By Dan Cardone

Dan Cardone is Athletic Director at North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., and a frequent contributor to Athletic Management. He can be reached at: cardoned@nhsd.k12.pa.us.

To be a successful athletic director today, simply being organized and great at details is no longer adequate. In order to deal with parent problems, a changing educational climate, and everything else, we also have to be savvy leaders.

Many of us fondly remember learning from coaches who taught us discipline through hard-nosed leadership. We may also have appreciated working for someone who had an inclusive style. There are leaders who inspire through a positive attitude, and those who get the most from employees through honesty and trust.

But what is the perfect leadership style for an athletic director? I believe there is not one best answer to this question. Rather, we need to choose our leadership tactics based on the situation and people involved.

For me, it helps to customize my leadership style based on each specific challenge. Here are some different approaches to consider:

Autocratic leadership is one that we traditionally associate with the military. This type of leader gives clear and concise directives and expects those they supervise to follow without questioning. The style is usually frowned upon in today's world, as it disallows creativity and can frustrate everyone but the person giving the orders.

However, an authoritative approach has merit at times, as long as it's used infrequently and privately. For example, if I ask a coach repeatedly to make a change and it is falling on deaf ears, I will use an autocratic leadership style. I ask the coach to come to my office and I close the door. There is no small talk and I get straight to the point.

I might say, "I frequently communicated to you that I did not want another parent complaining about your behavior during games. You agreed you would change, but you have not. I want it to cease, or we will move in another direction. Am I clear on this?"

Participative leadership involves gathering many points of view to reach a resolution. This is a style that athletic directors are turning to more and more to foster community and staff buy-in. There is a greater willingness to "get on board" if the stakeholders are involved in decision-making.

The University of Notre Dame recently hired lawyer Jack Swarbrick as its new athletic director. According to the Chicago Tribune, his talents lie in his ability to build consensus among competing factions and bring together disparate groups. When housing became an issue during the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis, he convinced the Pentagon to make room for the overflow by temporarily relocating troops out of Fort Benjamin Harrison for two months.

Even in a smaller athletic department, a participative approach can be used frequently. I regularly solicit the opinions of the veteran coaches on our staff. Combined, they have knowledge and experience that helps when a tough call has to be made.

A few years ago, we had a major renovation to our athletic facilities that interfered with practices and contests for the entire school year. We assembled the affected coaches and collectively came to common ground on which off-campus facilities each team would utilize.

Laissez-faire (or delegative) leadership means that you allow your staff a lot of freedom to make its own decisions. In his book Competitive Leadership, Brian Billick, former head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, writes of using this style to build a "high-trust" environment, which inspires people to perform at their maximum level. Leadership guru John Maxwell quotes Admiral James Stockdale in his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: "Strange as it sounds, great leaders gain authority by giving it away."

This is a great style to use with your experienced coaches and staff. Let them have a lot of freedom and responsibility, and they will come up with their own solutions and new ideas. However, it does not mean letting coaches run their program without administrative oversight. Rather, there must be an understanding of the underlying philosophy of athletics between athletic director and head coaches.

Transformational leadership refers to someone who inspires others to work toward a goal. This is often accomplished through charisma, energy, and enthusiasm. It also takes a lot of communication and someone who is highly visible to the group.

It may be difficult to be a transformational leader in a small athletic department, where you are responsible for a lot of detail work. But we all need to use this style every once in a while. When we are working on strategic plans or dealing with a crisis, for example, we must be someone who helps the group reach consensus and believe in a certain direction.

I've also found it important to use this leadership style in small doses on a day-to-day basis. When I'm walking around practices or on-site at a home game, I make sure to exhibit enthusiasm and a sincere interest in everyone with whom I interact.

The athletic director who relies on a variety of leadership strategies can bring the best out of everyone, including him- or herself. By choosing the appropriate tactic for different situations, you can build trust and foster creativity while also maintaining rules and order.