Leadership in team sports

In life, there are two basic forms of competition: competition as part of a group and competition between groups. While competition as part of a group - who's up, who's down, who's in, who's out - gets a lot of attention, competition between groups is far more consequential. Strictly speaking, failure in intergroup competition almost always meant certain death and elimination from the gene pool for our ancestors in ancient times. In group competition, the most important factor for success is the coordination of individual efforts. Almost every significant human achievement came about through a coordinated group effort. The person or persons primarily responsible for coordinating group effort are its leaders. Therefore, leadership is critical to organizational effectiveness and determines whether a group succeeds or fails. This is as true for nations as it is for companies, and yes, even for team sports.

Talent alone is not enough

Team sports such as soccer, American football, basketball, volleyball, and rugby union are an excellent testing ground for leadership and organizational effectiveness. Success in these competitions requires a tremendous amount of group coordination. When an individual fails to do his or her job, it often results in the loss of possession, points, or even the entire game. As sports have proven time and time again, pure talent alone is not enough to produce a well-coordinated group effort. Sports are also an excellent way to test leadership skills and organizational efficiency because the results are objective: A team just wins or loses. It is often difficult to tell (until it is quite obvious) whether a business or government is succeeding or failing. But in sports, every game has an objective result. And finally, the third factor that makes sports an excellent testing ground for leadership and organizational effectiveness is the fact that players, managers and coaches change teams frequently. This means that team dynamics change frequently, and leadership is instrumental in attracting and developing the right talent, convincing individuals to put their own glory aside for the sake of the group, setting the strategy (or game plan) for success, and ensuring that coordination remains at a high level over long periods of time.

If you bet on the wrong coach ...

How a person leads in sports, just as in business or government, is largely dependent on that person's personality. We all differ in how we typically think, act and feel, and these individual differences affect how players and assistant coaches react. A few years ago, we were commissioned to help a large sports club select a new head coach. We used a series of scientifically validated personality assessments to understand how each potential coach would fit into the team. We assessed potential candidates' ability to handle pressure, work with the media, motivate their team, recover from defeats, treat players with respect, and build positive relationships with key staff. All of these factors are critical to success as a head coach. Based on our evaluations, one coach clearly stood out from the others because he was well prepared to take on the responsibility of leading the team. Unfortunately, the ownership group of this team chose a different candidate. According to our assessments, the coach they selected seemed to be guided by emotions and had difficulty handling criticism. During the game, the team showed a lack of discipline and conceded many penalties. The head coach clashed with the media several times, and halfway through the season many speculated that he had lost control of the team. At the end of a season that brought more defeats than victories, the coach was fired. The next season, the team hired the coach we had originally recommended. For the first time in more than a decade, the team played for the league title, and the head coach was named Coach of the Year by the league.

Basic principles are similar

Sport is a microcosm for exploring personality, leadership, and organizational effectiveness. The goals are clear and the results are not influenced by politics or bias. Teams and their managers change frequently, so it's a great place to observe how leadership and team coordination affect outcomes. Although managing a sports team is not quite the same as managing a business, many of the basic principles of leadership are the same: the most effective leaders are able to build and maintain high-performing, well-coordinated teams.

Author

Ryne A. Sherman is a renowned personality psychologist and leadership expert. As Chief Science Officer at Hogan, he works with top organizations to select the best leaders and CEOs through the use of personality data. Ryne A. Sherman's work includes extensive research on common challenges facing teams in organizations today, and developing and testing approaches to overcome them.
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