This past week NFL Films released “Troy Aikman: A Football Life”. Obviously, I’ve watched it a number of times now, and keep finding these gems of greatness.
One of the themes that jumped out at me was Troy’s issues with Barry Switzer’s coaching style. Switzer was older, relaxed, and felt like as the coach of a two-time Superbowl winning team, he didn’t need to be as hard-nosed as Jimmy Johnson, the previous coach, had been. Jimmy was relentless..he was focused, and he was determined. The result, as we know, was the early 90’s dynasty of the Dallas Cowboys. When Switzer took over, and that become more relaxed? Well, Troy attributes that downfall to the “fun” leadership.
Why is that relevant on my “Love, Learn, Lead” blog?
There was a tweet I saw this past week that again referenced that if your leadership isn’t fun, then you’re doing it wrong.
Leadership isn’t always fun, folks. There are parts of our job, just like a teachers, that are hard. That are stressful. That are complicated. That are DIFFICULT. In fact, our assistant superintendent said this year that sometimes HARD LEADERSHIP is the most courageous kind of all.
The leader is the one who pushes, and makes your team want to strive to be the best. There is a pressure there and a responsibility. There is an ownership, of all levels of our teams performance, that ultimately comes down to what? Leadership.
The more I do this job, the more I understand this. There has to be a balance.
The main responsibility of a team leader is to guide a team so that it reaches its full potential. The team leader has more responsibility than anyone, because if he does not carry out his responsibilities, the whole team will suffer as a result. A successful team leader should understand the strengths and weaknesses of every team member so there can be a level of support and coaching. I love how in my world sports and leadership are just intertwined, don’t you?
I’m by all means not saying leadership is miserable.
Aikman-esque,
Amber
Last but not least, prioritize a to-do list. I keep a stack of the longer lined post it pads on my desk at all times. As I’m asked to do something or have a project in place, I add it to a list I have going. Task completed? Cross it off. Decide there are multiple steps/tasks to a project? Create a new page. One of my mental stressors is that nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I have something that needs to be completed. Writing it down, identifying what needs to be done to get it completed, and keeping track of my progress takes the stress level way down. When my list gets ragged, I transfer it over to a fresh new page and seriously, it takes away my feelings of things being unmanageable.
