Leadership Influencing Others

One of the most important aspects of being an effective leader is the ability to influence others to
believe in the mission and the results you want to achieve.
A team can’t win unless there is buy-in on the strategic plan, and it’s the leader’s job to ensure
this happens.

Here are the Seven I’s for influencing others and building a winning team.
Identify the results you want. No team or organization can develop a great plan without first
defining the results they need to achieve.
Illustrate your credibility. This can be accomplished in many ways. In order to truly influence
others you must demonstrate some level of credibility so the team is more likely to believe in
what you are saying.
Invest the time in getting to know the people you wish to influence. Making personal
connections with team members is imperative for developing a high-performance team designed
to win.
Invite them to share their ideas. Without a team there can be no leadership.
Investigate options that lead you to common ground, good leaders always find ways to achieve
common ground between team members.
Intend an outcome that meets everyone’s needs.
Improvise as needed. Adaptation is an inevitable part of moving towards the achievement of any
goals.

Sources of power
Power refers to the capacity to influence others. It is a force of influence and authority.
Most leaders wield power, but how power is manifested and used often differs between leaders.
Downward power occurs when a superior influences subordinates, upward power occurs when
subordinates influence the decisions of the leader.

Power is the ability to get things done. Those with power are able to influence the behaviour of
others to achieve some goal or objective. Sometimes people resist attempts to make them do
certain things, but an effective leader is able to overcome that resistance. Although people
sometimes regard power as evil or corrupt, power is a fact of organizational life and in itself is
neither good nor bad. Leaders can use power to benefit others or to constrain them, to serve the
organization's goals or to undermine them.

Sources of power
French and Raven (1959) emphasized five interpersonal or social powers: Reward, Coercive,
Legitimate, Expert and Referent Powers.

Reward power involves the ability to reward others such as verbal praise, positive body
language, and more playing time.

Coercive Power concerns the ability to control access to one or more punishments for example
verbal reprimands, negative gesture, giving less playing time, making players run laps or perform
sit ups and push-ups.
Legitimate Power involves the ability to use one’s position and authority within the organization,
group or team, for example, being an authority figure, possessing official status, ownership of the
organization, being the head coach etc.

Expert Power is derived from perception that one is knowledgeable, skillful, or talented in a
specific domain. For example, Expert Power consists of being a former star in that sport, having
specific education and experience, awarded many titles or medals.

Referent Power involves the ability to be liked and respected by the group members. For
example, athletes respect and admire their coaches, and follow their decisions

The Abuse of power

Abuse involves using excessive, unfair and improper methods of managing something or
someone. Improper use of authority comes from someone who has authority because he or she
holds a position (normally legitimate power). Abuse of power is different from usurpation of
power, which is an exercise of authority that the offender does not actually have.

Abuse of Power
Abuse in the sports context ranges from sexual abuse, psychological abuse, to emotional and
physical abuse.
Coaches are not Gods, but rather, fallible humans, and they can be vicious, racist bullies, or the
facilitators of players’ bad behavior.

In school cases, this abuse scenario is rooted in the power differential between the child and the
coach.
Examples
Simon Cvijanovic, a senior starter from Cleveland, charged that coach Tim Beckman pressured
him to play with knee and shoulder injuries. Cvijanovic resisted, which he says prompted
Beckman to ridicule him by forcing him to watch practice while dressed in an opposing team's
uniform.
In 2013 a video surfaced of coach Mike Rice pushing, throwing balls at and kicking his Rutgers
basketball players between profane doses of antigay invective.
In 2014 softball coach
Erin Layton often targeted
injured or ill players, whom she would threaten with comments like, "Don't ever get sick again,
or I'm going to kill you."

Larry Nassar. On Jan. 24, the court sentenced Nassar to 40 to 175 years for his sexual abuse of
more than 150 young female athletes, in the biggest sexual abuse crisis in American sport
history.
"I believe this is a cultural problem," says Ramogi Huma, executive director of the National
College Players Association, which often hears from abused athletes. "A lot of coaches, they
were hollered at and abused when they were players.“
The model of the Marine Corps Staff Sergeant screaming at recruits is outdated and abusive.
Ways to eliminate the abuse of power in Sports
 A Model Code of Conduct for Coaches and Athletes
 Criminal background checks
 Training of all coaches and staff on identifying the signs of abuse
 Exclusion of coaches who have been identified as sexual abusers
 Toll-free hotlines for reporting abuse are an absolute minimum.
 Highlighting and emphasis must be placed on Good Sportsmanship.

Managers as Effective Leaders

Sport management is an occupation that requires excellence in leadership in order to perform the
job successfully. There are several aspects involved in being a good sports manager that demand
motivation, direction, organization, planning, patience, flexibility, vision, energy, integrity, and
people skills. These traits are absolutely essential in becoming one of the best in the industry of
sport management.

Responsibilities of Effective Managers

 Being tactful, considerate, and making people feel comfortable is necessary and certainly
plays a large part of success in management.
 Creating teamwork among athletes, organizations, and clients
 Inspire people to work together to reach shared goals and experience success as a team.
 Boosting moral and encouraging teamwork by approaching tasks with confidence,
passion, and enthusiasm is the way to set an example as a leader.
 Listen to concerns and feedback from the team members.
 Problem-solving, decision making, and critical thinking are necessary skills when
decisions are needed to be made quickly and wisely.
 Multitasking - there are often many things to do and keep track of.

Coaches as Effective Leaders

Coaches are expected to manage, motivate and lead hundreds of athletes across all age groups,
and from across all sporting disciplines.
Sports coaches are powerful role models and leaders of their athletes, team brand and
community. As a result, coaches play a multifaceted role in the life of athletes.
Effective leadership in coaching occurs when athletes perform in accordance with the coach’s
intentions while finding their own needs satisfied.

Responsibilities of Effective Coaches

 Coaches can teach safe and ethical behaviors for athletes and assistant coaches alike.
 Coaches are trained to take care of unsafe conditions, equipment and practices, as well as
know how to respond to emergency situations.
 Coaches understand and develop an unique approach to teaching specific skills and
strategies needed to excel at their sport.
 By implementing a positive learning experiences, coaches can maximize an athlete's
potential in sports and life.
 Coaches are able to gauge skill levels and competition readiness of athletes no matter
their age.
  Coaches are able to assess each player’s athletic ability while understanding the needs of
the program and recruitment strategies.

Team Captains as Effective Leaders

 Knowledge of Self: An Athlete creating effective leadership begins with a self-awareness
of their own leadership style. This enables an understanding of strengths, limitations,
communication style and conflict style as well as motivations and necessary
environments for success.
 Interpersonal Relationships: By this we mean understanding team members and coach
behaviors. This enables leaders to develop relationships with those different to
themselves.
 Communication Skills: Effective leaders know how to adapt their communication to suit
the people and situation they are communicating in.
 Guardian of Team Culture: Leaders know the ingredients to be successful and will uphold
these standards.
 Knowledge of Sport: Effective leaders become students of their game and of sport in
general.
 Mentoring and Support Skills: Leaders are to be patient in supporting fellow team
members and provide appropriate feedback in order to improve other’s performances.
 Decision Making: The ability to make decisions under the pressure of training or intense
competition is a defining factor in being successful.

Behavioral Qualities :
 Hard work and dedication.
 Team focused (not selfish).
 Self-esteem and confidence in own ability as a leader.
 Ability to be themselves and work to their strengths.
 Respectful of coaches, team members, support staff, opponents and officials.
 Behave in a credible and reliable manner by role modeling effective behavior to
coaches and team members.