Increasing your understanding of effective leadership and how to develop your practice in designing, building and managing successful and high-performing teams
LMA Lead is a 12-week, 6 module online short course, designed to develop the key knowledge and skills needed to manage high performing teams.
The focus of the programme is to develop your leadership skills to enable you to manage a range of diverse individuals to effectively work collaboratively to meet their potential.
Through a blend of applied insight and academic underpinning you will be develop the ability to effectively lead teams in elite environments.
LEADERSHIP MEANS BEING YOURSELF. IT’S ABOUT SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE AND, LITTLE BY LITTLE, GAINING THE TRUST OF THOSE AROUND YOU.
Rafael Benitez LMA Member
WELCOME.
Successful leadership can turn a group of great individuals into a great team.
The LMA understands the essential role of effective leadership in the growth and development of teams at all levels. Our mission is to provide the highest standard of guidance, expertise and resources, equipping our members to succeed at the elite level.
The LMA is committed to providing access to vocationally relevant, expert-led programmes, for all individuals to continue to develop their understanding of effective leadership.
LMA LEAD will allow individuals to recognise what is effective leadership practice and aid them in developing their skills and knowledge as leaders of high performing individuals and teams.
Richard Bevan OBE LMA Chief Executive
PROGRAMME OVERVIEW.
LMA LEAD is a 12 week, 6 module online programme focused on the key aspects of effective leadership and how to apply these within an elite performance environment.
The programme is intended to be:
ROLE RELEVANT
To the real-life challenges and pressures of managing and coaching in professional football.
ACCESSIBLE
Delivered face-to-face and online with the ability to catch up in your own time.
LMA LEARNING PRINCIPLES.
MORE THAN LECTURES
Using tasks and scenarios for participants to tackle between sessions.
CO-CREATED
Blending theory, expertise and research with unique LMA member insights and experiences.
CHALLENGING
Encouraging participants to adopt new ways of thinking and behaving.
WHO.
Open to subscribed LMA members who are looking to develop their Leadership skills
WHEN.
Starting Wednesday 15th October 2025
DURATION.
12 weeks (6 X 90 Min fortnightly sessions)
Online: 4.30pm - 6pm
• Accredited by the English FA for 9 hours
• Accredited by the LMA Institute of Leadership and High Performance
• Participants with 100% engagement will receive an LMA Institute Certificate of Attendance
by the LMA
I THINK PART OF BEING A GOOD LEADER IS KNOWING HOW TO EXTRACT THE BEST FROM DIFFERENT PEOPLE.
Hope Powell CBE Committee Member
PROGRAMME OUTCOMES.
LMA LEAD is designed to equip leaders with a deeper understanding, and enhanced capabilities of effective leadership: It will:
ENHANCE LEADERSHIP SELF-AWARENESS:
Participants will gain deeper insights into their strengths and areas for development, enabling more effective leadership practices.
DEVELOP VOCATIONALLY RELEVANT SKILLS:
Participants will acquire practical skills directly relevant and useable in elite team environments.
DELIVER LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE:
The consistency of learning over a 12-week process aims to embed a change in the established daily practices of managers in their everyday context.
EMBED KEY LEADERSHIP THEORIES AND MODELS:
Participants will explore research informed theories and models of leadership best practice, developing an understanding of their rationale and use.
FOSTER COLLABORATION AND SHARED EXPERIENCES:
Participants will learn from each other, sharing knowledge, experiences and personal insights.
THE LMA PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL.
LMA LEAD is grounded in the LMA’s Personal Development Model that provides a simple, holistic overview to the four pillars of personal development that are relevant to coaches and managers in professional football.
Effective leadership will enable managers and coaches, through meaningful conversations, to become more self-aware of their own strengths and the full range of personal development opportunities.
The model is underpinned by a blend of academic research and real-life LMA Member experiences, and is aligned with the game’s collective Coach Excellence Framework.
YOU focuses on your personal and professional development, encompassing self-awareness and wellbeing. It emphasises the importance of building a strong foundation to sustain high performance and achieve your ambitions.
YOUR TEAM concentrates on your role and responsibilities as a leader, emphasising the importance of building, managing and inspiring a team for success. By understanding the dynamics of effective leadership and team dynamics, you can guide your team to consistently perform at their best and achieve its goals.
THE INDUSTRY explores the wider football landscape and its impact on your role as a football manager. By understanding these external factors, you can make informed decisions, adapt to changes and manage effectively in the dynamic environment of football.
THE GAME focuses on your technical knowledge of football and sporting performance and the framework that shapes this. This pillar equips you with the tools to enhance performance and drive success on the pitch.
PROGRAMME STRUCTURE.
LMA LEAD will cover the following six modules:
MODULE 1:
Date: 15th October Online: 4.30pm - 6pm
Date: 29th October Online: 4.30pm - 6pm
MODULE 3:
Date: 12th November
4.30pm - 6pm
MODULE 4: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIESS.
Date: 26th November Online: 4.30pm - 6pm
MODULE 5: DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALS.
Date: 10th December Online: 4.30pm - 6pm
MODULE 6: LEADING IN UNCERTAINTY.
Date: 23rd December Online: 4.30pm - 6pm
CPD ACCREDITATION:
Accredited hours towards UEFA Licence validation
The LMA LEAD Short Course is accredited for 9 hours of CPD by the English FA.
MODULE 1:
LEAD WITH PURPOSE.
INTRODUCTION:
Date: 15th October
Leadership is a team game. It is a group-based, socially dynamic endeavour, focused on team and organisational ambition, direction, togetherness and collective achievement. Leadership unites individuals operationally and psychologically, by building a powerful shared purpose and collective identity.
A strong sense of meaning, the ‘why’ and the ‘us’, creates belonging, trust, cohesion and resilience; it fosters additional effort from individuals whilst enhancing individual and collective wellbeing. Great purpose-driven leadership unites teams to be healthier, happier and to achieve more than the sum of their parts
Subjects Covered:
• The psychology of groups
• The benefits of belonging and togetherness
• How to craft a group’s identity
• How to set and articulate a compelling group vision
• Understand the role of group values and behaviours
Learning Outcomes:
• Develop an understanding of what makes a group effective in achieving high performance
• Recognise the methods that can be used to develop a groups sense of belonging and togetherness
• Understand how to effectively develop and manage a groups vison and identify
MODULE 2:
UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEADERSHIP.
Date: 29th October
INTRODUCTION:
Leadership is never binary and never stationary. Great leadership is skilful, contextually relevant and adaptable. With an improved understanding of leadership styles and their application, leaders can become more effective in the ever-changing environments they operate in.
Module Two considers the continuum of leadership approaches, from transactional to transformational, and examines their applicability and effectiveness in different real-life contexts. Furthermore, it draws on modern approaches to leadership that see the leader in service to their teams, developing both strong followership and informal group-wide leadership. The foundations for great leadership are set in self-awareness, authenticity and role-modelling expected group behaviours. Great leaders set great examples. Not only do they direct, delegate and decide, they nurture, motivate and inspire teams and individuals towards collective ambitions in line with collective purpose and identity.
Subjects Covered:
• The Leadership continuum and approaches
• Understanding the leader-follower relationship and servant leadership
• Inspiration and Motivation
• Leaders and role models
• Self-awareness - authenticity, credibility and vulnerability
Learning Outcomes:
• Understand the intricacies of the leader-follower relationship and the nuance of servant leadership
• Recognise what the leadership continuum is and approaches that appear on the continuum
• I nterpret and understand the importance of inspiration and motivation
• Reflect on the importance of self-awareness and the development of authenticity, credibility and vulnerability
HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS: BUILDING CONNECTIONS. MODULE 3:
Date: 12th November
INTRODUCTION:
Players, employees, in fact any human beings are hard-wired with a desire to be part of groups or teams. We offer more support to people we know well and we are less stressed, more trusting and more productive when our membership of a team is built on deep, cohesive interpersonal connections.
It is a leader’s role to continually focus on group development, creating bonds and emotional closeness that build cultural capital and realise group potential. Building high performance teams means not only understanding modern concepts such as psychological safety or equality, diversity and inclusion, but also to understand the impact of basic shared group activities, eating together, listening to music together, chatting, celebrating and having fun. The more complex teams become, the more important it is for leaders to focus on the fundamental building blocks of team togetherness allowing teams to grow, take risks, innovate and welcome individuals from diverse backgrounds, heritages and generations.
‘You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation’ Plato.
Subjects Covered:
• Building connections, using social activities, traditions and celebrations
• Creating bonds through story-telling and shared mental models
• Welcoming new team members
• Understanding psychological safety
• Embracing equality, diversity and inclusion
• Understanding team dysfunctions
Learning Outcomes:
• Recognise how to build connections through diverse strategies including social activities, traditions and celebrations
• Understand different methods to create bonds and welcome new team members.
• Appreciate the importance of methods to develop psychological safety
• Recognise the importance of effectively managing diverse teams in understanding and embracing equality, diversity and inclusion
MODULE 4: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES.
Date: 26th November
INTRODUCTION:
‘It’s not just what you say, but to whom, how and when you say it that matters’. Communication is the central skill of great leadership. A leader’s ability to continue to reinforce and defend purpose, provide guidance and instruction and to persuade and influence is governed by their ability to communicate effectively. Clarity and consistency in messaging allows everyone across the organisation and beyond to stay on track and deliver.
This module will guide you in discovering your authentic communication approach. From having one on one conversations, addressing your team, presenting to senior stakeholders or doing media work, it will help you develop a strategic approach to communication underpinned by specific and effective skills.
Subjects Covered:
• Understanding communication and audiences
• Communication with intent
• The importance of language and non-verbal cues
• Understanding the six principles of influence and managing up
• Having difficult conversations and radical candour
Learning Outcomes:
• Demonstrate an understanding of the need to tailor communication effectively across different contexts
• Understand the need to apply intentional communication strategies, including the use of language and non-verbal cues, to convey messages clearly and persuasively
• Analyse and utilise the six principles of influence to enhance communication and effectively manage upward relationships
• Develop skills to engage in difficult conversations using radical candour, balancing honesty with empathy
MODULE 5:
DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALS.
INTRODUCTION:
Date: 10th December
To maximise the potential of every individual in a team their basic psychological needs must be met. Autonomy, a sense of belonging and a feeling of competence are vital for every individual to flourish. Additionally, if an individual is primarily driven by their own internal motivations, ones that align with the ambitions of the group, then repeated peak performance becomes the norm.
A leader’s role is to understand the importance of their one-on-one relationships with players or employees. Leaders are effective when they coach and care, empowering and challenging individuals to grow and to take risks whilst providing a supportive environment that recognises the unique abilities and attributes of everyone.
Subjects Covered:
• Understanding individual motivation and psychological needs - Self Determination Theory
• Leading, coaching and the GROW model
• Active listening and using questions
• Empowerment individuals
• High support – high challenge environments
Learning Outcomes:
• Recognise the role of individual motivation and psychological needs, using Self Determination Theory, in fostering engagement and performance
• Understand how to apply leadership and coaching techniques, including the GROW model, to support individual development and goal achievement
• Demonstrate active listening and effective questioning skills to enhance communication and understanding
• Create high support–high challenge environments that empower individuals and promote growth
MODULE 6:
LEADING IN UNCERTAINTY.
INTRODUCTION:
Date: 23rd December
Challenge and change are inevitable, but both present organisations, teams and leaders with opportunities for growth. However, to realise the potential of change moments, leaders must understand how individuals and teams respond to change at the deepest level.
Through understanding the psychological and biological impacts of change, leaders can adapt their approach, foster a challenge mindset in their teams, and reconnect with purpose and direction. Furthermore, it is a leader’s job to manage and remove destabalising influences on their teams whilst building collective team confidence and resilience, insulating groups against unpredictable and difficult moments.
Subjects Covered:
• The psychology of change and the SCARF model
• Mindset and a positive approach
• Leading through change and situational leadership
• Dealing with difficult situations and individuals
• Building team confidence and team resilience
Learning Outcomes:
• Describe the psychology of change using models such as SCARF, and explain how mindset influences responses to change
• Apply situational leadership approaches to effectively lead individuals and teams through periods of change
• Demonstrate strategies for managing difficult situations and individuals with confidence and emotional intelligence
• Develop techniques to build team confidence and resilience in the face of challenges
THE GREAT CHALLENGE TO A LEADER IS TO CREATE AN ORGANISATION THAT ULTIMATELY DEFINES THE MARKET IN WHICH IT OPERATES.
Sir Alex Ferguson CBE
LMA Vice President
APPLICATION.
To ensure equitable access to the programme, we welcome all applications from LMA members who meet or exceed the following criteria:
LMA Member
Holds a valid UEFA B Licence or above
Demonstrate your commitment to development
The closing date for applications is 15th September 2025.
COHORT.
The LMA LEAD Short Course is designed to accommodate a maximum cohort of 100 people.
SELECTION.
Participants who meet the entry requirements and apply within the application window will be accepted onto the short course (subject to capacity).
JIM SOUTER
League Managers Association
Operations and Strategy Director
jim.souter@leaguemanagers.com
CLAIRE MULVENNA
League Managers Association
Learning and Development Manager
claire.mulvenna@leaguemanagers.com
SAM WESTBROOK
League Managers Association
Football Operations Executive
sam.westbrook@leaguemanagers.com
ABOUT THE LMA & LCA.
Based at the National Football Centre, St George’s Park, the League Managers Association (LMA) and League Coaches Association (LCA) trace their history back to 1919.
The LMA has been operating in its current structure since 1992, whilst the LCA was formed in 2023 to enhance the holistic support available to coaches, analysts, scouts and technical directors throughout the game.
Our members : guide our programmes through their lived experience and commitment to the game
Game knowledge: through our unique role in football we know the game, its realities and its complexities
Other sports: we have extensive relationships with coaches and performance experts in other sports, always bringing new ideas and challenging our thinking.
Experts: we engage with many of the leading academics and industry experts in leadership, sports performance, wellbeing and personal development.
Our team: the LMA & LCA team is committed to our members, to continuous improvement and to exceptional delivery.
League Managers Association, St. George’s Park, Newborough Road, Needwood, Burton upon Trent DE13 9PD 01283 576350 | leaguemanagers.com | LMA@leaguemanagers.com
