SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/575944
Discover your unique vision and coordinate all your activities towards it. Inspire each and every member of your team with that vision. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS It's not a secret that much talking and less acting has nothing to do with effectiveness. What people see affects them many times greater than what they hear. So, choose actions. Don't waste your and other people's time on endless conversations about your plans. Just realize those plans and be sure that everyone will see it. FLEXIBILITY REFERS TO BEHAVIOR, NOT VALUES Depending on circumstances you may choose a different style of leadership or communication. Flexibility is a truly effective trait, if it doesn't affect your values. Each and every decision of yours, no matter the situation, must be based on your value sys- tem. As long as your actions are value-driven, you will have the trust and respect of people around you. LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT PEOPLE & LISTENING TO THEM People want their leaders to listen. Leaders don't have to agree, but they do need to listen and seek to understand. People want to be understood at two levels: intellectual and emotional. At the intellectual level people want the leader to understand what they are saying. At the emotional level people want the leader to understand what they are feeling. Again, listening is not about agreeing with people. It is about respecting them and paying attention to them. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Could you be a leader in an empty room by having profound goals and skills? Of course not. Leading means com- municating, influencing and engaging. Communication skills are the foundation of effective leadership. Constantly improve your relationships with people. IT IS FINE TO ADMIT MISTAKES If everything has always been done perfectly, we would have some- how lost the ability to analyze and improve. Mistakes are proof that you are doing something. You won't become a worse leader if you admit your mistakes. By doing that, you will show that you are wise enough to learn from your each and every experience. There are plenty of smart people in positions of leadership. What we need are wise leaders. Our world has an over-abun- dance of information, but we have a scarcity of real wisdom. Wise leaders have insight, that is, they see beyond the obvious. Why? Because they are looking! BEFORE YOU CAN LEAD, YOU MUST FIRST LEARN TO FOLLOW Great leaders are great followers. They are humble. They do not always need to be in charge. They understand the impact of great followership. If you don't understand the dynamics of following, then you don't understand the dynamics of leading. Many people in positions of authority are ineffective leaders precisely because they are not good followers. USE YOUR "POWER" BY GIVING IT TO OTHERS Effective leaders are a source of power and energy for people, teams, and the organization. They encourage the heart. They understand that power is not a zero-sum game. The more a leader empowers others, the stronger and more effective the leader and the team become. UNITY IS STRENGTH Team is somehow the most important resource for each leader. Embrace your team and devote your energy to care about its unity each and every day. As long as your team is splendid, nothing can stay on your way to success. Make sure that all peo- ple in your team consider themselves as members of a strong, unified family. THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR GROWTH Remember, satisfaction should be a short-term feeling. Life would become useless without ongoing improvement. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't appreciate what you have. This means that you should be thankful for everything you have achieved, but still try to do a little more for this world. www.stma.org October 2015 | SportsTurf 15