In order to remain firmly on course, a national sport organisation must have clarity and a crystal clear understanding of its purpose, mission and goals. It goes without saying that the leadership and key decision makers ought to have a collective and clear grasp of the organisation’s purpose. Individuals bring different perspectives, perceptions and experiences and as a result achieving clarity is never certain. Unfortunately, in the absence of clarity, decisions can be made that deviate from what is the core purpose. Remaining true to who we are requires countless hours of heart to heart discussions trying to figure things out.
It’s important because attitudes, opinions, desires, needs and other psychological issues collectively govern the daily behaviour of an organisation. It makes no sense remaining out of touch with reality. Sport is service oriented. Talent, potential and vision in the absence of opportunity equates to wasted talent and potential. How many sport administrators and managers understand that a key role is to create opportunity for sport talent, potential and interest to flourish? To be effective, NSOs must be able to distinguish their core values and core purpose from their operating practices and strategies.
Myopia will lead to blunders which can seriously compromise integrity and opportunity. NSOs should guard against being blinded by assumptions, opinions and even feelings. Hard analysis and evaluation should be done daily. Is this decision in keeping with our core principles, purpose and values? What is the intention? To whom and what do you give your loyalty? Will your position be valid over the long haul? Have you considered the risks? If so what are the risk mitigating strategies in place? When an organisation makes decisions on the basis of personal opinions, the concept of good, transparent and accountable governance is the loser. Managing and running sport is not the same as selling real estate, bread, oil, cars or what have you. Sport as a product is subjective, intangible and emotional. Those charged with the responsibility of stewardship and leadership must have clarity about what it is they are doing or supposed to be doing.
Those who don’t understand can easily end up making decisions that are detrimental to the long term health and success of a sport organisation and its athletes, coaches, officials, supporters, volunteers and sponsors. It’s about getting the balance right. People make decisions based on emotion, and then try to validate them with logic. In this context leaders separate themselves. Successful organisations have clarity about what they want. They focus on doing the things that matter and know how to execute their plans and achieve their goals. Mediocre organisations muddle along by the seat of their pants and the whims and fancies of the boss, poor or entry level leadership. John Maxwell has a concept called the Five Levels of Leadership where he outlines how a potential leader can move from entry level to the pinnacle of leadership. According to Maxwell, position is the lowest level of leadership—the entry level. The only influence a positional leader has is that which comes with the title.
People follow because they have to. Positional leadership is based on the rights granted by the position and title. There is a difference being a boss and a leader. When positional leaders ask for extra effort or time, they rarely get it. Sport is a realm where anyone can be appointed or elected and those who use position to get people to follow will not get people to follow because they want to but because they have no choice. This is where clarity of purpose can make or break a sport organisation. Some leaders may be very clear about their purpose. The real question that should be asked: is your purpose aligned with what’s best for your athletes and sport or is it all about you and your ego?
-Brian Lewis
Source: www.guardian.co.tt