Sports are played in arenas, and business is done in conference rooms, but they are fundamentally similar—you and your team must work together and push each other to succeed. Being able to do this is easier said than done. Luckily, leadership training can help you learn all the skills you need to develop a dynasty-caliber team so you can hang a banner year after year!
At Consilio, we have empowered countless companies—from bootstrap startups to Fortune 100s—to realize their full potential through leadership coaching. Explore the different qualities great leaders possess and why they matter.
What Are the 5 Qualities of a Good Leader You Can Learn in Leadership Training?
Whether you are looking at leaders at a company or on a sports team, those who have the most success typically share similar qualities. From the Mamba mentality to resilience in the face of adversity, let’s get into the top five to hone.
1. Growth Mindset
One quality that nearly every great sports leader possesses is a growth mindset. Think of all the greats, from Michael Jordan to Tom Brady. They were never satisfied with their performance and understood there was always room for improvement.
Because, when you get to the big leagues, the difference between a win and a loss can be determined in inches and milliseconds. Marginal improvements create success over failure. Leadership training will teach you to embrace a growth mindset and find ways to constantly grow.
You’ll cultivate the courage to pursue new challenges, accept new responsibilities, and identify your shortcomings so that you can overcome them. Complacency is not a part of this mindset. Rather, as the best version of yourself, you’ll approach every day as an opportunity to improve.
2. Communication & Teamwork
Communication and teamwork facilitation are crucial for all leaders. You must be candid, and convey your needs and goals in a way that resonates with your team, is easy for them to understand, and inspires them to realize their full potential.
Great communication requires learning skills such as active listening, emotional intelligence, and tact. You must also adapt your communication style to each person and situation using tools like DiSC assessments. Take time to learn how your people feel about projects, decisions, morale, direction, and company or team vision. Empathy is crucial.
By communicating with your team openly, in the ways they are most receptive to, you encourage them to do the same, which is the bedrock of great teamwork. You will build stronger bonds and partnerships with your team, facilitate communication between team members, and create a cohesive unit that is greater than the sum of its parts.
It’s easy to feel like you need to be an expert in all areas, but that’s impossible. You hired your team for a reason, so you need to trust that they will deliver when the lights are bright. Encouraging them empowers them to succeed when you call their number.
When it comes to any team sport, one person can’t carry a team to success. If you constantly put the team first and are willing to make unpopular or difficult decisions, your team will do the same. As a leader, you set the tone.
“To build a championship-caliber squad, they need to know the goal is always the championship. Period. Tell them when they are and aren’t contributing to a title run, and celebrate them when they are. But for this to work, you have to build trust, establish a rapport, and have a team that shares the same goals—and that starts with communication and teamwork.”
– Stacey McKibbin, CEO, Consilio
3. Adaptability
Like any competitive game, business is dynamic. The conditions you perform in constantly change, and you have to be able to adapt to them.
This requires learning the value of situational leadership—adapting your leadership style to the situation at hand. Leadership training will teach you to be flexible. If you go into the locker room losing at half-time, you’ll need to be agile and able to make adjustments if you want to pivot to win.
Has a new supplier disrupted the market? Has new technology changed the landscape? You control how you adapt to and overcome the challenges that those changes pose.
“If you’re a high-powered offense in the NFL that lives and dies by deep passesand explosive plays, but the defense drops backs into coverage to take that away, you have to recognize that and accept that, to win, you will have to march down the field five yards at a time. If you’re an all-star shooter in the NBA who the defense keeps double-teaming, there will be wide-open lanes in the paint you can capitalize on. Adaptability is one of the most important skills you develop through leadership coaching.”
– Stacey McKibbin, CEO, Consilio
4. Accountability
Great leaders take complete ownership of the outcome and performance of their team. They are quick to acknowledge their mistakes and praise the people around them who enable their team to succeed.
Watch any post-game interview with good team captains, and it’s clear as day—when a team wins, they make it all about the guys they’re in the trenches with working their tails off. But if a team loses, they acknowledge the mistakes they made as the leader that lost the game. Great leaders always recognize where they could have played better to eke out a win. Because the adage is true: heavy lies the crown. Leadership development will teach you to be selfless in victory and accept the blame in defeat.
In defeat, there’s more than enough blame to go around—you could fill a stadium with it. But blaming others is only a distraction, and it will cost you the chance at success.
“Accountability is probably the most important aspect of building a good company culture. When you recognize your team’s contributions to success, they feel valued and are more likely to go above and beyond to replicate that. And when you recognize your failures, whether it’s in developing new systems or managing a project, it builds trust. They respect you for your honesty and ownership, and they are more likely to do the same.”
– Stacey McKibbin, CEO, Consilio
5. Resilience
In business, one mistake or even one bad game doesn’t define your season. How you respond to those losses is more important.
When Patrick Mahomes throws a pick, he learns from it and keeps slinging it. When Luka Doncic misses a wide-open three-pointer, you know he’s dying for an opportunity to drain one on the next possession. And if he misses that? He’ll keep shooting.
Leadership training will teach you to persevere and develop resilience in the face of adversity. This is one of the most important qualities a leader can have because it’s contagious, and your team will quickly learn to embrace the same attitude.
“You and your team must always be prepared to get back up each time you’re knocked down. Don’t dwell on short-term failures. Instead, focus on what you learned from them so that you can avoid making those same mistakes again. If that means going back to the drawing board, so be it. Every game plan eventually needs to be improved.”
– Stacey McKibbin, CEO, Consilio
Do You Want to Elevate Your Team and Business to Go and Get a Chip? Get Leadership Training Today!
Do you want to take that next step as a leader and enter the rarified “elite” territory reserved for those who can take their team on a title run? Leadership training is essential to get there! And at Consilio, we can help develop and coach you into a championship-caliber leader.
If you are ready to build a dynasty with your team, visit our Leadership Lab page to learn about our leadership coaching program!
