“those to whom much is given, much is required” – John F Kennedy Following the culmination of this year’s Superbowl, the NFL’s end of season extravaganza, one member of the losing Carolina Panthers team garnered more column inches than most. Cam Newton is a physical specimen, at 6-foot-5 tall and weighing 260 lbs he is […]
Coaching is far more than just teaching sports skills to individuals and teams. It is also about inspiring, giving confidence and motivating others by building quality relationships. You need to poses the emotional expertise in order to build those relationships with an individual or within a sports team. In sports psychology this emotional expertise is […]
The term ‘culture’ is thrown around a lot in sport. However, what does it mean exactly and, as coaches, how do we create and maintain it? While it is, largely, accepted that developing culture is important, particularly as we progress up the sporting pyramid to elite levels, there are common mistakes made. It is essential that coaches have […]
England has during the last World Cups experienced different styles of coaching. Sven Gøran Eriksson applied his democratic coaching style on the English stars, getting critique for not being able to control the performance setting enough, when failing to make it to the final in the World Cup in 2006. Fabio Cappello took a different […]
We’ve all seen it or heard about it – stories of top football coaches shouting, throwing things all in the name of getting the best out of their players. From Sir Alex Ferguson’s legendary temper in the changing rooms, to Graham Taylors’ touchline fury broadcast in the 1994 BBC documentary ‘An Impossible Job’, you could […]
Competitive Will has been fortunate to work with some organizations in the last few months on leadership development. Through team building exercises and workshops we have diligently discussed the concept of leadership. Key aspects we have approached include trying to view leadership as a task orientated approach. In the team building sessions, our focus was […]
The age old question, are leaders born or are they made? I’m sure many have opinions but the question of leadership is not as simple as personality traits but rather our typical responses in highly pressurized situations. We usually do not discuss leadership in the realms of golf, as it is an individual sport (i.e. […]
In may 2013, Alex Fergunsons`26 years, successful leadership of Manchester United came to an end. During his career as manager, the club won the Premier League 13 times and Champions league both in 1999 and 2008. Stories about “hairdryer-treatment”, fatherly leadership and the fact that he rebuilt winning teams again and again, makes him not […]
The turnaround in fortunes of the Australian cricket team has been a remarkable story as Darren Lehmann’s men went from perennial losers to Ashes winners in the space of six months. The likes of Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin have deservedly taken the accolades for the part they played in regaining the famous Ashes urn […]
Are you bringing out the best in the people you work with? What leadership skills do you hold? Do you display positive emotions and bring out positive emotions in others? The Intentional Change Theory by Boyatzis helps us look at our leadership skills and how we influence others. It is a model of sustained, desired […]