The US Women’s National Soccer team has marked some incredible milestones over the past 5 to 10 years, one of them being their game against Japan in 2015 in which they became champions of the Women’s World Cup. Ever since then, the grassroots programs for female soccer have been growing all over America and the team itself has continued to improve.
As usual in team sports, there are normally a few players whose faces represent the team and whose skill, as well as leadership on and off the field, allows for them to be a positive and motivating influence to their teammates. Currently, the US Women’s National Team roster proudly exhibits the name Carli Lloyd. Carli Lloyd is one of the captains of the team and, without a doubt, is one of the best female soccer players in the world. “She is the first American ever to score in four straight World Cup matches, the second American to win Golden Ball honors as the tournament’s top player and she scored the fastest three goals ever in any World Cup final.” (NPChurch) These are only a few of her achievements throughout her career as a soccer player so far. She shines as a leader on and off the field and is respected by all of those who cross her path.
As a leader for a team that represents a nation, Lloyd has a lot of leadership responsibilities when it comes to her team. Because the players and situations in which the team is in are always changing due to player injuries or games abroad, Carli must keep adjusting herself to the different circumstances that she finds herself in.
The path-goal theory looks at leaders who adjust their leadership strategy based on the situation they are in. I would like to analyse Carli in terms of the different types of leader behaviours that make up the path-goal theory. The first is that of directive leadership in which leaders are very clear about what they want their followers to do. They set up goals and push for their followers to achieve these goals in a certain time frame. This is something that, in the bigger picture, Carli is always doing. As the team is always traveling to play games and participate in tournaments, the goal of winning is something that is always set. Even more than winning, Carli helps the individual players set their own goals based on their skills. As a leader, she must make it extremely clear what is expected of each player based on the team that they will be competing against. In this way she shows directive leadership by being clear and precise in setting goals.
Without a shadow of a doubt Carli exhibits a high level of supportive leadership. A supportive leader is one who creates work that is enjoyable for their followers so that the path to achieving their goal is an agreeable journey. As a leader who is also a member and key player on the team, she is always working with her followers and pushing them to see the beauty of what they are a part of, not only the game that is soccer but the opportunity to represent their country and women’s soccer. Furthermore, her followers are also her peers. This means that, when they are on the field they are all working together, and she, as the leader, is responsible to support them while guiding them to perform to the best of their ability. There is a mutual amount of respect that has to exist between Carli and the other players on the team for this type of supportive leadership to be successful.
Teams must work together at all times in order for them to succeed, and this where Carlis role as a participative leader takes action. While when it comes to the big picture and creating large goals for the team required her to practice her directive leadership, more day to day objectives in terms of discussing a strategy to be used on the field with her teammates forces Carli to utilize her participative leadership skills. This is based around the idea that a leader involves their followers in their decision making. What Carli does in pre and post practice discussions is create an atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable in participating and stating their opinion about what is going on on the field and what ways might allow for improvement.
Finally, Carli Lloyd has a rock solid will and the motivation she possesses is outstanding. Having a leader like that is a great example of an achievement-oriented leader. Just the fact that Carli is a leader to such a prestigious group of people and is known worldwide as a marvelous female soccer plays speaks volumes about the level she is pushing her peers to. As an achievement-oriented leader, one must be able to motivate followers to work for and achieve as high standards as the leader has. Carli puts her team first, both on and off the field, and this expresses their importance. They must instill confidence and determination in their followers. Carli does this on a daily basis by working on her own improvement so that her followers must always be working on keeping up with her level of achievement and motivation. When the time comes to bask in the fruits of her labour, Carli is the first to share this with her team.
Carli Lloyd demonstrated the path-goal theory in her work as a leader on the US Women’s National Team as well as in her life through the different leadership roles she has held, the amount of people she has led and motivated and, finally, her own personal achievements.
- Part 2: Path-Goal Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2019, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1975088/modules/items/25786835
- Jones, B. (2015, July 5). 9 World Class Leadership Lessons From Carli Lloyd, USWST. Retrieved from https://blog.northpointechurch.ca/9-world-class-leadership-lessons-from-carli-lloyd-uswst/
- Hays, G. (n.d.). U.S. women follow calm leadership of Carli Lloyd, Becky Sauerbrunn. Retrieved February 13, 2019, from http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/17277472/us-women-follow-calm-leadership-carli-lloyd-becky-sauerbrunn-olympics
lrh162 says
What an exciting illustration of leadership!
Your example of Carli Lloyd nicely follows the Path-goal leadership style. Her actions fit with the recommendations for effectively directing her teammates to reach their goals (both figuratively and literally) under a variety of circumstances. As such, using the Directive style to push teammates towards achieving their goals by guiding them through complex tasks proves to be effective for her. As they are also her peers, it seems that she is in a good position to clearly understand the tasks to complete in order to provide direction while overcoming the obstacles they encounter. Team sports certainly have an abundance of physical workout exercises that could eventually become routine and her Supportive leadership provides the sort of human kindness that breaks that monotony. Her Participative behavior kicks in when leading teammates that need guidance but want to have some input. It’s effective for the self-aware, independent player who is looking for a path to success but unsure how to get there. Finally, she demonstrates the confidence-building high standards of Achievement-oriented leadership; she leads by example and paves a way to success for her followers.
Carlie works on addressing obstacles both mentally and physically for her teammates. Her leadership proves to impact team performance with a variety of accomplishments you’ve listed. One of Northouse’s (2016) criticisms of Path-goal theory was that it was oriented around the actions of the leader who is helping followers understand and accomplish their goals but does not speak to the follower’s involvement in the process. This seems to be true for Carli, however, she makes it work very successfully. Although her leadership style does not involve a process of give-and-take with her teammates, she is able to effectively motivate them.
Considering the achievements you’ve named, she sounds like more than a leader for her team, but also a leader in her sport and a positive role model for up and coming female soccer players. By applying the directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented components of Path-goal theory, we can see how Carli Lloyd effectively motivates her teammates to both reach and score goals. Thank you for sharing an inspiring example of leadership.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7th Edition. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Stephen Frieman says
Hi Rebecca,
Prior to reading your post, I had forgotten about Carli Lloyd, but I did watch the World Cup and the team was great. The success of the U.S. women’s team led by Carli is commendable and it points to the development of women’s soccer at the ground level starting at a young age. This sport has really opened opportunities for females as there isn’t a comparable sport for football in schools.
I did notice that you don’t mention the team’s coach, Jill Ellis, and her role in leading the team. In the post 2015 period she has removed many veterans from the team in favor of new, younger players and adopted new strategies for winning. (Murray) Ellis had been experimenting after the 2015 World Cup win and this caused concern among many veterans who went over her head and appealed to the U.S. Soccer Federation for intervention. She barely retained control of the team. (Murray) It would be an interesting topic to analyze her approach to leadership. I would also say that Carli was a follower herself to the leadership of the coach, Jill Ellis.
You described various aspects of path-goal motivational principles deployed by Carli, but you didn’t delve into the make-up of the followers. Followers in the path-goal theory are motivated by expectancy theory and their motivation is derived by feeling able to accomplish the stated goals of the leader. For example, directive leadership usually works best when the followers are less experienced and look for structure. Veterans may be motivated by supportive leadership making conditions welcoming and respectful, although veterans may be better led by participative actions which provide freedom to make decisions. (Northouse, 2016, p.116-117)
Path-goal leadership is complex as it must meet the individual needs of the followers based upon where they are at that time. The leader must provide appropriate rewards to meet the goals and help overcome or go around obstacles. What types of followers were on the team? (Northouse, 2016, p. 119)
References:
Murray, Caitlin, “How the US prepared for the Women’s World Cup by ripping everything up”, The Guardian, October 12, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/oct/12/usa-womens-soccer-team-world-cup-qualifying
Northouse, P.G., (2016), Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7th Edition. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, Inc.