Analyzing Leadership Messaging Styles and Team Performance in the NFL: Insights from Post-First Loss Press Conferences

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of leadership messaging styles used by NFL head coaches on team performance, specifically focusing on messaging following a team's initial loss of the season. The research builds upon previous findings that indicate certain leadership styles, such as Deliberativeness messaging, influence performance throughout the season. However, this study examines the messaging patterns specifically after the first loss. Qualitative data, consisting of press conference transcripts from NFL head coaches after their teams' initial loss between 2020 and 2022, were collected and analyzed using DICTION, a computer-aided text analysis program. This software generated numerical scores indicating the prevalence of different messaging styles: Activity, Optimism, Certainty, Realism, and Commonality. These scores facilitated quantitative tests and correlation analyses. The results reveal that most messaging styles exhibit weak associations with team performance. Nonetheless, the analysis identifies distinct tendencies among coaches, with a propensity for high levels of Optimism, low levels of Certainty and Realism, and moderately high levels of Commonality. These findings suggest that coaches may adopt these messaging patterns due to their effectiveness. Understanding these tendencies can assist amateur coaches in enhancing team performance following the first loss of the season. By leveraging the messaging tendencies identified in this study, coaches can potentially improve team outcomes.