Leadership in Coaching: Initial thoughts

Since I’m not actively coaching at the moment, I’ve been able to use the down-time to think.

NEVER EVER underestimate the value of contemplation.

So I’ve been thinking about trust, I’ve been thinking about making the right decision (here and here and here). I’ve been thinking about my coaching–what I’ve done right, what I’ve done wrong. I’ve been thinking about how to apply that to my current work, and how all of that fits in with being ‘in charge’ and the concept of leadership.

Whew. All that’s going to be on my mind for quite a while…likely going to be a big part of the blog here for quite a while.

Anyways, I read an interesting definition of leadership. It comes from a guy named Lejeune. He defined leadership:

“The sum of those qualities of intellect, human understanding, and moral character that enables a person to inspire and control a group of people successfully.”

I like that he put ‘inspire’ before ‘control’. If you inspire someone, you don’t really need to exert control–it is self-enforced because those people will not wish to disappoint. Given Lejeune was a Marine and their raison d’etre, control’s important, too. Marines HAVE to do their tasks.

So I guess the question is where do I fail as a leader, what do I do well?

My failure tends to be ‘human understanding’–I see things as problems to be solved, I look at multiple angles…when sometimes, especially coaching young women, what is needed is simply an ear rather than a ‘problem solver’. Man, changing that is hard.

I think I succeed with the others. I try and comprehend and/or master subjects that matter for my work (or coaching). I try and use my teaching skills to pass along my knowledge and ideas. I also think I do a good job with the morality/ethics…but I’ve talked about that before.

I guess maybe another odd way of thinking about Lejeune’s quote is to consider intellect, understanding, and character as tools available for a leader’s use. Sometimes rationality is required, sometimes a pat on the back, and sometimes the knowledge of right/wrong is what is necessary to head in the proper direction (and combinations thereof, obviously)

So now we’ll see where all this goes over the next few months. Maybe the post-COVID goes away and I can get back in a gym. Maybe not…but ultimately, leadership is necessary in every aspect of life, not just with a volleyball team.