Having had a great playing career before retiring from active football last year, Aalishah has decided to continue dedicating her life TO the sport she passionately loves, but this time around, in a coaching role. She had realized even in her playing days that coaching job is a different ball game that requires an enormous responsibility and leadership acumen to succeed. However, stepping into reality for the first time Aalishah has been facing different challenges in her new career especially lacking confidence in herself. However, being a committed athlete to her work, she has resolved to whether the storm, equip herself with the right skills and take on the world of coaching hence her quest for the best leadership model to lead her team.
To succeed, Aalishah will need to work on two things: a strong self-confidence that will always remind her that she can do it; and a effective leadership approach needed to carry her players along to achieve results in the game of football. It will be difficult for her to motivate her team if she lacks the courage in herself as the satisfaction of her "psychological needs [as a coach will] allow her to thrive, and to create an adaptive interpersonal coaching environment for athletes" (Stebbings et al, 2011: 255-272). The best way to get these done is through the application of leadership approach that has been one of the most effective in the sporting world- The application of Chelladurai’s Multidimensional Model of Leadership. This model will in no small extent, help her to correctly assume and perform the role of transformational leadership in coaching; create an effective coaching environment; and coaching behaviours and team performance.

To start with, a brief look at the concept of Chelladurai’s Multidimensional Model of Leadership gives a justifiable reason why many sporting organizations have widely accepted it. The model encompasses the three aspects of leadership which focus on the leader; the members or followers; and the goal (Multidimensional Model). As a leader with the desire to succeed in leading her team, the Chelladurai’s Multidimensional Model (MML) model prescribes that such a person must first have a clear understanding of what it termed ‘required behaviour’, which include the goals of the team, the nature of the task at hand, and cultural and social makeup of the team. With this, Coach Alishah’s first requirement towards her coaching success story is to define her aims and objectives for the new team clearly. She must design a framework that will, in clear terms, reflect the aspirations of the team. The framework must include both short-term and long-term goals of the team, with the understanding of where she wants her team to be in the next few seasons, and the milestones to cover in years or decades to come.

Having set and understand the behavioural goal, the implementation will not be feasible without having the right perspective of the nature of the task ahead of her. To do this, she will need to understand the makeup...…achieved by embracing the dualistic model. The model proposed two types of passion: “harmonious (HP) and obsessive (OP) passion that predict adaptive and less adaptive interpersonal outcomes, respectively” (Lafrenière et al, 2008: 541-560). The model is inherent on the premise that a strong inclination is built towards self-defining activity in which one likes and finds importance. The harmonious and obsessive passion can, however, “be differentiated in terms of how the passionate activity has been internalized into one’s identity” (Lafreniere et al 2008). While Alishah would like to be loved by her team, it is of utmost importance that she takes into consideration the fact that one leadership style might not be appropriate for everyone and in every situation. To this end, while democratic style might be effective in some cases and for some players, on the other hand, some will need the autocratic style to bring out the best in them. A study has “revealed a significant positive relationship of coaches’ verbal aggressiveness with anxiety, autocratic style, and a negative significant relationship concerning coaches’ verbal aggression with enjoyment, ability, effort, and democratic style” (Singer et al, 2014: 647-671). As a team sport coach, a balance must be maintained between the two leadership styles.

In conclusion, Alishah success at her new job will be determined by her level of commitment in following the fundamental rules of the multidimensional model of leadership. She must maintain a balance that will always reflect a positive atmosphere in her team.

References

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