When you are wrong

Congratulations - you were just elected to a leadership role. Your teammates believe in you and trust you to lead a their team into its next season. You feel pretty good about yourself knowing you having this trust and confidence working for you.

But hey, guess what? You can be wrong. About a lot of things.

Just because you are in a leadership position does not make you infallible. I feel too often leaders do not realize this and walk around on a high horse. You were elected to a certain position because of your capabilities and your teammates' trust you can get things done, but you have to realize when you are wrong.

This can be done in a variety of ways but it needs to be done. You need to have your coach (or fellow captain, experienced player) tell you when you are not performing on the field. Last weekend at our Indoor Tournament, I realized I was telling the team not to get beat up-line or protect the around, etc but I was not following through in my words. I told our sub caller to not put me in for a little (also because my foot was in throbbing pain) as a short of self-check. One person is not the best at everything and each person needs to realize that. If you play thinking you are the best, you will not be able to take criticism and consequently you will never improve your game.

Part of being a good leader is acknowledging when you are wrong and fixing that. Using the phrases, "I'm sorry","my bad", or something of the like goes a long way. It shows your team that you do care about them and it isn't just about you.

This doesn't just go to elected leadership. This goes to all of the players on your teams. You may have a stud on your team who for whatever reason wasn't elected to the position you hold, but he/she can still be wrong too. I feel it is more than okay to pull your star player if he/she is not playing to the team's style. EVEN IF HE/SHE IS SCORING ALL OF THE GOALS. I will definitely write on this point at a later date because I feel strongly about that topic - but right now, just realize your star players can be wrong as well.

I'm not quite sure if what I'm writing is self-explanatory or not. I'm in the middle of reading 287 pages about pirates in the Atlantic waters in the 1700s and needed a break and a reminder that I'm in the 21st century.