Why Servant-Leadership is Important for Coaches

How would you characterize your style of leadership? Most leadership styles of athletic coaches today tend to be ones where the coach is always leading, manipulating, and motivating players in specific ways which the coach believes will lead to winning. DeSensi (2014) expressed it this way: “Concern for the needs and aspirations of athletes, followers in this case, does not seem to be at the forefront of coaching/leading responsibilities, nor is nurturing a part of the leader’s intent” (p. 62).

Soccer Coach

In recent years, an alternative leadership type has emerged. Named “servant-leadership” this leadership style involves leaders who are primarily concerned with serving others and their needs. Servant leadership has unique elements that set it apart from other forms of leadership (Burton & Peachey, 2013). In contrast to other forms of leadership (e.g., transactional or transformational leadership) that mainly focus on the success of the organization, servant leaders are worried about the well-being of and serving the needs of the followers within that organization (Barbuto & Wheeler, 2006; Greenleaf, 1977; Senjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008).

Robert Greenleaf is credited for introducing the concept of servant-leadership. Since then others have taken his definition and developed leadership training modules to enhance coaching efficacy. One particular author, Larry Spears, who teaches at Gonzaga University, developed ten characteristics of servant-leadership and uses this model today to continue to educate aspiring leaders. By focusing on the relationship between the leader and follower, servant leadership encourages leaders to consider the needs of followers. The goal is to initially serve followers rather than to focus first on leading them. (DeSensi, 2014).

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Reaching Your Number

(This essay was originally published on SHAPE America’s member Exchange [August, 2015] and is reprinted with permission.)

Last month I suggested the best way for us to achieve SHAPE America’s goal of “50 Million Strong by 2029” was for each of us to ask ourselves, “What’s my number?” Instead of letting the immensity of changing the physical activity and health habits of 50 million students overwhelm us, let’s focus on how you personally can contribute. If we all do our part, we will succeed.

Not long ago, Mark Zuckerberg, the young Facebook creator, set about wiring the world — or more specifically, getting every person on the planet connected to the Internet. A 7.325 billion-person challenge! As you can imagine, he had some immense problems to overcome. But he saw it as doable and convinced others to join the enterprise. If interested, you can learn more at internet.org. It’s an interesting project but what I found especially intriguing is the approach being taken. The problems that need to be solved have been clearly identified and strategies are being developed to resolve them. In other words, the way to solve big challenges is through taking small steps and not giving up.

This is exactly how the health and physical education profession can succeed. It’s not only about getting every school-aged student physically active and healthy, but also about earning public respect for what we contribute to public education. But we need evidence! It is not sufficient to talk about the value of health and physical education. We need to prove it. And this is why it is so important for each of us to seize the opportunity that “50 Million Strong by 2029” is offering.

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Old Dogs and New Tricks

As some of you know, in addition to writing editorials for pelinks4u, since May I’ve also written a monthly blog on SHAPE America’s Exchange. I’ve focused almost exclusively on promoting SHAPE America’s 50 Million Strong by 2029 goal. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I encourage you to take a look because this goal represents a significant change in thinking about health and physical education teaching.

50millionStrongSuperBowl

For too long we have been the school underdogs. And too often we’ve felt like whipped puppies. We’ve longed for respect and lamented over the lack of appreciation for the young lives we’ve changed in our classes. Some teachers have tried harder and produced extraordinary results. Some have withdrawn, lost interest in teaching effectively, and focused instead on satisfying their quest for success through coaching. For several decades, we’ve witnessed professional ups and downs. Positions and programs are cut here and added there.

We’ve enjoyed remarkable success in funding through PEP grants. Yet despite close to a trillion dollars of investment, what do we have to show? Where are the success stories? Not the short-term ones. The sustaining changes. Certainly, the massive infusions of equipment in our programs transformed teacher and student lives for a few years, but then what? After the dead batteries and the run down, worn out, broken, and no longer usable stuff? Long-term what have these grants achieved? It’s an honest question and I invite you to answer. pelinks4u is ready to showcase truly transformative PEP grant change.

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Use Goal Setting to Get Ready for the New School Year

Hopefully this finds you well and enjoying a well deserved vacation. It’s a relief to have a respite from the stress that hits teachers and coaches from so many directions. Instead of creating an environment that works for everyone, administrators, parents, and students are too often more focused on outcomes. Schools that use a collegial approach to education rather than a competitive one are great. Hopefully you are in one. Having said that, it brings to mind an idea that can start you on your next school year differently. Let me explain.

During my teaching career, I came to realize that with students at all different skill levels and having vastly different experiences in what we teach, it was simply not enough to grade them on participation, whether they were dressed for class or not, if they were great athletes, or if they got a good grade on a quiz or two. I wanted to teach. I wanted my students to want to learn. And, I knew if they learned and became productive citizens in class, they would LOVE being there. And, yes, I wanted that too.

Achieving this vision while I taught in junior high was easy. I still have fond memories of how each unit ended with everyone, me included, on such a high that we almost hated to move on to something new. Why? Because the energy, the level of teamwork, and the outpouring of enthusiasm had blossomed over the course of the unit. The resulting crescendo was so great that starting from square one on something new was a bit of a let down. Truthfully, even the non-athletes were involved and excited by the end of the unit. They had learned to become solid citizens on their teams making whatever contributions they could, and had been praised for it by teammates who were supportive and helpful. My classes had learned to accept individual differences, respect the effort of the less athletically gifted, and were there applauding each improvement they observed. I was so proud of them that I could burst.

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Preparing for the New School Year

As I write this, it is the end of the school year and summer’s fair breezes are flowing through my window. My mind is far away from prep work for the upcoming year, which is my topic to write about this month; I am still trying to digest and review what has occurred these past nine months. But, it’s all a bit of a continuous loop of reflection of the past as well as planning for the future. They are symbiotic though I do need to take a mental break and simply dive into my garden and commune with the birds, the bees, my lovely flowers, and all forty of my vegetable plants for several weeks without a thought of work!

What I do know about my upcoming year is that I will be working yet again with a new partner who will split his time between the middle school and my elementary school. There will also be a third person coming just two days a week for one class each day. A positive is that I like both of these colleagues and foresee an amicable work relationship with each. Another plus is that each will bring new ideas to the table. I love to try new things as well as see how someone else teaches. I believe they too feel the same way so this will be a win-win for all of us.

For the past two years, I’ve worked with someone who is ready to retire and who has been teaching solely at the high school for the past fifteen years. I did most of the teaching of class content when we were together; he usually oversaw the warm-ups. He was appreciative of this as his pedagogy at the elementary level was pretty rusty. During his second year with me he was a bit more comfortable which was good because he had several classes on his own. I noticed that when we did not teach together at the beginning of the week due to vacations or whatever else, he would basically shoot from the hip with his single class. It was very helpful for him to see the lesson taught in the beginning of the week when we were teamed together, and then he would simply mimic the lesson on his own for his solo classes. He seemed to respect my style of teaching, which pleased and flattered me especially when I would hear my own words during his classes. In the past, I used to harbor resentment towards colleagues who “copied” me because I felt they were being lazy. As a more seasoned professional, I now realize that copying is perhaps one of the greatest compliments.

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Professional Development: Take the Time to Improve Yourself and Others this Year!

As we all enjoy the warmth and sun of summer days, we also know that before too long our thoughts will need to turn to September and our plans for the new school year. So, now is probably a good time to begin thinking about the upcoming months and what we might do a little differently this year!

Unfortunately, we are living in a time when research indicates that children and youth are not as physically active as they should be. As physical education teachers, it’s vital that we continue to seek out and try new strategies that not only encourage our students to live physically active lifestyles but actually achieve this aim. This is a big responsibility and, to succeed, we need to enlist the support of the whole school staff.

Recently, one of the authors had a discussion with a Grade 4 family member about the past school year. The child was asked, “What were your favorite subjects in Grade 4 this past year?” The response was one that resulted in a bit of a surprise as the young child stated, “Umm, my favorite subjects were Math and PE. No wait. PE is not a subject, so Math. Uhhh, I don’t know why I said PE, it’s not a subject!”

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Get HyPE: When Will the Nontraditional Become the Traditional?

Excited. Energized. Eager. That’s what it means to “get hype.” Beginning this month, I will be writing a regular column for pelinks4u called “Get HyPE.” I want to discuss topics that will excite and inspire the physical education community. My goal is to encourage all of us to think about or try something new every month. The name of the column also has a secondary meaning. It includes the name my students call me, “G-H,” and the abbreviation for physical education, “PE.”

In this month’s column I’m asking readers to think about something that’s energized my thinking all summer. When will we start calling “nontraditional PE” just…PE? Why do we refer to the roll-out-the-ball style of teaching as “traditional” and the use of best practice as “nontraditional?” When will the nontraditional become the traditional?

Let me give you two examples:

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