The Case of the Chastened Cheerleader
by Wayne Turmel

My daughter, Her Serene Highness (HSH), is a high school freshman and co-captain of the Junior Varsity Cheerleading Squad.  Lately, I've been taking more of an interest than usual, and I wish it were out of fatherly concern or involvement in her life.  But, no – it's a fascinating study in the challenges of leadership.

Just before Christmas, she came home from practice in tears because her team was in chaos. Backbiting, disagreement over whether things were too hard, and, more important, HSH's job as leader were at issue.  Even though HSH had been elected co-captain overwhelmingly, people were no longer blindly following her commands . . .  and it was causing all the drama one would associate with a closely knit group of adolescent cheerleaders.

"But I'm the leader, Dad," she said between sobs. "They're supposed to do what I say."  Well, even her insensitive lout of a father knew better than to tell her her job was not to tell them where to go, what to do, and when to do it – but to communicate the goal and help them to get there.  So I listened to her tale of woe and nodded sagely.  Then I put the kettle on for tea.  I'm Canadian: it's what we do.

Why weren't her teammates doing what she wanted?

• Some felt the moves were too hard

• Others thought the routine was lame, despite the fact (or maybe because) a teacher had designed it especially for them

• At least one decided she'd rather be in charge
  

• They didn't realize it would be this much work, so they were generally crabby.

It doesn't take much to realize that issues of engagement, insecurity, and politics were behind all of those cheerleading challenges, just as they are at work. 

So what did my little Leader do?  She got the team together for a sleep-over (a thousand thanks it wasn't at our house!).  They bonded, argued, cried – and then went out to kick butt at the next competition.  Nothing like a little success to put the strut back in the team.  In the end, HSH had weathered the storm, feels better about her team (and her leadership skills) and has re-earned the respect of her colleagues.

Sometimes, when we listen to the Cranky Middle Manager show, or read management books, we think of leadership as something that comes from on high.  But leadership is learned — one hard lesson at a time — and the study starts early.  Whether it's implementing a million-dollar project, or just getting Melanie to lock knees on her Libs (that’s cheerleader-speak; I have no idea what it means) – leadership is something we have to continually work on and improve.

My daughter's experience taught me something else: You can't learn leadership for someone.  People have to get it themselves.  And it's seldom pretty.

Of course, it's also nothing a good cup of tea can't solve.

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You can catch Wayne’s observations for yourself at The Cranky Middle Manager, as well as at his newest venture, Great Web Meetings.  As a guest on his podcast (which you can download here), I can tell you Wayne has a singular gift for communicating management topics.  In his book, A Philistine’s Journal, Wayne offers similarly whimsical, but substantive, insights into the great classics of literature.  With due respect to Her Serene Highness, Wayne is definitely worth cheering for!