The sports and recreation industry plays a crucial role in the well-being of all Australians. As well as our physical health, the industry promotes individuals’ mental health and the wellness of communities by building inclusion and social cohesion. The Certificate of Recreational Leadership is ideal for anyone who works as a leader in a sporting club, recreational centre, gym or anywhere people gather to exercise or partake in leisure activities.

This recreational leadership course will teach you how to plan and lead teams and recreational events and inspire staff and participants to achieve recreational goals. You will also learn how to build strong interpersonal relationships, recognise safety issues, understand legal liability and negligence, and gain insights into a variety of leadership models.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking an online recreational leadership course include:

• Learning about the nature, scope and purpose of leadership
• Gaining an understanding of leadership in recreation and leisure
• Exploring leadership concepts and the four framework leadership model
• Studying legal liability, negligence and how to provide protection
• Gaining insights into understanding legal requirements and controls
• Examining the qualities and characteristics of an effective recreational leader
• Understanding leadership styles
• Learning how people become leaders
• Exploring situational leadership theory
• Studying life cycle leadership and informal leadership
• Gaining insights into inspirational, instrumental and Path-Goal theories
• Examining motivation and Maslow’s Theory of Motivation
• Understanding the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid
• Learning about interpersonal relationships and interpersonal skills
• Exploring how to deal with problematic situations
• Studying stubborn clients and those that don’t listen
• Gaining insights into assertion or aggression
• Examining body language
• Understanding the types of non-verbal communication
• Learning about the principles of communication and leadership communication
• Exploring communication barriers – culture, senses, perception, wellbeing etc.
• Studying miscommunication
• Examining gaining attention
• Gaining insights into listening, questioning and feedback

And more!

 

The “Four Frame” Leadership Model

When you study our recreational leadership course, you will learn about the Four Frame Leadership Model that was outlined by Lee Bolman and Terry Deal in their 1991 book, Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership. In it, they state that leaders should approach organisational issues from four perspectives that they refer to as “frames”. In their view, leaders need to work with all four in order to be effective. However, a leader may use one frame for a time and then switch to another or combine and use a number of frames (or all four) at the same time. The four frames are:

Structural

This frame focuses on the obvious “how” of change and is mainly task-oriented. It concentrates on clarifying tasks, strategies, setting measurable goals, responsibilities and reporting lines, creating procedures and systems, and agreeing on metrics and deadlines

Human Resource

This frame places more emphasis on people’s needs. It focuses on giving employees the opportunity and power to do their jobs well, and at the same time addressing their needs for personal growth, human contact and job satisfaction.

Political

This frame addresses the problem of groups and individuals sometimes having conflict and often hidden agendas, particularly at times when the organisation has to make difficult choices and budgets are limited. In this frame, there will be conflict resolution and coalition and power-based building to support the leader’s initiatives.

Symbolic

This frame addresses people’s needs for meaning and a sense of purpose in their work. It focuses on inspiring individuals by making the organisation’s direction feel distinctive and significant. This can include recognising performance through company celebrations and recognising performance.

 

Path-goal Theory

A recreational leadership course will give you insights into a number of theories, including enhancing leadership in sport. The path-goal theory was developed by Robert House, who received a PhD in Management from Ohio State University in 1960. The task-oriented elements of the model can be classified as a form of instrumental leadership.

His theory states that a leader’s behaviour is determined by the motivation, satisfaction and performance of those they are leading and that they engage in behaviours that complement people’s abilities and compensate for deficiencies. It also states that leaders will have to engage in different types of leadership behaviour depending on the nature and the demands of a particular situation.

The original path-goal theory identifies these directives, achievement-oriented, supportive and participative leader behaviours:

Directive Leader Behaviour

This leadership style refers to situations where the leader tells followers how to perform their tasks and lets them know what is expected of them. It argues that this behaviour has the most positive effect when the follower’s role and task demands are ambiguous and intrinsically satisfying.

Achievement-oriented Leader Behaviour

This refers to situations where the leader sets challenging goals for followers, expects them to perform at their highest level and shows confidence in their ability to meet these expectations.

Supportive Leader Behaviour

This is directed towards the satisfaction of followers’ needs and preferences and the leader shows concern for the followers’ psychological wellbeing. This behaviour is especially needed in situations in which relationships or tasks are physically or psychologically distressing.

Participative Leader Behaviour

This involves leaders consulting with followers and asking for their suggestions before making a decision. When subordinates are highly personally involved in their work this behaviour is predominant.

 

The Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid

Another important theory you will learn about in our outdoor leadership course is the work of researchers, Robert Blake and Jane Mouton. This theory proposes a graphic representation of leadership styles through a management or leadership grid. It depicts two dimensions of leadership behaviour – concern for production (task-oriented behaviour) and for people (relationship-oriented behaviour).

Each axis on the grid consists of a nine-point scale with one meaning a low concern and nine a high concern. Depending on a leader’s score on each of the two axes, different types of management styles can be assigned.

Concerns

Concern for Production. This means that leaders direct followers towards goals. Leaders with this style typically spend time planning, emphasise deadlines, give instructions and provide explicit schedules of work activities. They just want to get the job done!

Concern for People. This means that leaders are mindful of followers and establish mutual trust and respect for their feelings and ideas. They are friendly, develop teamwork, provide open communication and are oriented towards their followers’ welfare.

Management Styles

Impoverished Management. These are leaders that score low on concern for both production and people. They exert minimum effort to maintain interpersonal relationships and get work done, and often won’t accept responsibility for their mistakes.

Country Club Management. These are leaders that score high on concern for people but low on concern for production. They believe accommodating the needs of followers will increase performance, however, it can result in an easy-going atmosphere, but one that’s not very productive! It can also mean more task-focused followers become frustrated.

Authority-Compliance Management. These leaders score high on concern for production but low on concern for people. In order to boost performance, they may make followers comply by using tangible rewards such as monetary bonuses and punish followers if targets are not being met.

Middle-of-the-Road Management. These leaders score medium on concern for both production and people. They attempt a balance between followers’ needs and performance targets. The major downside to this approach is the danger that neither approach is delivered to satisfactorily levels.

Team Management. If leaders score high on concern for both production and people, they have a style that is considered to be the most effective in maintaining good relationships and accomplishing tasks. It encourages commitment, teamwork, mutual trust and respect.

 

Gain the skills to work in a leadership capacity at a recreational facility with a recreational leadership course such as our Certificate of Recreational Leadership.