In football or soccer clubs around the globe there are some great environments to play football, get better and enjoy the experience and there are some less desirable environments.  Many factors come in to play when it comes down to culture and environment in clubs including the set up and structure, policies and procedures, external pressures, club history and traditions, location, player behaviour and leadership style.

For the purpose of this article we’ll be focusing on leadership style specifically for football and soccer coaches and how this plays a part in the culture at your club.  The intention of this week’s X-FACTOR is aimed to help football or soccer coaches understand themselves and their players better so that you can adapt your approach accordingly.

I’m sure you have come across some coaches who naturally sync with players.  Whereas with other players, they find it harder work.  One of the reasons for this is a person’s leadership style where coaches and players are more task-orientated or socially orientated and will at an unconscious level often gravitate towards someone with a similar leadership style.

Football or soccer coaches who have a socially oriented leadership style

If your preference is to be a socially orientated leader you’ll likely be the coach who places a strong focus on developing your players and supporting their journey.  You’ll likely care a great deal about how the decisions that you or your coaching staff make will impact them.

As a result, you’ll likely place a strong importance on:

• Creating a team first mentality with attention placed on team morale, team building and team bonding all trademarks of a high performing team.
• Developing and maintaining strong relationships through effective communication, be that active listening or good lines of questioning.
• The well-being of your players will be paramount, where you’ll view them as people before footballers.
• Motivating your players, commitment, effort and efficiency will be at the forefront of your mind.
• A balance between challenging players to improve and supporting them to feel good in themselves.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti is considered one of the most famous socially-oriented football coaches as you’ll note in a quote I mention below when I share further thoughts. 

Pro’s and con’s of socially-oriented coaching

Having a socially-oriented approach equals:

• A better environment and culture in your club, which makes the training ground a nice place to be.
• Players won’t feel like a number, they’ll feel that the matter as people and that their contributions are valued. 
• Footballers will feel heard, they will be given opportunities to express their opinions which often means they’ll go that extra mile for the coaching team and club.
• Coaching staff and players who feel like they are learning every day and improving, where a holistic approach is valued to benefit everyone in the club.

This sounds like the perfect environment to play football in however the reality is a lot different because:

• In football you often don’t get time, especially in elite professional football where results and the league table are often at the forefront of the club executives mind.   To build a strong culture, time is required to ensure that a nice mix of people are recruited to ensure that your club gets long term results.
• The CEO of the club and board alongside senior coaches are likely to form a vision of where they want the club to go however, a socially orientated approach by coaches can cause issues with the vision.  Difficult decisions often have to be made and the socially orientated coach can sometimes put these decisions off favouring a more democratic approach where people’s voices are heard. 
• There is a risk that socially orientated football coaches can become to close or “pally” with players which can cause issues with discipline.  Blurred lines, a failure to understand roles and check expectations can also set in, in this regards, it means standards can drop.   

What about task orientated coaching?

The task-oriented coach is likely to be hands on and a doer who:

• Enjoys setting goals so that they can make sure the team stays on track.
• Is eager to finish what they set out to do and has a sharp focus on results, statistics and league tables.
• Has a need for structure, identifying roles, tactics and plans to make sure the goals they want to achieve are met.
• Is highly intrinsically motivated and eats, sleeps and breathes football.
• Rarely gets distracted from what they are looking to achieve in training or in matches.

Pro’s and con’s of task-oriented coaching

As a task-oriented coach, you will be good at:

• Telling players and coaching staff what is required to achieve their individual and collective goals.  You tend to communicate in simple terms not overcomplicating the process. 
• Allowing your players opportunity to ask questions if they feel their role is unclear in the team.
• Providing resources to ensure the job you want done is completed the way it should be.
• You’re likely to be strict on discipline and will not tolerate those who are late to training.
• You know your players well, as footballers, recognising their strengths and limitations on the pitch and setting your teams up accordingly.
• Motivating your players and staff so that they drive forwards towards completing their objectives.

There are some real positives from being a task-orientated coach in terms of focus and drive to succeed however there are many downsides too:

• The training ground can be an unpleasant place to be where players and staff are on edge, especially when results don’t go your way.
• Criticism and blame can follow task orientated coaches undermining morale with the result an unhappy camp.
• The task-oriented coach will likely see players as players not people, pushing them to their maximum in pursuit of their goals and not showing a great deal of empathy for the well-being of the player.
• An environment which leads to poor enjoyment and productivity. 
• Creativity can be stifled as the route to success is clearly marked out and anything that deviates from this formula is likely to be shot down.
• Players often play in fear, lacking spontaneity and freedom.
• The development of players and coaching staff is limited due to rigid structures and a lack of opportunity to explore how they can get better, develop and grow. 

Overall, is there a better approach in football coaching  – social or task leadership?  I’d be interested to know your thoughts. 

In my opinion, a coaching team can benefit from both styles as long as all of the coaches are aware of their strengths and flaws and are prepared to be open-minded to adapt their approach and keep each other accountable to agreed behaviours.  Kicking ego’s out of the training ground is key here and reminding each other of collective goals, regularly.

A question to ponder:

Can you be both a social-orientated and task-oriented coach?

Yes, you can you can operate somewhere in the middle or at one extreme as a task or social orientated coach.  Where do you think you sit based on the information above.  Where would you plot yourself on this spectrum?