5 Strategies Every Student-Athlete Needs to be a Leader

As adults, with a lifetime behind us, we have a tendency to believe that things come naturally to us. We don’t recognize the processes that we have gone through to learn, grow, and develop the skills that we now practice without a second thought.
 
Being a leader isn’t always natural. Especially as a young person where practicing some leadership skills can result in backlash from their peers. They can be seen as a try-hard, sweat or whatever word kids use now to describe a brown-noser.
 
While some of that stigma still exists, there is also an increased awareness in this generation. Especially with student-athletes where social-media isn’t just to watch highlights but also has a network of influencers sharing positive coaching and leadership examples.
 
Here are 5 proven strategies that can be applied to sports, work or life in general to help you become the leader your team needs.
 
Consistently engage your team members away from practice / game
Create a group chat. Send out texts prior to the game as a reminder about potential or key focus areas identified by the coach. Do the same for practices - not every practice, but when there is a big game coming up, or when there are new plays being introduced. 
 
Post game, highlight things that went well and those areas that as a team you can continue to improve. Focus on the positive future state - the potential of the team.
 
Be an additional voice and a different voice for the coaching staff. Notice that I didn’t say a different message, but a different voice - a different way of delivering the same message. 
 
Build personal connections with your team members
Take the time to high 5 or fist pound all of your teammates before practice begins. Provide encouragement to lock-in and to make it a good practice.
 
Identify people that need some extra encouragement and take the time to have a personal conversation. It needs to be sincere and intentional; you can’t go through the motions as if you are working through a checklist. 
 
Understand what the individuals not only like, but what they fear. Help them understand their strengths and how they can play to them, as well as what they can do to avoid the challenges that they fear. Ask questions to show that they are part of the team.
 
Do the same thing at the end of practice. 
 
Steve Nash, a two-time NBA MVP, averaged 239 touches per game during the 2009-10 NBA season. He knew that connections mattered to the unity of the team and that a team’s unity gave them a better chance of being successful.
 
Be the voice of encouragement
Show you have confidence in your teammate by words and actions. Be a positive voice and not a critical voice. Focus on what they can achieve going forward instead of dwelling on the past. Don’t focus on mistakes, but on potential. 
 
We use encouragement as a form of motivation, but not just to create action. We want to use encouragement to change the mindset of the teammate so that their belief system changes and is driven to achieve. We want to help inspire our team. 
 
Stephen M.R. Covey in his book, Trust & Inspire, discusses how inspiration is an internal, intrinsic drive rooted in belief and purpose, while motivation is an external force, like rewards or punishments, used to prompt action.
 
Challenge them to reach their potential
This goes hand-in-hand with encouragement and ties back to the 2nd Pillar of Impact, the Courage to Challenge. It’s how you challenge as well as creating an environment where it is okay to challenge.

We are not talking old-school confrontation where you rip their butt’s thinking that will light a fire under them. But to respectfully challenge them to Be Better Today than they were yesterday.

As a leader, you use the previous 3 strategies to help establish trust to prepare for a discussion where you may have to challenge them. To help build that trust, you need to show vulnerability by sharing your own challenges. By asking for feedback on where you can improve. Reveal areas that the coaches have provided instruction to you.
 
When you challenge, you need to point out their potential future state and help them envision what they can become. You encourage them to get there by reinforcing your confidence in them, but the challenge comes from helping them see the pathway that they have to travel to get to that future state and that pathway, isn’t always easy.
 
Be inclusive
It’s much easier to spend time with the people you enjoy. Your friends, your classmates, the starters. 
 
As a leader you are the leader for the team, not just the starters. You are a leader for the larger program and not just the players.
 
The freshmen must feel as connected to the team as the seniors. The managers, trainers, video personnel all deserve the same respect as the All-Conference performer. 
 
As a leader, that is your challenge, to be a rising tide to lift all boats. To engage and connect all members of the team so that they see themselves from the larger team perspective.
 
A successful leader Engages.
A successful leader Connects.
A successful leader Encourages.
A successful leader Challenges.
A successful leader Includes.
 
A successful leader is one who is willing to do these things to impact the future success of the team as a whole and as individuals, to establish a culture of success, Beyond Today.

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If you are interested in growing the leadership abilities of your captains, reach out to discuss bringing an IMPACT Leader workshop to your University, High School or Club sports program.