Coach Dungy Leadership

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Engage, educate, equip, encourage, empower, energize, and elevate are seven key words that legendary coach Tony Dungy believes are instrumental in the development of leadership (p. 166). As a Hall of Fame member, Dungy is not only an elite football coach, but he is widely considered to be one of the best modern leaders and mentors both on and off the field. In his books The Mentor Leader and Quiet Strength, it’s amazing to see how this soft-spoken, calm, and down to earth man of God has had such a profound impact on so many different individuals through his leadership abilities.
It’s easy to look at coach Dungy and think success and leadership came easy to him without struggles. However, in his book The Mentor Leader, he repeatedly thanks those …show more content…

One specific mentor who Coach Dungy cites as having a profound impact on him was Coach Chuck Noll. Tony had the unique opportunity of playing for Coach Noll with the Pittsburg Steelers. After his playing career ended, he joined his staff as an assistant coach. One key viewpoint that Coach Dungy took from coach Noll was the value on spending one-on-one time with others to develop, grow, and nurture them (p 119). When he received his first head coaching job at Tampa Bay, he made sure to implement this philosophy directly into his team. This is where it appears coach Dungy led through the structural frame. He implemented a system in which he would meet with some of his assistant coaches one-on-one. The assistant coaches would meet with and teach the veterans on the team, and the veterans would in turn teach the younger players. It wasn’t necessarily meant to be constructed from a hierarchy perspective, but rather an organized model to help develop a cohesive efficient family unit. However, his …show more content…

However this could not be further from the personality traits and qualities that coach Dungy possesses. One of the first things that stuck out to us when learning more about coach Dungy was his overall general love and value for people. His philosophy was that to become a true successful leader you must learn how to put people first. He states, “If we lose sight of people, we lose sight of the very purpose of leadership.” He believes that one’s position or status was only a piece of the equation but to truly be successful in leading, we must focus on relationships and positive influence (p. 6). It was evident to us that Coach Dungy’s most natural leadership frame according to Bolman and Deal’s Reframing Organizations was the Human Resource frame. A consistent theme that he preaches to his players and staff is the emphasis on family. He believed so strongly in this philosophy that he made sure that balancing his own personal family life was second only to his relationship with God. It’s very common in professional sports such as the NFL to have a win at all costs mentality where coaches grind their players and staff for results. Eventually this can take a toll on not only a head coach, but all those within an organization. Therefore Tony went about his model in a slightly different way and once again led to through the Human Resource Frame. Of course, there is

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