Being an Effective Leader - Movie Review Example

? Being an Effective Leader Full Leadership is an important aspect of life that people who somehow achieved a higher level of understanding about what effective leadership is, are often made as examples in the field. One life that exemplified highly commendable leadership is that of Ken coach, a controversial high school basketball coach who challenged his team to excel not only in the sport but most especially in life. His story is portrayed in the film, Coach Carter and his character is played by Samuel Jackson. His leadership styles were simple but difficult. Nevertheless, the coach stood his ground and endured the challenges brought about by the school administration, the players and their parents. In this paper, the leadership skills reflected by Carter will be discussed and the focus of which will be mainly on goal setting, self-motivation, determination, evaluation and communication. From the time the coach went to the school where he coached, he made it clear to the team that he is the team leader and the players are his team members. It is believed that such clear lay-out of the roles of each member helps in making the goals as well as the rules and regulations clearly defined so that they may be achieved in due time. Before the team even started with their rehearsals, the coach made the goal very clear and he even gave them contracts to sign in order for them to take things more seriously. There was not only verbal explanation given to the students but a meeting with their parents was also called for to make them understand the situation and for them to be informed also of the contract the students agreed upon. Kinicki et.al consider goals as the starting point for all motivations because having an objective keeps people focused on the things they must do in order for them to achieve their goals. The rules and regulations were clearly laid out as well, making the group know that there are things they must live by in order to become winners. Another aspect of Carter’s goal setting is having not only short term goals but long term objectives as well. Short term goals are important because they help participants have something to look forward to and they can also evaluate their performances and foresee the success of the long term goals through the short term goals. Trying to simultaneously achieve the short term and long term goals have been extremely challenging to Carter but these always made him more focused on the steps he needed to take. Although his team was undefeated, which would be every coach’s dream; Carter was not satisfied with their performances because they failed to live by the contract that they agreed upon from the start of his job. Therefore, he travelled an extra mile in order to help further the players in their academic performances. He made sacrifices with his time and decisions, not wavered by the arguments of his colleagues, students and their parents. He stuck to his priorities and was focused ore than ever with his goals. Detractors abound in every corner and they could either serve as challenges or obstacles that stop people from achieving their goals. In The Art of Leadership, Dag Heward-Mills encourages leaders to become self-motivated (2006) and not to expect direction or encouragement from outside. Indeed, more often than not, people can easily become pessimistic and become discouragements rather than encouragements. Thus, it is important that leaders should have that spirit of motivating themselves first and foremost before getting motivated by others. In the film mentioned earlier, Carter was surrounded by oppositions and impossibilities but he knew his goals and he knew he could succeed if he did his best. While most of his colleagues were encouraging him to give in to the clamor of the students and parents to let the students play despite their failing grades, Carter sought to achieve his goals, clinging to his set of rules and not compromising his principles. In line with the motivation that Carter had, he was also determined to achieve not only his short term goals of winning games but more importantly, he was determined to reach his long term goals of helping the students have a life with vision and direction. Consequently, he did not fail to do an evaluation of his performances as well as those of the students. When he found out that the players were failing academically, he considered it his very own failures. Therefore, he committed to helping them with their studies, sacrificing their time in the gym. He was glad that his players were performing well, playing basketball but it worried him a lot that they were failing and might just as well end u in the streets. He was concerned about the future of his team and not just about their present fame and achievements. Therefore, he stood strong even if he was misconstrued to just have wanted to make a name for himself. He was willing to be misunderstood but determined to help his team. Throughout the movie, communication was a basic part of the team. Goals were made known though verbal and written communication, determination was exemplified through body language and evaluations were discussed among the group. One good trait of Carter is that, he showed that open communication is allowed in the team. He might have reiterated time and again his position as the coach or the leader of the group but he also encouraged the players to share their thoughts. When the team was locked out of the gym, the coach gathered them and explained his reasons for his action. He also encouraged them to voice out their grievances and acknowledged the picture the participants were seeing. Nevertheless, he was quite articulate that he did not just have the students see through their eyes but he helped them see through his perspective. He explained that their achievements in the games will not take them as far as a college education can and he was always sincere with his words. He showed that he was not just thinking of himself but he was thinking about their future, giving them statistics that he knew would speak well to the students. Goal setting, self-motivation, determination, evaluation and communication are all important aspects of leadership that can be applied in accomplishing organizational goals. A common goal becomes the common language that different individuals use as a means in order to gather their different skills and abilities to have a concerted effort in performing the process. Self-motivation is always important because not all people will be able to see through the lens a person peeks through. Determination is equally important because it is what drives people to push through with whatever has been started regardless of the obstacles that stop the movement. Evaluation helps someone to consider and reconsider the paths being taken if they are taking the individual or organization to the set goals. Communication should always be open because as they say, more brains working together are better than just one. A conglomeration of ideas can open paths to other goals and objectives that might not be born if there is only one person thinking for an entire organization. References Heward-Mills, Dag. (2006). The Art of Leadership. London: Parchment House. Kinicki, Angelo J., Jacobson, Kathryn J. L., Galvin, Benjamin M. & Prussia, Gregory E. (2011). A Multi-Level Systems Model of Leadership. Sage Journals. Retrieved from http://jlo.sagepub.com/content/18/2/133.full.pdf+html Robbins, Brian, Tollin, Mike, Gale, David & Carter, Thomas. (1987). Coach Carter. US: Paramount Pictures. 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