My best boss has never stepped foot in the corporate world, where I’ve worked for nearly twenty years. This person was my Sabumnim, my master instructor from the taekwondo school where I trained for five years. I’ve never worked in a formal leadership role in my day job. Nor have I wanted to, but my Sabumnin molded me into a strong leader before I ever wrapped a black belt around my waist.
How do Martial Arts Parallel Corporate Leadership?
One of the biggest mistakes companies make, whether they are in a corporate environment, healthcare, manufacturing, or other industry, is not teaching leadership skills until people are in the role. By then it may be too late, and the new leader is struggling or even failing in their job. Often employees are “rewarded” for being good individual contributors by being moved into management roles. When in reality, leading others requires a different skill set. The best bedside nurse will not necessarily be the best unit manager. Likewise, the most talented red belt may fail at black belt leadership unless he or she is prepared ahead of time. As martial arts leaders and instructors, we should begin grooming leaders long before they become black belts.
My Sabumnim began giving me more responsibility and set higher expectations about a year before I tested for black belt. That made my transition from “just a student” to “assistant instructor” much smoother than it would have been if I had no experience teaching or coaching. He started with small tasks, like asking me to lead a group in practicing a form or referee sparring matches.
While I continued to work on my conditioning, sparring, forms, and self-defense skills, I put in equal time practicing my coaching and teaching skills. I even coached students in tournament sparring matches before I tested for black belt. By the time I left that dojang as a second-degree black belt, I was confidently teaching full classes, coaching at several tournaments, and leading black belt testing.
Recently I had a conversation with my former master about his thoughts on developing leadership in color belt ranks. His first response was that he looked for people who continually worked on themselves and continued to grow. Emotional maturity was just as important as technical skills.
He offered some tips for instructors seeking ways to grow and train future leaders:
- Start small. Give a higher-ranking student (generally intermediate to advanced, such as a blue belt in traditional taekwondo) a simple task like counting through a form.
- A more advanced task would be to lead lower-ranking students in their form. Which the advanced student should remember from their previous ranks.
- An even more advanced task for a student who has proven to be trustworthy is to teach a new form to lower-ranking students. You may need to give the student some pointers on how and what to correct (e.g., don’t overwhelm the other students with corrections but don’t overlook big errors either). Set them up for success by role modeling how to teach.
- Partner practice like one-step sparring can help students get used to giving simple commands.
- An older, mature student can referee short sparring matches. Make sure they know the correct commands and can listen to you as the head instructor (e.g., you need to stop the class or end the matches) as well as safely keep an eye on the students they’re monitoring.
- Students can also be peer leaders to each other. Let same-ranking advanced students work together on forms and self-defense with minimal supervision. Tell them they are to help coach each other to do the movements correctly. Being a good leader includes being a good partner.
- When the student has shown they are comfortable working with individuals and small groups, let them lead a short portion of the class. A great, simple way to do this is to have them lead warm-ups. If they seem especially nervous, give them praise (and make sure the other students answer with “Yes, sir!” or “Yes, ma’am!”) and give them a few hints on what to do such as jumping jacks, push-ups, stretches, etc.
My Sabumnim left me with a final thought on grooming leaders. “They have to be able to lead themselves before they lead others.”. As caring, responsible instructors and coaches, we must continuously look for these qualities in our students. To help them build the confidence they need to perform well and share their skills with others. Strong leaders make a strong martial arts community.
Melanie has worked in the healthcare industry since 2004 and lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
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Hey Mel,
I have often drawn this comparison myself, although I came at it from a different angle. I have said that the one thing I wish bosses could learn from martial arts is…that you are never DONE learning! What I mean is: there is always room for growth, always a way that a job could be done more efficiently. Far too many bosses out there think “their way” is the “only way,” and if you suggest another approach, then you are either dismissed or (if you have a toxic boss) ridiculed. Thanks for the article!
Steve