i

Importance of Emotional Intelligence for modern day Football Coach

by

Branko Nisevic

Dissertation submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the UEFA PRO Diploma 2015-2017 in the Malta Football Association Technical Centre

Tutor: Stephen Grima

ii

Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENT..................................................................................................................... iv

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................... v

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... vi

I TODAY’S FOOTBALL TRENDS .................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Demands of today’s football ............................................................................................ 2

1.2 What is coaching? ............................................................................................................ 6

1.2.1 When the coaching is ineffective ........................................................................................... 8

1.2.2 What does it take to be a great coach ................................................................................. 10

1.2.3 What makes a leader ........................................................................................................... 13

1.3 WHAT IS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ............................................................................. 19

1.3.1 Differences between EI and IQ ............................................................................................ 23

1.3.2 Can EI be changed-improved? ............................................................................................. 25

1.3.3 Measuring EI ........................................................................................................................ 26

1.4 Benefit of good EI in management and coaching, and its importance compared to IQ 30

1.4.1 Benefit of EI in team sports .................................................................................................. 33

II RESEARCH ..................................................................................................................................... 36

2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 37

2.2 Methods ......................................................................................................................... 38

2.2.1 Participants .......................................................................................................................... 38

2.2.2 Instruments .......................................................................................................................... 39

2.2.3 Procedure ............................................................................................................................. 39

2.2.4 Results (Descriptive statistics) ............................................................................................. 40

2.2.5 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 42

III CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................... 46

3.1 Importance of EI in coaching .......................................................................................... 47

3.2 What should be the profile of today’s football coach ................................................... 50

APPENDIX A ..................................................................................................................................... 54

APPENDIX B ...................................................................................................................................... 55

APPENDIX C ...................................................................................................................................... 56

Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 57

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List of Tables

Table 1: Six Emotional Leadership styles, their characteristics and application according to Goleman

(2002) .................................................................................................................................................... 16

Table 2: Components of Emotional Intelligence at Work (Goleman 1995) .......................................... 21

Table 3: Updated Components and Competences of Emotional Intelligence Framework (Goleman

2002) ..................................................................................................................................................... 22

Table 4: Questions from Coach-Athlete Relationship Test ................................................................... 40

Table 5: The summary of received data from elevn Football Clubs in Maltese Football Premier

League ................................................................................................................................................... 40

Table 6: Comparison of the summarised data and ranking of players's total values and differences in

values between players and coaches ................................................................................................... 42

Table 7: Comparison of ranking data and League standing ................................................................. 43

Table 8: Comparison of Elite Players and Non-Elite Players ................................................................. 44

List of Figures

Figure 1: Coaching Ladder- stages from Directive to Non-Directive coaching ..................................... 11

Figure 2: Iceberg model of human's mind in Freud's comparison ....................................................... 12

Figure 3: Emotional Brain and connections .......................................................................................... 23

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This thesis, represents my attempt for detailed and more profound research about

relationships in football environment. Football is a sports activity that includes many actors,

where players and coaches are certainly the most important ones. From the first day of my

coach education, I was always obsessed with tactical and physical aspects of coaching. I have

been watching and analysing countless matches. Many DVDs and books about physical

preparation have passed through my hands, always looking for something better and up to

date.

However, human relationships within football ambient, didn’t catch my attention enough.

But it is now, after my coaching experience with all National Teams, and two Premier League

football teams, that I fully understand the importance of it. It is the starting point in football

coaching.

When choosing the topic for the thesis, we were given the option to choose the area where

we are knowledgeable and confident, or to choose the area where we think we have to

improve and add something new to our coaching portfolio. And I saw that here is the space

for improvement, and discovered that here is the essence of successful coaching.

In accomplishing my work, and conducting a research within Maltese football, I received a

great help from my tutor, Stephen Grima, and I found a very welcoming response from all the

players and coaches in our Premier League Clubs.

I believe that working on this topic will help me to become better coach and leader, and I also

believe that it will help me in managing all the other relationships, including the most

important ones, within the family. Football is probably the best work you can engage, but at

the same time, one of the most demanding. And in it, it is the support of the families that we

need, and I am lucky enough that I found a lot of support and inspiration in my wife and my

children. My success is also their success.

Finally, I hope that anyone reading this work, will also find it helpful, in his/her own pursuit

for excellence.

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ABSTRACT

The objective of this work was to investigate whether there exists any correlation between

the quality of coach-athlete relationship and team’s performance in football environment,

and explain it through scientific studies in business management and sports psychology. Also,

to further define the necessary tools which modern football coaches possess, their profile and

what differentiates the best from the rest.

The participants in this research were all football players and coaches from eleven Clubs in

Maltese Football Premier League in Season 2016/17. Research was conducted using Coach

Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q), which is specifically designed to measure the

bidirectional relationship between coach and player.

The results showed a direct relation between good coach-players relationship and positive

team performance. The best ranked teams in the Maltese Premier League, were at the same

time the teams where quality of those relationships was the highest. This findings were in line

with many similar works conducted in the department of sports psychology and effective

coaching. It further describes the necessary tool kit of today’s football coach, where man

management takes a central role. Being able to bring the players in optimal emotional state

for the competition where they can express their full potential, is nowadays more important

than physical and technical preparation. The importance to understand the players’ needs

and effectively lead them to achieve their own goals through teams’ objectives is at the

paramount of a coach’s job today. In doing so, the coach must develop an emotionally

intelligent framework in dealing with players. Some people are born with it, some get it

through their childhood upbringing, but in any case it can be learned and improved through

specially designed programs.

The nature of coach-player relationship plays important role in players’ development both as

a performer and as a person. This is why coaching today needs to take a step up in becoming

emotionally intelligent coaching, where emotional work is in the core of leadership.

Keywords: Top level football players and coaches, Player-coach relationship, Emotionally

Intelligent coaching, Leadership

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INTRODUCTION

“Football is the most important thing, of the lesser important things, in life”. This is how

football was described in Serbia, the country where I started my football adventure. I was

thirteen years old, when I played my first official match, and aged thirty nine when I played

my last one. Immediately after, I occupied a new position- football coach, which is my main

job till today. I’ve been involved in football on a daily basis, for the past thirty three years. I

grew up with football, I lived for football and I was lucky enough that I lived from football.

Doing what you like and live from it, is the ultimate goal that anybody dreams of.

In this long career, I played in two countries, for ten different clubs, shared the dressing room

with hundreds of teammates and was coached by twenty two coaches. I don’t recall that often

my relation with Clubs’ Presidents, many of the players have diminished from my memory,

but I still remember the names of every single coach. They had a big part in my growing and

maturing, in formation of my character and personality. From each one of them, I tried to

learn something. Something that I agree or didn’t agree, I like or don’t like, and something

that I will apply or not apply in my football career.

With each coach, there were unique situations, striking moments for a life time. But perhaps

the most significant one, happened back in 2006. I was a player for Valletta FC, already

married with a two year old son and expecting another baby with my wife. One Sunday in

April, we had a Quarter Final of FA Cup. And these Cups are very specific matches, as all the

competition is down to a single match. You win, you continue competing, you lose, you are

out of it.

On the same Sunday, at 3am in the morning, my wife was admitted to hospital, because of

pregnancy complication. To make the things worse, in the early morning, even my son had to

be admitted to hospital, due to MRSA infection, after a “minor” operation a week before. On

the match day, we were all strangled in the hospital, in different wards. I informed my Club,

about the situation, not mentioning coming match. Soon after my coach arrived.

By midday, a call from President arrived, he showed his worries, and offered me to send a car

for me, if I can’t drive! Since my emotional condition was not at its best, I informed him that

I will advise him later about my position regarding the match. As I finished with him, I

continued talking with my coach, who has been already a couple of hours with me. I told him

the same thing, about my mental and emotional state. But his answer was different: ” I didn’t

come here to tell you to come for the match, I came here to be with you and help you with

whatever you need. The match is not important today”, he said. What a striking answer it

was!!!

Year after, our paths separated, as I went to another club, Sliema Wanderers, signing a two

year contract. In my last match for Sliema W., we managed to clinch FA Trophy, in one of most

dramatic finals ever, against Valletta FC and my ex-coach. Since my contract was expiring, I

was preparing for new options. Already thirty eight years old, I was still feeling good, and

received offers from other clubs, to continue as a player. One of them, also offered me the

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position of player-coach, which looked very tempting. However, three days after the FA final,

I received a phone call from my ex-coach. He was moving to another club, and he asked me

to join him as assistant coach. From all the options I had, this one was financially lowest, and

it meant to stop playing football, even though I was feeling that I can do another year or two.

But there was a catch! My ex coach already “bought me” three years ago, in the hospital

room, and my answer to him was YES.

We united again, and probably had the best season in our lives, managing to win the

Championship, against all odds. My decision, at that time, was not based on thorough thinking

and analysing what is better, but merely on a “gut feeling”, that this is the path I want to take.

It was a decision, caused by something inside.

In the research for this theses, I found out, that Daniel Goleman (2002), leading psychologist

in the field of emotional intelligence, has an explanation for what caused my decision. It was

affiliative style of coaching, when coach recognises players as human beings, offers them

emotional support during hard times in their private lives, which builds tremendous loyalty

and strengthens connections. And it is one of the six coaching styles that he advocates. Each

one in correlation with leader’s way of dealing with emotions. There is no best style in

coaching. Some are better, some are less good, but the best way to lead, is to adapt a different

style according to situation. And here is the most important skill, how to manage all these

emotions.

How to recognize your own, how to recognize them in the others, and how to manage them.

The set of all these skills, forms part of Emotional Intelligence. It is the base pillar of modern

day leaders, and it is very much different to pure intelligence- IQ.

And leaders have been present in human’s history, since the dawn of the first Homo sapiens.

From the day, humans started grouping and socializing, there was always a person, who was

leading the group. At the beginning, his qualities were based on the strength, cruelty and fear.

But, people changed, and ultimately, the role of leader has changed. Gone are the days, when

leaders were leading with “follow me”, heroic shout. Today leaders, are leading through

emotional management.

Countless researches have been done, in the sphere of human productivity and labour

effectiveness, in business, as much as in sport. After the global success of Daniel Goleman’s

book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, the business environment was

flooded with researches which showed that up to 90% of one’s performance effectiveness

was due to emotional side, rather than technical knowledge. Introduction of emotional

intelligence successfully explained the individual’s success regardless of IQ they possessed.

In the business sphere, emotional intelligence has been extensively studied over the last

decade. The research indicates that emotional intelligence is an important aspect of

leadership effectiveness in organizational settings (Kobe, Reiter-Palmon, & Ricker, 2001), and

is one of the characteristics of great leaders (Caruso, Mayer & Salovey, 2002).

Emotional Intelligence in sports context also received growing attention from sports

psychologists, as sports coaches are also leaders of their teams, just as business leaders.

viii

According to David Kauss (1996), how you feel, is how you play. Researches showed significant

relationship between emotional intelligence and a variety of other constructs including

athletic performance (Mayer et al. 2000), optimal performance (Lane et a.l, 2009), and self-

efficacy (Verissimo 2005). It has been determined that emotional intelligence is essential in

both individual and team sports and can be the key factor in an athlete’s functioning within a

team setting. Emotional intelligence may help reduce burnout and enhance emotional control

in the athletes (Goleman 1998).

Several qualitative studies have illustrated the significance of the quality of the athlete-coach

relationship (Kalinowski, 1985; Bloom, Durant-Bush, Schinke, and Salmela 1997) explained

that often coaches’ relationships with athletes are reciprocal, trusting genuine and helping in

nature, and goes beyond solely teaching. Coaches who aim to provide their athletes with the

service they deserve, should not only concentrate on developing the athlete as a performer

but also as a person (Jowett & Cockerill, 2002). Jowett and colleagues (Jowett & Meek, 2000)

recently proposed a conceptual model of the athlete-coach relationship that is based on

interpersonal relationships (Kelley et al., 1983), who defined a dual relationship as the

situation in which two people’s behaviours, emotions, and thoughts are mutually and casually

interdependent.

Although for a very long period, emotions had been regarded at work, like something

destructive and cluttering for effective operation, now it has emerged as a pillar of leadership,

bonding element in creating emotional resonance that lets people excel their potential. We

will see, later throughout the thesis, that in sports, and especially in football, the management

style has been changing and adapting to modern day’s football demands.

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1

I

TODAY’S FOOTBALL

TRENDS

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1.1 Demands of today’s football

Football has passed tremendous changes in 130 years of its existence. From a sport for

students, and sports for poor masses, to the nations’ number one sport worldwide.

Today, football is an industry. A three season deal (2013-14 to 2015-16) between TV

companies (BskyB and BT Sports) with English Premier League is worth £3bn in Great Brittan

only, which is an increase of 70%, compared to the previous 3 year deal, according to BBC

Sports and The Guardian (BBC News, 2015). The winner of EPL is guaranteed £100m, and the

Club promoting from Championship to EPL is guaranteed £100m, which includes TV rights

share and FA prize (Total Sportek, 2016). UEFA Champions League on the other side, is by far

the highest prize money paying, sports competition in the world. Champion League’s total

money pool for the Season 2015-16 was €1.345bn, from which UEFA pays all 32 participating

clubs and the ones who got knocked out in qualifying rounds, according to UEFA. The winner

of competition can take away anywhere around €50-55milion in fixed bonuses and another

€50 million from UEFA “Market Pool”, for a total of €100 million (UEFA.com, 2016). Last

Season, UCL 2015-16 winner, Real Madrid, was awarded €94milion in total bonuses from

UEFA. The ECL prize fund for the period 2015-18 has increased by 50%, compared to the

previous 3 year period, and indications are that the trend will continue even in the future. If

we look at the Club as a single entity, we can see that a single Club, like Manchester United

managed to generate more than £500 million in Season 2015/16 (ManUtd.com, 2016).

Income was coming from sponsorship deals £160 million, merchandising £97 million, mobile

operator contracts £11 million, broadcasting £140 million and match days revenue £106

million). Their stadium has capacity of 75,643 and in last 18 years the average attendance was

more than 99%.

Today, football is the most popular sport in the world, in terms of support. According to scale

of support and emotions it creates, it is very much in front of all the other sports. FIFA (2011)

estimated, that 3,5 billion people are actively following football today, which is more than

half of total human population. The World Cup in South Africa 2010, was followed by 3,2

billion people (FIFA, 2011), and more than 750 million people watched the Woman World Cup

in Canada 2015, according to FIFA (2015). In Social Medias the top places are also reserved

for football teams. Barcelona FC and Real Madrid FC have 100 million followers each, on

Facebook and Twitter combined (Twitter Counter, 2017). Each one of them has more

followers than all the teams from American National Football League (NFL). All this data

indicates that across the world, football divides and unites people, of different nations, races,

religions and sex. A FIFA study in 2007 published in FIFA Magazine (Kunz, 2007), showed that

there was 265 million registered football players in 1,7 million teams, administered by

another 5 million referees and officials. The biggest increase of nearly 20%, was noted in

female football, which today is gathering 26 million players. Today football is a sport of

everybody, rich and poor, young and old, man and woman…

The rise of popularity reflected a lot in football evolution, as a game.

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Today’s football, in terms of physical demands, is a game of “supermen”, able to perform 60-

70 matches a season. The statistical data after every match show us that players can cover up

to 12 km per match (Verheijen, 1998) and reach the speeds of more than 35km/h. Just

comparing with the past, 40-50 years ago, those were results enough to bring Olympic medals

in 100m sprints (10.2 sec per 100m, reaching the speed of 35.3 km/h in Rome 1960) or

10000m long distance runs. And the distances that at those times, football players used to

cover, was ranging from 4-5km per match.

Players technical abilities, have reached the level, which was unbelievable just a decades ago.

Abilities of new generations of players, like Ronaldo (Brazil), Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo (Portugal),

Messi, Neymar, etc. to perform any type of skill or technical gesture, in full speed and under

constant pressure of defenders, has reached another dimension. New football methodologies

have nurtured a generation of young players, with impressive technical and physical abilities,

and lightning speed in decision making.

Today’s players are the new idols of the young ones. The role models in every society. These

are the players, who are earning more than State Presidents, Deans of Universities and many

CEOs of the international companies. According to Business Insider (Smith, 2016), the yearly

income of USA President is $400 000, which is only a weekly salary of Wayne Rooney,

Manchester United captain. The new generation of players, are well aware of their popularity

and importance, which most of them manage to magnify through social media or marketing

adventures. Cristiano Ronaldo is fourth most followed person on Facebook (Fan Page List,

2017) and thirteenth most followed person on Twitter (Twitter Counter, 2017). There is a

whole army of people in their service, in the Clubs and in their private lives. Their say today,

can influence public opinion, voting results, likes and dislikes in any society. They are “guided”

by ambitious parents and “money hungry” agents.

Today’s players are in general more educated, more open to society and very well aware of

their “power” on and off the pitch. Today, the “Gladiators” have taken the seats of

“Emperors”.

The new generation of players and new global demands in football game, consequently, are

“calling” for a new type of coach. Coach whose area of work is now on the pitch and off the

pitch. A Coach, who has to specialize as Trainer, Leader, Psychologist, Visioner, Analyst,

Organizer, Communicator… A person who has to cater for many growing demands of Club’s

administrations, Club’s supporters and most important “elements”, football players. In doing

so, it is impossible to expect everything done by a single man, so the reasons for the growth

of number of collaborators, is quite expected. The number of staff in the Clubs, today ranges

from five (typical set up in domestic Maltese Clubs) to twenty five in most English Premier

League Clubs (Arsenal FC, 2017). The whole work around the players is getting more detailed

and more specialized.

Football is a very dynamic environment where a lot of money is at stake, and where all

stakeholders (Club owners/directors, supporters, players, media, agents…) have their own

agendas and at the same time they are all very well aware of their “power”. Many specialized

personnel are engaged within the Clubs, to provide necessary support in reaching ever

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growing goals of the Clubs. Clubs are becoming a complex, profit oriented companies, and

hence need a person who will be able to deal with all stakeholders, organize and lead them

through these intensely contested environment. It is:

“An intensely contested environment, where the competition constantly

strive to outwit, outperform and beat your best endeavours. Where the will

to succeed is just the beginning and the positive combination of hundred

small differences can be the deciding factor between winning and losing.

Where the investments in culture, training and implementation of the game

plan are crucial. Where results are judged in the harsh light of a few

numbers and the best talent available is rare, highly mobile and in

increasing demand.

Elite football management… or familiar aspects of managing in the

corporate world today?”

Louis Jordan and Partner in Deloitte (Carson M., 2014)

Since the Clubs are becoming very similar to profit oriented companies, are the coaches

becoming more similar to company’s Managers? Certainly, they are dealing with the people

on a daily basis. They are in the constant interaction with Club administrations, Public

(Supporters and Media) and Players, and they have to use their Staff in the most efficient way

to keep the Club functioning, through positive results on the pitch and positive balance books

in accounts. One study by April et.al (2012), showed significant similarities in leadership

characteristics between elite coaches and elite business leaders. It further proved the trend,

that football coaches must have abilities of a companies’ managers, and still fulfil the main

role, of a coach.

The coaching job is becoming more complex, and it demands a people with specific

knowledge and skills. In the following chapters, different aspects of coaching will be notified,

and pointed out what are the most important ones. How the style of coaching has been

changing throughout the years. The characteristics of business and sports environment will

be compared to try to identify what are the most important aspects of successful

management today, in both of them.

In this thesis, a research will be conducted among elite Maltese football players from Malta

Football Premier League, and assess if the same principles of successful Managers/Coaches

are applicable in Malta, as they are in the most successful business and especially football

environments in the world.

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“You can not teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within

himself.”

Galileo Galilei

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1.2 What is coaching?

In Oxford Dictionaries (2013) we can find that coaching is described as “the process of training

somebody to play a sport, to do a job better or to improve a skill”. It covers a wide variety of

human activities and is frequently applied in: psychiatry, business career, finances, health,

life, relationship, sports. It has become a part of everyday life.

We will compare coaching in two most interesting areas: business and sports. We’ll start with

business coaching and then draw a parallel with sports coaching.

Sir John Whitmore, is rated as the Number One Business Leadership Development Coach by

the international press and as one who had the most impact on the coaching profession by

the UK Association of Coaching (2017). He personally trained employees in some of the

leading organisations in the world, such as Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Barclays,

Lloyds, Rolls-Royce, British Airways… His view, on what is coaching:

“Learning takes place on the edge. When you are well in your comfort zone,

you not necessarily learning much. When you go too far over the comfort

zone, you panic and your awareness goes down. Important to know that the

answers are within yourself (cochee), so we have to provoke thinking and

believe that answer is within coachee!” (Neale et al, 2011)

Dr Patrick Williams, founder of Life Coach Training and member of Harvard University’s

Institute of Coaching, agrees and goes on to view coaching as:

“Coaching is a unique relationship where a special conversation takes place

about you. It’s a unique way to relate to people conversationally, that brings

out their best, a way of empowering them to say what they’ve not said,

dream what they’ve not dreamed, get what they’ve not got. You do use

direct communication, which is different from directive communication.”

(Neale et al, 2011)

Williams further adds that coaching should unlock the potential and the coachee’s

performance will improve if they want to! This is why coaching should empower people to be

more self-responsible and responsive.

Tim Gallwey, is The Founder of the Inner Game coaching movement, which he has been

successfully applying with some of the leading international companies, Apple, At&T, Coca

Cola Company, Rolls-Royce… In his opinion, coaching is “about evoking the best from people,

including yourself as a coach” (Neale et al, 2011).

Kirsten M Poulsen, is recognized as an international expert in the field of mentoring and

learning programmes in an organizational context, and has been working with famous

7

companies like, Ikea, Accura, Electrolux, HP, Nokia… She believes that ethical considerations

are an integral part of coaching, where coaches need to know themselves and their students,

understand the process and have the right techniques to do this (Neale et al, 2011).

Before indulging in coaching within the sports context, it will be good to see the amount of

sports coaching happening nowadays. An interesting study sponsored by English Government

(YouGov, 2016), has been held to assess the amount of people involved in coaching yearly,

either as coaches or coachees (picture in Appendix A). It is estimated that 23 million of adults

(1/2 of all adult population in UK) has received coaching at some time in their life; 6,2 million

adults received coaching last year, and 3,3 million children receive coaching each year. Each

week, coaches deliver 7,6 million “experiences”! These are certainly staggering data, which

will help us to understand the importance of coaching in everyday life.

Coaching in sports has now become more encompassing of the so many different aspects that

are required. The consistent application of integrated professional, interpersonal and

intrapersonal knowledge is needed to improve athletes’ competence, confidence, connection

and character in specific coaching contexts (Cote and Gillbert, 2009).

Various ways of classifying the type of knowledge required in coaching have been proposed.

Although a major component of coaching expertise resides in one’s ability to teach sport

specific skills (professional knowledge), coaching expertise also requires the ability to create

and maintain relationships (interpersonal knowledge) and the ability to learn from one’s own

practice (intrapersonal knowledge).

Coaches’ professional knowledge

The concept of professional knowledge is based on declarative (WHAT) and procedural (HOW)

knowledge. Procedural knowledge is the ability to transform and use declarative knowledge

in specific sports context (Routledge Handbook of Sports Coaching, 2012). Based on the

studies, it has been confirmed that procedural knowledge is guided by: 1) Coaching skills, and

2) Coaching decision making.

Coaches’ interpersonal knowledge

Interpersonal knowledge in sports coaching can be the best explained through emotional

intelligence concept. It is a knowledge how to connect with the others. Since coaching is a

process happening in groups and organizations, its effectiveness depends on interactions

between everybody involved. The spectrum of those involved is very wide, but athletes are

certainly the most important once. Recent theoretical and practical work are pointing to

multidirectional concept of coach-athlete interactions, suggesting that coaching is a complex,

reciprocally influential process. The interpersonal and social skills involved in guiding

individuals, can also be attributed as the “human” side of coaching. In some studies, this

aspect has been labelled as the crucial element of effective leaders, teachers and coaches.

Lorimer and Jowett (2009) use term “understanding” as the most important one in explaining

successful coach-athlete relationship. Because emotions play a fundamental role in

interpersonal relationships, the concept of emotional intelligence provides us with necessary

8

tools to understand it’s functioning, and how to achieve maximal effectiveness in it. Different

models of emotional intelligence will be elaborated in the next chapter.

Coaches’ intrapersonal knowledge

Intrapersonal knowledge is mostly related with the concepts of self-awareness and reflection.

Intrapersonal knowledge is formally defined as ‘the understanding of oneself and the ability

for introspection and reflection’ (Cote and Gilbert 2009). Sport coaches, and those who have

studied them, have long acknowledged the central role of self-awareness in becoming an

effective coach. Apart from self-awareness, it is reflection that has more weight in coaching

effectiveness. It occurs when our awareness is followed by the action to maintain the

strengths and improve the weaknesses. Today we can systemize three different types of

reflection: 1) Reflection-in-action (reflection during the coaching event, eg. competitive

match), 2) Reflection-on-action (happening after the event, but still within competition), and

3) Retrospective reflection-on-action (reflection is happening long after the event and

competition).

“After Brendan Rodgers’ disappointment at Reading, his move to Swansea already had a real sense of last-chance saloon: ‘I came in and now I had to show my character. My career as a manager was almost over before it had begun. I didn’t know how much of a chance I was going to get, but now I knew the rules. I had learned from my experience at Reading, and now I knew I was in the business of winning. My philosophy had been tested at Reading – the first time in all my years that it hadn’t worked out. I had gone away for a six-month reflective period, so that when I arrived at Swansea, I again had great belief in my philosophy – maybe even more so than before. I was also stronger and more realistic. I had to be more clinical in my decision-making and get to the end point much quicker than I had done before.” (Carson, 2014)

We can see how Brandon Rogers, emphasized the importance of reflection, and modified his ways of decision making, without changing his football philosophy. This is an example of adaptation in practice.

1.2.1 When the coaching is ineffective

When coaching is forced, it will not work. The readiness level of the coachee has to be right.

It won’t work if a person is psychologically or emotionally stuck, not able to move forward.

“We as coaches need to prepare either in person or on the phone so we’re

sending our heart energy to the client, getting the destructions out of the

way, which leads to authenticity. The brilliance of coaching comes when I’m

present and remain curious, and comfortable with not knowing.”-Williams

(Neale et al, 2011)

9

Gallway specifies certain situations in which coaching becomes ineffective: “When the coach

doesn’t really care. When the coach takes over the burden of the problem or the issue. When

there is a judgemental atmosphere. When the coachee doesn’t want to be coached. When the

coachee feels too much self-doubt, inadequacy, or fear of failure or judgment.” (Neale et al,

2011)

Carlo Ancelotti also has a solution, how to pass his ideas to players:

“A Manager has an idea of football, and has to transmit this idea to the

players. When the transmission is good, when there is good chemistry

between players and managers, you see better play on the pitch. The player

has to be convinced about what they are going to do. I don’t want to force

the player to do something, they are not convinced by.” (Ancelotti, 2016)

Coaching will not work if the coach does not have the right competences (professional,

interpersonal and intrapersonal). Ineffective coaching will take place when coach is telling

what has to be done, or provides advices and ready-made solutions. In this way, coach will

not manage to “unlock” the hidden side inside the coachee, the one which is hungry for

knowledge, change, and dream fulfilments. If the coachee resists and has no intention of

changing, or gets emotionally stacked and unable to move forward, coaching will surely be

deteriorated.

When resources such as coach’s knowledge, planning and support are perceived inadequate

by athletes, it will lead to ineffectiveness of interpersonal relationship. In such circumstances,

it is not only the relationship coach-athlete that will be affected, but consequently athletes’

performance and psychological state will decline. Jowett and Meek (2000a) found that non-

complimentary transitions, such as opposed behaviours (power struggles, unequal needs) and

ineffective support (lack of support) are inversely related to the nature of the relationship in

as much as to dissolute an athletic partnership that once produced top-level performance.

These findings are indicating that complementarity in work between coach and athlete,

mutual understanding and support are related to successful, effective and functional coaching

and relationship.

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1.2.2 What does it take to be a great coach

“Being a great Coach takes practice, with awareness- you could drive

100,000 miles a year and not get any better, if you don’t do it with

awareness. As a Coach, you could coach 100 people and not get any better

too, unless you pay a lot of attention to what you’re doing and how it is

received. That should not be in a self-critical sense; it’s about being aware

of what you are saying, how the coachee is responding and about your own

behaviour.” -Whitmore (Neale et al, 2011).

Many coaches feel that they just need one more course, or one more diploma to increase

their knowledge, but it is the inner work that has to be done, in order to improve these skills.

It’s a work that demands awareness, time and dedication.

Williams (Neale et al, 2011) notes that:

“It takes passion for serving the client. A great coach needs to believe that

he or she is whole, capable and resourceful. I think coaches need to be well

developed interpersonally and trans personally. Humility, credibility, strong

ethics and integrity are also important. The attitude of the coach needs to

be that the client is whole and resourceful. Any negative attitude will affect

the coaching relationship. Coaching itself can help shift clients limiting

beliefs/attitudes. Coaching is about thinking outside the box and identifying

what you really want.”

For Gallway (Neal et al, 2011) the greatness of coaching is expressed in:

“A person who can make the coachee feels safe, free of fear of judgment,

while at the same time challenged to rise to the occasion. A person who can

listen to the different levels of communication, who can stay clear about the

goal, who can trust the inherent competencies in the person being coached.

Integrity. Care. Passion for excellence. A willingness to not look for credit

from solutions or progress.”

The attitude and values of the coach towards his coachee has the biggest weight in the

coaching process. They will either help the coachee to arrive in coachable state of mind, or

might push him far away.

We know that in coaching there are two main styles: Directive and Non-Directive. The stages

from Directive to Non Directive can be presented in the model of “Coaching ladder” (Figure

1). These stages also present different type of communication between coach and coachee.

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Figure 1: Coaching Ladder- stages from Directive to Non-Directive coaching

Having said already, that coaching empowers people to be more self-responsible and

responsive, to say what they hadn’t said, to get what they never got, than these processes

are possible to happen only higher up the ladder. Important to note is that coaching has to

be appropriate to the individual needs. The coach needs to understand his coachees, and then

can point out right stage of communication for their specific ability (needs).

Likewise in business, even in sports, effective coaching is central around relationship between

the coach and his/her athlete, as the main generator in athlete’s physical and psychological

development. What counts, is the way in which coaches succeed to get the best out of their

players.

Ancelotti makes an excellent point (Carson, 2014), saying that, players are human beings, not

just Club’s assets. And human beings have emotions, priorities, beliefs, perspectives, needs

and fears.

“First you have to build good relationship, good chemistry, with the group

you are working with. After that you can add strategy”, he says. “I think that

the most important thing is the relationship with the people, and the

relationship with the people, makes good organization. I speak with my

players, but I know that first of all they are people. So you have to treat them

with respect. It’s important to have good relationship on the same level, not

them looking up to me or me looking down to them”.

Seeking to understand the person beneath the behaviour is a critical act of successful relationship and intelligent leadership. A simple and very practical image of the human being is an iceberg, proposed by famous psychologist, Sigmund Freud (Figure 2), where only a small part of us is visible at first sight. These are our behaviors – the things we say and do. The huge part below the waterline is our mindset: the things we think, feel, believe, value, need and fear. As we go deeper into our icebergs, we discover the things that drive us. Our behaviours

Non-Directive

Listening

Questioning

Clarifying

Creative thinking

Ideas generation

Giving advice

Training

Telling

Directive

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are driven by our thoughts and feelings, in turn those are driven by our values and beliefs and, still deeper, these are driven by our needs and our fears. Figure 2: Iceberg model of human's mind in Freud's comparison

Above the iceberg are outcomes and behaviours (words and actions). An individual’s behaviour has consequences for himself and others and is a constant preoccupation of managers. Bad behaviours, on and off the pitch, all cause ripples in the team. They are at the least distractions – and at the worst, serious upsets, threatening to negatively affect team’s results. All these distractions lead to preoccupation, anxiety and eventually reduced performance on the field. Conversely, good behaviours can have a profoundly uplifting effect.

If a manager wants to create great outcomes, he needs to address his players at every level of the iceberg. The most obvious level is at the top: addressing the behaviour head on – ‘Don’t do that again’. But unless the circumstances were truly unique, the player is unlikely to change. If he was tempted to wrong doing once, he will certainly repeat it again. What the great coach needs to address is the why. He has to start asking the questions, to enter deep in to “unseen” part of the iceberg and understand the cause. Like that it will be easier to determine following steps. When we change what’s below the waterline, we also shift the visible part. The challenge to the manager then is to get at the stuff that is below the surface for his players – to address them at the level of emotions, values, aspirations, needs and fears. This is how he will get real shifts in the individuals and the team. This is why successful managers are committed to working with emotions, identifying beliefs and motivations, and embedding practical values. From the experience of most successful coaches, it is easy to conclude, that today coach is in

the centre of the Club. Besides having a significant football knowledge, it is the human

relations and leadership, where he has to excel to be able to create a winning environment

and get the best out of every single individual inside the Club: players, staff members and all

other background personnel. Leadership nowadays, is rarely about some heroic ‘follow me’

message – it’s more often about inspiring all round. And an important component of that is

inspiring confidence, trust, excitement and commitment in the person or people under whose

authority you stand yourself. The approach of putting people first, is proven to bring positive

results in long term.

Even The Association of Premier League Coaches, was on the quest to find out, what makes

the difference in coaching job. What makes the difference between best and the rest.

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“Since our beginning (League Manager Association, England, est 1992), the

education and development of our members, and prospective members, has

been a responsibility we have taken very seriously. In this respect, one of our

major objectives has been to meticulously research and identify those

characteristics and traits common to the best of the best. Our findings leave

us in absolutely no doubt; the quality which sets apart the very best from

the rest is ‘leadership’. The best managers are passionate about football,

obsessed and driven by the need to manage and succeed. Their success is

due to their awareness that a football manager has to be more than what

traditionally understand the term ‘manager’ to mean, and to their ability to

encompass aspects of leader, father figure, coach and psychologist roles

into their daily work.” -Wilkinson (Carson 2014)

From a vast pool of characteristics that successful Coach/Manager should have in his

portfolio, human relations and leadership are definitely the most important ones. Developing

this skills, will certainly help Coach/Manager to obtain the best performance from his

collaborators and players, which will improve chances of reaching everyone’s goals, and

ultimately bring himself a deserved award- prolonged stay “in the office”!

1.2.3 What makes a leader

In 2004, John Henry — the billionaire owner of the Boston Red Sox — tries to recruit the

Oakland Athletics’ general manager Billy Beane. Henry tells Beane that any managers not

rebuilding their teams with Beane’s system in mind are “dinosaurs”, while trying to persude

him to join Red Sox, and then hands him a slip of paper. On it, there’s an offer for Beane to

become the new Red Sox general manager for the insane amount of $12.5 million over five

years. The offer which would make Beane “the highest-paid General Manager in the history

of sports”. Despite appearing tempted, Beane ultimately declines the deal, claiming, “I made

one decision in my life based on money and I swore I’d never do it again.” (Lewis, 2004)

Up till today, Billy Beane is still GM of Oakland Athletics, leading them for nineteen straight

years and transforming them in the most profitable sport’s club in USA. It is a scenario very

similar to Arsenal FC, where Arsene Wenger has been manager for the past twenty one years,

winning many domestic honours, and securing the profit for his club in every season he

managed (Arsenal FC, 2016).

Mike Ford, FC Chelsea Executive Director of Football operations says about Ancelotti: “Before

the games, he’ll ritually tell jokes in the dressing room!”. Ford (Kuper, 2016) shares his

impressions on Ancelotti: “When you meet Carlo (Ancelotti) for the first time, what is so

striking is his humility. Here is the guy who has won everything as a player and now as a coach

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and yet, when you begin to talk he is the first one to lean and listen. No interruptions, no

outbursts, just a very calm and very considered guy. People enjoy talking with him, and

therefore feel comfortable working with him.” He depicts how Ancelotti created the dressing

room atmosphere and bonds with the players, even asking them to make the strategy for the

FA Cup final versus Portsmouth in 2010.

With Carlo what makes him unique is despite success, and irrespective of ways in which he

has been successful in the past, there is a part of him that is always ready to learn and adapt

to new ideas and ways of working. Everywhere he has been, he has been successful but

everywhere he has worked he has had a part of his model that is truly adaptable to the

environment, organisation, culture and type of players he has inherited. This takes humility,

intelligence, a strong “will to win” and the belief it takes everyone and everything to be

successful.

Are these two cases, examples of a successful leaders? Billy Beane spent all his managerial

carrier in the same club, and although never winning the Championship, he lasted nineteen

consecutive years in the office (Campbell, 2016), a success which was acknowledged as well,

with the book (Lewis, 2004) and movie production about him (Moneyball, 2011). On the other

side, Carlo Ancelotti, in his twenty two years of coaching, worked in eight different clubs, from

five different countries (Transfermarkt, 2017). Everywhere he worked, the trophies were part

of him (seventeen trophies). But his major hallmark, are the testimonies of his players and

collaborators.

“I went through a lot of adrenaline when I played for Mourinho. It was like nothing was ever

good. He gave and he took. Jose Mourinho knows how to treat a footballer, but Carlo Ancelotti

knows how to treat a person.” – says Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Ancelotti, 2016), one of the greatest

players of this decade and certainly, a player with the most complex personality.

Goleman (2002) states that fundamental task of leaders is to prime good feelings in those

they lead. And that happens when leader creates a resonance - reservoir of positivity that

frees the best in people. Thus, deep inside, the primal job of leadership is of emotional nature.

When we talk about the leaders, we can notice their presence from very early existence of

humans. Most notable ones are in Politics, each nation’s history, today’s business world, and

sports contests. But we can find them also in less exposed set ups. For young pupils in school,

teachers are the leaders. In the hospitals and patients rooms, you can often find a person who

will encourage, and inspire others. Where ever the human beings are gathered, for whatever

reasons, there is always a person, to stand “above the crowd”. Those are the people who are

able to move us. A movement which occurs within us. Igniting a passion and inspiring the best

in us. We try to explain them through their strategies, visions and powerful ideas, but in

reality, great leadership works through emotions, argues Goleman (2002). He believes that

understanding the powerful role of emotions in the workplace can set the best leaders apart

from the rest. When leaders drive emotions positively, they bring out everyone’s best, which

he calls effective resonance.

In general, the more emotionally demanding the work, the more empathic and supportive

leaders need to be. Team sports are perceived as very emotionally labour activities. The glue

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that holds people together in a team, and that commits people to an organization, is the

emotions they feel. How well leaders manage and direct those feelings to help a group meet

its goals depends on their level of emotional intelligence. Resonance comes naturally to

emotionally intelligent leaders. Their passion and enthusiastic energy resounds throughout

the group. Under the guidance of an emotionally intelligent leader, people feel a mutual

comfort level. They share ideas, learn from one another, make decisions collaboratively, and

get things done. They form an emotional bond that help them stay focused even in the times

of profound changes and uncertainty.

On the other hand, if a leader doesn’t succeed in creating resonance in his team, people will

not be motivated to give their best, but rather will be involved in “just doing the job”. Without

a healthy dose of heart, a supposed “leader” may manage- but will not lead! It is quite possible

to achieve a rise in performance, even in groups where negative resonance dominates, but it

will be only in a short term. In the ambient with continuous negative resonance, the expected

consequence is the burn out of people. These kind of leaders usually transmit their own

corrosive and negative emotions, and don’t really care about the others.

Intelligent leaders, follow positive resonance, gathering the people around a worthy goal.

Good leadership builds up from a self-awareness as the foundation. If we don’t understand

ourselves and our own emotions, it is a big question, how can we guide ourselves, and

especially, how can we understand them in the others. Self-aware leaders have a deep

understanding of their own emotions, as well as their strengths and limitations, and values

and motives. They are realistic and honest about themselves, with themselves and with

others. They know where they are heading and why, and they chose what “feels right” to

them. For example, they are ready to turn down the extraordinary financially job offer, if it

doesn’t fit with their principles of long-term goals. Something that we already mentioned in

the case of Billy Beane.

Without knowing and understanding our emotions, we certainly won’t be able to manage

them, and might even end up in a situation, where our emotions control us. It is something

that can be perceived pleasantly when we are overwhelmed with positive emotions. But can

we allow negative emotions to control us? Definitely no, as it can permanently damage our

career.

In Season 2011-12 in Italian Serie A, we could witnessed in live TV transmission, a moment,

when Fiorentina FC coach, Delio Rossi, “lost his mind” in the rage against Adem Ljajic, his own

player. A career of one very successful coach, was permanently damaged, and he himself

never fully recovered from that short moment, when his negative emotions controlled his

behaviour. However, ability of self-management, frees us from being the victims of our own

feelings. It’s what allows the mental clarity and concentrated energy that leadership

demands, and what keeps disruptive emotions from throwing us off track. Leaders’ emotions

have public consequences. By staying in control of their feelings and impulses, they craft an

environment of trust, comfort and fairness. And that self-management has trickle-down

effect from the leader. Leaders who have mastered their emotions are better able to roll with

the changes and help the organization to adjust.

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Leaders should be able to sense the feeling of others, as it will provide them with the

appropriate information on what to say, how to say, and what to do and how to do it. This

sense will also allow the leader to feel what are the shared values and priorities that can guide

the group. He needs to show empathy, or simply saying, he needs to listen “with a whole

body”. To listen beyond the words and understand the problem beneath, is a very important

skill of a leader.

And the most visible aspect of leadership is relationship management. It includes persuasion,

conflict management, and collaboration among them. Managing relationships skilfully boils

down to handling other people’s emotions, while being authenticable to yourself and your

genuine feelings. Relationship management is not only friendliness, but friendliness with a

purpose, when we are moving the people in the right direction with their approval.

Goleman (2002) advocates existence of six different leadership styles and admits that there

is no universal best style. The research has showed that successful leaders are able to apply

different styles, in relation to demanding situations. They have to be able to adapt to the

dynamic changes in their workplace. The six proposed styles are 1) Visionary, 2) Coaching, 3)

Affiliative, 4) Democratic, 5) Pacesetting, 6) Commanding, and their characteristics and

application are presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Six Emotional Leadership styles, their characteristics and application according to Goleman (2002)

How it builds RESONANCE: Impact on climate: When appropriate:

VISIONARY Moves people towards shared dreams

Most strongly positive When changes require a new vision, or when a clear direction is needed

COACHING Connects what a person wants with the organization’s goals

Highly positive To help an employee improve performance by building long-term capabilities

AFFILIATIVE Creates harmony by connecting people to each other

positive To heal rifts in a team, motivate during stressful times, or strengthen connections

DEMOCRATIC Values people’s input and gets commitment through participation

positive To build buy-in or consensus, or to get valuable input from employees

PACESETTING Meets challenging and exciting goals

Because too frequently poorly executed, often highly negative

To get high-quality results from a motivated and competent team

COMMANDING Soothes fears by giving clear direction in an emergency

Because so often misused, highly negative

In a crisis, to kick-start a turnaround, or with problem employees

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There is no single best way for a great leader. There are many roads to success, and every

leader possess different personalities, and stiles of work. Still, for Goleman (2002), effective

leaders must demonstrate strength in at least one, out of four fundamental pillars of

emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness and relationship

management.

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“Seek to understand, to be understood”

St Francis of Assisi

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1.3 WHAT IS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

The term “emotional intelligence” has been used for the first time in a 1964 paper by Beldoch,

and again in 1966 in another paper by Leuner.

The idea was further developed by Gardner (1983) where he introduced the idea of multiple

intelligence, since traditional intelligence, known as IQ, can’t fully explain cognitive abilities.

To be successful requires effective awareness, control and management of your own

emotions, and awareness and understanding of other people. Emotional intelligence

therefore embraces two aspects of intelligence: 1) understanding yourself, your goals,

intentions, responses, behaviour and all; 2) understanding others and their feelings. Gardner

(1983) describes these two aspects of intelligence as intrapersonal intelligence- being

intelligent in picking up what is going on inside us and doing what we need to do about it; and

interpersonal intelligence- being intelligent in picking up what is going on in other people and

between other people and doing what we need to do about it.

More scientific approach followed in the work of Salovey and Mayer (1990), who described

Emotional Intelligence (EI) as an individual ability to recognize emotions, interpret their

meanings, and act on their basis.

Undoubtedly, the term emotional intelligence gained global popularity thanks to Goleman

(1995), who through his work made it more understandable to ordinary people. Since than a

lot of research has been conducted in this area, various definitions have been brought up,

different categorization models proposed, and different ways of measuring and dealing with

it have been devised.

Emotional Intelligence can be defined as the ability to monitor one’s own and other people’s

emotions, to discriminate between emotions and label them appropriately, and use

emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour - Dictionary of Psychology (Coleman

and Andrew, 2008).

Emotional intelligence is the habitual practice of:

- Using emotional information from ourselves and other people;

- Integrating this with our thinking;

- Using these to inform our decision making to help us get what we want from the

immediate situation and from life in general. (Sparrow and Knight, 2006)

Putting it in simple words, Emotional Intelligence is using thinking about feeling, and feeling

about thinking, to guide our actions. Emotions are involved in everything we do, every

thought, action, decision and judgment.

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EI Models

At the moment there are three main models of EI:

1) Ability model

2) Trait model

3) Mixed model

Ability model, proposed by Mayer and Salovey (2004), has seen several alterations of

definition, the last one being: “the capacity to reason about emotions, and of emotions, to

enhance thinking. It includes the abilities to accurately perceive emotions, to access and

generate emotions so as to assist throughout, to understand emotions and emotional

knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual

growth”.

This model proposes that emotional intelligence includes four types of abilities:

1) Perceiving emotions- the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures,

voices, and cultural artefacts- including the ability to identify one’s own emotions.

Perceiving emotions represents a basic aspect of emotional intelligence, as it makes

all other processing of emotional information possible.

2) Using emotions- the ability to harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive

activities, such as thinking and problem solving. The emotionally intelligent person can

capitalize fully upon his or her changing moods in order to best fit the task at hard.

3) Understanding emotions- the ability to comprehend emotion language and to

appreciate complicated relationships among emotions. For example, understanding

emotions encompasses the ability to be sensitive to slight variations between

emotions, and the ability to recognize and describe how emotions evolve over time.

4) Managing emotions- the ability to regulate emotions in both ourselves and in others.

Therefore, the emotionally intelligent person can harness emotions, even negative

ones, and manage them to achieve intended goals.

Trait model by Petrides (2007) is “a constellation of emotional self-perceptions located at the

lower levels of personality”. It proposes that people have, as part of their personalities, a

number of emotional self-perceptions and emotional traits.

Emotional Self-perception + Emotional Traits = Part of Individual’s Personality

This traits aren’t measured in the scientific sense, but are instead measured by the

respondent’s self-report. This assumes that the respondent is able to accurately describe his

or her own traits.

Mixed model, proposed by Goleman, describes emotional intelligence within a wide area of

competencies and skills that form leadership performance. In his research, Goleman (1995)

found that most effective leaders are similar in one crucial thing: they all have a high degree

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of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence. He doesn’t neglect the influence of

IQ, but rates them mostly as “threshold ability”, meaning they can help someone to enter,

get the job, but will not be the guarantee of a successful career. His research, he states:

“clearly shows that emotional intelligence is the sine qua non of leadership. Without it, a

person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical mind and an endless

supply of smart ideas, but he still won’t make a great leader”. (Goleman, 1998)

In his research of 188 world known companies (Goleman, 1995), he concluded that intellect

(big picture thinking, long term vision) was a driver of outstanding performance. But when he

compared the ratio of technical skills and emotional intelligence, it was emotional intelligence

which was twice as important in star performance managers. When looking at difference

between star performers and average performers in senior executive positions, he accredited

up to 90% being in emotional intelligence factors, and not to pure cognitive abilities.

Goleman (1995) in his initial research groups emotional intelligence components in two major

areas (Table 2):

Self-management skills (Self-awareness, self-regulation and motivation), and

Ability to relate to others (Empathy and Social skills)

Table 2: Components of Emotional Intelligence at Work (Goleman 1995)

The Five Components of Emotional Intelligence at Work Definition Hallmark

Self-Awareness The ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions, and drives, as well as their effect on others

Self-confidence Realistic self-assessment Self-deprecating sense of humor

Self-Regulation The ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods The propensity to suspend judgment- to think before acting

Trustworthiness and integrity Comfort with ambiguity Openness to change

Motivation A passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status A propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence

Strong drive to achieve Optimism, even in the face of failure Organizational commitment

Empathy The ability to understand the emotional make up of other people Skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions

Expertise in building and retaining talent Cross- cultural sensitivity Service to clients and customers

Social Skill Proficiency in managing relationships and building networks An ability to find common ground and build rapport Managing relationships to move people in the desired direction

Effectiveness in leading change Persuasiveness Expertise in building and leading teams

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Each component is regarded as a very important link in the chain of emotional intelligence,

and the process of getting the job done in the best possible way. Maybe, the social skills are

the most important ones, since they are the culmination and outcome of all other

components? In most of the companies, it is considered as the key leadership capability, since

the “leader’s task is to get work done through other people, and social skills make that

possible. Social skills allow leaders to put their emotional intelligence to work” (Goleman,

1998).

His view on the dimensions of emotional intelligence has evolved over time, so in the later

publishing (Goleman, 2002), he simplified his model, naming four main domains: self-

awareness, self-management, social-awareness and relationship management, with eighteen

competences instead of the original twenty-five. The “motivation” was joined to the “self-

management” domain.

The newly proposed Emotional Intelligence Framework, is presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Updated Components and Competences of Emotional Intelligence Framework (Goleman 2002)

Emotional Competence Inventory 2.0 Domains Competences

Self-Awareness Emotional Awareness

Accurate Self-Assessment

Self-confidence

Self-Management Emotional Self-Control

Transparency

Adaptability

Achievement

Initiative

Optimism

Social Awareness Empathy

Organizational Awareness

Service orientation

Relationship Management

Developing Others

Inspirational Leadership

Change Catalyst

Influence

Conflict Management

Teamwork & Collaboration

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1.3.1 Differences between EI and IQ

“We should take care not to make the intellect our god. It has, of course, powerful

muscles, but no personality. It cannot lead, it can only serve.” – Albert Einstein

Even Charles Darwin, the father of the Theory of Evolution recognized the importance

of emotional intelligence and pointed to the ways in which emotional expression and

interpretation can affect an individual's survival. He conducted one of the first studies on how

people recognize emotion in faces. Darwin (1872) argued that all humans and even the

animals, show emotion through remarkably similar behaviours. For Darwin, emotions had an

evolutionary history that could be traced across different cultures and species.

To understand how EI operates, it is important to understand basic functions of the brain and

its evolution from the very beginning.

The brain evolved from the bottom up during evolution. A long time ago, when the first animal

creatures crawled out of the water, they were controlled by primitive brainstem surrounding

the top of the spinal cord (Reptile Brain). This primitive brain was solely responsible for basic

life functions, like breathing, moving, reflexes…

With the development of various life forms, even the brain was passing through changes.

Apart from getting bigger, it was acquiring new functions in the Limbic Brain (also known as

Emotional Brain). This new part of the brain was controlling our emotions. And in the last

stages of brain evolution, we acquired the Thinking Brain, also known as neo-cortex (Figure

3).

Figure 3: Emotional Brain and connections

With the use of modern technologies, scientists are able to measure activities in each part of

the brain. A much higher activity in the Emotional Brain is detected (six billion nerve cells

activities per second) than in the Thinking Brain (hundred neural stimulations per second),

(Neale et al, 2011). Development of different brains also brought various connections within

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them. It is estimated that connections from the Emotional Brain to the Thinking Brain are

stronger than vice versa. One of the natural reasons, is that the Thinking Brain grew outwards

and didn’t manage to establish many connections with the Emotional Brain. As a result, our

Thinking Brain is not always aware of the emotions, which have been “fired” in the Thinking

Brain, as those emotions usually get absorbed by another part of the brain, called Anterior

Cingulate.

Another important part of the brain is Amygdala, which is in charge of detecting potential

treats for the system. Throughout the evolution, Amygdala established connections with

many parts of the brain. Part of every information passes through it, and Amygdala has

exclusive right to decide upon it, that if it is a treat or not. It functions the way it always has,

in primal forms of human beings. It used to detect life threatening triggers, but nowadays it

will react the same even in the situations of “symbolic treats” (misunderstanding in the

office). In extreme cases it creates Amygdala hijack! These are the well known moments of

very strong, sudden and intense emotional responses, when we do something or say

something that we might regret afterwards.

The Amygdala is an information filter regulated by our emotional state. When calm, the filter

is wide open and information flows to the prefrontal cortex- the learning, reasoning and

thinking centre. The prefrontal cortex controls our decision making, focuses our attention,

and allows us to learn how to read, write, compute, analyse, predict, comprehend and

interpret.

In a lecture in Google Inc. Headquarters Goleman (2007), describes the difference between

IQ and EI:

“You need to be smart to get in the game, thanks to your IQ. Once you are

there, other distinguished competences will help you to merge as a leader,

or to function more effectively, or simply saying to be a star performer”.

Meaning, IQ will only help you to get the job, but EI will help you to keep that job, or even

progress in your career. He also estimates, that IQ contributes to about 20% towards life

success, and EI supports the remaining 80% of life success.

Bar-On et al., (2006) conducted a study examining the impact of emotional intelligence on

occupational performance, and the results indicated that the ability of emotional intelligence

on identifying occupational potential accounts for approximately four times (25%) more

variance than IQ (6%).

Stein and Book (2000) conducted a research across 30 professional and managerial career

fields and revealed that anywhere from 47% to 56% of work/life success is the result of

emotional intelligence, with the range being related to job type. Although there is not a

consensus amongst researchers as to the extent to which emotional intelligence predicts

one’s performance, these studies have revealed that emotional intelligence is a strong

predictor, even more powerful than IQ, in determining one’s success and performance.

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In general, all researches till today have confirmed the importance of emotional intelligence,

and especially its dominance in achieving better and outstanding performance.

The next question that arose, was related to the dynamics of emotional intelligence. Are we

born with it? Can it be changed? Can it be improved, or does it have its natural limitations like

IQ?

1.3.2 Can EI be changed-improved?

“When it comes to understanding people, Ancelotti is a master. He is warm,

generous and compassionate. ‘I believe that every experience can form your

character. Your relationship with your parents shapes you as a person

because your parents are your most important teachers. They form your

character and, as a manager, it is important to have character.’

This runs deep for Ancelotti. He grew up on a farm in rural Italy – a safe and

nurturing childhood, much loved by his parents. ‘My family were very quiet

and calm, I grew up with a very good family, small family: mother, father,

sister, grandmother and grandfather. It was very good; I understood a lot of

things. My father never shouted; he was very quiet and calm. I had a

beautiful childhood.’ The result is a centered leader who – through his work

radiates calmness. His Quiet Leadership allows his players to express their

full potential. (Carson, 2014)

The question “Can EI be improved?” is closely connected to a bigger dilemma? “Are the

leaders born or made?”. Are the components of EI given by birth and fixed for whole life? Or,

they are shaped throughout life experiences? Can they be taught, and when do they?

Yes, the process can be done, and many say, should start as soon as possible. Some proposals

say that many parents can benefit from being coached as emotional mentors to their infants

and toddlers, as some home-visit programs do. Others are proposing that emotional and

social skills should be incorporated on preschool programs, as it is a good age to lay the

foundations (Goleman, 1995).

Emotional maturity is a process, closely related to brain development, and as such it takes

until early adulthood. However, some emotional capacities such as empathy and emotional

self-management start to build from early infancy. The early years in kindergarten or the start

of primary school, are the times to start dealing with the “social emotions”. Children start

comparing themselves with others, classmates, characters from TV, or older siblings, and

consequently developing emotions: pride, jealousy, envy, confidence… From the ages of six

to eleven, success at school will strongly affect children’s’ emotions, and even pave the way

for their future maturity. If successful at school they will be proud, and feel useful, important.

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But a contrary scenario will create feelings of uselessness, worthlessness, and the

unconscious creation of self-defeating attitudes, that can shatter the life prospects of

children. Then puberty is another turbulent period in the life of teenagers, when they

experience a lot of changes in their bodies, physical, biological, chemical, mental… Brain

functioning and thinking capacity are taking another dimension. And it is another very

important period for emotional and social lessons. Surely there are many reasons to support

the idea of exposing children to emotional lessons, as early as possible, so they will be well

equipped to battle the challenges in their development.

Thus many theorists believe that certain behavioural sets are given at birth, and then they get

shaped through the child’s nurturing period. But apart from life experience, Emotional

Intelligence can be improved through training. Many training programs are available

nowadays, but not all of them are tackling the source of the problem. Not all of them are

designed to focus on the proper part of the brain.

Processes related to Emotional Intelligence, as we saw, is happening in the brain’s limbic

system (Emotional Brain), which controls feelings, impulses, and drives. And limbic system

learns best through motivation, extended practice and feedback. Thus training methods must

help people break old behavioural habits and establish new ones. An interesting example

(Neale et al, 2011) is that of one CEO, who decided to seriously improve his emotional

intelligence. He engaged a full time EI coach, who was following him in his daily duties:

meetings, visits, trips abroad … He was video recording every encounter he had with people.

Later he would analyse recordings with his coach, how he spoke, his body language, his facial

expressions… The whole course took around a year, but the final result was satisfying, as he

managed to drastically improve his relationship with employees. This training methodology

takes more time than ordinary ones, based on cognitive improvements, and it takes one’s

total desire and commitment for change and improvement. Brief seminars and how-to-do

manuals will not help in acquiring those skills. It is much harder to learn how to empathize,

than to learn clear logical terms. But it can be done!

1.3.3 Measuring EI

The use of psychological measurement has always been rather controversial, and the

measurement of EI is no different. Emotional intelligence can be measured but there are

obstacles to be overcome in doing so. Measurement models are related to proposed

Emotional Intelligence models. As already discussed, three models of EI dominate the scene

and each one has a corresponding way of measuring EI:

1) Trait model → Self-Report

2) Ability model → Ability test

3) Mixed model → Other-Report

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Self-Report is composed of questions that will ask you to report on your own abilities, skills

and behaviours. The drawback in this approach is that you may not accurately report your

own skills and abilities. How realistic can we be in recognising our emotions and

understanding them? Reality is that most of the people have a tendency to exaggerate their

accomplishments and minimize their shortcomings. Even if we try to be completely honest in

our answers, we still may lack the necessary insight to give accurate answers.

Also, knowing that Emotional Intelligence consists of a number of skills, then it should be

more effective to use ability tests, and not self-report questionnaires.

Despite these two shortcomings (being non-objective and not ability oriented), these tests

have been in use for decades and definitely can be useful to a certain degree. One of the

oldest and mostly used is BarOn EQ-I, which was also the first EI measuring test to be

proposed (Bar-On, 1997). This test is composed of interpersonal, intrapersonal, stress,

adaptability, general mood, inconsistency, and the total emotional quotient. According to

Bar-On (1997), Emotional Intelligence is a multi-factorial array of emotional and social

competencies that determine how effectively we relate ourselves and others and cope with

daily demands and pressures. As such, our emotional intelligence is an important factor in

determining our ability to succeed in life. Over 200 worldwide studies used this model of EI

measuring, and it proved from all the self-report models, to have the best norms, reliability

and validity.

Ability (Performance) tests are composed of practical problems, where the subjected person

has to demonstrate skills and ability to solve a problem and give answers. Here we are asked

to demonstrate our skills and abilities, which is in line with Salovey and Mayer’s emotional

intelligence definition (Salovey and Mayer, 1990), stating that it is a “set of skills and abilities”.

The model claims that EI includes four type of abilities: perceiving emotions, using emotions,

understanding emotions and managing emotions. The ability based model sees the emotions

as an important source of information that will help an individual to exist and operate in the

social environment. The individual ability to process all these emotional information is

variable, and differs from person to person.

Like all the models, even this ability model was criticised for its shortcomings, but in terms of

validity, these tests have a great advantage compared to self-report scales of EI, because they

compare an individual’s ability, not the individual’s opinion of self abilities. The most used

ability test is Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), which is based on

series of emotion-based problem solving items (Mayer et al, 2002). The test contains 141

questions, and they cover a person’s ability on each of the four branches of emotional

intelligence.

Mixed model, was introduced by Daniel Goleman (1995), and it evolved from five to four

areas of emotional intelligence, and spanned from twenty five to eighteen emotional

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competences (Goleman, 2002). The measurements in this model are mostly based on Other-

Report, which involves questions about our behaviour being answered by people who know

us (friends, mates, colleagues, bosses…). Compared to self-report, the starting advantage is

that other people are more likely to give a realistic view/opinion about us. Still there are

possibilities, that some of the observers simply may not like us, and will always have a

negative opinion about us. Or maybe the observers are our subordinates, and they will fill in

the questionnaire with a bias as they are afraid of any consequences.

Despite these possible negative sides of it, practice and experience is telling us, that Other-

Report questionnaires are more reliable than Self-Report questionnaires, in getting the

answers on a person’s emotional intelligence data. They can give us a realistic picture, on

how other people perceive us, and help us to better understand our social and management

skills. So although they don’t give us the most accurate picture of our Emotional Intelligence,

their information can certainly help us in understanding a big part of it, our ability to relate to

others.

Some of the most known and used tests from this category, are Emotional Competency

Inventory (ECI), created by Goleman and Boyatzis (1999).

Another interesting test, from the group of other-reports that emerged lately, and it is related

to the sports environment, is The Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q), by

Jowett and Cockerill (2003). It is based on bidirectional influence that athletes and coaches

have on each other. It is an interesting test as it requires both parties to compile the test and

then results are compared.

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“If people are pushed toward the range of enthusiasm, performance can

soar, if people are pushed toward rancor and anxiety, they will be thrown of

strife”

Daniel Goleman

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1.4 Benefit of good EI in management and

coaching, and its importance compared to IQ

When comparing business managers and football coaches, the first important common thing,

is that they both work with people. They both manage or lead groups of people, which are

defined as teams. But, not every group of people is a team.

A team is a group of people linked with a common purpose. So the group, by definition is not

automatically a team. It is important that its members have complementary skills and

generate synergy through coordinated efforts, which allows each member to maximize their

strengths and minimize their weaknesses. For Goleman (2002), the glue that holds people

together in a team, and that commits people to an organization, is the emotions they feel.

And, for Hackman (2002), team effectiveness should not be viewed only in terms of

performance, because, although outcome is important, a truly effective team will contribute

to the personal well-being and adaptive growth of its members.

How well leaders manage and direct those feelings to help a group meet its goals depends on

their level of emotional intelligence. Resonance comes naturally to emotionally intelligent

leaders. Their passion and enthusiastic energy resounds throughout the group. Under the

guidance of an emotionally intelligent leader, people feel a mutual comfort level. They share

ideas, learn from one another, make decisions collaboratively, and get things done. They form

an emotional bond that help them stay focused even when passing thorough profound

changes and uncertainty periods.

On the other hand, if a leader lacks resonance, people may be going through the motions of

their work but doing merely a “good enough” job, rather than giving their best. “Without a

healthy dose of heart, a supposed “leader” may manage – but he does not lead”, says

Goleman (2002).

Simply put, emotional intelligence is that “something” within us that helps us to sense how

we feel and enable us to truly connect with others and form a bond. It gives us the ability to

be present and listen to someone when they most need it. And emotional intelligence is that

sense of internal balance within us that enables us to keep our composure, make good

decisions, communicate successfully, and maintain effective leadership even when under

stress.

It is widely accepted that soft skills such as active listening, greatly affect how people feel and

respond to their boss and senior management. If they feel valued, appreciated, and heard,

they are engaged and motivated to achieve goals set out by leadership. Great leadership is,

more like servant leadership, where the leader is assisting team members to succeed.

The level of our emotional intelligence, defines our capacity to understand ourselves and

especially to understand and feel the others. It is our soft skills that put people at ease, help

them feel appreciated, and enable us to build and maintain solid relationship, founded on

confidence and trust. It is our mood that can add something detrimental for the working

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environment. Our positive mood can spread spirit of trust, good energy, collaboration, pride

in work, and respect for others. Contrary, negative mood can bring upon the group anxiety,

low motivation and poor financial results.

To create a positive, motivational working environment, where everyone will contribute with

his best, is the ultimate goal of a business leader. It is the only way to assure full potential

contribution of all group members, which is the primary factor in achieving financial success.

In economy, profit is the most important thing. And to reach it it’s necessary that all

employees are “pulling the rope” in the same direction. This working condition is similar in

sports. The ultimate goal in sport is winning the games and titles. Winning the Championship,

has an immense financial boost for the clubs/sports organizations, and the priceless value for

direct participants, athletes and coaches.

Not much research has been conducted to analyse the importance of emotional intelligence

in sports coaching/leadership. However, one interesting study, from April et al (2012), from

University of Cape Town, tried to compare characteristics of business managers and sports

coaches. By using the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) Test, which is

composed of 153 items, and is self-report type of questionnaire, they managed to draw a

couple of expected conclusions. The characteristics of elite sports team coaches do not

appear to be different to that of elite business executives. This finding supports many

hypothesis in the literature, that “the principle of success possessed by the coaches can be

applicable and transferable to the world of business” (April, et al. 2012).

To create the winning team, and the winning mentality, being friendly, likable, respected, and

motivated, matters a lot in today’s work place. House and Aditya (1997) have shown that the

level of emotional intelligence of a leader plays a vital role in the quality and effectiveness of

social interactions with other individuals. Furthermore, it has been shown that individuals

with high levels of emotional intelligence are able to interact more smoothly with members

of their work team. Additionally, leaders with high levels of EI might be superior in monitoring

and using intuition to determine how group members are feeling, and therefore more able to

take appropriate action.

So, having a high level of emotional intelligence can give us a real advantage in today’s

competitive working environment. It will help us to:

1) Establish better professional relationships – understanding what makes other people

tick, and developing positive and harmonious working relationship

2) Increase personal effectiveness – EI is regarded as a major pillar in personal success,

and rated more important than IQ

3) Improve thinking skills – as it helps to gain new perspectives on old difficulties,

consequently improving our problem solving and decision making abilities

4) Achieve better self-management – it gives us tools to be more self-aware about our

own emotions and provides us with strategies to use our emotions effectively

5) Improve leadership capabilities – EI helps us to inspire people, influence, motivate and

pursued them to achieve their goals throughout team’s success.

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The Brighton School of Business and Management (2015), promotes that emotionally

intelligent people are an asset to companies, as they:

- Successfully manage difficult situation

- Express themselves clearly

- Gain respect from the others

- Influence other people

- Entice other people to help them out

- Keep cool under pressure

- Recognize their emotional reactions to people and situations

- Know how to say the “right” thing to get the right result

- Manage themselves effectively when negotiating

- Manage other people effectively when negotiating

- Motivate themselves to get things done

- Know how to be positive, even during difficult situations

Magazine Time (2001) notes that, in the corporate world, personnel executives hold the

opinion that IQ gets you hired, but EI gets you promoted. For most of the century, scientists

have worshipped the hardware of the brain and the software of the mind. The power of the

“heart” was seen as disturbance and was left to artists to deal with. But cognitive theory

couldn’t explain why some people have a gift for living well, regardless of their intelligence?

Why the smartest kids in the class, will probably end up not being the most successful? The

major shortcoming of IQ was its inability to explain a person’s success in the life.

Further evidence supporting the ‘emotions matter more than logic’ idea comes from Daniel

Kahneman, Nobel Prize winner in 2002. Basically, Kahneman (1974) stated that all human

beings are irrational and that we would rather do business with someone we like and trust,

than someone we don’t like and don’t trust. This is even true if the person we like is offering

a lower quality product at a higher price.

Probably the opinions of the top of the top managers, can draw the final curtain on the stage

of EI importance (Brighton School of Business and Management, 2015):

Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon.com, second richest man according to Forbes 400 (2016), is

obsessed with the hearts and minds of his customers, they are deeply involved in his

company’s business strategy.

Warren Buffet, owner of Berkshire Hathaway, third richest according to Forbes 400 (2016),

stated that “success in investing doesn’t correlate with IQ once you are at about a level of 25.

Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges

that get other people into trouble investing”. (Brighton School, 2015)

Jamie Dimon, Chairman, President and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, used to say:” Your IQ is

enough for you to be very successful, but where people often fall short is on the EQ. It’s

something you develop over time. A lot of management skills are EQ, because management is

all about how people function.” (Brighton School, 2015)

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Jurgen Klop, Liverpool FC Manager, in an interview for NBC Sports (Bennett, 2016),

demonstrates his view on man management and how to motivate top players: ”It’s about

creating an atmosphere where everybody feels good. You have to look inside yourself, who

you are and what you need to be positive”. In Germany journalists used to say for him that,

“He has ability to mesmerize people. If he leads the political party, he will win every election!”

(Bennett, 2016)

But all this, doesn’t mean, that EI and IQ are the opposites. They do go together, and even

complement each other. A person being able to control his/her anger, stress or anxiety, will

be in a good position to use his/her cognitive (IQ) intelligence to the full potential. Many

researches have tried to specify what the ingredients to success are. In general, they agree,

that IQ counts for about 20%, but the rest goes, from environment, to luck and those little

neural pathways that have developed in the brain, during the millions of years of human

evolution.

1.4.1 Benefit of EI in team sports

We are living at a time, when we are able to follow many football matches, throughout the

week, from around the world. Certainly, the competitions from the top European leagues,

Champions League and Euro and World Cup, are the most interesting ones, because they

gather the best players in the world. We can witness, the amount of emotions, which are

created during those matches, where even us, from a small country in football terms, can

emotionally participate in those matches. Then, it is not hard to imagine, the emotional level

of participants.

While watching the game, and enjoying it from a technical, tactical and supporting side, on

many occasions, we can notice the behaviour and attitudes of the players. Every now and

then, we witness, that a player is sent out for dissent, towards another player, or referee, or

public … Sometimes we get even shocked, from offenses, we can see during the game.

Probably, the most known cases of Luis Suarez, who in two occasions “bit” the opponent, and

left his team with a man less, and was additionally side lined for ten matches. Another

infamous case was that of Zinedine Zidane, who was sent off in the World Cup Final 2006, for

a head butt. Those are just two of numerous occasions, when professional players have failed

to demonstrate the ability to regulate their emotions during competition. One can imagine

the negative implications, such a behaviour, has on their team performance. Liverpool failed

to win the League that season for a whisk, and France missed a chance to win the World Cup,

against Italy, although they were deemed as favourite. For players and coaches, it was the

chance of a life time to win a prestigious honour. For Clubs and National Teams it was the

best opportunity to strengthen financially, increase their popularity around the world, gain

more fans, and gather more young talents under their helm. Unfortunately for them, all was

shuttered because of individual mistakes.

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On the other side, there are many athletes, who are able to maintain composure and act in a

disciplined and controlled manner, despite all the high-stress which is very common in sports

competitions. A couple of examples: Gary Lineker, legendary striker from England, never

received a single yellow card in his fifteen years long career (Kielty, 2003). More recently, it is

ex Barcelona captain, Xavi Hernandez, who never received a straight red card, or actual

captain of Bayern Munich, Philipp Lahm, who also never received a red card (Soccerway,

2017). Players who managed to win every single title in the world football. A great part of it

is due to their extraordinary technical and tactical abilities, but most importantly, they always

found themselves in such a mental and emotional condition, that they were always able to

demonstrate their full potential. Thus, those teams composed of players with emotional

management skills (e.g. such as coping), are better equipped to deal with many emotional

stimuli in the competitive environment.

Emotions are inherently present in sport’s competitions, and as such they directly affect

individual performance, interpersonal relationship and as end product, team performance. In

every sport organizations, the emotions of athletes and coaches, are expected to be managed

in accordance with rules established by Clubs/Association, and the unwritten rules

established within the team. The process of regulating feelings and expressions, Emotional

Labour, has a vital role in reaching the goals in organizations and sport’s teams (Grandey,

2000). Occupations in which there are frequent interactions between participants, require

more Emotional Labour, and individuals with higher emotional intelligence capacity, are

anticipated to do well in this kind of jobs. Arguable, football is that kind of job with many

intense relations, player-player, players-coaches, players-supporters, coaches-

administrators, coaches-media … Due to the mutual interdependence of players and coaches

in team sports, and the emotional demands required in this relationships, they are assigned

as “Emotionally Labour intensive” (Juravich, 2015). This means that a lot of work has to be

invested in these relationships, to operate successfully. Even more, because of the

competitive nature of sports, many stimuli exist, that can affect the emotions of both, players

and coaches, before, during and after competitions. For this reason, we can say that

Emotional Labour is ongoing for both sides, players and coaches in the team sport context. It

can be concluded, that a high level of emotional intelligence can strongly impact job

performance (coaching or playing) in a positive manner, when the job itself is emotionally

labour intensive, such as it is football (Juravich, 2015).

We can argue, that emotional intelligence of sports participants, players and coaches, is one

of the crucial determinants of team performance. The ability to successfully manage emotions

could be the difference between success and failure. The extent to which individuals make

poor decisions based upon their poor emotional state, or make decisions with the best

interest of the team in mind, can directly impact the individual task performance and

ultimately, the team’s success.

In sports psychology there has been a study about emotional exchange in coach-athlete

relationship. Although the research included coaches and athletes in an individual sport

context, the research concluded that the extent to which both sides (coach and athlete) were

able to identify, process and manage emotions, could influence the success of the

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relationship, and be measured by performance (Jowett 2002). By using the coach-athlete

model of Jowett & Cockerill (2002), in the following chapter, it will be examined if a similar

correlation exists in team sports, specifically football.

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II

Research

37

2.1 Introduction

Sport is an activity that is carried out in the presence of “others”. The category “others”,

includes many factors: athletes, coaches, opponents, supporters, sports administrators,

media… Accordingly, it is to be expected, that during the sports activity, many interpersonal

relationships are established between these factors. The most important and most influential

one, is the relationship between an athlete and the coach. The athlete-coach relationship is

fundamental in the process of sports activity, because its nature is likely to determine the

athlete’s satisfaction, self-esteem and performance accomplishments (Jowett, 2002).

According to Kauss (1996), “how you feel is how you play”. Another research (Mayer et al,

2000), concluded a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and athletic

performance. It has been determined that emotional intelligence is essential in both

individual and team sports and can be the key factor in an athlete’s functioning within a team

setting (Juravich, 2015). Emotional intelligence empowers the athletes to sensibly deal with

events, and may help reduce burnout and enhance emotional control in the athletes

(Goleman, 1998).

The significance of emotional influence on sport performance has often been evident in most

comments of spectators, team managers and sports analysts on athletes’ performance during

and after competitions. Most of the time they comment on players’ display of confidence or

lack of it, aggressiveness or timidity, anger or enthusiasm, frustration or determination and

other forms of emotional state, and at the same time attributing to these factors, reasons for

success or failure. Having this in mind, it is clear that players’ preparation for successful

performance is no longer limited only to technical, tactical and physical preparation, but also

“bringing” the players in optimal emotional state, where they can fully deliver their ability,

acquired in the training process. Inability to appropriately manage emotions experienced in

competitive situations may lead to such things as an inappropriate outburst or anger or

aggression and can often lead players to be penalized or excluded from competitions, which

will at the same time penalize their respective teams, and prevent them from success. As

previously mentioned, examples are Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 World Cup Final, when

France was left with man less and consequently lost the final to Italy, or incidents related to

prolific goal scorer, Luis Suarez, when on several occasions, his team was left with an

unaccomplished mission, because of his “strange” biting incidents.

And who else would be responsible for optimal players’ preparation, if not the coach. He

needs to show his “human side” of management skills, his “interpersonal knowledge”, his

Emotional Intelligence, which is deemed as the essence of leadership, nowadays (Goleman,

2002). The coach must understand himself first, his own emotions, weaknesses and strengths,

and have the ability to regulate them. Than he needs to understand his players, their

emotions and mind, and be able to convince them to do the necessary job and “to move in

the desired direction”, with enthusiasm and feeling that they are achieving their own targets

at the same time.

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Up till now, it was thought that coaching has to be player-centred, if it is to give the best

result. However, lately another way of seeing this issue has emerged, and it has been

advocated that bidirectional attention (Jowett 2002), where both sides, players and coach,

are seen as “human beings”, is deemed to yield better results. The coach-athlete relationship

has been defined (Jowett, Paull & Pensgaard 2005) as the situation in which coaches’ and

athletes’ feelings (closeness), thoughts (commitment) and behaviours (complementarity) are

interconnected (co-orientation). In this scenario, both sides will have to work for the

successful relation, which will improve motivation on both sides, and consequently empower

performance in competition.

Hence, in this research the interpersonal relations between players and coach will be

analysed, the results will be discussed to draw a conclusion, with emphasis on the coach’s

role in the entire process. The opinions of elite football players (who played at least once for

Senior National Team) will be compared with opinions of the other players in Maltese Premier

Football League. There are several methods to assess interpersonal relationships (with

emotional intelligence being one of the most important elements of it), the majority of which

are designed for company environments. However, lately a questionnaire specifically for

athlete-coach relationship has been designed. It is the Coach – Athlete Relationship

Questionnaire ( CART-Q), and it was deemed appropriate for use in this research (attached in

Appendix B and Appendix C).

2.2 Methods 2.2.1 Participants

The participants chosen were all the players and coaches in Maltese Premier League, in

Season 2016-17 when the research has been conducted. Taking part in top domestic

competition, was the best qualification for all of them to give their view on the importance of

coach-player relation. However, the main condition was that the coach and player would have

worked at least five to six months together, to be able to build an adequate relationship

between them (Jowett, 2003). From twelve clubs in Maltese Premier League, only in one of

them, this condition was not met. At Mosta FC, there was a change of three coaches in a time

span of six months, which was not a sufficient time for a proper relationship to be established,

hence, this Club was excluded from the research. In all the other Clubs, research was

conducted during the month of December 2016, and these Clubs are: Balzan FC, Birkirkara FC,

Floriana FC, Gzira FC, Hamrun FC, Hibernians FC, Luxol FC, Pembroke FC, Tarxien FC, and

Valletta FC. Undoubtedly, the major obstacle in obtaining the most realistic results, was the

frequent changes of coaches. In first six months of the Season 2016-17, there was a coaching

change in seven Premier League Clubs (Luxol FC, Mosta FC, Pembroke FC, Hamrun FC, Gzira

FC, Tarxien FC, Birkirkara FC), from which two Clubs even changed coaches two times. In

Season 2015-16, the average tenour of a coach in Malta Premier League was eleven months,

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where seventeen coaches have been involved during the Season. In the present Season, 2016-

17, until December 2016, already nineteen coaches have been engaged by the Clubs!

In all, hundred ninety six players (from which forty five Elite players, who played at least once

for their respective Senior National Teams) and eleven coaches, from eleven Clubs, in Maltese

Football Premier League, took part in this research.

2.2.2 Instruments

The Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q) was used. This was introduced by

Soffia Jowett (2002) and they are attached in APPENDIX B (CART-Q for the players) and

APPENDIX C (CART-Q for the coaches). The CART-Q, is a brief, simple-to-use 11-item measure

that reflects the cognitive (Commitment Q1, Q2, Q3), affective (Closeness Q4, Q5, Q6, Q7 and

behavioural (Complementarity Q8, Q9, Q10, Q11) aspects of the coach-player relationship. It

is specifically composed to measure the bidirectional relationship between coach and athlete.

The questionnaire is composed of eleven statements, and responses are on a scale from 1-7,

where number 1 is used for “strongly disagree”, number 7 for “strongly agree” and remaining

numbers for the values in between. These statements are composed to measure three

important components in the relationship between coach and athletes, namely: Closeness,

Co-orientation and Complementarity.

Additionally three questions, No12, No13 and No14, were introduced to try to profile the

players in more detail (the time period players and coaches worked together, more successful

and less successful players/coaches, elite and non-elite).

The questionnaire is confidential, and data will be used only for research purposes.

2.2.3 Procedure

The procedure of filling in the questionnaire was undergone in the dressing rooms of

respective clubs. Sometimes it was done before training, and sometimes it was done after

training. It was decided by respective coaches, according to their convenience. From

experience, players were more focused when it was done before training, then after training.

Upon arriving at the dressing room, the purpose of the questionnaire was explained to

players. Then the lists were given to them and they could read them for 1-2 minutes. After

that the procedure of filling the questions was explained. It was emphasised that the

questionnaire is confidential and players were asked to focus and look for the answers inside

themselves. They were all given a pen each, to fill in the questionnaire quickly and avoid time

40

wasting and discussions and consultations between them, while doing it. It was important

that players only gave individual and personal answers when filling in the questionnaire.

2.2.4 Results (Descriptive statistics)

The data that was collected was further analysed. The first aim was to see the degree of

accordance/difference between players’ and coaches’ answers, and secondly to establish any

correlation between team’s success and quality of coach-player relationship. And the last

objective was to notify if there is any difference in valuation between “Elite Players” (who

played at least once for respective Senior National Team) and “Other Players” (who never

played for Senior National Team).

The questions from CART-Q questionnaire are listed in Table 4.

Table 4: Questions from Coach-Athlete Relationship Test

CART-Q questionnaire

Q1 I feel close to my coach/players

Q2 I feel committed to my coach/players

Q3 I feel that my sport carrier is promising with my coach/players

Q4 I like my coach/players

Q5 I trust my coach/players

Q6 I respect my coach/players

Q7 I appreciate sacrifices of my coach/players, in order to improve my/their performance

Q8 When I’m coached by my coach, I feel at ease

Q9 When I am coached by my Coach, I feel responsive to his efforts

Q10 When I am coached by my Coach, I am ready to do my best

Q11 When I am coached by my Coach, I adopt a friendly stance

The summary of the received data from players and coaches is listed in Table 5.

Table 5: The summary of received data from eleven Football Clubs in Maltese Football Premier League

RAW DATA Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11

Balzan FC players 5.45 6.05 5.5 6.09 6.14 6.73 6.32 5.82 6.18 6.18 6.09

coach 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 7 7 6

difference -1.55

-0.95

-1.50

-0.91

-0.86

-0.27

-0.68

-0.18

-0.82

-0.82

+ 0.09

Birkirkara FC players 3.83 4.72 3.89 3.89 4.22 5.77 5 4.17 4.5 5.56 4.06

coach 6 7 6 6 3 7 7 7 7 7 7

41

difference -2.17

-2.28

-2.11

-2.11

+ 1.22

-1.23

-2.00

-2.83

-2.50

-1.44

-2.94

Floriana FC players 5.89 6.33 6.11 6.55 6.55 7 6.61 5.78 6.39 6.83 6.17

coach 6 6 6 6 7 7 4 6 6 7 3

difference -0.11

+ 0.33

+ 0.11

+ 0.55

-0.45

0

+ 2.61

-0.22

+ 0.39

-0.17

+ 3.17

Gzira FC players 4.11 4.78 4.56 4.67 4.78 5.89 5.22 4.22 4.56 5.67 4.44

coach 5 7 5 6 6 7 6 5 5 7 6

difference -0.89

-2.22

-0.44

-1.33

-1.22

-1.11

-0.78

-0.78

-0.44

-1.33

-1.56

Hamrun FC players 3.39 4.06 3.00 3.39 3.67 5.11 4.39 3.11 3.83 5.17 4.11

coach 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 5

difference -3.61

-2.94

-4.00

-3.61

-3.33

-1.89

-2.61

-3.89

-3.17

-1.83

-0.89

Hibernians FC

players 4.88 5.71 5.41 5.35 5.82 6.71 6.17 4.88 5.29 6.53 5.41

coach 5 7 6 6 5 6 6 6 6 7 5

difference -0.12

-1.29

-0.59

-0.65

+ 0.82

+ 0.71

+ 0.17

-1.12

-0.71

-0.47

+ 0.41

Luxol St Andrews FC

players 4.67 4.93 3.67 4.2 4.40 5.53 4.53 4.20 4.33 5.27 5.27

coach 5 7 4 7 3 7 7 7 7 7 4

difference -0.33

-2.07

-0.33

-2.80

+ 1.40

-1.47

-2.47

-2.80

-2.67

-1.73

+ 1.27

Pembroke FC players 4.38 4.69 4.50 4.75 4.44 5.50 5.50 4.88 4.88 5.12 4.69

coach 6 6 5 4 5 6 6 5 7 6 2

difference -1.62

-1.31

-0.50

+ 0.75

-0.56

-0.50

-0.50

-0.12

-2.12

-0.88

+ 2.69

Sliema FC players 5.14 6.14 5.00 5.55 5.68 6.68 5.68 5.22 6.09 6.36 5.45

coach 5 7 6 7 7 7 5 6 6 7 5

difference + 0.14

-0.86

-1.00

-1.45

-1.32

-0.32

+ 0.68

-0.78

+ 0.09

-0.64

+ 0.45

Tarxien FC players 5.33 5.72 4.61 5.05 5.00 6.44 5.67 5.17 5.33 6.28 5.78

coach 6 6 5 6 5 6 6 6 6 7 5

difference -0.67

-0.28

-0.39

-0.95

0

+ 0.44

-0.33

-0.83

-0.67

-0.72

+ 0.78

Valletta FC players 4.78 5.52 5.65 6.00 5.91 6.78 6.39 5.91 6.17 6.83 5.52

coach 6 6 5 6 5 6 6 6 6 7 5

difference -1.22

-0.48

+ 0.65

0

+ 0.91

+ 0.78

+ 0.39

-0.09

+ 0.17

-0.17

+ 0.52

The players’ answers (marked in blue) are given as an average value of all answers.

The coaches’ answers are marked in grey.

The difference represents the value of the different valuation of player-coach relation, from

players and coaches answers. When marked in red, it means that players’ values are lower

than that of coach. When marked in green, it means that players’ values are higher than that

of coach.

The summary of the collected data, including the total average values for players’ answers,

total average values for coaches’ answers, difference between those two, and ranking of the

players’ values and difference values, are presented in Table 6.

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Table 6: Comparison of the summarised data and ranking of players' total values, coach’s total values and differences in values between players and coaches

S U M M A R Y TOTAL RANKING of

players’ values

RANKING of

coach’s values

RANKING of

difference In values

Balzan FC players 66.55 2

coach 75 1

difference -8.45 7

Birkirkara FC

players 49.61 10

coach 70 3

difference -20.39 10

Floriana FC

players 70.21 1

coach 64 8

difference +6.21 1

Gzira FC players 52.9 8

coach 65 5

difference -12.1 8

Hamrun FC

players 43.23 11

coach 75 1

difference -31.77 11

Hibernians FC

players 62.16 5

coach 65 5

difference -2.84 3

Luxol St Andrews FC

players 51 9

coach 65 5

difference -14 9

Pembroke FC

players 53.33 7

coach 58 11

difference -4.67 5

Sliema FC players 62.99 4

coach 68 4

difference -5.81 6

Tarxien FC players 60.38 6

coach 64 8

difference -3.62 4

Valletta FC players 65.46 3

coach 64 8

difference +1.46 2

2.2.5 Discussion

The comparison of the ranking data from eleven Clubs and League standing at the time of

research, is shown in Table 7.

In Table A, the ranking of the teams according to total average players’ data is shown.

43

In Table B, the ranking of the teams according to the difference in players and coaches values

is shown.

Table C shows the League standing at the time of the research (20th December 2016).

Table D was left empty purposefully, as it should present the final standing at the end of the

Season 2016-17, and will be filled in at a later stage.

Table 7: Comparison of ranking data and League standing

Table A Table B Table C Table D

1 Floriana 70.21 1 Floriana +6.21 1 Balzan 1

2 Balzan 66.55 2 Valletta +1.46 2 Hibernians 2

3 Valletta 65.46 3 Hibernians -2.84 3 Valletta 3

4 Sliema 62.99 4 Tarxien -3.62 4 Floriana 4

5 Hibernians 62.16 5 Pembroke -4.67 5 Birkirkara 5

6 Tarxien 60.38 6 Sliema -5.01 6 Sliema 6

7 Pembroke 53.33 7 Balzan -8.45 7 Hamrun 7

8 Gzira 52.90 8 Gzira -12.1 8 Luxol 8

9 Luxol 51.00 9 Luxol -14 9 Tarxien 9

10 Birkirkara 49.61 10 Birkirkara -20.39

10 Gzira 10

11 Hamrun 43.23 11 Hamrun -31.77

11 Mosta 11

12 Mosta NA 12 Mosta NA 12 Pembroke 12

When comparing Table A and Table C (current standing in the League), it is evident that top

five clubs from Table A are also occupying top six places in the current League standing. It

seems that there is a positive moderately strong correlation between the rank of the coach-

players relationship as valued by the players (Table 7A), and the League standing of the teams

as at the end of December 2016 (Table 7C). In fact a correlation of 0.63 was achieved after

computing the rank order of Table 7A and Table 7C using the Pearson Correlation. The only

exception in December 2016 League standing, is the position of Birkirkara FC (fifth place), who

however, is the team that scored very low in total average players values (Table 7A, tenth

position), and it is a team that scored very low in difference between players and coaches

values - also tenth position (Table 7B)!

Thus Birkirkara FC is an interesting case, where the team who managed to arrive to the third

round in UEFA competition during Summer 2016 (like no other Maltese team has achieved

ever before), and was tipped as favourite for winning the domestic Championship, has ended

up struggling for the place for Europe, being eliminated from FA Cup, and changing the coach

after six months! Are these disappointing results related to players-coach relationship? Did

the coach, mismanage something in his human relationship with his players, which was

leading to below expected results?

From the Table 7A, which represents the ranking of the teams according to total average

players’ values, we can also notice that top five Clubs, are the Clubs who didn’t change the

44

Coach during the current Season. It seems that building good relationships can help to achieve

better results. It is interesting that a weak negative correlation exists between the perception

of players and their respective coaches in regard to coach-player relationship. Using Pearson

Correlation we could compute this negative correlation to the value of -0.11! This implies that

there is an inverse relationship and that the perceptions of the relations of each other are not

in sync.

From top five teams in Table 7A, nearly all of them have respective coaches for longer time,

except for Sliema FC. In Floriana FC, the current coach has been in the Club for three seasons

(although not consecutive, 2+1), in Balzan FC three seasons, in Valletta FC six seasons (4+2

seasons), in Sliema FC first season and Hibernians FC eight seasons (3+4+1). Statistically, the

coaches in top 5 teams in Table A, have been in their respective Clubs in average 34,5 months.

On the other side, coaches in remaining teams from Table A, have been with respective Clubs

in average 13,4 months!

Can we say that the longer coach is in the Club, a better relation he builds with the players?

Or maybe we can say, that if the coach builds a better relation with the players, then longer

he stays in respective Club.

It is hard to say which one is right, since we can’t neglect other factors like, coach’s

relationship with all stake holders in the Club (President, directors, supporters), and of course

ever present importance of teams results. Definitely, both ways of seeing the things are right.

Coaches do need certain time to establish proper relationship with the players, but it counts

only for the first 4 to 6 months according to Jowett (2003). After that, the quality of relation

with the players, is one of the most important factors for the coach to be successful in

respective Club.

From received data, it was also possible to separate opinions of National Team players (Elite

Players) and other players.

The values given by these two different groups of players are expressed in absolute values

and percentages, in Table 8.

Table 8: Comparison of Elite Players and Non-Elite Players

TOTAL AVERAGE values TOTAL AVERAGE values In percentages (%)

National Team players 60.89 79%

Others 57.79 75%

Difference 3.10 4%

When comparing the values from these two groups, it was noted a difference, although not

significant, around 4%, in favour of National Team players. These means that National Team

players, gave slightly higher values to their relation with their respective coaches. And it was

a trend which was confirmed in eight out of eleven Clubs from Maltese Premier League. Only

in three Clubs, the values of the other players was higher than those of National Team players:

Hamrun FC, Birkirkara FC and Hibernians FC.

45

Accepting that in general National Team players give higher values to their respective

coaches, we can try to draw a conclusion, why it is happening. Two major explanations are

emerging, where it either comes from players’ side, or coaches’ side. If it is the first one, we

can say, that National Team players, since being elite players in each country, are more

developed as a players and probably have matured and formed more their personality and

character, which puts them in position to establish different type of relationship with coaches,

than other players. If we try to explain it from coaches’ point of view, than it means that

coaches are establishing closer relationship with National Team players. And from own

experience this turns to be more plausible. When dealing with the players, it is important for

coach to establish good relationship with all the players, but it is of outmost importance to

establish very good relationship with the best and most influential players in the Club. If a

coach gets these players “on board”, than “sailing the ship” will be, easier task. The whole

working environment in the team will be more relaxed, pleasant to work and highly

motivational to perform.

46

III

Conclusion and

Recommendations

47

3.1 Importance of EI in coaching

Football as the most popular sport and most important activity in the lives of major

populations in the world, has become a highly competitive game. It is seen as a game between

various participants: team vs team, coach vs coach, players vs players, Clubs vs Clubs,

Companies vs Companies (as Clubs’ sponsors), Nations vs Nations… Being so popular and

important, it’s normal that it is able to create huge emotions inside every participant. And the

outcome of expectations of so many participants, is always decided on the pitch, where

players using their skills and abilities are trying to leave the pitch as victorious. For players to

be able to perform their technical and physical abilities, it is of outmost importance that they

are in the optimum emotional state.

Some top Clubs in the world, regularly employ psychologists, to help dealing with the

emotional side of the players. However, when speaking with the players, they always mention

their relationship with players and coaches, not with psychologist. And it is normal and

expected, since they spend hours together on a daily basis. Sharing the dressing room, hotel

room, sharing the match outcome, good or bad, depending on each other in every training

and every match, will create many important relationships between players and players, and

players and coaches. The quality of this relationship will determine the quality of work

through the season. The quality of the emotional state of a single player, can significantly

affect the performance of a whole team. And this is the new area of responsibility for coaches,

where they have to excel!

To be able to create these relationships in the right direction, to build a new one, or to rebuild

the broken one, both coach and players should possess certain abilities and skills. These assets

include the ability to understand one’s own emotions and needs, the ability to control or

redirect disruptive impulses, being passionate to work and pursue one’s goals, being able to

understand the emotional state and needs of others, and being proficient in managing

relationships - social skills.

Numerous researches, being both in the business and the sport environment, have confirmed

the importance of this invisible phenomenon. Psychology, by nature, never gives exact

solutions. The human brain is not mathematically solvable. It hides many mysteries, which

have been developed through millions of years, of human’s evolution. Psychologists, in their

quest for these phenomenon, have come up with various explanations and solutions. But

most of them agree about its importance for success, even up to 90%.

Sport is a physical activity carried out in the presence of others, similar to most business

environments. Based on this premise, a conceptual framework was proposed by Iso-Ahola

(1995), to show that athletic performance is a multiplicative function of intrapersonal (coping

skills) and interpersonal (e.g. coach-athlete relationship) factors. Iso-Ahola’s proposed

framework emphasizes that for successful performance, the athlete’s intrapersonal and

interpersonal psychological factors are required to be developed.

48

As much as awareness of intrapersonal and interpersonal factors are increasing in business

environment, a similar trend has been detected also in sports, and especially football, as a

team sport. Football managers have been switching from “steel hand” style of managing, with

the likes of Rinus Micheles, nick named General, “Best coach of the XX Century by FIFA”

(UEFA, 2016) and Sir Alex Ferguson, long lasting and undisputable Manager of Man United,

up to modern days coaches, who are directing their style to be more appealing to the “human

side”.

This can be understood from their weekly comments and interviews. It is notable how much

importance they (coaches) give to the emotional side of the work, when speaking about

themselves and their own personality adaptation to new challenges, and always emphasising

the importance of the players and the type of relationship they build with them.

“I didn’t come here (England) to change English football, but to change my self”, says Pep

Guardiola.

“Jurgen (Klopp) creates a family. We always say: 30% tactics, 70% team building. Building a

strong relationship is key to his philosophy.” Pepijn Lijnders, Liverpool FC assistant coach.

“The key to success I think is the relationship with the players. The knowledge of football is

second. As for the relationship, you need charisma, you need respect, you need personality.

Zidane has all of that.” Says Ancelotti (Johns, 2017), “ you don’t need to give an inspirational

monologue every time. Sometimes you don’t even need to talk much. Zidane doesn’t talk

much, but when he speaks, people listen. He commands respect”.

There is evidence to suggest that people disclose more information when they trust, or feel

close to each other (Jowett & Meek, 2000). Kahneman (1974) showed that people are

irrational, and they would rather do business with somebody they like, even if it might not be

the best option for them. Thus, athletes are more likely to reveal themselves to coaches

whom they like, respect, believe and trust. And this is why it is possible that a more

experienced and knowledgeable coach like Rafa Benitez, didn’t manage to achieve the same

success like Zinedine Zidane, whose only experience before taking Real Madrid, was an

underwhelming season stint with Third Division Team in Spain (Real Madrid B Team). And this

is not to underestimate a coach like Rafa Benitez, who had a very successful managerial

career, winning Championships in Spain and Champions League with Liverpool. Every club has

its specificity, and Real Madrid is certainly one of them. Filled with star players, and guided by

a very ambitious President, it gives no space for a second chance. From the very beginning a

coach has to deliver, and without the players support, it is impossible to achieve. Surely,

Zidane had a “key” to unlock the dressing room, and everything that followed, was the

consequence of it. Winning the UEFA Champions League in 2016, World Cup for Clubs in 2016,

arriving to forty consecutive matches without defeat, and surpassing the dominance of

mighty Barcelona. And all of these from a man who was coaching only one season, the reserve

team, in Spanish Third Division! For Ancelloti, it is very easy to explain:” Yes, I value experience

and knowledge, but they are not the most important thing. The most important thing is being

able to talk to the players, listen to them, teach them and work with them, and you can only

do that if they respect you.” (Johns, 2017)

49

Going back to research in this theses, on the connection between player-coach relationship

and teams’ results, within Maltese Premier League, it has confirmed a moderately strong

relation between team’s results and quality of those relationships. It showed that top table

teams, have at the same time best player-coach relationship. It also showed us that longer

lasting coaches are the ones that managed to establish better relationship with players.

Agreeing that this relationship is a “two way traffic” of mutual understandings, in the final

conclusion, it will be more emphasis on coaching side. Because it is the coach who has to take

a leading role in these relationships. “Ultimately, the ability of coaches to develop effective

relationships with their athletes could have an impact on athletes well being and in turn

performance accomplishments.” (Jowett & Cockerill, 2002).

Coaching with emotions in mind not only drives better performance, it also encourages

athletes to rise to another level. Not just in sports, but in life. When coaching with emotional

intelligence, we are creating a generation of leaders, perhaps future coaches as well.

Understanding the powerful role, coach’ emotions can have on players and their families, is

something that can set apart successful teams, from less successful teams. To know that we

can actually make one of our players perform better, just by being emotionally aware, and

coaching in a positive mood, is a huge opportunity, which we can’t miss.

Most of the coaches don’t scratch the surface of sports psychology, and are missing out on

one of the most powerful coaching tools. We have to urge everybody, to put more effort in

this aspect of coaching. All the researches, studies and everyday experiences are underlying

the importance of incorporating a “social skills program” in coaching educational courses.

With the evidences showing that athletes are more likely to seek support and advice from

people whom they feel close to, the formation of reliable athlete-coach relationships

becomes the paramount for success. Coach educational programs should not focus

exclusively on providing information about technical, strategic and tactical skills, but also

providing coaches with information that would assist them to develop effective relationships

with their athletes.

“Emotional Intelligence is the starting point of coaching. If you are

emotionally intelligent, you’ll tend to behave in a coaching way anyhow,

even if you have never heard of coaching. When I’m training people to

become coaches, I start with EI – it is the foundation stone”- John Whitmor.

(Neale et al, 2011)

50

3.2 What should be the profile of today’s football

coach

We have seen, that football is evolving, and all participants are changing. To survive, everyone

needs to adapt. Coaches are called to widen their area of responsibilities. It’s not just ball

work on the pitch that makes a coach. Ability to deal with people and lead them, takes a

central role today. Numerous confirmations are coming from best coaches of today. Ancelotti,

Guardiola, Klopp… all agreeing, that to express our ideas of football, we need the players on

our side. It is now our skill, how to convince the players. Bearing in mind that coaches’ tenours

with the clubs are getting shorter every year, it means that time is not in our favour, and we

have to establish these “bridges” with the players, as soon as we start a new job. In our

portfolio, we need those “soft skills”, to win the players first, and after that we’ll win the

matches. We need to have the abilities to lead!

“Leadership is a quality that sets apart best from the rest”, says Howard Wilkinson, Chairman

of League Managers Association England (Carson, 2014), and Emotional Intelligence as a

component of leadership effectiveness is central to the roles of coaches in football. Coaches

must be able to make decisions independently from the negative influence of emotional

responses around them. These may be especially difficult for those ex-players, who will have

to distinguish their way of perceiving emotions as players before, and as coaches today. The

leadership roles, require from the coach to possess skills related to strategy development,

human resources management, coordination and adaptive style work. To be effective in these

processes, a coach can’t let his own emotions destruct him in decision making. How well they

fulfil leader’s role, will directly affect the success of the club. The extent to which they will

achieve high level of individual performance (players and staff), and whole team

performance, will be a function of their leadership abilities.

A fundamental task of leaders is to prime good feelings in those they lead (Goleman, 2002),

which means the primal job of leadership is of an emotional nature.

Today’s football, due to its global significance, is highly charged as is the emotional

environment, where emotions are pouring from all around. Football as a team sport,

generates frequent interactions between its participants, and as such requires more

emotional labour for the task performance achievement. Participants with a higher emotional

intelligence capacity, are more capable to do well in an environment like this. It is important

that main participants, players and coaches, have a certain level of emotional capacity, to be

able to successfully perform and cooperate. And it is a coach, who needs to set the tone for

the working environment, and create a resonance-reservoir of positivity. And it is a coach,

who will train the players on the pitch, but also bring them to an optimal emotional state,

where they can fully demonstrate their technical and physical abilities.

Today’s coach, needs to be an emotionally intelligent coach. His coaching skills have to be

based on four important pillars:

51

1) Listening

2) Questioning

3) Empathy

4) Rapport

Emotional listening- Emotionally intelligent coaches use whole-body listening. They listen

with their eyes, body and intuition as well as their ears, and they are aware of the impact their

listening has on their own emotions. The emotionally intelligent coach develops listening

skills, in the state when he is fully aware that his attitude has a massive impact on how he

listens. This kind of listening begins to give real space and time to a speaker, encouraging

him/her to expand his/her thinking and explore himself. Emotionally intelligent coaches must

keep themselves out of the thought process and solely focus on the speaker and speaker’s

thoughts and feelings. It is a moment when a coach starts listening beyond the words, and

trying to understand the problem of the “iceberg bellow the water”. Emotional listening starts

when it becomes effortless, and we listen with our body and intuition. It is important, that we

keep any judgment out of the equation, because our intuition can easily fall into assumption.

There are three things, which can obstruct coach’s listening: his thinking, his feelings and what

he is doing. If the thoughts are running in coach’s mind, he won’t be able to focus on the

speaker. If an emotional response is created inside of him, regarding what speaker is talking

about, his further listening and intuition will be destructed. He might respond with a body

language that will show his destruction, looking away, interrupting the speaker

inappropriately, or he might start leading the conversation. An emotionally intelligent coach,

must be able to control all these destructions.

Emotional Questioning- If coach’s listening is on the highest level, than his questioning will

be open and non-judgmental, and will help the speaker to think outside the box. We have to

remember, that it is not the coach who has to find a solution, but the player has to come up

with a solution while releasing his thinking. The questions have to help the player to recognize

his feelings, explore his awareness and encourage reflective learning. Only if the coach himself

has a high level of self-awareness and awareness for the others, he will be able to ask the

most effective questions.

Empathy- It is an important block in building a positive relationship. A coach has to put himself

in the players’ shoes, and acknowledge how they feel. As Goleman (2002) describes it, it is a

“social radar” which can scan the feelings of all around us, and help us to navigate more easily.

Rapport- If the previous three functions are expressed in the highest level, then the rapport

coach creates with the players will be the positive one. The genuine communication will

further strengthen the ties in the rapport, and it will be the “cherry on the cake” for coach’s

leadership role.

What once used to be burden in management, today is the prime tool in management. Those

invisible phenomena, feelings, which are running through our body so frequently, are the

main tools in today’s management. How successful we are in dealing with them that is how

52

successful coaches and leaders we’ll be. And their power is immense and undisputed.

Something that I experienced some years ago in the hospital room with my ex-coach.

53

“Learn to inspire your athletes to perform at their best”

Daniel Goleman

54

APPENDIX A

55

APPENDIX B

The Coach – Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q)

For PLAYERS

This questionnaire aims to measure the quality and content of the coach-player relationship in Malta

Football Premier League. Please read carefully the statements below and circle the answer that

indicates whether you agree or disagree. There are no right or wrong answers. The questionnaire is

CONFIDENTIAL so please respond to the statements as honest as possible and relevant to how you

personally feel with your principal coach.

Statement Strongly Disagree

Moderately Strongly Agree

1 I feel close to my Coach

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2 I feel committed to my Coach

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3 I feel that my sport career is promising with my Coach

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4 I like my Coach

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

5 I trust my Coach

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

6 I respect my Coach

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7 I appreciate sacrifices of my Coach, in order to improve my performance

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 When I am coached by my Coach, I feel at ease

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

9 When I am coached by my Coach, I feel responsive to his efforts

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

10 When I am coached by my Coach, I am ready to do my best

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

11 When I am coached by my Coach, I adopt a friendly stance

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

12 How long have you been with last Coach?

1 2 3 4 5 Seasons

13 Did you win any honour with last Coach?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

14 Have you ever played for National Team (Senior)?

yes no

56

APPENDIX C

The Coach – Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q)

For COACHES

This questionnaire aims to measure the quality and content of the coach-player relationship in Malta

Football Premier League. Please read carefully the statements below and circle the answer that

indicates whether you agree or disagree. There are no right or wrong answers. The questionnaire is

CONFIDENTIAL, so please respond to the statements as honest as possible and relevant to how you

personally feel with your players.

Statement Strongly Disagree

Moderately Strongly Agree

1 I feel close to my players

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2 I feel committed to my players

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3 I feel that my sport career is promising with my players

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4 I like my players

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

5 I trust my players

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

6 I respect my players

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7 I appreciate sacrifices of my players in order to improve their performance

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 When I coach my players, I feel at ease

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

9 When I coach my players, I feel responsive to their efforts

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

10 When I coach my players, I am ready to do my best

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

11 When I coach my players, I adopt a friendly stance

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

12 How many Seasons have you been in present Club?

1 2 3 4 5 Seasons

13 Did you win any honour with present Club?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

57

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