I’ve been placed in leadership positions and I have emerged as a leader on a team. I’ve played lacrosse my entire life and I have found myself in a leadership role not because I was put there but because I was viewed as a leader amongst my teammates. After years of playing I began coaching, now I was being placed in a leadership position. I was placed in this position for a multitude of reasons, mainly because of my knowledge of lacrosse. Here we will focus on why I emerged as a leader during my years of playing.
In high school I played varsity for four years and was a starter for three of them. I knew the ins and outs of what our coaches wanted, but I was not placed in a leadership role as a captain. Even so I became a leader on our team, Peter Northouse would explain this through the glass of emergent leadership (2016). In my eyes I was viewed as a leader by my teammates because I always demanded perfection, I always went 100 percent 100 percent of the time. I always tried to drive us to be better. My behavior was accepted and supported by my teammates (Northouse 2016).
Emergent leadership is closely related to trait leadership theory. Trait leadership theory is the idea that people are born with certain personality traits that make them shine as a leader (Lesson 2 Commentary). It was found that “individuals who were more dominant, more intelligent and more confident about their own performance were more likely to be identified as leaders” (Northouse 2016). Now I know I was extremely confident in my performance on the field, I always tried to portray a sense of dominance when I played, and of course I like to believe I was the smartest lacrosse player out there. For me this explains why I emerged as a leader of our team even though I was not formally made one. But it doesn’t stop there.
Every team in any sport has its own identity. Social identity theory can also give a little insight onto why I emerged as a leader on my team. Northouse would say that one of the reasons I emerged as a leader is I embodied our teams identity (2016). I was very similar to our groups “prototype” so, to my teammates I was an “attractive” leader (Northouse 2016). Again this shows me why I really became a leader of our team.
I never really understood why I was a leader of our team when I wasn’t an actual captain. Our team’s captains were amazing and they were very deserving of the position. But now after seeing the different facets of how people emerge as leaders in an organization or team it all makes sense. In that last season we went on to win a state championship and I am extremely proud to be a part of the group that lead some of my best friends to that.
References
Lesson 2 Commentary
Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles. SAGE.