Double hating coach and captain

Business in many instances is likened to sports. We often hear of business leaders playing the role of the coach, leading and developing the team to achieve their full potential.

However if you look closely at the structure of most sports teams, there is a captain, who plays the role of leader as well, in the team. So even though the captain and the coach have a leadership mandate, there is some clear differences between what the captain does and what the coach does.

The coach sets the direction of the team and the captain ensures buy in and pace sets the movement of the team. The coach looks at the teams individual strengths and places the team accordingly and the captain plays to their strengths and ensures full optimisation of those strength.

The coach has a better view of the team, while the captain runs with the team. Both are leadership roles and both are important. In business or any other environment that has a team, sometimes the team leader needs to wear both hats. The leader needs to know when its time to be consultative and inclusive as well as when to give mandate and direction, based on resources available and what the organisation is trying to achieve.

So when one has been honoured with the responsibility of leading a team, remember it might be beneficial to draw on both the coach and captains roles!