LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP

Volume #26 - February 2002

We've just finished the 2002 Winter Olympics so it seems like a good time to use a sports metaphor for making points about the relationship between leadership and achieving goals.

During the month of February we watched numerous athletes seek medals and championships. In addition to the Olympics, at the beginning of the month, The New England Patriots football team won the Super Bowl championship in the USA, reinvigorating Boston sports fans who haven't had a winning team to cheer in years.

Since the Patriots are the local team, I watched the playoffs with fascination, even though I don't usually watch football. The history of the team in terms of its coaches provides lessons in effective leadership. In the '90s, the team was led by Bill Parcells, a leader with more than a touch of arrogance and a large ego. Parcells had a tough, acerbic tongue and an "in-your-face" leadership style. He motivated his teams in part by creating a sense of fear and adversity. Yet, team members always knew where they stood - he gave them immediate, no-holds-barred feedback, clear rules, and stiff consequences as well as positive reinforcement. He related to his players as individuals, and those who could deal with his tough style remained loyal to him. Earlier in his career, he had led two teams to Super Bowl victory. In 1997, however, he brought the Patriots to the Super Bowl, but couldn't bring the team together enough to win the ultimate title of champion. Five days after the team's defeat, he left for New York.

Pete Carroll, whose leadership style contrasted sharply with Parcells' took over his job. Carroll tried nurturing the development of individual players, giving them a freedom they hadn't experienced under Parcells. But Carroll's coddling and undemanding style didn't work. The team starting sliding backwards and team members started loosing respect for the team and its leader. The behaviors of some team members got way out of control. Within a couple of seasons, the team simply wasn't performing well and ended up with a dismal record.

Carroll was fired and replaced with Bill Belichick, known for his brains and lack of pomposity. Like Carroll, Belichick coached without arrogance. But he wouldn't cater to egotistical individuals and held members accountable, suspending players whose outrageous behaviors demonstrated they cared more about themselves than the quality of teamwork and performance. He promoted a sense of team ego and team identity, demonstrating that fairness would rule. He based his decisions, some of which were extremely tough, on what was for the team, and team members responded with respect. Belichick instilled the belief that the team as a whole was more important and more powerful than any of the individual players. Like Parcells he stayed in constant touch with team members inspiring loyalty. But while he stressed physical and mental toughness in the team, he didn't do it from a fear-based position. Performance began to turn around.

At the Super Bowl, the team demonstrated its unity, coming out onto the field without the usual fanfare for leading players. And during the entire game the team worked as a unit down to the last minute and won the game in the final seconds of play.

Here are some of the leadership lessons that have been reinforced for me observing the team's record and the leadership provided by its coaches:

• If you want to be an effective leader, you can't be a pal.
• Nurture development, but don't cater to the whims of those reporting to you.
• You can motivate some people with fear, but you'll motivate more people by believing in them and recognizing what it is they need to perform well.
• Assertively demonstrate your authority by holding people accountable.
• Make decisive decisions.
• Demonstrate fairness and treat people with respect.
• Give support by providing space for the individual development of each person, while communicating through words and actions that your ultimate goal is a team that performs with excellence and brings in results.

COACHING QUESTIONS

1. What kind of leadership style do you demonstrate?
2. How much respect do team members have for you?
3. What gets in your way when you are trying to make tough decisions?
4. What do your individual team members need from you?
5. What do you need to do to be more effective in bringing your team together?

Copy © 2001 Virginia O'Brien All s Reserved

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