Self-Perceived Leadership Practices of Athletic Training Leaders

Athletic trainers in leadership positions within the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) have the ability and the responsibility to influence the profession of athletic training. The purpose of this study was to assess the self-reported leadership practices, according to the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI), for certified athletic trainers (ATC) in leadership positions within the NATA and to examine differences and relationships in LPI scores and demographics. Subjects consisted of 78 of 114 leaders (22 female, 56 male) holding positions in one of the following groups within the NATA: Board of Certification (BOC), Board of Directors (BOD), Education Council Executive Committee (ECEC), Commission of Accreditation on Athletic Training Education (CAATE), or Executive Board members in districts one through ten. The subjects provided demographic information: gender, district, years of experience as an ATC (19.68 ± 6.78), current and previous employment, current and previous leadership positions, and years of leadership experience (8.10 ± 6.38). The LPI (reliability= .70-.85) was used to assess subjects on their self-perceived levels of five leadership practices, 1) Model the Way, 2) Inspire a Shared Vision, 3) Challenge the Process, 4) Enable Others to Act and 5) Encourage the Heart. Each leadership practice has six corresponding questions on a 10-point Likert scale (l= almost never, I0=almost always). ANOVA's were used to assess differences between various demographic variables and the leadership practices. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to assess relationships between years of leadership and ATC experience with LP! scores (p>.05). ANOVA's revealed consistent main effects for the categories of the LP!, with Enabling Others to Act (50.14±5.06) as the practice utilized significantly more often than all other leadership practices. Additionally, Modeling (47.69±5.27) and Encouraging (46.18±7.45) were used more often than Inspiring (43.79±8.19) and Challenging (43.68±7.35). No main effects or interactions were found for the separate grouping variables of gender (p=.828), employment position (p=.232), leadership title (p=.941), leadership workshop attendance (p=.112), leadership inventory participation history (p=.138) and leadership group (p=.133). Athletic training leaders most frequently tend to empower their subordinates and allow each person opportunities to be successful, as these are the signs of an Enabling leader. Additionally, they may effectively display their own guiding principles (Modeling) and uplift those around them (Encouraging). Years of leadership experience and years of athletic training experience do not have a significant c01Telation with any of the leadership practices. This may be due to all leaders embodying similar traits of each of the five leadership practices. Future studies could focus on demographics such as percentage of time spent performing leadership duties and employment duties, as well as gender specific differences between leaders who have children and family commitments.