Leadership Qualities And Arranging A Sports Festival - Term Paper Example

Leadership Qualities And Arranging A Sports Festival As I am an active member of the community, this year I was asked to plan and arrange the sports festival that takes place annually. A sports fest is a high spirited event in which diverse sports activities like volleyball, basketball, baseball, cheerleading, swimming, badminton, and many more are held during the given dates. The duration of the entire event was three days with a theme followed lunches and dinners. To carry out a dynamic sports event, the first and the foremost thing I had to do was to style an organizing team. The number of people within the organizing team may probably vary depending on how grand the affair is. For organizing a small sports fest, a person may need a handful of individuals who would supervise all the activities. But when preparing to administer a large event, the ideal solution is to sort committees within the organizing crew. But by doing this, a person does not have to be worried and troubled about missing small but critical details of the event because a committee is assigned to oversee every activity. One important factor to consider is to decide which sports to incorporate in the festival. A person could perhaps be a beneficial manager of functions but if the sports he chose will not attract the community and neighbourhood people, the event will be failure with negative outcomes. Do the research and it may be advisable to conduct an initial survey to see what games the expected participants would like to play during the festival. Decide on those sports activities in which many individuals will participate in. (Lambert, 2011) Then the person is required to think of strategy to raise money for the occasion. He needs to bring in sponsors. A good approach could be to contact organizations and corporations with regards to funding of the entire sports festival or maybe the participating teams. Monetary support is undoubtedly needed make the sports festival prosperous and successful. After arranging for the finances, the time comes to proceed to producing the details of what is to be done. What other essential issue does the event need to include than the sports activities? The prizes and trophies for the winners are to be decided. As serving meals is also the part of the event therefore, the catering company to be given the contract, the menu and other minute details should not be left unresolved. The rules and regulations for the game activities must also be decided beforehand. Contact the coaches and/or captains of all the teams to come up with the rules that are agreed upon by every team. It is important to do this as it helps to minimize issues created by misunderstandings which ultimately can spoil the mood of the festival. The ways to promote this fun event are also to be decided. Print article, posters and invitations and advertise on local websites. The more individuals participate, more jovial it is going to be as the saying goes: the more the merrier. Now comes the most important part; to make this concept a reality. For that a competitive leader is needed. The person to arrange this can’t be an aloof and unfriendly leader, someone who is never there and is incapable of getting his hands dirty. One of the best ways to lead is to lend a helping hand, pitch in where needed, and make sure that the work one does is understood by the whole organizing team. The most effectual leader is out in front, he demonstrates anything he asks of team members. An effective leader always sets an example. A passionate and fervent leader is required. A leader without passion is not really a leader. He can be taskmaster or a paper pusher or anything but a leader. Passion and enthusiasm helps to inspire others and it also helps to drive the team and get things done by them. It doesn’t mean that a leader has to be to be constantly cheerful rather it means that a leader must believe in what he is doing. To organize things, one must be organized himself first. If a person is messy and frazzled himself, his team will also be like that. An unorganized leader is not leading; he is merely chasing his own tail. Disorganization can breed nothing but only more disorganization. An organized leader will be much more productive and so will his organizing crew. A person alone cannot do everything. Even a great leader must be able to delegate effectively in order to get things done. The key to delegating successfully is giving team members ownership of the work that is assigned to them. This also helps to reduce the time span for completing a task. True leaders are those who accomplish great things through other people. They don't do it all by themselves. They provide the inspiration, leadership, guidance, and vision to make things happen. Delegation is an essential and crucial part of being a leader and the only way to actually get anything accomplished. (Kachaturoff, 2011) Although a leader must delegate work to team and give them the ownership but he should at all times take the responsibility. A competent leader is he who will be there for his team through the good and the bad times. It does not at all mean a leader should ignore crappy work/effort or absolve people from making mistakes, but it means that taking responsibility of the big picture is the job of a leader. A leader should recognize that accountability for failure is on his shoulders, while the responsibility for success and to get things done rests on the members. Leader may criticize his team members but in a positive way without being too harsh or rude. He must praise good work and quietly offer suggestions to the members to correct errors.  Communication is a very important part of leadership plan. It is critical to communicate to the member of the team that how their work affects the entire plan and the mistakes on their part can cause the project to fail. Good leaders are known to great communicators. A leader must allow his members to use their own initiative and intuition. Correct their mistakes with respect and without judging them. If there are no problems in the work and it is going well, the leader must not interfere. If necessary, only then provide additional instruction and direct assistance. He observes his crew and communicates with them. Communicating success and appreciating it is also important. People need encouragement and affirmation. It is their right to know they did a good job. I learnt during organizing this sports festival that when a person does a good job he expects his leader to appreciate it. While communicating a leader should not leave important details out but he must be precise as lesser number of words leave a greater impact on the listener. Insecure leaders often ramble, while uninterested leaders cut things off. Whether it is praise, constructive criticism or giving out tasks to the crew, figure out how much to say and how to say it. Be precise, concise and specific. An effective leader is always honest. He tells it like it is. There is no need to sugar-coat or obfuscate. A leader must know how to present things to his team in an honest but balanced way. It is important for the organizing committee to know the true picture of what they are doing in order to make them do what actually is needed. A leader is not always required to talk as he sometimes has to listen. To keep people motivated, a leader must listen to them; ask questions from them and let them ask the questions, understand their issues. In order to respond more effectively it is important to listen more and get to the heart of things much faster. When leading a team it is important to know the people. It doesn’t mean that a leader has to best friends with his team or socialize with them outside the work, but he has to know what makes them tick and work more effectively. Knowing things about their personal lives makes it easier for leader to better understand his team members as their lives outside work matter and affect their work and degree of efficiency. Keeping track of simple things like birthdays, children, marriages, etc helps to build a friendlier and comfortable relationship. The more one knows about the people working for him the more common ground he is likely to find. Benjamin Disraeli said, “I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” It gives the idea that how a leader must manage his way working. Great leaders are not there only to lead, they follow too. If a leader a does not follow then he is dictator. Being a leader and follower means finding value in the team, getting enthused and inspired by the team, encouraging them to communicate, be open and brainstorm. While leading an individual must remain humble and polite, and persistently attempt to serve the team. A group always exists for a purpose; in this case it was planning and organizing the sports festival. A leader has to control the team but it does not at all mean that he has to dominate the members. Here control means directing the individuals to for their specific jobs. He gives suggestion to the members not orders. A leader must be able get the job done and keep the team together. It is the duty of leader to help the individuals with any particular needs and encourage them to bring out the best in them. Controlling the team performance is part of the leadership plan and is a close companion of the capability of setting the example for the team members. When the jobs are assigned and tasks and objectives are communicated to the committees, then the time for coordinating individual efforts for collective purpose comes. It is controlled by the leader with the help of the entire team. (Tek, 2010) Control is most usually an explicit behaviour of the leader. There are some specific actions a leader may take to wield influence and inspiration over a team. The leader in a team divides the people in his team into different committees to achieve the goal, break up destructive cliques, encourage greater participation, etc. He might need to stand at certain times to maintain or assert his authority. The best leaders are those who put energy into the members. They empower their teams by infusing them with support strength, and appreciation to carry things forward. This is a trait that all leaders should have and if they don’t have they must acquire it. Empowering others develops trust; it inspires, it teaches, and most importantly, it also serves to educate the next generation of leaders. Building trust among the team members is a very significant and plays an important part in keeping the team together and working effectively as a single unit. (Becoming a better leader, n.d) A good leader creates the opportunity for the members to work and do their best. They do the task of mentoring and coaching. Teamwork is about sincerely helping other people to step into their greatness and share their talents and gifts with other and it is job of the leader to make it happen. To make the people put in their best efforts a leader must possess persuasive powers to make them understand that their best performance is required to make this event happen. The team must have high level of synergy and leader must be able to solve any sort of conflicts tactfully so that they don’t leave any grudges among the members. (Reh, 16) To make any kind of plan to work, it is required that a person who is carrying out the plan must understand the implications and how to carry out the plan. As the plan is laid out in detail and what the leader is required to do make this event a success is also mentioned, I believe that this plan should work. All traits are rarely present in a leader but when he knows what has to be done and what is required out of him, he can successfully increase his efficiency and can be great help to fulfil the plans and get desired results. References: Becoming a better leader, n.d, white dove books, retrieved on April, 30, 2011, from http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/books/Leadership/page_5.html Kachaturoff, T, 2011, ‘Leadership qualities – great leaders empower others’, ezine, retrieved on April, 30, 2011, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Leadership-Qualities---Great-Leaders-Empower-Others&id=3150889 Lambert, L, 2011, ‘Arranging a sports festival’, Article down, retrieved on April, 30, 2011, from http://www.articledown.com/Art/69838/335/Baseball-Trophies-Arranging-a-Sports-Festival.html Reh, J, F, 2011, ‘Most important leadership skill or trait’, about.com, retrieved on April, 30, 2011, from http://management.about.com/u/ua/leadership/MostImportantLeadershipSkill.htm Tek, P, 2010, ‘controlling the group’, leadership development for youth, retrieved on April 30, 2011, from http://www.whitestag.org/skills/controlling_the_group.html Read More