This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, subtitled "Find Them – Hire Them – Train Them – Empower Them," argues that the best team cultures do not leave leadership to chance – they teach it. It presents fifteen indicators of natural leadership ability, from strong character and courage to a teachable spirit, emotional control, perseverance, and appreciation of all team roles, useful for developing student leaders, hiring coaches, or self-evaluation. It is from the Leadership Proactive Coaching collection.
Introduction
At the end of successful seasons we often hear coaches attribute the success to "we had great team leadership and chemistry". We also hear many coaches on unsuccessful teams mutter to themselves, "We just didn't have any team leaders". The best team cultures don't leave leadership to chance – they teach it. The same is true of Athletic Directors hiring coaches as leaders. Not everyone can be a leader. But we do believe that if people have some natural leadership ability and you can provide them with a clear path and job description, they can become strong leaders and those teams will become more successful.