King Arthur: inauguration as a team leader

Before Arthur was crowned High King at the age of 25, he had been a warlord in the service of the King for 7 years. In his youth, he already had a solid training in the arts of fighting. At the same time, he had immersed himself in the philosophy of various Roman writers. When he learned the hardships of the reality of being a soldier, Arthur quickly developed new important competences. Competences such as: strategic thinking, decision making, being an example for his team, courageously fighting in the forefront, encouraging, inspiring and comforting his men and women (indeed, the Celtic women were often also part of the fighting force). So, before he was crowned High King, he had already become quite a leader.

When Uther Pendragon died, his succession had not been arranged. Arthur was his son, yet nobody knew that (except, of course, for Arthur’s closest supporters, like Merlin and Lucius the Bishop of Glastonbury). The secret of the ‘baby Arthur’ had also been so well kept in order to protect the young Arthur from the other competing Celtic kings. And indeed, Arthur had been kept a secret. Now it turned into a little problem though. Nobody was just going to take Merlin and Lucius’s word for it, no matter how important and influential their voice was.

Therefore, Lucius took the King’s sword and stuck it miraculously into a rock. Subsequently, no one was able to retrieve the sword from the rock. By decree of Lucius, everyone in the whole of England was allowed to try to retrieve the sword. By doing so, he would prove himself to be the righteous heir to the throne. And, sure enough, retrieving the sword took Arthur no effort whatsoever. And thus Arthur was crowned High King.

What does this story tell us about preparing and installing a successful team leader?!

• Give them an excellent training/education, by male as well as female mentors. Make sure that the following elements/topics are part of such a training:
• Character, integrity and discipline
• Competences and professionalism
• A healthy self-consciousness and the acceptance of identity

• Train a student team leader by:
• Presenting serious challenges as a project leader, to enable the students to train their competences in the ‘field’
• Presenting them with the right mentors, who will train them as true masters, helping them to grow into a full professional
• Allowing them to achieve motivating victories (which is great for their self-consciousness), but also allowing them to make big mistakes and to experience disappointment and crises (which is great for their character development)

• Make sure that there is a clear legitimacy for the placement of the new team leader:
• Use recommendations of highly recognized mentors, who will stand for the integrity and competence of the new team leader
• Never use favouritism, always use a fair, open and transparent selection process
• Install the new team leader with a clear ‘ceremony’, make sure the entire organization knows of the placement, and confirm your complete trust in this new leader
• Just give them a nice big sword!

Questions about you:

1. How were you raised, educated, trained and installed as a team leader?
2. In retrospect, what would you have wanted and what would you have done differently?
3. How can you complement your education and training during this next year?

Questions about your organization:

1. What does the training process in your organization look like at the moment?
2. What are your experiences with it?
3. What could you, as an organization, do to further optimize this training process (including the placement)?