Leadership and Coaching Styles - Essay Example

Book review: Leadership and coaching styles Quiet Strength The of the book, Tony Dungy usually wanted to leave a legacy. He hoped to claim the title of being a committed Christian and a servant of the Lord. However, he was one of the most successful NFL coaches the league has ever seen. It is in his time in power as coach that he mostly considered life and personality coaching rather than focus on team building. Regardless of his tactics, he was successful and he left a good legacy not only as a successful coach but also as a God fearing man with a well built personality. From the book, the author also highlighted coaching skills which mainly focused on character creation and considering the influence of God as a leader and a source of direction. The novel bases its creation of coaching skills in three main points: No excuses, No explanations Coach Dungy always wanted his players to take responsibility of all the actions they take up. In his argument this would make them great men not just great players. Taking responsibility of their actions created a perception in them to be responsible in life not just as players. In this coaching tactic, he encourages them to live by the word of Lord; the truth shall set you free (Dundy & Whitaker 114). He teaches his players to stop blaming others and from this is the only way they could be free and happy with their actions (Dundy & Whitaker 114). The Lord always gives us direction if we just have enough faith Dungy recognizes the influence and importance of God throughout his life and he wanted to replicate this success by enlightening his players on the importance of believing in the grace of God (Dungy & Whitaker 40). When he was sacked as the coach of Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he viewed this as a direction God has planned for him (Dungy & Whitaker 40). Our personal tribulations are lessons on why should be compassionate and helpful to others After the death of his son, Dungy went through a lot of pain which remained deep within him (Dungy & Whitaker 8). He used this pain to counsel and help parents who had gone through the same tragedy to heal (Dungy & Whitaker 8). He also reaches out to the young spirits who are struggling with life. And this made him an exceptional leader. In Quiet Strength leadership tactics are also connected to those bearing characteristics of being able to retain a good relationship with God as well as people in the community. Dungy does not view his leadership and coaching responsibility for not only being able to win trophies and league games by the views his post as one supposed to be helpful to the society(Dungy & Whitaker 8). He practices social responsibility by ensuring he addresses issue in the community and enabling community members realize their importance in life. For instance, after the death of his son he realized the community had a deficiency in empowering its young population (Dungy & Whitaker 8). He empowered young people and enabled them to face life challenges in a more responsible way. He also enables parents who face the same challenges as him in regards to loosing a son face the situation in a more positive way (Dungy & Whitaker 8). “The education of a coach” David Halberstam was also an exceptional coach and leader as his influence in the NFL remain significant to date in regards of his success story and relationship with his players. The coach however, focused more on building tactics based on the game rather than focusing on creation of great personality of his players. He believed that success in the game would replicate success in every other aspect of life. Since he was a child, he had the passion to be football sportsman and help from his father made this dream a reality (Halberstam 50). He grew up analyzing the game and analyzing the tactics from each and every game he watched. In most cases he was referred to s the chalk man, this was in regard to his tactful prowess and his drawing and writing character when he explained to his players what they had to do (Halberstam 40). He also attributed his success to the exposure he had from his father. At the age of 9 his father taught him how to analyze a game and he referred this to a ticket to see more than what’s on the surface (Halberstam 50). By breaking down the game film, he was able to see what even more experienced coaches could not see. This attribute of leader may be concluded as a strategy to analyze a problem of a case, and then creating a counter strategy to deal the problem or apply to the case. Halberstam bases his leadership tactics on specialization. In review of his coaching career he rarely indulged in outside efforts to help his players and team excel in the league. He focuses on football tactics and team strategy to enable the success of his team. Since his childhood he was equipped with tactics of coaching a football team. He attributes this to the success in his coaching career. He also recognizes the efforts of his father in enabling him analyze games at a younger age (Halberstam 50). This exposure gave him skills and ideas at a younger age and it made him realize the little detains coaches fail to recognize as he reached the peak of hi coaching career. From this analysis, one may point that leadership on a particular field requires focus on a particular field to gain experience and exposure in dealing with the career line. Specialization on a particular filed enables a leader to be significantly successful on a particular field. This attribute is highlighted as Halberstam explained his experience as he was breaking down the game. Breaking down the game is highlighted as a teaching tool Halberstam used to earn his unique coaching style at a young age. His focus on specialization made him a successful coach as he achieved honors in this field just as he had dreamt since his childhood (Halberstam 50). Comparison of the two coaching styles From the analysis it is an obvious assumption that the two coaches have completely different styles they approach coaching or leadership. Dungy focuses on self realization and character creation while Halberstam does not consider self realization by players as the main key to success but his contribution and understanding to the game. Halberstam also lays all the responsibility to success on himself as the leader. He makes himself responsible of coming up with outstanding tactics that would out do his competitors. On the other hand, Dungy shares this responsibility with his players. He enables his player to take up responsibility and be parts of their self realization process. He also recognizes the importance of God in coaching is team (Dungy & Whitaker 40). Dungy also seeks to create responsible men from his players a vice Halberstam odes not focus on categorically. Additionally, when comparing the two coaching styles the issue on reliance on hope and faith is visible. Dungy believes in hope and faith as part of what makes him successful. He hopes and believes that the power God would reward his hard work and the hope and faith he has instilled in his players. Apart from his coaching experience, Dungy also enables people in the community to have faith and hope for a better life if they remain truthful to God and self realization (Dungy & Whitaker 40). On the other hand, Halberstam dies not rely on hope and faith to acquire success in all he does. Halberstam believes in hard work, research, analysis and implementation of appropriate tactics to achieve success. At a young age, he started reviewing games and he put into paper every little detail he learned. When he needed to implement this teaching, he did it in a professional way and this helped him excel. The two leadership figures also differ on the issue of specialization of a particular factor to acquire success. Dungy is an all round coach and believes success in his team would be more appropriate if ne empowers his team with more that the skills on the field. He also empowers the community and believes that he would be rewarded for his work as a community leader. Halberstam on the other hand believes in empowering people with a particular physical skill. He spends most of coaching time coming up with skills and tactics in regarded to football. It is obvious that the two coaches used appropriate styles as both coaches and leaders. It is this fact that made them exceptional figures in the NFL. One of the common characteristics clearly displayed by both coaches is the fact that they were well conversant with the steps to take so as to excel and be better than the other coaches. Works cited Dungy, Tony. & Whitaker, Nathan.Quiet Strength: A memoir. New York: Tyndale House Pub. 2007. Print. Halberstam, David. The Education of a Coach. New York: Wheeler Pub. 2006. Print. Read More