Leadership can be defined as the process of leading a group and influencing that group to achieve its goals. A successful leadership should also include motivating people and getting them excited about their contributions to group success (Guss, 2010). And there are two key aspects of team leadership in the case of Ange Postecoglou and the Brisbane Roar. One of the key aspects should be that leadership is a process, which means it assist a team, as a formal group, to build its organization structure and own culture suitable for motivating the whole team to get the gold. In this case, super coach Ange Postecoglou did not bring his team an immediate victory as soon as he took over the management position but gradually led his team to overcome the dark slump, insisted in what both he and his players believing in, kept on training and achieved the wonderful success at the end. The merging period had been last for around one year long and during the one-year period Postecoglou did a lot of communications with the players which definitely accelerate the speed for him to know everything about every single person he lead. Another key aspects is that leadership is kind of property. According to the definition of leadership, it’s known that under non-coercive influence, once the leadership has been made, it became the most effective method to gather the individuals in a team to fight for their joint goal. In this case, obviously, Postecoglou has strong professional background and recruits players himself. That is the reason why his leadership was built up so fast and have been so influential.
In terms of planning, the key aspect is clear the communication, setting goals step by step and holding on till the end (Zenger and Folkman, 2002). Postecoglou did it well when he took over at the Roar in the beginning of the 2009-2010 season with a clear step-by-step checklist of what he wanted to do. Although the situation of the team did not positive enough from the perspectives of mass media and fans Postecoglou did not doubt his long-term plan would make difference.
When it comes to strategy and organisational culture, the usual steps for setting foundation for the long run of a team should be mentioned. The steps are to define goals, objectives and scope of product services, to assess available resources, to evaluate external environment, to evaluate organisational processes, to assess competitive advantage, to develop plan/competitive strategy, communicate strategy, to implement strategy and to evaluate (Nelson and Quick, 2007). In this case, the football team of Postecoglou and that of Frank Farina, the former team manager has totally distinct culture and organizational construction. The team alters from a individual focus group into a team highlights coherence and teamwork. The manager and the plays enjoy joint goals and reach agreements on how their training should be and how could everyone be better specific role as a part of the whole team. As the leader of Brisbane Roar, based on his professional background Postecoglou do determinate with his plan to build a united team by his style, which force him to make critical decisions when the strategy was implemented. In other words, Postecoglou had no idea but to fire more than half of the original players who were not willing to devote their entire time as well as concentrations into the training. At this point, Postecoglou not only paid attention on reform the environment of the original team, but also kept on recruiting the types of players who would both ‘buy into’ and play to his desired style even these recruits are relatively low-profile.
General speaking, there is a common key point of team leadership, planning, strategy and organisational culture outlined in this case. That is long-term perspective. To control the direction of a team’s development and make right moves the long-term perspective is necessary. And to make single member as a part of an integer and working together is much more efficient than focusing in individuals no matter in a football team or a business group.
Key elements of Change Management
Almost every organizations face changes during their development if the organizations wish to be ever green because the society is progressing. In the case of Brisbane Roar, Postecoglou quickly made some significant changes to the team’s membership. He had wide soccer experience, both as a player and manager, and had gradually developed detailed ideas about the sort of team he wanted to create. He was determined to change the Roar’s style of play, and knew that recruiting the right type of player was crucial to achieving his vision. He needed players who could both play the style of game he wanted and, most importantly, to ‘buy into’ that.
