The Leader's Body Language

Draymond Green is regarded as one of the more emotional players in the NBA, a fiery competitor who has led the league in technical fouls in multiple seasons. Steve Kerr is viewed as one of the calmer and more composed coaches in the sport.

But last week, it was the player giving the coach a critical leadership lesson in body language and poise.

Green reminded Kerr that if he panics or looks aggravated after the Golden State Warriors turn the ball over, the turnovers aren’t actually going to stop. Kerr only creates more tension, uncertainty and apprehension in his team.

“You look over to the side, and it feels like the world’s collapsing on you,” Green said. “To me, it looked like guys were turning the ball over trying not to turn the ball over.”

“I just went up to him and said, ‘Coach, we need your body language,’” he added. “We look over to the bench and every time we turned the ball over, we know we turned it over, and we’re trying to fix it.”

As leaders, we must understand that our actions, personalities and demeanor become part of our team’s DNA. If we’re hysterical after every call, slam tables after every deal gone awry, scream endlessly into the phone, then how can we expect those we lead to be poised? Teams of any sort always assume the personality of the leader, so when we are stressed, our teams follow suit.

As leaders, we can’t have two personalities. Who we are during the week must be who we are on game day, near the end of a term, near an earnings report release or close to the end of a school year.

We must remain the same in all situations and recognize that those who follow us depend on us to maintain our cool and never lose focus. What we should want more than anything is for them to reflect our personality — and that takes time, constant effort, and close scrutiny of our daily behaviors.

Before we accept a leadership position, before we take charge, we must make sure we know exactly what we want our temperament to be at all times.

Let’s write down what we would like those we lead to represent, then act accordingly each day. By determining the personality of our team first, we can formulate a plan about how we can bring out the desired behavior.

Green is right.

And Kerr is fortunate to have a caring player correct him.