Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Learning How to be a Leader

I have enjoyed all of the classes about leadership that I have taken to date. Since I am a coach I have the perfect opportunity to continuously practice what I am learning about leadership. Through this journal and the journals I wrote in other classes I have been able to reflect on my actions as a leader and develop my skills. I am finding that as I self reflect more regularly I am able to control my actions so that they benefit me in whatever situation I face. I now see how my actions effect those that I work with. Just the other day in a game our head JV coach made a change in the line up putting a different catcher in the field. I was not happy about the situation because he put our worst catcher in. It was a close game and our pitcher started to do poorly because of the change. It’s a little tough to explain but in the game of softball or baseball, changing a catcher on a pitcher in the middle of a game can completely throw off the rhythm and that is exactly what happened. Soon after the catching change our pitcher was getting hit by every opposing player. We then had to make a pitching change. After the pitching change I went to our head coach and I told him that I thought it was a dumb move and I wanted to change it back because I was afraid the new catcher was going to cost us the game. The head JV coach was irritated with what I was saying to him and told me that he hasn’t heard anything so negative come out of my mouth all season long and that I needed to stop. In previous seasons I might have sat there and argued with him instead of keeping quiet. Instead I decided to take his words to heart and I thought about the situation. I made the decision to talk with our catcher and feed her with positive and encouraging words. To my surprise the catcher was able to maintain for the rest of the game assisting the new pitcher and we ended up winning the game.

Thinking back on the situation I’m glad that I was able to step back and reflect on what was happening at the time. I could have very easily worn my emotions on my sleeve and let the whole team know how pissed off I was about what was happening. I think that my choice to stay positive is a direct effect of the leadership classes I have been taking. I hope to continue to learn about leadership through books, coaching clinics and self reflection or keeping a journal on my experiences. Knowing more about leadership can help me be successful in my future career or other endeavors because it will give me the tools to help others when working in teams whether it is in the office or on the softball field. Knowing how to interact with others and finding ways to bring the best out of them will hopefully make me stand out amongst many others. I think that if I can find a way to stand out in a positive manner it will help me climb to the top. Unfortunately I think there are many managers or coaches that do not fully understand leadership. I think a true leader brings out the best in others so that the team or organization can be at its best. There are many “leaders” out there that are only in the game for their own self advancement and do not really care about the team. I think the most successful leaders in our world are those that truly care about the cause they work for and those they work with.

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad that you had a great learning opportunity about being a leader! It can be really tough at times. I've very glad that you talked to your pitcher and was able to give her the confidence that she needed to win the game!

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