cowboyjoe
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There have been several topics about accountability and leadership the last few years dealing with the Dallas Cowboys.
First, let's look at the definition of accountability and leadership.
Accountability is a concept in ethics with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, enforcement, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in both the public and private (corporation) worlds.
Accountability is defined as "A is accountable to B when A is obliged to inform B about A’s (past or future) actions and decisions, to justify them, and to suffer punishment in the case of eventual misconduct".[1]
In leadership roles, accountability is the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions, and policies including the administration, governance, and implementation within the scope of the role or employment position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for resulting consequences.
As you saw in the last paragraph, in leadership roles was defined somewhat.
Leadership is and has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”.[1] A definition more inclusive of followers comes from Alan Keith of Genentech who said "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen."[2]
Leadership is one of the most relevant aspects of the organizational context. However, defining leadership has been challenging. The following sections discuss several important aspects of leadership including a description of what leadership is and a description of several popular theories and styles of leadership. This article also discusses topics such as the role of emotions and vision, as well as leadership effectiveness and performance, leadership in different contexts, how it may differ from related concepts (i.e., management), and some critiques of leadership as generally conceived.
According to the late Jules Masserman, American psychoanalyst and former member of the faculty of Northwestern University medical school, leaders must fulfill three functions: the leader must provide for the well-being of the led, provide a social organization in which people feel relatively secure, and provide a set of beliefs.
This showed up in the roles from several cowboys players starting with the most important player Tony Romo. We all could see Romo celebrating with the offensive linemen when Romo threw a touchdown. Or when Bennett was in the wrong area on several plays, you saw Romo direct him where to go. Let's not forget Jason Witten going over to Bennett and telling him exactly where to go, with probably a few words that we probably wouldn't want to hear. This showed up under accountability with players making other players accountable, while showing leadership.
It's like Roger Staubach said today about Romo and the team going to 12-4. "Staubach said the criticism focused on Romo may sharpen his play.
“Sometimes, the more pressure on you, the better performer you can be, and Tony is that kind of athlete,” Staubach said. “But in football, you can’t do it by yourself. They have enough talent and enough leaders on that team to be champions.”
Some of you may have heard Ware talk about players not playing in their gaps on defense. That is still a work in progress on defense with accountability and leadership.
You saw leadership in some over looked areas with special teams coach Joe getting the players to play better on special teams, with postitive results. On kickoffs with Buehler, special teams play of not allowing big returns by the opposing team, while team leaders on special teams like Watkins, Anderson and new special teams player Sensabaugh stepping up in the game from the previous problems on special teams play in pre season games. The results were postive with an average of kickoff returns by opposing team with an average in low 20's, even Wade Phillips said that by the end of the year, the Cowboys might lead the league in allowing kickoff returns.
Which those excellent special teams play can lead to the hidden lost yardage on special teams. The Cowboys lost an average of 7.4 points per game last year. That's a big plus.
Now, lets look at some hidden leadership and accountablity. DC Fanatic talked about one player in particular last night on his show with the playing of Roy Williams. True Roy Williams says some things off the wall now and then, but he is leading on the team and some of the players are taking notice and following Roy. Thats leadership folks.
I know all of you have gotten onto Flozell Adams for his penalities, and those penalities were well deserved because of Flozell's poor play. Yet, you can't have your cake and eat it too folks. Flozell played against a very good DE in Gaines, and Flozell was nasty and mean. We need that attitude on this team, just like Columbo, who is noted for being a nasty player, Flozell to me stepped up some in this game. If you think about it for a minute, the linebacker or defensive back was coming across the field, and Flozell took a swing at him to keep him from getting into the field of play. Flozell missed because most likely the player leaned to try to get out of the way of big Flozell and Flozell missed on his swing. I want our offensive linemen to be big, mean and nasty and some of you have said the same thing. So, think about that before you judge Flozell. If Flozell goes down, we might be in trouble.
Next, Folk showed accountablity by hitting 2 field goals dead center. I am sure you all remember how the last few games, Folk missed some field goals and almost shanked one. Thats accountabilty folks.
Now, there are countless other players that stepped up with accountabilty and leadership. Yet, think about it for a minute, what does this all lead to with positive leadership and accountability, chemistry! That's right this team is starting to care about each other, be responsible to each other and play as a team. Winning will only enforce that, so when the big game comes in the fork in the road, the team won't cave in, but continue to grow. Sure, their will be bumps in the road, but with the leadership, accountability and chemistry growing on this team, I see positive things.
Now, lets go to the most important accountability and leadership on this team to me that happened after the game. In the press conference Monday that Wade Phillips talked to the media. The question was rose about the poor play of the defense. Wade didn't get defensive, even admitted to a degree that the problem was probably due to him not playing the team in more defensive packages then he did. Wade went on to say that he didnt want to get players hurt, because when you blitz, with certain packages, you get your offensive players hurt. Yet, Wade said that was probably an error on his part, and that the Cowboys needed to correct those issues because the Cowboys played more on base defense during preaseason then they should have. Thats accountabilty folks! And that is what the head coach should do, admit when an error was made, dont get defensive and find ways to correct the problem.
So, yes, the Cowboys are making some positive steps in the right direction with accountability and leadership.
Finally, always remember Rome wasn't built in a day, will take some time for this team to continue and grow, but they are going in the right direction.
First, let's look at the definition of accountability and leadership.
Accountability is a concept in ethics with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, enforcement, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in both the public and private (corporation) worlds.
Accountability is defined as "A is accountable to B when A is obliged to inform B about A’s (past or future) actions and decisions, to justify them, and to suffer punishment in the case of eventual misconduct".[1]
In leadership roles, accountability is the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions, and policies including the administration, governance, and implementation within the scope of the role or employment position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for resulting consequences.
As you saw in the last paragraph, in leadership roles was defined somewhat.
Leadership is and has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”.[1] A definition more inclusive of followers comes from Alan Keith of Genentech who said "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen."[2]
Leadership is one of the most relevant aspects of the organizational context. However, defining leadership has been challenging. The following sections discuss several important aspects of leadership including a description of what leadership is and a description of several popular theories and styles of leadership. This article also discusses topics such as the role of emotions and vision, as well as leadership effectiveness and performance, leadership in different contexts, how it may differ from related concepts (i.e., management), and some critiques of leadership as generally conceived.
According to the late Jules Masserman, American psychoanalyst and former member of the faculty of Northwestern University medical school, leaders must fulfill three functions: the leader must provide for the well-being of the led, provide a social organization in which people feel relatively secure, and provide a set of beliefs.
This showed up in the roles from several cowboys players starting with the most important player Tony Romo. We all could see Romo celebrating with the offensive linemen when Romo threw a touchdown. Or when Bennett was in the wrong area on several plays, you saw Romo direct him where to go. Let's not forget Jason Witten going over to Bennett and telling him exactly where to go, with probably a few words that we probably wouldn't want to hear. This showed up under accountability with players making other players accountable, while showing leadership.
It's like Roger Staubach said today about Romo and the team going to 12-4. "Staubach said the criticism focused on Romo may sharpen his play.
“Sometimes, the more pressure on you, the better performer you can be, and Tony is that kind of athlete,” Staubach said. “But in football, you can’t do it by yourself. They have enough talent and enough leaders on that team to be champions.”
Some of you may have heard Ware talk about players not playing in their gaps on defense. That is still a work in progress on defense with accountability and leadership.
You saw leadership in some over looked areas with special teams coach Joe getting the players to play better on special teams, with postitive results. On kickoffs with Buehler, special teams play of not allowing big returns by the opposing team, while team leaders on special teams like Watkins, Anderson and new special teams player Sensabaugh stepping up in the game from the previous problems on special teams play in pre season games. The results were postive with an average of kickoff returns by opposing team with an average in low 20's, even Wade Phillips said that by the end of the year, the Cowboys might lead the league in allowing kickoff returns.
Which those excellent special teams play can lead to the hidden lost yardage on special teams. The Cowboys lost an average of 7.4 points per game last year. That's a big plus.
Now, lets look at some hidden leadership and accountablity. DC Fanatic talked about one player in particular last night on his show with the playing of Roy Williams. True Roy Williams says some things off the wall now and then, but he is leading on the team and some of the players are taking notice and following Roy. Thats leadership folks.
I know all of you have gotten onto Flozell Adams for his penalities, and those penalities were well deserved because of Flozell's poor play. Yet, you can't have your cake and eat it too folks. Flozell played against a very good DE in Gaines, and Flozell was nasty and mean. We need that attitude on this team, just like Columbo, who is noted for being a nasty player, Flozell to me stepped up some in this game. If you think about it for a minute, the linebacker or defensive back was coming across the field, and Flozell took a swing at him to keep him from getting into the field of play. Flozell missed because most likely the player leaned to try to get out of the way of big Flozell and Flozell missed on his swing. I want our offensive linemen to be big, mean and nasty and some of you have said the same thing. So, think about that before you judge Flozell. If Flozell goes down, we might be in trouble.
Next, Folk showed accountablity by hitting 2 field goals dead center. I am sure you all remember how the last few games, Folk missed some field goals and almost shanked one. Thats accountabilty folks.
Now, there are countless other players that stepped up with accountabilty and leadership. Yet, think about it for a minute, what does this all lead to with positive leadership and accountability, chemistry! That's right this team is starting to care about each other, be responsible to each other and play as a team. Winning will only enforce that, so when the big game comes in the fork in the road, the team won't cave in, but continue to grow. Sure, their will be bumps in the road, but with the leadership, accountability and chemistry growing on this team, I see positive things.
Now, lets go to the most important accountability and leadership on this team to me that happened after the game. In the press conference Monday that Wade Phillips talked to the media. The question was rose about the poor play of the defense. Wade didn't get defensive, even admitted to a degree that the problem was probably due to him not playing the team in more defensive packages then he did. Wade went on to say that he didnt want to get players hurt, because when you blitz, with certain packages, you get your offensive players hurt. Yet, Wade said that was probably an error on his part, and that the Cowboys needed to correct those issues because the Cowboys played more on base defense during preaseason then they should have. Thats accountabilty folks! And that is what the head coach should do, admit when an error was made, dont get defensive and find ways to correct the problem.
So, yes, the Cowboys are making some positive steps in the right direction with accountability and leadership.
Finally, always remember Rome wasn't built in a day, will take some time for this team to continue and grow, but they are going in the right direction.
