Leadership

PSYCH 485 blog

Applying Leadership Theories in Fitness

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Leadership in the Gym

In the world of fitness instruction, the principles from Northouse’s “Leadership: Theory and Practice” have begun to give me a new perspective as a fitness instructor. Let’s explore how key leadership theories have shaped my journey and impacted my leadership style.

Transformational Leadership in Fitness

Transformational leadership, as discussed by Northouse, focuses on inspiring and motivating followers for exceptional outcomes. In fitness, this means leading by example, setting motivating fitness goals, encouraging critical thinking about health, and giving personal attention to each client’s needs. This theory has helped me create an environment where clients not only work toward their fitness goals but also adopt a healthier lifestyle outside of the gym.

Situational Leadership in Fitness Instruction

Situational leadership emphasizes adapting leadership style based on clients’ readiness and development level (Northouse, 2021). Recognizing that each client is unique, I apply this theory by tailoring my instruction to meet individual needs. Some clients may need a more direct approach, while others thrive with a more supportive style. This adaptability approach I feel has enhanced my leadership in the fitness setting.

Authentic Leadership in Fitness

Authentic leadership stresses the importance of leaders being genuine, self-aware, and true to their values (Northouse, 2021). In fitness, trust is crucial. Authentic leaders build trust by being open about fitness plans, involving clients in decision-making, upholding moral and ethical standards, and establishing genuine connections. This approach creates a positive and trusting atmosphere, furthering the relationship between myself and my clients.

Conclusion

The theories covered from, Northouse’s “Leadership: Theory and Practice” have not only deepened my understanding of leadership but also provided practical tools for effective leadership in fitness (Northouse, 2021). Transformational, situational, and authentic leadership theories shape my interactions with clients, inspiring positive change, adapting to individual needs, and building trust within the fitness community. As I continue to grow as a fitness instructor, these lessons will guide my leadership.

Too much positivity?

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“Stop pushing over-the-top positivity and ‘authentic’ leadership… Oh, and while you’re at it, think about doing the same for transformational, servant, ethical, and spiritual leadership” (Moran, 2019, para. 1).  Alvesson & Einola (2019) found that organizations have the best of intentions when infusing their culture with positivity and applying “newer genre” leadership theories such as transformational, ethical, authentic and “moral approaches” such as ethical, authentic and servant leadership, as they are all touted to have favorable organizational outcomes.  They explain that a leader cannot be separated from the organizational context and culture, and that the realities of the setting and environment may make it difficult if not impossible for the noble traits of genuineness, inspiration, motivation, moral aptitude found in these theories to flourish.

Situational leadership, for example, is pushed to the backseat under these approaches.  Leaders in the trenches know, however, that they must sometimes adapt to navigate difficult circumstances the best way possible.  Adherence to positivity, authenticity, and the like at all costs can leave a leader “bogged down” in ideology (Alvesson & Einola, 2019).  These theories are great for TED talks and writing self-help leadership books, but what happens in reality when put to the task?

We will focus on authentic leadership, as many of the other forms discussed above hail from this model.  There are few critical empirical studies to demonstrate its effectiveness and little done to distinguish one leadership approach from the other, as they often overlap (Alvesson & Einola, 2019).  Banks et al. (2018) report that “construct redundancy remains problematic for the leadership literature in general” (as cited in Alvesson & Einola, 2019, p.4).

A key challenge in authentic leadership is the call to represent one’s true, authentic self in a world of an infinite possibility of individually and culturally sensitive issues.  How does one hold back aspects of the self that may not be well-accepted by the organization and are not situationally necessary to express so as to not offend followers, and at the same time embody one’s true self?  We as human beings all possess thoughts, beliefs, behaviors and the like that others might find offensive, whether because of our own shortcomings or their misunderstanding of us.  Leadership is about more that expressing one’s true self, as it encompasses the sometimes painstaking and arduous process of navigating delicate and nuanced social, political and moral issues (Alvesson & Einola, 2019).

By promoting exuberant positivity, a leader can invalidate experiences of the followers.  Being coached to “buck-up, it’s not so bad”, reminded that “we’re all a team counting on each other”, or praised for being “so resilient” can have unwanted effects.  The follower hears in these situations that their emotions and thoughts are unwarranted, the distress they experience and complaints they have about work processes are invalid, and their ability to withstand harm or sacrifices for the job is merely a good personality trait and they should expect more of the same.  When that positivity comes across as insincere, it can actually damage the leader-follower relationship.  Seeds of distrust in the leader and the organization will be sown.  This is seen most clearly when the leader possesses a dominant, power-oriented style (PSU WC, 2023).  The result of leaders consuming these theories is “overly optimistic, unrealistic leaders and, sooner or later, cynical, disappointed coworkers and, sometimes, leaders themselves” (Moran, 2019).  Leaders of startup companies fall prey to this “positivity trap” quite often as they try to rally workers to meet goals, regardless of obstacles faced.  “When leaders put on their cheerleading hats despite a reality that is poor, they seem like liars or worse, like they are delusional,” says executive coach Amie Devero (Moran, 2019, para.6).

Should the employees “buy” the positivity pitch, the situation does not bode much better for the organization.  Most of us humans work better under some amount of pressure.  Anxiety is a survival skill – without the concern for where the next meal is going to come from, our stone age ancestors would not have bothered keeping track of where the good hunting grounds are and preparing and organizing weapons and tools.  By telling the followers that “everything’s awesome, and the team is doing spectacular” when the company is $1 million in the hole, the team is not energized to problem-solve, due to their false sense of security.  The action of displaying excessive positivity robs the organization and the employees of practice of their creativity, problem-solving, reasoning, critical thinking, communication, active-listening and countless other skills and abilities (Moran, 2019).

Perhaps a better approach would be a dialectical one.  Dialectics involves seeing things from multiple perspectives, where there can be more than one seemingly opposing truth present at the same time.  One conceptual applications used in dialectics that could be applied to leadership are the following “you’re doing the best that you can right now and you can do better”.  This acknowledges and validates the present reality and is directional in the future.  Another application is the Serenity Prayer.  Known to individuals in recovery from substances and addictive behaviors but applicable to all of humanity, it states “grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”.  In following this, one realizes that two opposing truths can occur simultaneously – that one must accept in this moment what cannot be changed, while aspiring to create change in the future.  This application can also serve to validate followers’ experiences, identify problems without it seeming like a doomsday scenario, and facilitate hope.

 

References

Alvesson, M., & Einola, K. (2019). Warning for excessive positivity: Authentic leadership and other traps in leadership studies. The Leadership Quarterly, 30(4), 383–395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2019.04.001

Moran, G. (2019, November 27). Leaders, stop trying to be so positive and authentic – fast company. how to be a success at everything. Retrieved April 2, 2023, from https://www.fastcompany.com/90436454/leaders-stop-trying-to-be-so-positive-and-authentic

Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2023). PSYCH 485: Lesson 11: Servant leadership.  Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/canvas/sp23/22311–16647/content/12_lesson/printlesson.html.

Power is not Leadership

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As the clock ticked down, there was no doubt of the outcome of the championship football game.  There were less than four minutes to go in the fourth quarter and the team favored to win came to a stark realization that depressed everyone within the organization.  The owner realized it, as did the general manager, the coaches, and most of the players.  They were playing at home and had the superior talent but they didn’t have the leadership at the most crucial position of the football team.  The quarterback had the power over his teammates but lacked the ability to influence them.

The other team’s quarterback was considerably less talented by every physical measure but yet he had full control of the team.  The way all of his teammates supported him and followed his lead, even when they had fallen behind early in the first quarter, made the general manger rethink the process of choosing talent over intangibles.  Their quarterback was part of the team, a key member of the in-group (Northouse, 2022).  His quarterback was definitely part of the out-group, none of his teammates going the extra mile for their ‘leader.’  They did their job as best they could and that was it.  The most telling sign was noticing him stand alone, away from the team, looking across the field at his counterpart.

The assistant general manager leaned over and sarcastically pointed to the one bright spot of the game.  Their prized quarterback had turned a broken play from a disaster into an eighty yard touchdown scramble.  The home crowd were delicious.  No one noticed at the time that instead of the rest of the team running down to the end zone to join the celebration, they jogged back to their benches as a unit.  Only other person was excited about the touchdown and celebrated with their quarterback and that the wide receiver that had provided the key block that sprung him.  Now, as the nightmare of a game came to an end, with the home crowd quiet, that celebration crystalized their error.  They had drafted a talented manager and given him the power but they should have drafted a leader.

Their quarterback had been told he was a leader since his freshman year in high school.  He believed it and didn’t bother to develop that skill because he had been given legitimate power as the starting quarterback.  Legitimate power is “associated with having status or formal job authority (Northouse, 2022, p. 11) and being as talented as he was, he was also given coercive power, able to penalize or punish others by holding them accountable not only for their own mistakes, but for his own (which in his mind, he only failed when others didn’t do their job correctly).  The coach believed his quarterback and took those players out of the game for a play or more until they got with the program.  At every level, based on his skill set and self-confidence, he was given the power by coaches and fellow players because he gave them the best chance to win the game.  The quarterback confused these attributes of power for leadership.  He had a high need for personalized power, caring more about his own personal success, like getting drafter number one and becoming the greatest of all time, than whether his team won or lost (Hughes, et al., 1993).  He didn’t seem to care if he lost as long as he had good statistical game and had the best highlight of the contest.

That was not the case, however.  The quarterback had been taught through repetition to internalize outward displays that could come across as a weakness.  That’s why, when he lost, he seemed aloof about it.  “Winning is contagious,” his father told him constantly, “Losing is for losers, and you are not a loser!  Don’t look like it.”

Now, he stood there, stoic and alone, watching the clock tick down on his first professional season.  He had been told that his organization had better talent but clearly they were losing to the better team.  It was a bitter feeling but he would improve in the offseason and he would definitely have a talk with the general manager about getting him better players.  Just then, his quarterback coach approached him and showed him his fabulous play from the first quarter.  As he was about to wave him off, not interested in watching himself, the coach insisted.  “No, I don’t want you to watch you score – look closely at the end of the play.”

He saw himself run unto the end zone, the nearest defender on the ten yard line behind him.  As he spiked the ball and preened for the home crowd, the coach paused the screen and zoomed out to show a bird’s eye view of the field.  “Where are your teammates?”

He looked closer and saw only one more player from his team running into the end zone to celebrate with him.  His wide receiver roommate.  He looked for the running back since the play had been designed for him but he had run out of bounds around the twenty yard line and was heading back to the bench.  The offensive linemen were doing the same.  The other wide receiver that had been on the other side of the field was talking to a few defenders who had stopped chasing, knowing they would never catch up to prevent the score.

The quarterback was about to say something when the coach held up his finger and showed him another play.  His counterpart took the field after his own touchdown and on the first play, dropped back and was going to throw deep but his protection broke down.  A defensive end rushed him from his left.  When he turned right, instead of having space to move, the free safety had blitzed and had come untouched.  The collision was massive and he went down hard.  The crowd roared with approval, the defensive players screamed and danced in unadulterated ecstasy.  “Watch this,” the coach told him as he zoomed in on the quarterback on the ground, “this is why we lost this badly today.”

All of the offensive lineman and the running back had rushed to help their teammate get back to his feet.  They held him, steadied him and patted him on the helmet.  When the wide receivers who had streaked downfield made it back, they too joined the circle and checked on their leader.  The quarterback sought the running back who missed block and put his arms around his shoulders and talked to him, coached him on the field.  “That’s what leadership looks like” the coach said and stared down his quarterback.

“I don’t get it – I’m better than him.  That running back missed the block!  I would’ve – what’s your point?”

“They’re a team and teams need leaders.  Look, you have the traits to be a leader, no doubt there. I read a book by Peter Northouse not long ago and he stated that leadership is a process by which an individual influences a group to achieve common goals.  Furthermore, leadership is not power, it’s more about influence, the interaction between leader and followers (2022).  You have the power as the quarterback of this team, but you do not have the influence yet.  That is a learnable skill.  We can work on that.”

Incredulous he turned to face the coach and locked eyes with him.  “How am I not a leader?  I’m the quarterback – this is my team!   I’m the face of this franchise! They know it – everyone knows it!”

“Ask yourself this, if you weren’t given the title of ‘leader,’ how many of these men would follow you?  I’m betting none.”

“Whatever!  What you’re talking about is inspiring others.  I don’t do that with words.  I’m a winner.  Winning is inspiring by itself.”

“If we hadn’t invested so much in you, I would just let it go and let you flounder.  Unless you’re living in an alternate universe, we’re getting our butts handed to us and if you look around your teammates, they’re picking each other up, everyone but you.  That’s not inspirational at all.  But we can work on it, as I said before.  It starts with the Leader-Member-Exchange, which basically boils down to being in an in-group versus at out-group, like you are now.  But more than that, it has been proven that the higher the quality of exchanges between leaders and followers produce better results (Northouse, 2022).  This team has to be an in-group, you understand what that means?”

“Yeah, I did go to college, you know.”

“Well, you went to an SEC school so. . .”  They laughed.  “Leadership is about the leader, the follower and the situation “

“Look, coach, I understand what you’re saying.  I see my error.  I should be the first one encouraging these men, building relationships with them.  And I have failed.  I have had my head up my butt for so long, I didn’t see that I wasn’t leading.  I was simply issuing orders, and although that may work in some circumstances, leadership is the ability to adapt to the situation at hand.”

The quarterback extended his hand out and shook the coach’s hand. “Great game plan, coach.  This loss is on me.  But I promise you, it won’t happen again.  Now excuse me, I have to apologize to my team.”

The coach smiled.  They had finally found their franchise quarterback, the leader that would produce positive organizational outcomes.

 

References

Hughes, R., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J (1993) Power and Influence. Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience. Homewood, IL. Irwin. 0256102783. Ch. 5. pp. 107-131.

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE.

Leadership – You Need Traits and Skills

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All leaders have to be able to communicate effectively.  Close your eyes and think of three leaders, either political, business, academia, religious or sports.  Is there a common characteristic that the three individuals share?  Odds are that each of these individuals is inspiring through verbal communication.  Waldman at al. (2011) suggest that the ability to inspire is fundamental in instilling confidence and motivation in followers and that they are able to do so in large part to their communication abilities.  Recalling that leadership can be defined as a process by which an individual influences others towards a common goal, we can see that the most important part of leadership is communication.  Communicating effectively is both a trait and a learnable skill.

Leadership as a construct is difficult to define.  There are many different approaches to defining leadership and while they all have strengths, they also have weaknesses.  The trait approach “restricts leadership to those who are believed to have special characteristics” (Northouse, 2022, p. 25) which are said to be inborn qualities.  This view is problematic as it alludes that leadership is not a learnable skill.  Other approaches, such as the skills approach, view leadership as a process by which “skills and abilities can be learned and developed” (p. 56).  However, in order to apply those skills and abilities to leadership, the individual must possess certain traits. Both approaches are interdependent on each other.

Proponents of the trait approach to leadership will point to the five major leadership traits that Northouse (2022) lists; self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability (p. 32) as crucial components that make a good leader.  Additionally, there are the Big Five personality factors; neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness (p. 35).  In communicating with others, individuals must have sociability and self-confidence traits.  A person that is shy and is adverse to crowds would have a bigger obstacle to being a good public speaker.  Self-confidence and extraversion are the two qualities that every leader who is a great communicator has to possess.  Self-confidence is the individual’s ability to project to others that they know what they’re doing and gives them confidence in the individual’s leadership skills.  Self-confidence in the individual is critical because leadership “involves influencing others” (p. 33).  Extraversion, the ability to be sociable and assertive, is the personality “factor most strongly associated with leadership” (p. 35).  A leader that sounds and looks confident is inspirational.

The traits previously mentioned, self-confidence and extraversion, by themselves don’t make a leader.  Similar to people born with exceptional physical gifts, to become an athlete that person needs to develop athletic skills.  They have to have the motivation, or determination, to succeed.  The three-skill approach proposes that leadership “depends on three basic personal skills: technical, human and conceptual” (p. 57).  These three components can be learned and taught.  An inspirational leader has to develop his human skills, the ability to work with others and effectively communicate their vision to them, more than the other two, but all three are essential.  First, to have the ability to sound genuine, the leader must have even a little of the technical skills.  Self-confidence alone will not earn trust.  Second, an inspirational leader is essentially selling a vision of how he or she sees the process.  Conceptual skills is the “ability to work with ideas” (p. 58).  Inspirational leaders excel at this skill, which is a learnable skill.  Conversely, a person that is genetically deficient in athletic abilities will have a more difficult path to becoming a professional athlete, no matter if they master all the necessary skills.

Leadership requires both skills and traits.  Imagine for a moment that you’re in a school assembly and are about to hear two students give speeches on the importance of recycling.  You know both students fairly well since you share at least one class with them.  Student A is quiet, reserved and generally keeps to himself.  He rarely speaks up in class and makes little to no effort to get to know his fellow students.  He is extremely intelligent and although he speaks in a low, deliberate manner, you trust that he knows what he is talking about.  From a skills perspective, he has the technical skills and is good at understanding concepts but is not very good at human skills.  Student B is outgoing, jovial and is quick to introduce himself to everyone.  He is not the smartest in the class but he is extremely motivated to succeed and has a positive energy about him that the other students respond to.  From a traits perspective, he as the components of a good leader.  Their speeches contain basically the same core information but the delivery is different.  Student A is more technical in his approach to solving the recycling issue and his proposals are tangible but his voice is monotone and some would say boring.  Student B does not offer technical detailed solutions but he is passionate and moves around the stage, raising and lowering his cadence, which is a skill he started to develop from a speech class he took the previous semester.  He implores the student body to act and communicates his vision of how the school can become a leader in recycling processes.  He challenges the students and faculty to become the beacon of green policies for other higher education institutions.  While Student A received mild applause for his detailed and attainable plan, Student B received a standing ovation.  Student B had the traits and developed the skills that made him the leader that day.

Great leaders are great communicators that can not only influence others, they can inspire others.  Mastering the art of communicating effectively can transcend a good leader into an inspirational leader.  Inspirational leaders have these effects on followers and organizations . . . primarily because of their visionary communication abilities” (Waldman et al., 2011, p. 61).  Communication proficiency is impacted both by traits and skills.

References

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE.

Waldman, D. A., Balthazard, P. A., & Peterson, S. J. (2011). Leadership and neuroscience: Can we revolutionize the way that inspirational leaders are identified and developed?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 25(1), 60-74.  https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amp.25.1.60

The Authentic Leadership of RBG

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Northouse describes Authentic Leadership as leadership that “is about the authenticity of leaders and their leadership (Northouse, 2019).” He went on to discuss how this type of leadership can be defined using three separate perspectives: the intrapersonal perspective, interpersonal process, and developmental perspective. The intrapersonal perspective involves the leader’s self-knowledge, self-regulation, and self-concept. With this approach, leaders were suggested to be original and demonstrate genuine leadership (Northouse, 2019). The interpersonal perspective described authentic leadership as a relationship between both the leader and the follower, where authentic leadership stems from not only the leader, but the response of the followers. Finally, the developmental perspective viewed this type of leadership as “something that can be nurtured in a leader, rather than as a fixed trait (Northouse, 2019).”

A leader who epitomizes these perspectives along with the very definition of an authentic leader is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or more famously known as RBG. She was the second woman to be sworn in as a Supreme Court justice, where she advocated for women’s rights and other marginalized groups. She demonstrated the intrapersonal perspective by being a dedicated, long-standing Supreme Court Justice that led with intrinsic motivation along with the greater good of society. For example, she is best known for arguing for cases on gender equality and fought tirelessly to defend the constitution and argued for historical cases that ended instances of gender discrimination throughout the country. 

Northouse includes Bill George’s Authentic Leadership approach, where he describes that “authentic leaders have a genuine desire to serve others, they know themselves, and they feel free to lead from their core values (Northouse, 2019).” RBG spent her entire life serving others and never strayed from her core values, even when challenging a system rooted in traditional values that refused to see women as equal to men. She stayed true to her beliefs and fought for the rights of others, even when it did not directly benefit her in her position of determining the law.

Additionally, RBG demonstrated using the interpersonal process throughout her time as a Supreme Court justice. The interpersonal process stresses that “authenticity emerges from the interactions between leaders and followers (Northouse, 2019).” She accomplished this by convincing the male-dominated Supreme Court that equality for women is a fundamental right and used the Constitution to defend this. With the influence of her fellow Justices, she was able to use these “followers” to alter the way the law viewed women’s rights through her authenticity as a leader.

Conclusively, Northouse conceptualized authentic leadership as a “pattern of leader behavior that develops from, and is grounded in, the leader’s positive psychological qualities and strong ethics.” RBG’s ethics and core values were what allowed her to advocate for others and change the dynamic of society. She possessed all the qualities of an authentic leader, and her legacy inspired generations of women throughout her service, and will continue to do so beyond her passing. 

Reference

Northouse, P.G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

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