Team Leader Introduction Good Definition

Team Leader

Introduction good definition for a team leader might be "The person who understands the ultimate project objectives, each step of the way, and who guides the rest of the team down this path through clear vision setting and effective communication." (Finney, Russ (1999).A Team leader is an individual who enlightens a group of people with his/her proficient training, assistance, direction and leadership which helps the team in achieving a sole task or a result. The team leader examines the result as a whole which is to be achieved so that he can sort out the tactics to get the desired result. Leadership progress ideas today normally offer performance maintenance and usage of skills effectively through methods such as training programs, coaching and mentoring, action learning, and developmental assignments.

Coaching involves realistic, goal-focused forms of one-on-one learning and, ideally, behavioral change (Hall, et al., 1999). The most useful coaching allows group effort to review and understand the developmental task to challenge existing limitations while discovering new opportunities and to guarantee accountability and support for reaching goals.

An important factor for a team leader is to work with his team members for a united goal. A quality of a good leader is that he pays attention to what his team members have to say. A good leader sorts out all the problems that need to be dealt with and then helps in identifying responsible members within a team who would deal with the task. A good team coach always gives individual attention to all the members of the team and will help them get over their difficulties in order to achieve the desired results. (Wikipedia)

Team Leader

The desire of winning at all costs, coming under pressure from many parents and other outsiders or even an effort to impersonate the supposedly successful methods of other coaches can effect the over all performance of a coach. Although a lot of pressures like these can result in upbeat coaching delivery, these pressures have to be viewed in the frame of a coach's true experiences, values, judgments and principles. It is very important to note that the coach has a strong control and influence on the team he/she coaches. A coach has to maintain the performance the team and to make the most out of his team members' skills so that they can achieve the desired result they require. An underperforming team leader in a school should firstly know what his/her coaching philosophy is. He should firstly develop trust and faith in his team members. The coach should tell the team members about why he/she coaches and what is he exactly trying to achieve, and thus hopefully this would help in developing trust and hopefully would result in improved athletic performances. The coach will probably carry out his past experience, knowledge, values, opinions and beliefs and will implement them on the team. A coach should know what his core values are all about and these core values are included in his philosophy of coaching. And in order to implement a philosophy one should know what he means and what his philosophy is all about. But mostly coaches these days don't know what his/her philosophy is all about and thus this leads to inconsistent and ineffective coaching. A coaching philosophy that is properly thought and made, clarifies how one coach will deliver and thus would result in a positive message to the individuals that are being coached. One of the greatest benefits which arise from genuine and steady approach towards coaching is the trust which is necessary between a coach and his team individual. A strong bond between a team individual and a coach leads to a high level of commitment and great performance by the individual. And thus an intelligent coach will always give time to formulate his/her philosophy and then implement it on the players to get the most out of them. A personal coaching philosophy includes a coach's experiences, beliefs, opinions and values. To implement them a coach has to keep in mind the obstructions he may face (i.e. The outside influences, facility limitations, rules and regulations etc.) to achieve his goal (i.e. his players performance, satisfaction, win etc.). And hence in formulating a philosophy the coach has to take in three main factors in order to improve his coaching skills, improvement of coach/player satisfaction and improvised player performance. The three factors include knowing yourself (strengths and weaknesses and areas which require improvement), knowing what problems lay ahead and how to encounter them and understanding the players, their character, skills, aims and why they are in the team. A successful coach has a good understanding of what his personality is all about (i.e. The qualities and weaknesses). This would help the coach in improving the areas in which he personally is lacking. A coach, who categorizes his weaknesses and strengths, can use his strengths effectively on the players. Recognizing his morals, values and beliefs would help him to use his skills on the players and help them in adapting his style which would lead them to success.

A coach should know what he is getting into and what his objective is. He should analyze his players and should have a good understanding of his player's age, gender and training level. He should formulate a whole schedule with the players so that they know how much time they have in order to get trained. He should tell his players about his scheme and what he wants to achieve through them on a long-term and short-term basis. He should analyze all the resources he has like what funds, facilities and services are available and should use them effectively. A latest study made to find out why team members took part in sport signified that the players' most important motives were to have 'enjoyment' and become skilled. "Victory" observed by many players, is possibly another important reason of taking part in sports. Keeping a challenge of perceiving the "Victory" in his mind, one should have a strong grip on his players and make a move towards the new ones. The coach/players relations mainly depend on the communications between them. It is significant to ask every player individually about what his aims are and what is his point-of-view about different matters, what does he believe in and what is his motive of participation. If the coach has no knowledge about these things, then the coach is not able to guide the athletes instead he might misguide them. The plan just will not work correctly. A coach being a marvelous example for the players, posses an incredible control on them if the players and the coach are on the same page. A successful coach spends time in understanding every player of his team individually, in the same approach as he examines his own beliefs values and habits. Once the coach recognizes and understands each of his team members, their potency, weak points, skills and talents, then he is able to coach them and guide them properly. (C.D.Mccauley)

The distinctiveness of a fabulous coach is observed by the way he manages his players. If the coach has made a strong understanding between the players and built up an environment in which they can work with each other, he has successfully bound them in a "team." The motto of "TEAM" is "Together Each Achieves More." A Team shows the unity among its players. A bigger victory is achieved by using a TEAM philosophy along with personal coaching tricks. After getting complete knowledge about the motives of the players, a coach knows how well and where each player stands in the team. Some players may have such attitudes or behavior that might weaken the team and the coach can exercise solutions to alter the player's behavior for the betterment of the Team. Getting knowledge about the players, help the coach to choose the leaders and role models, to who rest of the players respond positively. To make the players strong and perfect in the game, the coach develops a sense of competition among them. It helps the players to work hard for their better reputation in the team. This plan makes each player of the team a strong and competent part and it makes coaching much easier and confidently more rewarding.

Coaching philosophy has a chief statement that how the coach analyses the outcome of his efforts. It is important to center on players' progress and development and how they carry out in the competition rather than the rank or result they attain. There is only one winner of the game, but all other players in the game aren't considered as losers. Though as far as the newspapers are concerned, they portray all other players as losers. Newspapers show the result of that particular day, and it discourages the hopes of players. If the team loses, a coach who loves his players doesn't react with anger or any negative behavior. "There is no room for 2nd place" - Vince Lombardi.

Although Lombardi quotes are frequently misrepresented, the point conveyed is very obvious, it is the outcome that matters and nothing else. So to build self-confidence and see considerable progress and to learn optimistically from mistakes made is the successful principle of coaching. Coaches focus on the procedure and not the result. As well it is important for the players to do the same.

All coaches function under a coaching philosophy of some sort. It may be by character or it may be properly documented and well thought out. The benefits of a well thought out coaching philosophy areas follows:

1. He discovers about himself. How he responds and what powers he has, why he is coaching and how perfectly he manages his players and their training.

2. He gains an understanding of his coaching position, the hindrance he has to face and how he deals with limitations, suitable and safe teaching methods, and the objectives he is trying to achieve.

3. He gets to know his players on a more clear and friendly way and as a result he modifies his training to meet their needs, strengths and limitations.

With these benefits it is achievable to build up a team approach that achieves higher performances. Connecting the features of the three segments of a coaching philosophy will create a coaching roadmap for the coach that is practical, agreeable to both coach and his players, and pleasing in the form of better performance. The coach always sets a goal to achieve. To accomplish his mission he tries new ideas and philosophies of coaching. These new ideas and tricks allow him to fulfill the requirements of his mission easily. A coach makes necessary changes in his personal philosophy of coaching to gradually develop, maintain the players' performance and not to bind his players for particular principles.

It is important to formally write out the coaching philosophy and provide it to the players and other interested parties. Reviewing the coaching philosophy is another important step to keep the team moving on the road to success. New coaching techniques and learning processes are exercised to develop interest in the players.

Although a coach could always face difficulties in the form of policies laws and rules. He should always know what he is doing and what restrictions does he have (e.g. parental interference school pressures outside activities etc.). And thus if a coach knows his restrictions and boundaries he can plan according to the rules and minimize the obstructions that can come in his way. A coach should always be a keen learner and should always learn new tactics to improve his skills. As a coach would face challenges on a day-to-day basis he would be able to learn more from it. He should be effective in a wide variety of leadership roles and situations.