I recently recall hearing an author give advice to aspiring writers who weren’t sure which direction to go with their writing. She related that often times, the first book someone decides to write tends to be about something they are well versed in and comfortable writing about. In her case, it happened to be bed bugs. In other instances, maybe it could be the brain, knitting, or even architecture that the writer is most comfortable with. I’m still not entirely comfortable with the blog concept, and I don’t yet claim to be enough of an expert in leadership theories that I can apply them masterfully in various intriguing ways. So I’m going to take this particular author’s advice, and stick to what I know. I know sports, particularly baseball. Luckily, I believe the coaching aspect of baseball tends to go hand-in-hand with the idea of leadership, and I’d like to examine that a little further in this blog post.
I would argue that the leadership theory best suited for coaching baseball players is the situational approach. As we’ve learned, leaders use directive and supportive behaviors, and they should adjust their behavior depending on the followers and the situation (PSU WC, L. 5). A baseball team typically consists of a 25 man active roster. On this roster, a coach could have to manage a 10 year veteran with all the confidence and skills in the world, or a naturally gifted 21 year old rookie who is unsure whether or not he belongs, and everything in between. Clearly, an appropriate ad effective use of the situational approach to leadership can be potentially vital to successfully managing a team. I’d like to run through a couple examples of typical players, and according to the situational approach, the best way to lead these players.
Before I get into that however, I’d like to call attention to one of the leadership styles associated with the situational approach, coaching. The name might mistakenly suggest that this would be the style used in all coaching situations. While it may be true that the coaching style might work with some players, you will shortly be aware that it most certainly does not generalize across the board to all the players a coach will be leading.
Consider a highly touted player entering his first year at the major league level. Often times these players enter the big leagues with high levels of confidence and the willingness to take on their new challenge. These players often have high levels of confidence because they’ve only experienced success to this point. They typically dominate at the minor league levels, which in turn fills them with confidence upon arrival to the major leagues. However, the reality is that most highly regarded young players do not have the refined skill set and ability to succeed immediately upon their arrival. These players often fall into Development Level One, which is characterized by being unable, but confident and willing to perform the new task (PSU WC, L.5). In this first example we see a scenario where a coaching style already isn’t the best fit. It’s more important for the coach (leader) to use the high directive-low supportive directing style.
It’s also worth illustrating in a baseball context how players (followers) can move back and forth along the developmental continuum. It is very common for players who have proven to be capable, particularly pitchers, to go through a rough patch (sometimes completely attributed to bad luck). These stretches are known to turn capable and confident players into players who are able but lack confidence. A coach must be able to recognize this and adjust his leadership style to meet the new developmental level of the player. A player fitting the description I just gave, might go from Developmental Level 4, where he was both able and confident, to Developmental Level 3, where he is able but lacking confidence (PSU WC, L.5). The coach should account for this by using a supporting style, or high supportive-low directive.
I don’t know that the situational approach perfectly applies to coaching, but it’s definitely interesting to at least examine it in that context. For example, there are situations where this approach might suggest a leader display low supportive behaviors toward a young rookie, when I would argue all young players, regardless of their confidence level, could benefit from some level of support. However, as a fan of the game it was at least satisfying for me to take a deeper look into the coaching aspect using the situational approach.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2015). PSYCH 485 Lesson 5: Situational Approach. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa15/psych485/001/content/05_lesson/04_topic/01_page.html