienced by both groups and leader. Chelladurai’s Model of leadership suggests that: 1. the satisfaction of the team with the approach of the leader is influenced by many factors 2. the way the leader behaves is dependent on a number of factors: • how the leader wants to behave • how the team wants the leader to behave • the situation • the personality of the leader • how the leader is expecte...