Facilitating Open Communication
It is important for a leader to be approachable and dependable but this can be difficult when the leader wants to keep authority. It is vital the leader keeps a balance and is consistent with the initial boundaries he created. However, a team will not feel they can communicate their concerns and views to their leader if they are unapproachable and close off from any discussions or ideas. (Wise Geek, 2013) In the film, many members of the team fail to honour the contract and coach carter takes action but he does not let this cause more friction than necessary. Coach Carter recognises that communication and understanding are vital within a team and so he brings the team together for a discussion. Coach Carter listens to how the individuals feel in his team and carefully explains his reasons for his actions. Closed communication can cause great challenges with in a team and it is therefore important that the leader has the tools to recognise this and work to over come them.
Resistance to Applying Change
Anybody in a leadership role may struggle in applying change. For example, when a new leader is appointed it is probable that they will want to change the way that some things are run. The image below shows a Resistance to Change Chart (Rick, 2011) which displays some classic psychological attitudes towards change.
Resistant attitudes are sometimes adopted because of 'fear of the unknown' and 'feeling connected to the old way of doing things'. In a health and social care context this may be common when changes occur within a professional practice or individually if for example someone's care plan is changed. Additionally some of these attitudes can be seen in the film when Coach Carter informs the team and their parents that the boys will not play unless their grades are at a certain standard. At first people were angry and complained to the principal. There were elements of confusion as people did not understand why Coach Carter was doing this and a small crisis occurred when he shut the gym indefinitely. Eventually this change was embraced as the boys started to exceed in their school work and gave them confidence as they began to play basketball again.
The Reconciliation Challenge
In order to pursue sustainability old behaviours must be broken down, old habits must be stopped and new practices installed. Often changing such deep-rooted behaviours can cause conflict. It is how the leader handles the conflict caused by the change that determines whether a) the problem is solved and b) whether the relationship can be rebuilt (Donahue, 2013).
Leaders tend to take 1 of 2 approaches;
1) A kind, gentle approach designed to woo the person back into the relationship
2) A direct and confrontational strategy that immediately requires a direct response.
The first approach often involves the "kind" leaders circling the field, in hope that the conflict will disappear or that things will smooth over of their own accord. The more confrontational leaders tend to take a "shoot first, ask questions later" approach. As Donahue (2013) suggests it is probably most effective to hold the two in tension.
In relation to Coach Carter, there are clear examples of times when Ken has had to break old habits; in regards to the students lack of commitment to academia, and install new practices; improving their academic contribution in order to gain the privilege of returning to their passion of basketball.
Criticism
Every leader no matter how good they are will experience criticism at one point through their time as a leader (Riordan, 2012). Coach carter had to face criticism when he made the decision to close the gym and forfeit a basketball game because his team were not going to classes and maintaining good grades. The team players, their parents, the school principle and the community were not happy with the decision Coach Carter had made and criticised him. They done this by saying things like "your methods are good but your intentions are a bit extreme" "taking away basket ball, the one area of their lives that they have some success", some thought he was "unfair", the team players thought it was all about him and one man even went as far as spitting at him for not letting the team play.
The Influence Challenge
The Influence Challenge is a concept that if a leader is not able to influence the individuals they are leading they will not be able to successfully lead a cohort of people. " the heart of leadership is how you impact on people- to achieve the vision... if you cannot influence them you cannot lead them" (Waldock and Rawat 2004).
In relation to Coach Carter he was able to influence his team players into changing their attitudes towards education. He influenced them work in all aspects of schooling.
It was a challenge for Coach Carter as his decisions to try and influence the team players was not immediately adopted by the teams and he faced a lot of criticism for his decisions. However eventually the his methods did work and he was successful in influencing the teams players into respecting their education. Hence building a better future for all the players.
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