I’m coaching my son’s youth baseball team. I’ve found that leading a group of 11-year-old boys is pretty much the same as leading a group of adult professionals.
In both cases, the job involves:
- keeping them focused
- keeping them motivated
- removing roadblocks to allow them to remain productive
- assigning each individual a role that benefits the entire team while complementing that person’s skills, interests and style.
Finally, here’s a quote on leadership, with which I wholeheartedly agree, that’s attributed to the book, The Four Agreements: A practical guide to personal freedom:
“The primal responsibility of leadership is to prime good feeling in the people we lead.”
How does one do that other than by helping them fill a role they enjoy, and then helping them to stay motivated, focused and productive?
OK, there may be one difference between adults and kids: Adults aren’t as motivated by the promise of pretzels and a juice pouch.