Leadership today – Team Success and the incomplete leader
No leader is perfect. The best ones don’t try to be – they concentrate on honing their strengths and find others who can make up for their limitations
Leaders today must be flexible and adaptable to change in a world that is dynamic and constantly evolving. We live in an age of constant change and the speed of that change is increasing.
As the new Chairman of Metrifit, I’m delighted to share with you some of my thoughts on the type of leadership that is needed to succeed in the world that we live in. These are my own musings coming out of my own life experiences. Each and every one of us is on our own leadership journey and the experiences that we share and live through all build to form part of the complete picture. I myself was a Gaelic footballer who was privileged to represent County Cavan at all levels, from U-16 through to Senior level. It is a measure of the advancement of technology that Metrifit exists now to help athletes and sports people to perform at their absolute best. I wish Metrifit had been around in my day as I would certainly have used it. I was never the best or the most talented player on the team but what I lacked in talent I always gave in determination and effort. I know the me of 20 years ago would have used and applied metrifit to help me perform to the best of my ability. Good mental and physical health and work-life balance leads to success, as the real battle is in the preparation.
Change is constant
Now that companies have an ever decreasing life span, with technological advances and changes, companies that do not evolve and change will wither and be disrupted out of their areas. I call this ‘Digital Darwinization’. Therefore the evolution of a company must be relevant and needed or the market and trends will move on and leave them behind.
My own journey, that has brought me to Metrifit, is not your typical route. I began my professional life when I joined the Irish Defence Forces in 1997 as an Army Cadet ( 74th Cadet class), where I was educated to lead as an officer in the Irish Army. In 1999 after being ‘moulded’ into that leader I was commissioned as an Infantry Officer. The military training that I and my fellow officers went through was robust and life changing, as the army made leaders and managers of us, through the ethos of ‘Truth, Honour and Loyalty’. Leading from the front, setting example, managing complex multi-disciplinary teams to achieve complex tasks and above all achieving the mission was core to this leadership development. All of this had to be achieved whilst maintaining performance over an extended period of time. During this time, the leader had to find ways to persevere and maintain that performance.
Today Metrifit offers a platform to develop that leadership and self-awareness from a health and well-being perspective to athletes of all disciplines and sports. The military above all else taught me that resilience is the most important trait. Things don’t always go to plan; that bounce-back ability to keep going when it seems like an impossible job and bringing others along with you on that journey is so important today. I spend a lot of time with young leaders, coaching them and emphasizing the importance of resilience. Only with real life experiences and personal reflection can this be achieved.
It’s a small connected world…
My professional military career has taken me twice overseas in the United Nations (U.N) NATO led operation to Kosovo in 2004, and in the European led Chad and the Central African Republic operation in 2008. Here as a military leader and officer, I had a body of soldiers to manage and lead for the duration of the trips; truly a great place to learn and hone leadership skills. My post military career has taken me overseas, where I have experienced different cultures throughout different parts of the world, communicating and working with colleagues from very different backgrounds and careers. In Mozambique, The Caribbean, UK and US on various work assignments, I have seen examples of good and bad leadership; however the most effective has been the leadership styles that can and have evolved with constantly moving situations.
In praise of the incomplete leader
A study by the Harvard Business Review entitled In Praise of the Incomplete Leader by Ancona, D. et al. (2007), recently caught my attention. In October, I completed the ‘Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme’ at the Saïd Business School in the UK. This case study came to light during that time. It really got me thinking that as leaders and humans, ultimately there are limits to our skill sets and what we can manage effectively. We all have strengths and weaknesses, and in essence for leaders who are truly at the top of their game, they must double down on their strengths and acknowledge their weaknesses, instead of trying to be master and commander of all. If one tries to be a master of all, in the end burnout and poor decision making will be the result, and ultimately the organisation will suffer.
It’s a nice thought to be the complete leader without flaw, but it’s a myth. There is no one at the top that has it all figured out. The world that we live and operate in now is just so complex that there is no human that fits the perfect mould and has all the answers. The aforementioned case study by Harvard Business Review details four key leadership capabilities to focus on:-
- Sensemaking: Interpreting developments in your environment, reading the macro signs as they constantly evolve
- Relating: Building trusting relationships
- Visioning: Communicating a compelling vision of the future
- Inventing: Coming up with new ways of doing things
These are four key leadership values that are needed in all organisations and it is important that the areas that the leader doesn’t excel in are fulfilled by others with complimentary skill sets. Leadership must always be executed with kindness. With this approach of new ideas, vision and potential, unleashed through shared expertise, leadership will excel and organisations will thrive and be able to adapt to an ever changing world.
What is Metrifit?
Metrifit helps coaches get to know their athletes, and helps athletes get ready to perform. It is a simple, intuitive and effective approach to monitoring looking at how the ‘small picture’ of an athlete’s daily habits, shapes the ‘big picture’ of match day performance.
Whether your use of Metrifit is to have a highly accurate reflection of acute to chronic work-load ratios to make training/competition decisions, to empower student-athletes to be reflective and take charge of their Health & Wellness, or as a basis to engage in conversation with your Student-Athletes thereby demonstrating you care about them as individuals, Metrifit simply works. It meets kids where they reside – on their mobile phones and through technology and is quick, easy, and habit-forming to use.
Why not have a look at our Metrifit Ready to Perform product and gain insight on the physical and mental state of your athletes through our daily wellbeing questionnaire? To find out more visit our Metrifit Product Overview page or contact at for a free demo.
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