Unit 13: Effective Sports Leadership

Bibiography

https://hbr.org/2013/10/fergusons-formula

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/15848176

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/10011406/Manchester-United-players-given-motivation-to-regain-Premier-League-by-Sir-Alex-Fergusons-pep-talk-on-the-A19.html

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/10089627/steven-gerrard-is-a-younger-version-of-alex-ferguson-says-liverpool-boss-jurgen-klopp

Qualities

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/javier-hernandez-sir-alex-fergusons-3312890

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/15848176

http://www.topendsports.com/sport/soccer/list-player-of-the-year-fifa.htm

This is what a leader must have in order to be a leader. Every leaders has these qualities, it is the characteristics that change a leader to make each one different. Even if you have all the qualities you still can be a bad leader. It depends how you use them.

Unit 13: Effective Sports Leadership

Roles

Ben Teague

Examples of Qualities

Authority

Confident

Confident is having no uncertainty over what you are doing.

Authority is the power or right to give orders and make decisions. It is important that a leader has this because there players will not do what you tell them then and it will be hard for the team to stick together and maintain control.

It is important that the group listen to the leader so that each individual knows what they are doing. This means that they will become organized and will play as a team better. The way that individuals know what they are doing is by the leader using his authority to tell them what to do.

It is important to be a confident leader so that everything you do is certain and there is no hesitation. If there is hesitation then your peers will not show confidence in you. This is bad for a leader because they will doubt you and leaders will tell you to do something and they wont do it properly. Then questions ll be asked whether you are right to be a leader.

How Sir Alex Ferguson uses this

A quote that Sir Alex Ferguson said was "And if any players want to take me on, to challenge my authority and control, I deal with them".

This is showing that he is keeping control all the time. He makes sure that he is always listened to to make sure that what he wants is done is done correctly. And I anyone does not like it then they can approach him. It is the way that he is approached will depend on what happens. If he is approached badly, like Roy Keane than he will not take it and he will potentially get rid of the player from the team.

This is showing authority because he is the leader and they will then do what he says. However, he needs to make sure that the players still have respect for him. In this case they players did because of how he treated his players, which was good and the success that he gave them.

How Sir Alex Ferguson uses this

When Alex Ferguson was questioned about weather his team would qualify for the Champions League knockout stages he said "It will be a hard game in Basel. But when the chips are down I have every confidence in the team". This is on live television. this is showing confidence not only from himself but for his team. It is saying that his team are going to perform on the day because of the leadership and coaching of Alex Ferguson on the run up to the game. He is confident that he is going to train his players to win the game.

This shows that he is confident about his abilities but it also shows that he is confident at training his team. If he was not confident about winning the match then he would not be a confident at his training sessions, which means he would not come across as a confident leader because he doesn't feel that he can lead the team to victory.

Being confident in the training sessions means the players will listen meaning they will learn on what he is saying so when it comes to the game they will find it easier, thus win the game.

Summary

Knowledge

A leader must have good knowledge of what sport he is doing. this is important because he is the person in the team that they will go to for questions to help them out with there game.

They also create tactics for the team to do so that they can overcome opponents.

If you are not knowledgeable enough in the sport then you cannot do this which means that you will not be helpful and you need to be so that you can improve players.

This is something that a leader must carry out, and has responsibility for.

How Sir Alex Ferguson uses this

Sir Alex Ferguson is a very knowledgeable in the sport of football and training football. An example of this is because he has trained a number of young players from youth standard to be some of the best footballs in the world. These players are; Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville.

All these players have said he is a fantastic manager and he has the knowledge to make young inexperienced footballers into the best in the world.

He has also brought in young players, for example Cristiano Ronaldo where he has trained them and he has become the best footballer in the world. Recently winning 3 world player of the years. This shows that his knowledge in the sport and then giving it out to players, by giving them the knowledge of the sport, but also training them to use that knowledge as skill on a football pitch.

In summary, all of what Sir Alex Ferguson does makes him a great manager and one of the best that has ever coached football.

Even though all this makes Alex a good manager, you can still be a good manager without it but use different ways to coach. Every leader is different so make sure you stay individual so that you are different and you can still be one of the best.

A Leader

Examples of Roles

If I was to give some areas that I would use of Sir Alex because of how good he was at it, it would be role model, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and authority. This is so that you bring your knowledge and enthusiasm to the group of people you are leading, being a role model so that they listen and respect you but authority as well so that they know that you are the leader but give them respect back.

Some examples in roles that a leader must do in order to be a successful leader are;

Motivated

Organiser

The definition of a leader is the action of leading a group of people or organization, or the ability to do this.

Characteristics

A good leader needs to be organized. This is so that he is on top of everything meaning he can focus on the task in hand and making sure that his players or team mates are focused and they have no worries.

You have got to be motivated as you are someone that every player in your team look up to. If you do not seem motivated then it will mean the other players in the team will also follow meaning the overall performance of the team will be down.

If the player/coach is motivating then you will play better because it rises your confidence and performance levels mean you will play better.

An example of this would be if a player in a football match missed a shot. The leader would help him forget about it, make him feel better about himself then his performance will stay the same and he would not think about the shot he missed.

For example before a game of football, they need to make sure that they are warmed up properly, so the leader needs to make sure that they are all ready and prepared making sure that they are concentrating so that they don't do the warm up incorrectly and then potentially run a higher risk of injury.

How Sir Alex Ferguson uses this

Alex Ferguson was analyzed at the end of his career and one of the areas that came up was that he was very organized. and one writer said that "his organizational skills were feared for 26 years"

This shows us that as a leader he was able to organize his players well. He organized them making them focused and preparing them well for games meaning they knew what they are doing against the opposition. This makes them the more dominant team because they know what the opposition are doing and how to beat them, meaning they were a more successful team.

How Sir Alex Ferguson uses this

Danny Welbeck, a player that played under Sir Alex Ferguson, was on the way back from a game that they lost which meant they could not win the title. Sir Alex Ferguson went around all the younger players of the team and he told them

‘Never forget this, because this will win you titles’,” Danny Welbeck recalled. He then said "This will make some of you into men and be the best you can be". Welbeck then said "When the manager says things like that to you, you really want to take note of it".

This has showed that the manager has motivated his players to learn from what has happened and take it well. The motivation to do this is saying that they will become men, this will make them train harder and be more professional as they will be excepted as men. As they work harder it means they will become better players and they will become a better team.

Role Model

It is important for the leader to be a role model. This is so that the players around you and that you are playing with look up to you and they see you as "higher then them". This is so that these players can confidently go to the leader and be given useful information and help from them to help them in any way that they need to. A role model is meant to be looked at as someone who they want to be. so he is meant to be one of the best at the sport, good knowledge and overall is meant to be someone that other team mates can go to.

How Sir Alex Ferguson uses this

The Liverpool Manager quoted about Sir Alex Ferguson. "But I've had the huge honor of meeting him a few times and of course he is a role model for every manager in football.

This shows that even other leaders look up to him, and want to learn from him. This is because of the success he has had in the years of being a leader, and the ability to keep his players happy and having the motivation to win games. A role modal is meant to be looked up to and people want to be like him. Sir Alex Ferguson definitely does this because other managers used to ring him up and ask for advice and, up coming managers look at his success he has had as a manger and they want to learn from him. An example of this would be Ryan Giggs. he has played under Alex Ferguson for his whole career, he has learnt his techniques of being a manager, he will soon advance and take on a managerial role and he will use the techniques Alex used so that he can try and become a successful manager like he was.

Characteristics is when you are distinguishing what a leader has. This is where it varies between each leader. Every leader needs to have certain qualities but that doesn't say how much of it the have, or other stuff on top of what you need. Here are some examples of some characteristics:

A leader is a figure that is (higher than others). They are there to give advice and help the team in anyway that they can. players go to the leader for advice and the leaders are there to help.

Examples of Characteristics

Approachable

Enthusiastic

Being approachable is very important for a leader as they are the people that every man in the team is able to go to and talk to about problems that they have or questions. However, in each leader this will vary dependent on what personality you have.

Being enthusiastic is important because a leader is what the other players look up to and at. If the leader is enthusiastic then they players are more likely to be because they are good at motivating players so when the leader is enthusiastic they will do speeches and act motivated and enthusiastic resulting in the team being happier and thus they will play better.

In this I will identify the; roles, characteristics and qualities to show what a leader has. And then compare it with a perfect example.

An example of this would be, a player has a query about is position in the football team being taken. He should be able to go to the leader and talk to them to see what the problem is and if together they can sort it out so that the player can keep his place in the first team. If the player did not feel comfortable on going up to the leader and asking them the question then he wouldn't be approachable. This is not as good because it means players are as comfortable around the leader when he should be the player that you go to for information.

How Sir Alex Ferguson uses this

This is a quote that a player that played under the leadership of Alex Ferguson "to be part of one of Sir Alex's teams was a huge factor"

This is showing us that this is what the players want to feel when playing under a leader. They want to look up to him and see enthusiasm because that is what will motivate them to play better.

How Sir Alex Ferguson uses this

Javier Hernandez says "Manchester United's success is all down to Sir Alex Ferguson's enthusiasm for the job." "Every game looks like it is his first. He is so excited. So enthusiastic. He wants to win so much."That is the key. He will never get bored of winning and he enjoys what he does."

This us a leader that constantly shows enthusiasm to make sure that his team win every game they can and it shows that it will be put in every game because as the quote said, he will not get bored of winning meaning he will not lose his enthusiasm to win and will keep motivating his players to make them become as enthusiastic as he is to win.

An article written about Sir Alex Ferguson said "He was approachable. He helped people. There are numerous examples of where he has returned the calls of other football managers who are in need of help".Hernandez says Ferguson also makes time to ensure his players are looked after

This shows that not only his own team felt they could talk to him but other managers that are his rivals felt like they could talk to him confidently. Asking for advice, wanting to learn from this manager. It also shows that he is respectful towards is players because he is checking on them so they don't necessarily need to come up to him. He goes to them so that maybe they feel even more comfortable.

This is telling us that it is important to be approachable when being a leader because it is helpful to others. This mans that you will be a bigger role model, this then will boost your levels of confidence and pride in yourself because people are wanting to be like you and are respecting you.

Empowerment

Empowerment is the power that they have towards others.

It is important that a leader has empowerment because they are the leaders and they are there to lead others. You need to be able to control use this power to do what you want people to do. However you cannot use this to you advantage to much because it can be wrong and use it for wrong reasons.

How Sir Alex Ferguson uses this

He gives the team players of his team jobs and roles they need to do within the game.

For example, he will choose who the captain of the team is, he chooses who he plays in the team. He also gives his managerial team jobs to do. For example, he will get one of his coaches to warm the team up and the rest will be looking at tactics for the game.

It shows skill in doing this because if the player that he chooses is bad at the role then it may result in the team not doing as well. If he chooses someone that is good then when on the pitch and playing football it will mean that they would play better.

The Leader

A good example for a leader would be ex Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

He is a good leader because he can do all the roles that there are to be a good leader. He has all the qualities that are needed to be a manager and characteristics differ from each leader however, Alex Ferguson's are used to make him a better leader which is beneficial for his team and himself as a leader. In this i will show you how he is such a good leader.

A Journalist in one of his pieces of work wrote; "Ferguson speaks passionately about wanting to instill values in his players. More than giving them technical skills, he wanted to inspire them to strive to do better and to never give up—in other words, to make them winners."