Cracking the Code: Making tomorrow’s decisions by developing leaders today
Trending
In the 2021 West Virginia Boys Soccer State Championship game we were ahead 3-1 with six minutes left when one of our players committed a foul on our defensive side of the field. Our opponent scored on the freekick to make the score 3-2. With just over a minute to go, a foul was called on our goalkeeper for holding the ball over 6 seconds. In over 25 years of coaching high school soccer and playing for years in the adult league I have never seen that called. Based on video we saw after the game it was a very questionable call. It didn't matter. Our opponent scored on the free kick to tie the game and send it into overtime.
The coaches met and we discussed plans for overtime. I then ran to our players concerned about where their attitude might be. We had just let a win in regulation slip away. To my surprise our senior captains "the leaders" had taken care of their attitude. There was no mention of the ref or our opponent's goals. The focus was on their dream to win a State Championship. They were looking ahead, not back.
When overtime started we had no let up. My fear of our opponent grabbing the momentum didn't happen, because of our players' attitude. Early in the second overtime, Sully, our leading scorer, drilled home the golden goal off a corner kick to give us our first State Championship in seven years and start the celebration. The victory showed the power of a dream that started after our defeat in the 2020 State Championship game.
The victory after adversity showed the importance of leadership. Coach Joe went through our leadership training as a player almost 20 years ago. Now as head coach, leadership is a part of training. Joe gives our players, especially the captains, plenty of opportunities to lead in practice. He allows them to fail and learn. Coach Joe treats everyone with respect. He routinely asks the players for their opinions and listens. Joe makes the captains feel like part of the coaching staff. Coach Joe was able to implement his overtime game plan because the captains (leaders), focused the team on the future not the past. The captains were boys in August. Their development was fun to watch. By October they were young men. The captains helped to start the development of the younger players into future leaders who went on to win the 2022 State Championship.
Leadership expert, author and professional speaker, John Maxwell defines leadership as, Anyone who can influence people AND develop people is a leader, regardless of their position or title. One of the challenges in business today is lack of leadership. Many in leadership positions fail to develop future leaders. This is seen when the owner of a company dies or wants to retire and no one is able to take their place. In some cases, the owners' children get the business. If they aren't prepared the business fails.
Finding and keeping good employees is important for companies. At the Plastics News Executive Forum, annually the "10 Best Places to Work" are recognized. These companies don't have problems finding and keeping people. They understand leadership. People prefer to be led, not managed. One Executive told me he had a list of good people working for his competition waiting to come to work for his company.
I was blessed early in my career with a manager who was a leader. John Maxwell said, "We manage things but we lead people." My manager taught me, to be promoted I needed to have someone trained to take my place. Leadership means giving up some of our decision-making authority to those we have trained. We are still responsible for the results. Developing people means understanding others won't do things exactly the way we do. Sometimes it means letting people make mistakes and learn from them. When I became a District Manager, I was only 33 years old and replaced a very autocratic manager. His people were afraid to make decisions without his approval. I was surprised how many minor decisions they came to me for. People were shocked when I told them to do what they thought was right. They knew what to do but were afraid to do it without approval.
Jim was one of my assistant managers. A man in his early 60s, he had been an assistant for some time. The Division Manager required a monthly summary report of revenue, profit, sales, safety and other operational topics. I had done the report for four years as an assistant manager in Ohio. Jim had been doing the report. My first month as manager he gave me the report to review. I looked it over. It wasn't exactly the way I would have done it but it was a good report. I said, "Looks good to me. Send it." Jim just stood by my desk. I saw tears in his eyes and wondered what I had done. Then he said, "I have been doing this report for years. Your predecessor always found something wrong with it. This is the first time I have been told to send it without a correction." Jim became a strong manager for me until his retirement a few years later.
Trade and other non-profit associations change leaders every year or two. To be successful they have a plan to train and develop future leaders. At NSA Ohio, an organization of professional speakers, I'm a member and former Chapter President. There is a succession and development plan for chapter leadership. Successful organizations understand the importance of a succession plan and developing future leaders.
Unfortunately, our country doesn't have a succession plan. Great leaders develop future leaders and their successors. A great leader by age 80 has trained successors and is able to step out of the limelight knowing their company or their country is in good hands. Thoughts to ponder.
***
Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing for Shale Crescent USA. He is a professional engineer with a Masters in Environmental Engineering and over 40 years experience in the energy industry. Greg is a leadership expert, high school soccer coach, professional speaker, author of four books and many published articles.