Leadership is a Contact Sport
...es will need to be faced. The leader cannot be a “ball-hog” and be successful, because eventually the players will change, the leader must focus beyond the leader’s personal goals and focus on organizational and player goals and move everyone towards a common win. The leader must inspire and motivate his followers to achieve success, just like the football coach the leader cannot win alone and cannot take credit for the wins, but must be willing to take the blame for the losses. Each opponent will have different advantages and skills, making every situation different and each player’s responsibility will vary according to the circumstances. Interaction between each follower and the leader is essential to building a trusting, mutually respecting relationship because like a football player who sits the bench, the follower who is not motivated will never reach his full potential to become a productive part of the organization, often causing the sidelined follower to leave for greener pastures. Leaders not only need to be aware of their own perspectives and emotional intelligence they must also be aware of that of their followers and understand how each of these variables can change within a given situation. The same way the football coach must understand that when the opposing team shuts down your passing game, the quarterback will not be able to perform, or when the receiver has been injured the week before he will possibly hesitate in the following game out of fear of being hurt again, or being hurt worse, every game is a new game, just as every situation is a new situation and fear of the unexpected will sometimes cause performance to temporarily drop however over the long run when the leader is consistent and fair the players will respond and the organization will become more successful and become more stable able to survive and thrive through turbulent times. Summarizing the leader’s piece of the leadership game is best summed up by Terry D. Anderson, PhD in his book Transforming Leadership Equipping Yourself and Coaching Others to Build the Leadership Organization: Without developed leaders—without a strong team at the helm—the organization will have no vision, no spirit, or will be a house divided against itself, and it will not as easily endure the storms of change that we are now beginning to face. (p.8) Player two in the leadership game is the followers—team player, the heart and soul of the team depends on the skills, desires, and goals of the players. The Dallas Cowboys, have a multitude of talent from which Bill Parcels has the opportunity to inspire, cultivate, and motivate towards victory or success; however if the Cowboys had a team of clumsy accountants Parcels would lose every game because: the coach—leader is only as strong as his players—followers. Followers need to “fit” into the organization, just as it would be useless to have accountants on the football field, the reverse would not return better results either. The old saying, “We the uninformed, working for the inaccessible, are doing the impossible, for the ungrateful!” speaks volumes about the followers attitude, and relationship with their leaders. It is my belief that an underappreciated, overworked, but still inspired secretary, came up with that phase, trying to point out that the followers have minds, skills, and when inspired can become productive parts of the organization. The followers are often looked upon as a “necessary evil,” an “expense,” that is unavoidable in order to achieve the organizational goals, however when the followers are treated as part of the organization, part of the team, they are more productive, and successful when they have a personal stake in the success of the organization—team. No one likes to sit the bench, and when they do, their potential success remains untapped and unrealized—they will eventually leave the organization. The flip-side of the “bench-sitter” is the team’s star quarterback, the “ball-hog” the “I won the game and without me, you would have lost!” person. This person has the potential to be more damaging than the bench-sitter, they generally create internal conflicts causing other players—followers to become disenchanted and reducing organizational success creating the need for trading—restructuring—reorganization. The quarterback cannot win the football game alone, he needs protection, receivers to catch and carry the ball, the defense to prevent the opposing team’s offense f...