Leadership

What is Leadership? Defining leadership is challenging and definitions can vary depending on the situation. A leader has influence over other people. This influence can bring about change or maintain the status quo, a leader can use influence positively and negatively. They understand those they work with, and try to inspire and get the best out of people. Leadership skills are necessary in all aspects of life.

What creates a good leader? List all the characteristics of what you perceive to be a good leader…

What creates a bad leader? List all the characteristics of what you perceive to be a bad leader…

Leadership Styles When working with groups there are a number of different styles a leader can adopt. Each has positive and negatives, and are often dependent on the personality of the leader and the group they are working with.

Leadership Styles

LAISSEZ-FAIRE The leader is laid-back and takes little responsibility for the decision making. No control over the group. The group has the freedom to make their own decisions and use initiative.

CONSENSUS All individuals contribute to the decision making process. Majority rules. Makes the group feel valued and take ownership. Allows for discussion and ideas, therefore encouraging good decisions.

SHARED LEADERSHIP The leadership is shared amongst a group of people or partnership. Responsibility is shared. The experiences and knowledge of all leaders enables effective decision making.

AUTHORITARIAN Leader takes responsibility for all of the decision making. Leader is firm. Leader avoids confusion or indecision, allowing efficiency.

COMMUNICATION

Types of Communication Visual Diagrams Feedback Eye Contact Voice Types of Communication Demonstrating Body Posture Facial Expression Written Body Language Hand Gestures

Voice When talking you must be? Easily understood, use words that are simple and meaningful Say what you really mean Be sufficient enough to enable instructions to be understood without being to tedious Positive to make a good atmosphere where everyone can benefit. Be received with correct meaning

Voice To get your message across: Gain attention before you start Speak slowly Speak clearly Use facial expressions Make eye contact Be expressive so you retain the interest, vary volume and speed Ask simple questions then listen to the answers to check understanding

Voice Remember that the receiving of the message maybe affected by: Culture, age, gender, mental or physical state Feeling towards sender Level of interest Attention span Listening skills Opportunity to actively contribute Length of time the receiver is passive Complexity of the message

Non-Verbal Communication Nonverbal communications is (NVC) is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. i.e, language is not one source of communication, there are other means also. NVC can be communicated through gestures and touch, by body language or posture, by facial expression and eye contact.

Non-Verbal Communcation Effective Non-verbal Facial Expression Eye Contact Hand Gestures Body Posture Role modelling Demonstrations (physical & Written) Good positioning Non-Effective Poor posture (slouching) Moving around to much Poor demonstrations Unenthusiastic behaviour No eye contact Timid and Shy Poor positioning i.e distractions behind them

Feedback To be effective, feedback should be: Specific– The visual, oral, or written information about an athlete’s performance should only relate to those components of a task that the athlete has been asked to attend to before performance Constructive -- If feedback is used to identify an error then it should provide reasons for the error and possible solutions. Immediate – For a brief time after a performance, an athlete retains in memory information about the performance. Therefore feedback should be immediate.

Feedback Clear – When athletes perform rapid, complex movement involving forward and side rotation, it is difficult to relate to them the nature of specific errors in performance. Therefore, to clarify feedback, it is sometimes necessary to slow the process down I,e videoing it. Positive – Most feedback should serve to improve the quality of a performance. It is recommended that when possible feedback should be positive and encouraging.

Other Methods Questioning Skills A form of communication that uses questions to help check Understanding of the students/athletes, can range from open ended questions to rhetorical questions to demonstrating questions Open Questions: Open questions are used to help develop thinking and involve the learner. You can encourage activity by re-framing the questions in a way which requires a physical answer whenever possible. This can be done by asking ‘show me…’ after the question Activity: Ask the person sitting next to you to ‘pass you their pen’ in an open question form

Barriers to Communication Personal Grievances Ability level of participants Culture, gender, differences Intellectual Level Knowledge of Activity Barriers to communication Speed of speech Facilities of teaching Tone of Voice Level of Instructions Age of participants

Managing Behaviour Remember that prevention is always better than the cure. How you establish your code of behaviour and how you communicate it to your athletes will have a direct bearing on how well they follow it

Managing Behaviour Expectation: Minimise Down Time: Standards need to be set at the beginning. Need to have consequences for misbehaviour. Establish routines, consistency set over time i.e whistle means they drop everything and come in Minimise Down Time: Keep them active (minimise instructions) Use variety Keep students engaged.

Managing Behaviour Time Management: Activity Levels Utilise the time you have correctly Minimise down time between activities Use time limits to help manage group i.e 5 seconds to sit down Activity Levels Cater your lesson on the level of its participants, not to hard, not to easy Ensure lesson involves fun elements i.e fun little competitions to learn skills

Managing Behaviour Roving: Consistency: Continually moving around the group. Ensure to give everybody equal attention. Give feedback as you go around (shows you are watching) Consistency: Treat all people the same. Ensure equal opportunities for everyone Be consistent with your discipline