How To Get Someone To Lead The Team

I coach high school baseball. Many of this year’s seniors have played together for 7-8 years and are more like brothers. That being the case, many are reluctant to attempt a leadership role and most won’t allow any of the others to take on that role because they don’t want to feel subservient. When challenged, they become defensive and sarcastic. It is increasingly difficult to motivate them to play up to their individual and team abilities. Do you have any suggestions?

The Team Doc Says…

I think a lesson (or two!) in leadership is in order. First of all, leadership is not a title. It’s a set of behaviors that are demonstrated on a daily basis.

Leadership means the person has the ability to create a vision of the future and inspire others to develop and follow the path that results in the achievement of that vision. Leadership is not at all having a subservient team of people who can be ordered around. Quite the contrary.

What might help you out is to find some baseball heroes who were great leaders on their team and use them as examples. As a team, identify what leadership behaviors made that hero successful. Then have your team go through an exercise to identify key behaviors in each team member. Talk about how those behaviors translate into leadership skills and compare to the great leaders in baseball.

You won’t be able to do this overnight, but spend a small amount of time each day and you’ll help them discover what leadership is all about.