When working with a recent National Governing Body (NGB), IntelliSport discovered that integrity and authenticity were significant factors that determined how the NGB’s coaches rated their overall satisfaction with the NGB. IntelliSport recommended that the NGB focus on behaviors, policies and outcomes that would directly improve the integrity and authenticity of the NGB. Integral to achieving this objective will be if the leadership can adopt the characteristics of servant leadership. This leadership paradigm focuses on how leaders can shape the norms and values of an organization and its people by focusing on moral and immoral behavior. This type of leadership takes form in six areas: Empowerment: leaders encourage their followers to be empowered, which encourages self-confidence and a feeling of personal agency. This allows for the free flow of ideas, and self-directed decision making which elevates the ability of individuals to act independently and with confidence. Stewardship: These are leaders who are willing to take responsibility for their own behavior as well as the actions of the organization. These leaders also seek to set an example for others to follow and place a premium on the value of teamwork, social responsibility and loyalty to others. Authenticity- This leadership characteristic is grounded in a willingness of leaders to follow through on promi
In the last few weeks we have witnessed coaching leadership failures across the sporting landscape that resulted in organizations firing their coaches. In the NWSL, over the span of two months, three teams (North Carolina Courage, Washington Spirit, & Racing Louisville) dismissed coaches for verbal and sexual abuse, among other undisclosed reasons. The NFL Oakland Raiders Head Coach John Gruden recently resigned following the revelation he sent emails that included misogynistic and homophobic language disparaging the NFLPA’s union leader. These coaches were fired because they failed to identify and regulate their behavior. What is problematic is that their choices not only led to their dismissals, but also significantly hindered the teams and the athletes they were responsible for, creating unnecessary barriers to achieve high performance on the field of play. The NWSL’s players association highlighted these challenges when they released the following statement on Twitter. It points out how the failures of the coaches led to players carrying a burden of abuse onto
USA Swimming is recognized as one of the United States’ leading National Governing Bodies (NGB) of sport. Responsible for promoting swimming for athletes and coaches of all backgrounds, USA Swimming’s members include athletes of every age, all the way up to the Olympic Team. IntelliSport Analytics will conduct a coaching engagement study to provide insights on the satisfaction levels of USA Swimming coaches.