LEADERSHIP

Leadership is the ability to influence a group towards the achievement of a vision or a set of goals. Today, there are many theories on leadership – trait theories, behavioral theories and contingency theories to identify the leadership style of a leader. Based on these theories and Shane Warne’s leadership style as Rajasthan Royal’s Captain and Coach, our team has been able to classify Warne as a Transformational Leader.

Shane Warne – The Transformational Leader “Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better” - Bill Bradley.

Transformational leaders are the one who inspire followers to transcend their own interests and who are capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on followers.
Shane Warne had a team of underdogs/amateur players, but Warne as a captain and also the coach could inspire and motivate the team and hence was able to unlock their potential, which eventually made them the first IPL champions.

Characteristics of Shane Warne as the Transformational Leader

* Idealized Influence – Shane Warne had a vision about the entire IPL with a clear road map to achieve his goal. He made sure that every individual is given a unique role to play according to his skillset and also provided constant mentoring, support and had immense faith and trust in his team members. * Inspirational Motivation– Shane Warne was able to instill a ‘can do’ spirit in his young inexperienced team members. For e.g. – To motivate and boost young Sohail Tanvir’s confidence, Warne used to call him ‘magician’ and kept on saying “when the ball is in your hand, think you are the best bowler on earth”. * Intellectual Stimulation – Shane Warne used to keep open team meetings and strategy discussions, where every team member was absolutely free to share his views, irrespective of his experience or first-hand knowledge in the game. * Individualized Consideration- Being the coach as well as the captain, Warne could spend more and more time with his team mates, he properly utilized the time by interacting with each individual in his team and also by guiding them where the individual has to concentrate to improve his skills. He assigned each team member of the team with specific goals, according to their skillset. For e.g. - Yusuf Pathan was asked to be ‘The statement maker’ – He was given total freedom to play aggressively and dominate the start of innings to maintain a good powerful run rate.

Specific key points in Shane Warne’s Leadership Style

* Goal-differentiation – Shane Warne having a clear understanding about his team’s plight and IPL, differentiated his team’s goal into short, intermediate and long-term goals to achieve the main goal. * Motivator- Constantly motivated and supporting his team. Warne even used to praise his team members publicly on their good efforts to keep their morale up. * Positivity- Warne made the best out of the resources (novice team) given to him. * All for one and one for all– Bonding with each other in the team on a regular and also on an informal basis increased the team’s sense of belonging and commitment. * Communication– Good communication on a verbal and non-verbal basis is needed for good on field communication in cricket. Warne being an Australian did not know the language of the majority in the team i.e. Hindi, but he took extra effort to learn the language and also to communicate with his team in whichever way possible. * Lead from the front- Shane Warne was decisive and he never hesitated to take bold decisions, when it was needed. He also performed well, keeping in mind he is the leader and his performance is a big factor in keeping the team’s morale up. * Self-belief- Warne believed self-belief manifests motivation and increases confidence level and which in turn raises the performance level. * Consistency- He was focused to maintain an overall consistent team performance by constantly motivating his team to excel. He also made sure that two or three consecutive wins in the game, never made the team over-confident about it.