From Vision to Reality in Sport Leadership

Reinventing Sport Leadership - Part 4 of 16

Photo credit - Unsplash

Nelson Mandela said that:

“Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is merely daydreaming, but vision with action can change the world.”

There is an assumption that people who are elected to positions of power and authority in sport governing bodies have a vision for that organisation that will ensure that the organisation is left better than they found it. Many leaders promise members of their organisation heaven on earth and that they will improve bring change that is desired. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. That is, the real value of something can only be judged from practical experience or results and not from appearance, theory, or words. It is when push comes to shove that members of sport organisations realise that the promise of a better future was just words. It does not take long before the leaders they elected change in their orientation of leadership and begin to create toxic environments where there was supposed to grow and develop for the better. In South Africa in both government and sport, it appears as if it has become a norm to mismanage state and sport federations resources without any conscience or fear of repercussions. Many leaders have proven themselves to be incapable of turning their vision into action. Talk is cheap they say, and members-only realise extremely late that they have elected people who are disingenuous, dishonest, corrupt, self-interested, and who disagree with and disapprove of anyone who does not agree with their version of what needs to be done.

Mandela is right in saying that vision with action can change the world. Only leaders whose actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, are true leaders (John Quincy Adams). Such leaders go into their new roles with their hearts in the right place, and their minds set in the right context. There are many examples of leaders who had their hearts in the right place, and the ability to see what others could not see. In our lifetimes, we have had Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Barak Obama, Mother Teresa, Thuli Madonsela, Futhi Mtoba, and many more who withstood great pressure to be ordinary, mediocre, and conquered. These are leaders who always knew what was at stake, such as the freedoms and welfare of their people by never lost sight of their vision despite being jailed, being the first black president of the USA, the guardian of the poor in Calcutta, the true representative and defender of the welfare of the people against corruption and being a role model for many women in business. These are people, and there are many more like them who provide vision, guidance, and support to individuals, organisations, and nations to eradicate all forms of discrimination and injustice. They used their status to ensure that we all become free, the poor are looked after, and that there is freedom, justice, equality, and equity among all people. Though women are still fighting the scourge of gender-based violence, inequality, lack of equity, and justice, we have role models, who put their lives on the line for others. These leaders and many more like them did not follow where the path leads; instead, they went where there was no path and left a trail for us to follow (Ralph Waldo Emerson). It is this type of leader we want in South African sport. Leaders who know that nobody forced them to take leadership positions.

Let me reiterate what this article is about. It is about being guided by the exemplary lives and teachings of people who had vision and were able to turn it into reality, such as Nelson Mandela. It is about voluntary leaders in sport who have an absolute desire to do what is right to ensure that there are progress and development by being leaders for everyone in their organisation. It is about having a vision that prescribes how to provide proper leadership, guidance, and direction so that the sport organisation can achieve its goals through good corporate governance and organisational effectiveness. It is about focusing on the right things, and not at the leader as the be-all and end-all as if he/she was someone who is perfect, the best and most desired.

The point I am making here is that great leadership is not about self-aggrandisement. It is about selflessness in serving members of one’s organisation. Great leaders, as I explained in Part 3, are their own worst critics making them able to know their strengths and weaknesses. Visionary leadership is about using power and authority for the collective good of members of the organisation. Visionary leadership is not about self-aggrandisement, it is about selflessness in serving members of the organisation.

So, what is visionary leadership wielded by a committed leader in South African sport? Visionary leaders acknowledge that positive change and progress emanates from collective thinking from all members of an organisation. Although there are leaders and followers, both have an equal stake in the future, success, and sustainability of the sport organisation. No one owns the wisdom to bring success, sustainability, transformation, and change alone. The visionary leader ensures that there is joint responsibility in making sure that the organisation’s goals and objectives are achieved within the timeframes that have been set. In other words, a visionary leader allows her/himself to be held accountable by the members of his organisation.

Though collective thinking is key in ensuring success and positive change, the visionary leader has a most important responsibility that s/he and her/his team must carry out. It is having a clear idea (vision) of how the future of the organisation should look. Through visioning and strategic planning, visionary leaders’ area able to formulate and set out concrete steps needed to turn the vision into reality through their expert leadership of their teams. Visionary leaders can influence through well-prepared and informed arguments why the course of action being proposed is the desired one if the organisations are to achieve their goals and objectives. In other words, a visionary leader has a clear idea of how the future should look like, and then goes about setting out concrete steps to bring the vision to life. John C. Maxwell states that “a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” Great and visionary leaders get their supporters happy to follow them because they are bold, frank, strategic, well-informed, well-informed, well-organised, focused, decisive, inspirational, calculated risk takers, innovative, great communicators, open-minded, not afraid of being challenged, have social intelligence and so forth.

Therefore, despite the fact a person can volunteer to be a leader of a sport organisation, the test of visionary leadership is in charting a course that everyone will want to follow. Hence, at the end of it all:

“when the best leader’s work is done the people will, ‘We did it ourselves’” (Lao Tzu)