BOOK

OF

QUOTES

Stuart Lancaster
 QUOTES

GENERAL COLIN POWELL

‘Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: you’ll avoid the tough decisions, you’ll avoid
confronting the people who need to be confronted, and you’ll avoid offering differential rewards bases on
differential performance because some people might get upset.’

‘Real leaders make themselves accessible and available. They show concern for the efforts and
challenges faced by underlings, even as they demand high standards. Accordingly, they are more likely to
create an environment where problem analysis replaces blame.’

‘Good leaders delegate and empower others liberally, but they pay attention to details, everyday.’

‘Good leaders understand something else: an obsessive routine in carrying out the details begets
conformity and complacency, which in turn dulls everyone’s mind. That is why even as they pay attention
to details, they continually encourage people to challenge the process.’

‘So the moral is, don’t ask. Less effective middle managers endorsed the sentiment, “If I haven’t explicitly
been told ‘yes,’ I cant do it, “whereas the good ones believed, “If I haven’t explicitly been told ‘no,’ I can.”.
There’s a world of difference between these two points of view.’

‘The ripple effect of a leader’s enthusiasm and optimism is awesome. So is the impact of cynicism and
pessimism. Leaders who whine and blame engender those same behaviours among their colleagues. I
am not talking about socially accepting organisational stupidity and performance incompetence with a
“what, me worry?” smile. I am talking about a gung-ho attitude that says “we can change things here, we
can achieve awesome goals, we can be the best.” Spare me the grim litany of the “realist,” give me the
unrealistic aspirations of the optimist any day.’

‘Look for intelligence and judgment, and most critically, a capacity to anticipate, to see around corners.
Also look for loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced ego, and the drive to get things done.’

‘You can train a bright, willing novice in the fundamentals of your business fairly readily, but it’s a lot harder
to train someone to have integrity, judgment, energy, balance, and the drive to get things done. Good
leaders stack the deck in their favour right in the recruitment phase.

Effective leaders understand the KISS principle, keep it simple, stupid. They articulate vivid, over-arching
goals and values, which they use to drive daily behaviours and choices among competing alternatives.
Their visions and priorities are lean and compelling, not cluttered and buzzword-laden. Their decisions are
crisp and clear, not tentative and ambiguous. They convey an unwavering firmness and consistency in
their actions, aligned with the picture of the future they paint. The result: clarity of purpose, credibility of
leadership, and integrity in organisation.’

“LEADERSHIP IS THE ART OF ACCOMPLISHING MORE THAN THE SCIENCE OF MANAGEMENT

SAYS IS POSSIBLE.”

Quotes 2
MIND GAMES

‘Leadership is about communicating an inspiring vision of the future, stimulating change, setting clear and
measurable objectives and clearly communicating what is required from each individual. Teamship
acknowledges the vital importance of peer pressure and peer approval, and that team decision-making
encourages commitment and greater motivation to work hard.’ – Clive Woodward

‘I’ve seen coaches working with players and getting them to hit 500 drop shots. What’s the point? If you
try to get 5 out of 50 to land within a square foot on the other side of the court, which would be a brilliant
shot, to me that’s fantastic. Next time you practise it you’ll want to get 6 out of 50. So you start practising
quality and quality is a lot more fun than quantity.’ – Gill Clark

‘Being a member of a sports team requires a slightly different attitude. In a team, individuals are relying on
each other. They cannot, therefore, have the same kind of totally selfish attitude they might have when
competing in individual races.’ – Adrian Moorhouse

‘My headmaster said, “ The decision has been made. All you can do now is make it work. You will do
your best to make it work. “Its such a simple point and I’ve remembered it all the way through my life.
You make the decision, and then you just do your best to make it work. If it doesn’t work, well, you did
your best. You had the guts to make a decision and you have done your best to try and make it the right
decision. Once you have made the decision, worrying about it is irrelevant. All you can do is make it
work.’ – Michael Lynagh

‘To join the team , you must have a positive attitude and you must believe that you can go to Germany and
win. If they don’t believe we can do it, then it’s impossible; we will never win. You must have that positive
attitude for everything you do in the team.
‘Some mornings you wake and life is difficult; it’s raining and windy, but you must have a positive attitude
anyhow. If you have one or two negative players, the next morning there will be four of them. Negativity
spreads like cancer.’ – Sven-Goran Eriksson

‘You achieve what you can and most of the time things fall into place. They always have done for me. I’ve
had major failures in my life that other people would have been destroyed by, and I’ve turned them around
very quickly. I’m not just talking about athletics.
‘I choose to see the positive. You’ve got to be clear about your beliefs in life; then you’re going to be OK –
Roger Black

‘There are four fears that can seriously impede a sportsperson. These are fear of losing, fear of making a
mistake, fear of rejection and fear of losing. – Frank Dick

‘For sustained sporting success to occur, self-belief has to be underpinned by competence, which means
that developing self-belief has to be underpinned by competence, which means that developing self-belief
is an incremental process. Self-belief is likely to have stronger foundations if confidence is gained in
tandem with competence. It is vulnerable unless those skills have been tested in situations of increasing
pressure.’ – Ceri Evans

‘Everybody is different; we’re all motivated by very different things, for extrinsic reasons and intrinsic
reasons. Some people want to be successful because they like the idea of having a big house and a
Porsche on the drive; others want to do it to explore how hard and how mentally though they are.

Quotes 3
‘For most of us it’s probably a mixture of all those things. If you ask me, the one continuum that runs
through all those different models is just, actually, the bloody-minded self-determination to be better than
the next person.’ – Sebastian Coe

‘I am not a psychologist, but I try to use what I have learned: be calm, be positive and give courage to your
players.’
‘If you are a winger, you have to try to beat the fullback. The risk is that you may lose the ball. Okay, we
take that risk, because if you never try, you will never beat the opposition.’
‘Sometimes you have players who are afraid of making mistakes. But if you are afraid of making mistakes,
you will never try something difficult. You don’t want the ball. You’re hiding. You never try to dribble, or to
make a cross, or to try a shot on goal. You have to give players courage so that they aren’t afraid to fail.
As a coach, if you start shouting at the player who gives a bad pass, then you take him down – you don’t
help him. A football player never goes out meaning to give a bad pass, or to do bad things. He always
tries to do good things. So its important as a leader that you don’t start shouting once he makes mistakes.
‘You must always be positive and never lose your temper. If a player has failed, makes a mistake, forget it
and try to be positive.
‘The player must feel secure. You defend the player against the press, directors, friends or whoever.’
- Sven-Goran Eriksson

Training together had a big impact on both runners. Black believes that training companions are as
important for determining success as the coaching relationship. – Roger Black

Within a team sport that blueprint has to be flexible to incorporate other people’s blueprints as well; what
works for me might not necessarily work for the guys I am playing with. You have to respect that ’ –
Lawrence Dallaglio

That is why coaches talk about ‘silencing the crowd’ early on, because they know they need to get some
control over the environment. Professor Jones recalls the Six Nations match between Wales and Italy in
2001 – Professor Graham Jones

Quotes 4
Controlling attention under pressure is the most important key to success.– Gazing’s Renzie Hanham

Most people in sport are reactive – they react to things going on around them. All the champions I’ve met
are proactive. They don’t waste any time worrying or focusing on anything they cannot directly control.
The most obvious things to worry about are your opponents. – Roger Black

You recognize and accept that you are all part of the same team. You develop a common vision, so that
you are all working towards the same thing. You accept that people are different. There may be different
levels of skill, but everyone has something to contribute to the team. – Professor Graham Jones.

I’ve tried them, and they weren’t for me. I’ve always thought it is more about having agreed objectives with
everybody buying into them. It’s about having an identifiable coat of arms or trademark for the way we do
things here; making certain values important and emphasizing them all the time: respect, trust, being fair,
sharing, doing your best. – Howard Wilkinson

Richard does a lot of inspiring, but he’s not a very good speaker. So how does he do it? First of all, he’s
got a charismatic presence. He also allows the individual to think that, whatever they’re saying, it’s the
most important thing ever. When he’s talking to them, whoever it may be, they believe that what they say
to Richard is really, really important to him and that he really listens to him. That’s an amazing quality. –
Sir Chay Blyth (on Sir Richard Branson)

THE LOMBARDI RULES

Ask Yourself Tough Questions

You can only become a leader after developing your character – that is, after building integrity, honesty
and commitment. The way to develop these attributes is through self-knowledge. You can’t improve what
you don’t understand. – The Lombardi Code

Get to know yourself: You can’t improve upon something you don’t understand. The more questions
you ask yourself, the better you’ll know yourself.

Look The Truth Straight On

Honesty also plays an important role in the interactions between a leader and his organization. Without
Complete honesty, there can be no trust, and if your people don’t trust you, you can’t lead them. Trust is
earned through patient investment and a consistent track record, and it can be destroyed in an instant. As
a leader, you will be closely watched, and everything you say will have meaning for your people. Actions
that contradict your message – or dishonest messages – will destroy trust and be used as an excuse not
to take you seriously. Here are three things to consider in your search for the truth:-

➢ Don’t try to fake it: People have an unerring nose for dishonesty, fraud, and pretense. To be
successful, you must be honest with yourself and others.
➢ Expect to be observed: As a leader, you’re being watched 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
You can’t build a team that’s different from yourself, so be honest with yourself, and with your
team.
➢ Don’t’s compartmentalize: Your conduct matters at all times. If you compromise your principles
in your private life, it may well affect your public life, as well.
“The succesful man is hmself. To be successful, you’ve got to be honest with yourself”

Quotes 5
Play to Your Strengths

The trick is to find your own strengths, and to play to those strengths. As you start to answer the questions
that lead to self-knowledge, certain strengths – and weaknesses – in your own character will begin to
become evident. ( This is not a bad thing. Strong people tend to have strong weaknesses; as long as
you’re aware of them, they don’t have to work to your disadvantage. ) Good leaders will work to combat
their weaknesses, and use their strengths to the greatest advantage.

Think Big Picture

“The difference ( between a good coach and an average coach ) is knowing what you want, and knowing
what the end is supposed to look like. If a coach doesn’t know what the end is supposed to look like, he
won’t know it when he sees it.

Work Harder then Everybody

“The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender”

Be Prepared to Sacrifice

Too often, we seek to protect and shield people from the pain and frustration of mistakes and failure. We
say, “Don’t bite off more than you chew,” and “Be happy with what you have.” What a disservice we do to
these people! Teach your people to reach for the stars. They may not come down with any, but they will
come away with a whole lot more than they would have had they not tried, and they will learn a very
valuable lesson: Without pain, turmoil, commotion, anxiety, stress, and tension, there is no growth, no
change. You must pay the price.

Be Mentally Tough

Mental toughness means seeking out the pressure that can’t be avoided anyway, and being energized by
it. It’s not the ability to survive a mistake or failure; it’s the ability to come back stronger from failure.

➢ Keep the pressure on: Good leaders help their troops stay alert and focused. Keep the pressure
on, but stay within individual and organizational breaking points.
➢ Never give in: It’s easy to do well when there’s no pressure or stress, but how many of us can be
poised when defeat is nipping at our heels? Mental toughness is not rigidity in the face of
adversity; it’s stability and poise in the face of challenge.
➢ Work at it:
Mental toughness is the willingness to keep commitments you make to yourself. It’s singleness of
purpose. It’s the ability to stay motivated, no matter what obstacles arise in your path.
“The most important element in the character make-up of a man who is successful is that
of mental toughness”

Quotes 6
Lead with Integrity

➢ Live what you teach: Great leaders (and great coaches) win the hearts of their followers. They
do so by being involved up to their necks, and making that commitment clear.
➢ Let ‘ em see you sweat: Why should other people kill themselves for the organization if you, the
leader, aren’t the first one over the barricade?
➢ Build accountability: Act your integrity. Take responsibility when you screw up, and take credit
when you meet with success, and make sure this applies to everyone else.
“If you cheat on the practice field, you’ll cheat in the game. If you cheat in the game, you’ll
cheat the rest of your life”

Build Team Spirit

Common goals create drive and energy. A team that hungers for the same outcome is a motivated team.
Common goals foster the subordination of the individual will to the group will.

➢ Fit your game to the talents of your team: A team works together most successfully when each
individual component is used to best advantage: Tailor your approach to fit the abilities of your
team members.
➢ Emphasize responsibility and loyalty: Teams depend on an extraordinary cohesiveness.
Encouraging all members of an organization to support and aid other members in the pursuit of
shared goals will strengthen this bond.
➢ Focus on team success rather than personal glory: Strong team members place the interests
of the team first, sublimating their personal visions of glory to the team’s success. A good leader
will encourage – and exemplify – this trait.

Explain the Whys

As both a teacher and a coach, Lombardi concentrated on the whys, “I never tell a player, this is my way,
now do it” he once said “Instead, I say This is the way we do it, and this is why we do it”

Coaches can find ways to cover up a player’s physical shortcomings; they can’t cover for a player’s mental
mistakes during the course of a game.

➢ Teach to the slowest: The strategy must be crystal clear to everyone in the organization. This
means drilling it until the slowest member of the team has it down.
➢ Start with why, not how: People who understand why they’re working will be better motivated
and more successful. It’s all about sharing the vision, on every level of the organization.
“They call it coaching, but it is teaching. You do not just tell them it is so, but you show them the
reasons why it is so and you repeat and repeat until they are convinced, until they know”

Strike the Balance

As a Head Coach Lombardi kept his distance from the players. Now he played golf and cards with friends
from the local business community. He rarely socialised with his assistants. He was the leader.

➢ Be as close as you can: Lombardi knew that a good leader feels deeply for his people and that
he needs to let them know that he cares. This is an important way of building the mutual respect
that every successful team requires.
➢ Get ready to be lonely: When your position changes, some relationships will, too. Part of being
a good leader is accepting the distance that this brings.

Quotes 7
 ➢ Familiarity breeds contempt: If you are too close to those under your command, your ability to
lead may suffer.
“The leader can never close the gap between himself and the group. If he does, he is no longer
what he must be. He must walk a tightrope between the consent he must win and the control he
must exert”

Build Confidence

The real confidence-builder was preparation. Lombardi prepared his players for every game, for every
eventuality. Going into a game, they believed that they weren’t prepared to handle. Think of Julius
Caesar’s celebrated analysis of his legions: “Without training, they lacked knowledge. Without
knowledge, they lacked confidence. Without confidence, they lacked victory.” Success, in turn brought
more confidence, which brought more success.

➢ Project Confidence: Confidence is catching, and so is a lack of confidence. If a leader exudes

confidence, his troops will follow his lead.
➢ Success breeds confidence: A team that starts winning immediately increases its confidence
and immediately increases its chance of winning again.

Now Your Stuff

➢ Demonstrate competence: When the time comes, show that you know it. Those under you will
gain respect for and confidence in your leadership.
➢ Build your skills from the bottom up: Even if you don’t feel you’re getting the visibility you
deserve continue to hone your skills and demonstrate your competence. Years of obscurity gave
Lombardi the chance to improve his technique.
➢ Import special skills: If there’s someone out there who can complement your own skills and add
value to the organisation, grab him or her.
“A leader is judged in terms of what others do to obtain the results that he is placed there to get”.

Act, Don’t React

➢ Study the past, live in the present: Find yesterday’s lessons, but assume that today is new.
➢ Continue learning: The best way to be ready for the challenges of tomorrow is to keep learning
today. Relying on the old skills that have worked in the past will backfire, as those skills become
obsolete.
➢ Seize the moment: Seize the initiative by seeing things for what they are……and act without
hesitation on what you see.
“While statistics are interesting, they’re all in the past.”

Keep it Simple

➢ Play to your strengths: Only a grossly inferior organisation should ever deviate from its strengths
to win. Offensive forays should be based on rapidity of manoeuvre, not radical change.
➢ Innovate without complicating: Change is inevitable, but don’t change for the sake of change.
Make adjustments at the margins of your game, and remember to keep them simple.
➢ Stress depth over breadth: People who understand one area in depth are likely to be more
effective than those who cover lots of acreage superficially.
“Almost always, the plan is too complex. Too much to learn and perfect in too little time.”

Quotes 8
Tailor Your Motivation

Lombardi carefully distinguished among his players, feeding individual egos without pitting one team mate
against another. One technique he used was a formal “grading system”. Grades for individual
performances on Sunday were posted the following Thursday, and in a mock-serious team ceremony,
Lombardi handed out five dollar bills (and later, ten dollar bills) to the highest performing individuals. The
Green Bay Packers players weren’t overpaid, but they didn’t need the money.

➢ Don’t try to be popular: The desire to be liked interferes with the hard decisions a leader must
make.
➢ Counter expectations: Sometimes, the least expected motivational device is the best.
➢ Keep the pressure on: Sooner or later, every organisation will be in their version of a
championship game. A good leader determines how their people will perform in pressure
situations, and works with them to increase their tolerance for pressure.
“You can’t coach without criticizing, and it’s essential to understand how to criticize each man
individually…..Football is a pressure business, and on my teams I put on most of the pressure.
The point is that I’ve got to learn 40 ways to pressure 40 men”.

Motivate by Degrees

➢ Begin with small victories: Small victories are a better beginning than visionary failures. Again,
patience is crucial. Success must be built on strong foundations……..and large victories on small
ones.
➢ Give frequent feedback: In order to keep striving, people must see that their efforts are
producing results. Good leaders find small victories – and celebrate them publicly.
“This is not easy, this effort, day after day, week after week, to keep them up, but it is essential.
Each week there is a different challenge, but there is also that unavoidable degree of sameness to
these meetings”.

Focus on Fundamentals

➢ Build skills: Skills are the building blocks of any organisation. You can’t put big demands on
people before you define and provide the needed skills.
➢ Rely on repetition: Execution depends on confidence, and confidence depends on preparation.
Only after the fundamentals become second nature can you be confident of the results.
➢ Be prepared to seize opportunity: If there are only a small number of big plays in the course of a
game (or in the life cycle of a product ), you have to be functioning at a high level of excellence in
order to take full advantage of those opportunies.
“I believe that if you block and tackle better than the other team and the breaks are even, you’re
going to win”.

“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfilment of all that he holds dear,
is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of
battle – victorious.” - The Lombardi Rules, Vince Lombardi Jr.

Quotes 9
BEYOND WINNING

The Takeover Turnaround Challenge

Lombardi worked on both the minds and the bodies of the players. His rules were stringent, everyone
would be on time for meals, meetings, workouts. As the players soon discovered, there was Central time
(the zone) and Lombardi time. Lombardi time was fifteen minutes ahead of the clock, woe be it to those
who followed only the clock. – Gary M Walton

Motivating and Relating

Post game marks were an innovation is legendary. The men elbowed each other to get to the mark board
first, so anxious were they to receive Lombardi’s approval. Frank Gifford, the spectacular halfback of the
New York Giants in the mid 1950s when Lombardi was their offensive coach, said, “When we played a
game I couldn’t have cared less about the headlines on Monday. All I wanted was to be able to walk into
the meeting Tuesday morning and have Vinny give me that big grin.” - Frank Gifford

SOLO

Even at the early stage I was becoming aware that competition was not only about whether you could beat
the opposition, because that wasn’t the best you could do. What was relevant was how well and to what
level you could perform, irrespective of the quality of the opposition.

It was a real lesson to me, showing how much I or anyone could raise their game if the stakes were high
enough. The battle was as much in my mind as in my body. It was a lesson that I never forgot.

Races produce winners. However, a winner is not necessarily the first person to pass the tape. There is
an alternative, and more realistic definition, a winner is a person who works to exploit his potential. Even if
he loses every race, if he had done the best he possibly can, he has won.

If you can identify what really does it for you, then you’ll do it with a natural enthusiasm and ability and put
in the extra effort all the time. There’s only one thing more infectious than enthusiasm and that’s a lack of
it. However, if you start by wanting to be a millionaire and then decide that you have to be a merchant
banker in order to get there, well………..that’s probably why some merchant bankers look so miserable.

I didn’t want to see the island dwindle slowly into nothingness behind me. I had no room for emotions like
sadness and regret. I was focused only on what lay ahead, nervous, yes, but also excited and elated to be
free at last of the months of preparation, planning and training. I was now out there alone, pitting myself
against the ice.

I was trying to hold and concentrate those images, scanning them into my brain so that I could summon
them up when I needed them out on the polar ice-cap. – Pen Hadow

TEST YOUR EQ
Four broad domains of EQ (self-awareness, social awareness, self management and relationship
management).

Differences among these people will be due to other factors, such as an ability to effectively manoeuvre
through social situations, read the emotional cues of peers, clients and bosses, and persevere in the face
of emotional setbacks.

Recognition of Emotional states within the self

Quotes 10
Thus, one reason why accurately recognizing your own feelings is important is that it provides you with
information about your judgements.

Emotions provide further Benefits

For example, research suggests that people who have the most clarity regarding their emotional states
tend to be less depressed, and to generally experience less emotional distress, than those who have less
understanding of their moods. Other research suggests that during times of high stress and arousal, those
with clearer recognition of their emotional states actually perform better.

Understanding the Consequences of Emotions

It can be similarly valuable to have an understanding of emotional consequences when the emotions are
those of other people. To take an obvious case, knowing how your boss acts when he is in a angry mood
can allow you to avoid him, placate him or in some other way try to minimize the negative effects (on you!)
of the boss’s temporary mood.

The Importance of Perspective Taking

How exactly might this work? That is, how does taking the perspective of others actually produce
increased understanding of them? To answer that, let’s take as an example a very common psychological
finding, the fact that people tend to explain their own actions somewhat differently from the way that
outside observers do. In brief, what this means is that we tend to see our own behaviour as resulting more
from external factors than from our internal characteristics. Observers tend to do the reverse, usually
explaining our behaviour as more due to our own traits and dispositions.

It is in this way that perspective taking can help you have a better understanding of another’s emotions. If
your boss is in a touchy mood, for example, a good way to predict the consequences of this is to imagine
how the world now looks to her. How would you feel if you were already irritated and an employee asked
for help? Happy to offer assistance to another living creature, or increasingly angered by a needy and lazy
subordinate? The key to successfully understanding emotional consequences in this case lies in seeing
the innocent request for help not through your own eyes, but through the jaundiced viewpoint of the other
person – in a word, through perspective taking.

Regulating our own Emotions

For emotionally intelligent people, however, this is a relatively uncommon occurrence, most of the time
they are able to regulate their feelings well enough to retain self-control. Such control leads directly to a
number of important benefits.

Quotes 11
 ➢ Controlling arousal levels to maximize performance
➢ Persisting despite frustration and temptation.
➢ Inhibiting destructive responses to provocation
➢ Acting correctly despite pressure to do otherwise

- Professor Mark Davis.

WORKING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

The Leadership Edge

Emotional competence is particularly central to leadership, a role whose essence is getting others to do
their jobs more effectively. Interpersonal ineptitude in leaders lowers everyone’s performance. It wastes
time, creates acrimony, corrodes motivation and commitment, builds hostility and apathy. A leader’s
strengths or weaknesses in emotional competence can be measured in the gain or loss to the organization
of the fullest talents of those they manage.

You have got to keep your perspective and present yourself in such a way that you will be trusted and
respected.

Handling an emotional situation demands troubleshooting skills, being able to establish trust and rapport
quickly, to listen well, and to persuade and sell a recommendation. As he puts it “You need capacities like
self awareness, perspective taking, a sense of presence, so you’re the person at the table everyone is
going to rely on”.

The ability to relate, to speak up and be heard, to be comfortable with yourself – these are the kinds of
abilities that make the crucial difference.

Other ingredients for excellence at Kodak are, in Worden’s words, “ How well can you present your case?
Drive – are you just there eight A.M. to five P.M. and need prodding, or do you have high energy and are
willing to make some personal sacrifices? Are you difficult to work with, or are you seen as a natural
leader? Then there’s diplomacy – do you sense personal and organizational sensitivities? Are you able to
take creative risks and adapt? Are you combative, undermining other people’s self confidence, or do you
inspire and guide other people? And finally, there’s proactivity. Are you actioned-oriented, following up to
impact the business?

Competence Pays Most at the Top

Aceo at a subsidiary of a South American conglomerate was promoted to another position, leaving six top
managers trying to succeed him. The six fell into a competition that undermined their unity as a
management team. The conglomerate called in a consultant to sort out the strengths and weaknesses of
the six and thus help them come to a decision. Manager 1 had the most experience and was the smartest
of the bunch, he probably would have been the choice by traditional standards, but Manager 1 had a
drawback. He was widely known to lack the personal and social qualities of emotional intelligence.
Manager 2 looked like a strong candidate, too – fairly high in experience and in emotional intelligence, and
very bright. Manager 3 was a contender to, highest in emotional intelligence, slightly behind the other two
leading candidates in IQ and experience.

Quotes 12
The choice?

Manager 3, A key reason was that one chief task of the new CEO was to head the management team and
make it work again, a job that demanded a high degree of interpersonal effectiveness, says the consultant.
“The new CEO’s very strong emotional intelligence made it easier for the other five managers, who had all
been competing for the CEO position, to accept his promotion. “Under the new CEO’s direction, he adds,
the company “has become the most profitable in the country in its sector, and has achieved its highest
profitability ever”.

“It’s not just computing skills that set apart the stars, but teamwork”, says Spencer. “The very best are
willing to stay late to help their colleagues finish a project, or to share shortcuts they discover rather than
keep them to themselves. They don’t compete – they collaborate”

The Case of the Derailed COO

Sharp differences emerged between the successful managers and those who derailed on most major
dimensions of emotional competence.

➢ Self Control: Those who derailed handled pressure poorly and were prone to moodiness and
angry outbursts. The successful stayed composed under stress, remaining calm and confident
and dependable – in the heat of crises.
➢ Conscientiousness: The derailed group reacted to failure and criticism defensively – denying,
covering up, or passing on the blame. The successful took responsibility by admitting their
mistakes and failures, taking action to fix the problems, and moving on without ruminating about
their lapse.
➢ Trustworthiness: The failures typically were overly ambitious, too ready to get ahead at the
expense of other people. The successes had high integrity, with a strong concern for the needs of
their subordinates and colleagues, and for the demands of the task at hand, giving these higher
priority than impressing their own boss at any cost.
➢ Social Skills: The failures lacked empathy and sensitivity, and so were often abrasive, arrogant,
or given to intimidation of subordinates. While some were charming on occasion, even seeming
concerned about others, the charm was purely manipulative. The successes were empathic and
sensitive, showing tact and consideration in their dealings with everyone, superiors and
subordinates alike.
➢ Building Bonds and Leveraging Diversity: The insensitivity and manipulative manner of the
failed group meant that they failed to build a strong network of cooperative, mutually beneficial
relationships. The successes were more appreciative of diversity, able to get along with people of
all kinds.

The Peter Principle: Too much College, too Little Kindergarten

This is the Peter Principle at work. People are promoted to their level of incompetence. A person who is
promoted because of expertise (“He’s great with the numbers”) finds himself at a new level, where many or
most duties revolve around managing people – not technical skill. This means the working world is
peppered with bad bosses.

The Inner Rudder

Day to day choices we face at work, which person to promote, which company to merge with, what
marketing strategy to follow, or whether a proffered business deal should be accepted. When it comes to
decisions like these, our gut feelings, our deepest sense of what feels right and what is ‘off’ provide critical
information that we must not ignore, lest we regret our choices a month or a year down the road.

Quotes 13
Recognising One’s Emotions and Their Effects

People with this competence

➢ Know which emotions they are feeling and why
➢ Realise the links between their feelings and what they think, do and say
➢ Recognise how their feelings affect their performance
➢ Have a guiding awareness of their values and goals

Knowing One’s Inner Resources, Abilities, and Limits

People with this competence are

➢ Aware of their strengths and weaknesses
➢ Reflective, learning from experience
➢ Open to candid feedback, new perspectives, continuous learning, and self-development
➢ Able to show a sense of humour and perspective about themselves

Blind Spots

Harry was a top manager at a company that had begun a major campaign to flatten the corporate
hierarchy and give employees the authority to make critical decisions. Harry had all the right rhetoric
about “sharing power” and delegating authority – he just couldn’t do it when any hint of a crisis arose.
When things were going well, Harry was actually fairly good about handing down responsibility to his staff,
who were extremely competent. But at the least whiff of an emergency, Harry grabbed the reins, rebuffing
anyone else’s advice or efforts. This not only undermined the company’s initiative to push power down the
line, but it damaged the self-confidence of Harry’s staff, and his incessant talk about the virtues of sharing
power while actually taking it back corroded his credibility.

It’s not that star performers have no limits on their abilities, but that they are aware of their limits – and so
they know where they need to improve, or they know to work with someone else who has a strength they
lack.

Roads to Improvement

Superior performers intentionally seek out feedback. They want to hear how others perceive them,
realising that this is valuable information. That may be part of the reason people who are self-aware are
also better performers. Presumably their self-awareness helps them in a process of continuous
improvement.

A Strong Sense of One’s Self-Worth and Capabilities

People with this competence

➢ Present themselves with self-assurance, have ‘presence’
➢ Can voice views that are unpopular and go out on a limb for what is right
➢ Are decisive, able to make sound decisions despite uncertainties and pressures.

Having Talent – and Believing it

Closely related to self-confidence is what psychologists call ‘self efficacy’, the positive judgment of one’s
own capacity to perform. Self efficacy is not the same as the actual skills we have, but rather our belief
about what we can do with the skills we have. Skill alone is not enough to guarantee our best
performance – we have to believe in our skills in order to use them at their best.

Quotes 14
The Managed Heart

➢ Self-Control: Managing disruptive emotions and impulses effectively

➢ Trustworthiness: Displaying honesty and integrity
➢ Conscientiousness: Dependability and responsibility in fulfilling obligations
➢ Adaptability: Flexibility in handling change and challenges
➢ Innovation: Being open to novel ideas, approaches, and new information

Keeping Disruptive Emotions and Impulses in Check

People with this competence

➢ Manage their impulsive feelings and distressing emotions well.
➢ Stay composed, positive, and unflappable even in trying moments
➢ Think clearly and stay focused under pressure

Maintaining Integrity and Taking Responsibility for Personal Performance

People with this competence

For Trustworthiness
➢ Act ethically and are above reproach
➢ Build trust through their reliability and authenticity
➢ Admit their own mistakes and confront unethical actions in others
➢ Take tough, principled stands even if they are unpopular for Conscientiousness
➢ Meet commitments and keep promises
➢ Hold themselves accountable for meeting their objectives
➢ Are organized and careful in their work.

Being open to Novel Ideas and Approaches, and being Flexible in Responding to Change

People with this competence

For Innovation
➢ Seek out fresh ideas from a wide variety of sources
➢ Entertain original solutions to problems
➢ Generate new ideas
➢ Take fresh perspectives and risks in their thinking for adaptability
➢ Smoothly handle multiple demands, shifting priorities, and rapid change
➢ Adapt their responses and tactics to fit fluid circumstances
➢ Are flexible in how they see events

- Daniel Goleman

DON’T DIE WITH THE MUSIC IN YOU

So, you want to be a coach?

One aspect you can’t lack is confidence because many times things won’t be working out and the stands
will be full enough with doubting people without you jumping up and joining them. There are times when
you doubt yourself, but they can’t be long times.

No doubt some players are easier to coach than others, the ones who’ll do anything, who’ll sacrifice, for
the team. Even they have egos, but they can leave them at the dressing-room door and there’s no price
they wouldn’t pay for the team. Individual sacrifice punctuates every session and play, because never will
13 guys agree at the very same time, which makes for a real juggling act.
So what’s most important, a good coach or a good captain? I’d have to say a good captain.
Quotes 15
A good coach with a bad captain? He’s struggling
A good captain with a bad coach? He’s making the coach look good.

Talent is only the beginning

You’re not saying he is the best player – you’re saying “potentially”. They don’t pay off on potential. They
pay off on results – how you produce. So if he’s just potential, he’s not your best player. Someone else
who doesn’t have that potential might be your best player.
Although this other player is a lesser talent, it might be better for other players to be on the floor or out on
the field with him than it would be for them to be out there with the big potential guy.

One of the roles of coaches is to be the players’ conscience – to be, at times, their worst nightmare,
demanding of them things they think they are incapable of giving. When everyone is giving them
accolades, from family to the fan, and you’re telling them it is not good enough, telling them they can be
better, they look at you stupid – like. They think your’re on something, how can everyone else be so
wrong, and you so right?
But it’s all part of the curve, part of the process of developing that talent into its full potential. A great
American Footballer named Otto Graham once said, “Everyone can’t be the best at everything, but
everyone can try to be the best at anything. If you give 100 per cent, you’ll get your share of victories”.

“Desire, dedication and enthusiasm are the things that dominate in life, whether it be in sport or the
business world. If they can maintain those three qualities, they can have the things they want. They will
have learnt a work ethic that will always make them employable and always sought.”

The Victory is in Beating Yourself

Sport is about testing the limits of the human heart – your limits and your heart.
The thing about this winning and losing is that you can win and give a mediocre effort and you can still lose
after giving it everything you have. I know which effort I’d be more proud of.

I tell them to teach their kids to be competitors, not to quit, not to give in. To judge themselves not on what
others do but on whether or not they’ve given everything.

I know this guy can train day and night for the rest of his life and not reach what you call great heights
because he’s uncoordinated – but what he has is a tremendous attitude to do his best. I am always going
to make sure he’s on my team because he makes people around him on the beach want to do their best.

Obviously, I don’t put a lot of credence in what guys say after games, particularly when they haven’t played
well. Just watch what they do through the following week and how they play the following weekend.
I don’t think you can judge it any other way.

The Fall Guy

That’s a key part, standing by decisions, being confident that you’re going to make enough good ones.
Having a plan, and changing it rarely. Poor coaches change it often.
The biggest mistake a coach can make is to not be himself, to be manipulated. You can have love affairs
with players – and that’s OK – but remain strong enough to know when they are using you up. People say
I have favourites. I do, but they are all good players.

No one can coach without discipline, but make too many rules and there are just more to break. Don’t
complicate matters, just give the players a framework not too fancy to work within.
Motivation, the unmotivated cannot be motivated. When I first coached and saw a player with talent but
bad attitude at another club, a player going nowhere, I’d go for him. It was always his old coach’s fault and
I could turn him around, but I was wrong. It wasn’t the coach, it was the player, and it just reminded me
that wherever you go, you have to take yourself.

Keep going until the Siren sounds

Quotes 16
There was a time, when speaking to a group of kids, when they told me how they’d come home early from
a camp. Turns out they had not exactly been staying at the Sheraton Mirage. So they’d had a committee
meeting and decided it was much cosier at home in front of the fire with their doting families.
I immediately felt for those kids, because they had missed one of life’s great opportunities to develop
character simply by sticking it out when the camp got tough.

No Work, No play
To me, the ideal situation is for the established players to work three or four hours a day, just enough to
get them out of bed.
Younger players we encourage to get careers, to work their eight hours a day before training. Whether
they be at college or doing apprenticeships, you’ll see them turning up come May or June looking very
tired.
We have a policy at our club concerning younger players. No work, no play. A lot of these kids turning up
tired, they’re not going to make it in football but, as I tell their parents, we don’t want them to be failures in
life.
Players have to get away from football so when it comes time to play they’re looking forward to the game,
the contest. We want them stimulated, not sour. We want them out on the street facing up to their public
when they’ve played both well and badly. It’s never a bad thing for them to face the music rather than hide
behind the classroom doors with their robot team-mates.

The Way of the Dollar

In the mid 1990’s at the Broncos we had a boy, well short of his 20s, who had received an offer of a huge
amount of money from a rival organisation.. In a conversation with our general manager and others I
decided we would not even make him a counter offer but instead let him go. He’s gone. The story here; I
just felt if he stayed at our club he would be staying for the wrong reasons.

I also believe that at such a young age he should be worrying about where he’s going instead of arriving
somewhere, and if he’s going to go to the highest bidder now, he’s most definitely going to go there a few
years down the track anyway.

This is What Matters the Most

I also reminded them that while you cant take away the disappointment of losing there is a self satisfaction
about doing your very best and, in sport, that’s the thing you have to come to grips with – finishing second.
There will be days when you win but haven’t done your best, and no way should you feel good then, either.

TEAM WORK
When someone’s down, another puts in
Wherever there’s a group of people involved the first thing is to all work together, get on, in the
understanding that the team overrides the individual. No one will ever jump up and say “I’m bigger than
the team”. Still you’re always looking at their actions.
The guy who believes he can’t be done without, who figures he should be the centre of attention, who’s
selfish or full of himself, he’s the one who ignites power struggles, people take sides. No one wins. So at
the first opportunity you move to eliminate the problem.

It’s about ego. There’s nothing wrong with ego so long as its healthy, one which promotes confidence but
still allows its owner to be part of the team, one which promotes leadership even without the captaincy, yet
realises the owner is not indispensable.
One guy full of him self, and the team’s in trouble, two or three? You’re no chance, particularly if the guys
have high profiles, commanding a fair bit of respect outside the game.
He won’t share. At halftime, when he knows his mate’s tired but he still can’t pick up a drink for him on the
way through. He gets asked for a lift, knows it’s out of his win, says “No, I gotta get home – see ya”
The little things, they erode away at the team.

They need common goals, week-to-week objectives and the realisation that when the team has success
they all get rewarded.
Quotes 17
Teamwork can’t happen overnight; it has to be developed, built in time.

At different times the team will struggle and often someone will say “Let’s go out and get on the drink”, but
I’ve never felt getting on the drink with team-mates builds too much spirit. It might not do a lot of harm, but
it’s not the answer. It solves nothing. Spirit is built out in the middle.
I try to avoid rules. I believe the perception is that I have just two: I’m always right; and if I’m proved
wrong, rule one still applies.
I have in fact, three rules, be on time when I’m talking, give me your attention, and train and play flat out.

Confidence is Contagious
Arrogance is an easy thing to label someone with, particularly for those with no comprehension of
confidence. To me, arrogance has several meanings, but basically, it’s when you’re good at what you do
and you treat people – friends, workmates, fans – like objects. Like rubbish, they only matter when you’re
in the mood to give of yourself.

One of the things I’ve noticed with arrogant people is, when they’re down a little on confidence, they need
your friendship and support. They need encouragement, but when they’re running with the wind, “Hey
what’s your name fella?”

Certain people are forever confident about their ability, and confidence is contagious, just as the lack of it
also rubs off.

The Price you Pay

A whole season can give you that opportunity, even though it can take longer. A season allows a team to
perform and learn together, to develop trust and confidence in each other and to learn from mistakes
made. It creates a culture that allows players’ natural talent to come to the forefront.- Wayne Bennett

Quotes 18
ASHES REGAINED – THE COACH’S STORY

We always determine our goals by the use of a definitive structure, a series of building blocks divided into
three main processes: the WHY, the WHAT and the HOW. The use of this obviously relates back to my
days in business, but is nothing more complicated than a good example of that old adage: ‘If you look
after the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves.’ That is all we are doing, ensuring that the small
things are looked at, so that the bigger things will take care of themselves.

The chat about mental goals would focus upon discipline, enjoyment, body language, energy and support.
They are all fairly self-explanatory, and the language of any team-talk in any sport, but they are not blithely
bandied about without proper discussion, without reference to specific examples of how we might best use
them. The HOW is obviously the actual procedure; the physical actions which need to take place for all of
this to come together. We emphasise key words such as concentration, communication and confidence in
respect of this, but a common thread is to ensure that we replicate match conditions as closely as we can
in practice. – By Duncan Fletcher

YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE

Top players make for coaching success. In very few occasions appointments were made of coaches who
did well with inferior teams. In times of the adversity the experience of these people is invaluable, but
seldom do they progress up the coaching hierarchy.

Types of Coach

➢ Authoritarian
• Autocratic
• Demanding
• One way of doing things
• Under these circumstances the player becomes disciplined, organised better conditioned
and have good spirit when the team is winning.
• When the team is losing the coach can become disliked or feared. Because the team is
continually being driven, it can easily become fatigued.

➢ Mr Nice-Guy
• Well liked, flexible, sociable, involves players in decision making.
• Team cohesiveness, players produce above their expectations, and problem players are
handled well.
• The coach may be seen as weak. Deceitful players can cause problems, and quieter
players may feel left out.

➢ The Intense Coach

• Similar to the authoritarian coach.
• Tends to worry and take things personally.
• Over-emphasises preparation.
• The team is usually well prepared and is supported when it works hard, by a totally
committed coach.
• Can be too demanding and emotional.
• Poor at handling sensitive players.
• May overwork the team before a big game.

Quotes 19
 ➢ The Easy-going Coach
• Unemotional, dislikes exact schedules, pressure free and may appear lazy.
• The team feels little pressure and does not complain about being over-worked.
• The players feel independent and free to have input into the team.
• Because the coach is seen as lazy, the team may lack good physical condition and be
unable to handle pressure.

➢ The Business-like Coach

• Well prepared, educated and continually learning and improving.
• Organised, logical and plans ahead to avoid unexpected problems.
• Uses up to date techniques and prepared well for competition. The players feel confident.
• May be uncaring, using players as pawns, maybe too technical, can be hard on
disorganised players and may ignore the importance of team spirit and emotion.

Seldom are these types of coach as specific as indicated. Each coach will be a mixture of more than one
of these types, and it is the skill of the coach to produce the behaviour that best suits the situation.

Approaches to Coaching
The multi-faceted nature of leadership means that the modern coach is the catalyst for team development.
It is this person’s responsibility to see the big picture and to co-ordinate all the different parts to achieve a
vision and aim shared by them.

Leaders are not born, they are made.

To insulate them from this situation they need to coach those of lesser ability than themselves to make
them understand the difficulties faced by the developing player. They need to study the areas of the game
in which they are not expert. They need to study planning g, management, communication and a whole
range of peripheral topics. In some of these a detailed understanding is required because they are the
tools of the coaches’ trade. Planning, management, time management and communication come to mind
as the core tools.

Start with a clean slate.

The newly appointed coach should make it clear that he/she starts with a clean slate. In selection, in
particular, the message must be that no baggage has been carried forward from the past. In this way the
coach distances him/herself from the past. The same is true for the strategies and structures that will be
used in the future.

An ideal visionary game plan is however, worth developing because it gives a long term view as to where
the team is heading so long as it is subject to review and regular doses of reality.

A group with complementary skills

The range of skills required of the coach means that it is impossible for one person to do the job. As a
result, considerable care must be taken to appoint people with complementary skills who are expert in
specialized areas. The coach, as the co-coordinator and the remainder of the coaching team, are
complementary experts who are the best available in their areas. The coach must have is the ability to
manage people who are more expert in their areas than him/herself. To do this the coach must know what
is needed from each of the experts and must be constructively critical, putting forward any doubts that
come to mind, to the expert. This will be explicitly reflected in the team’s vision, aims, game plan and job
description.

Quotes 20
The coach must be careful to not appoint people whose views will change when difficulties arise and who
are not open in their opinions. On the other hand people who stimulate positively critical discussion, but as
its conclusion accept the final outcome should be appointed. In some instances the outcome will be a
consensus, while in others the coach has the right to demand what direction should be followed.
Backstabbers need to be avoided.

By the same token, sycophants or “yes men” must be avoided as their agreement with the coach may be
just because they want the job and like the prestige and reflected glory. When things are not going well,
they become backstabbers.

The manager has two key roles, that of a manager and that of a leader. As a leader the coach sets the
direction and inspires people to achieve the aim. As such, the skill to deal with people and be flexible
enough to become involved when it is opportune but removed when others are best left to do their own
thing, is vital.

The management role is more one of organization and planning and it could well be that if some of these
skills are not strengths of the coach then they should be delegated to others. There may be times when
the coach is involved and others when management is delegated to others. An obvious example is
budgeting.

Management skills the coach must have, even if they are delegated from time to time, are, planning and
problem solving. In the initial planning phase the project groups that emerge from the process, must be
given protocols for their strategies so that there are boundaries for their operation. It is through these
protocols that the coach monitors progress. They provide a framework for problem-solving.

The qualities a coach must have.

The coach must have a holistic approach to the game, its place in society, to the players and their roles in
society and to a range of priorities that make a complete person. In doing this they will retain the reality of
where their origins lie complete person. In doing this they will retain the reality of where their origins lie
and provide for themselves a sound set of values to which they can turn to under stress. This will also
create a work ethic in the coach providing a role model for the players who, given their elite status, often
need role models who demonstrate a sound work ethic.

Succession Planning – Coaching

Within the hierarchical ranking of coaching positions there will be room for horizontal specialization.
Initially this will be the strength the coach brings to the coaching panel. It may be scrumming or specificity
in the development of skill drills in preparation for a particular opponent or an eye for a player when
selecting. If the coach wishes to continue in the game a greater range of skills will be required and the
coach should be directed to become expert in a number of these areas for variety and freshness, another
approach, as well as for their own professional development.

All this requires a principled, selfless top coach as, with this experience one of the panel is likely to take
over the top job. While it may be hard the top coach must realise that by improving the expertise of others
the coaching ability of the whole group will increase exponentially. The good of the whole setup is more
important than the needs of any one part of it.

It is very difficult for a threatened coach to do this as, theoretically, the coach is ultimately working on
his/her own redundancy. If the head coach is to grow with the job then skill to develop others is a valuable
acquisition and organisational tool.

If the person at the top feels threatened then this insecurity will be reflected in the behaviour of the whole
group. The others in the coaching panel will begin to tell the head coach what he / she wants to hear to
their face reserving their real opinion to themselves or worst of all to a an under-current of dissension in
the panel and the team.

Quotes 21
Step 6 – Accountability

➢ Accountability is based on the comparison between what was intended and what was achieved.
➢ A review of the tool plan and its components leads to a re-evaluation of the vision and the aims.
However, so that there are constant criteria against which to judge progress the vision and the
aims should be constants and altered only in extreme situations. They must be thoroughly
developed to begin with to avoid the need for the core of the planning exercise to b e changed.

Implementation and Monitoring

If the best available people have been appointed to the various roles in the management team, the worst
thing that the coach can do is to hover over them as they are doing their job. It has become fashionable in
the outside world to emphasise performance and accountability. Whole industries and employment
sectors of monitors have become established because of the overpowering need to be accountable.

This only serves to stifle initiative and inventiveness and it will be difficult to get the best from those who
have been appointed. They will be accountable but they will also be less ambitious in what they try to do
so that small gains will be made that will be acceptable but quantum leaps will not occur.

Delegation not Abdication

It is an impossible task for the head coach to be expert in each of the areas and to be involved in all formal
and informal groupings as they work to develop the whole. By delegating and co-ordinating the head
coach gives the others room to develop, while at the same time monitoring what is going on when it is
appropriate.

The key quality in this situation is trust. Trust that those who have been delegated to will pursue the
common aim of the total group in their specialised area and trust that they will remain within the prescribed
boundaries of that area.

Quotes 22
Boundaries

The criteria that set the boundaries should not be complicated. Because of the complexity of the task it is
best to have a few basic rules that define the boundaries. These can be categorised into rules that:
1. Define how the management team is to operate.
2. Define their individual boundaries and the opportunities they can pursue within these.
3. Identify the priorities for each person derived from the overall development plan.
4. Set timelines within which results have to be produced.
5. Define when an opportunity should be pursued and when it is time to move on.

The ineffective leader who stifles initiative is the one who presents an image of someone who doesn’t
make mistakes and, at least implicitly, demands the same of the management team. The team will feel
pressure to copy the leader’s example.

Loneliness and mentoring

So the coach is someone who controls the situation by making sure that all members of the squad and its
staff understand the situation and their role in it. It is not achieved by direct orders and it is not achieved by
being the one who knows the most about the game. It is a co-ordinating role but, with the understanding
that “the buck stops here”. The coach should never leave a position wondering if, by following his/her
instinct more than has been the case, things may have gone better.

Finally the coach, in order to do this, must be able to see the total picture and keep all components in
perspective. This involves the ability to withdraw from the group, step back and be an individual. To see
the big picture the coach must like his/her own company.

To achieve this coaches develop a relationship with an informal mentor, a close friend who tells the truth.
This is someone who is not a “yes” man, someone whose opinion, built up over many years, is valued.
Often the mentor has been a role model for the coach and may still be.

It is handy if the mentor has “been there and done that”. As a result they are usually older than the coach.
It is their role to challenge horizons, offer options from left field. It helps if the mentor is not too close to the
team so that his/her perspective is not clouded by personalities. Their opinion can, at times, be quite brutal
and when it is, if the mentor is the right person, the brutality will be well founded.

PERFORMANCES NOT OUTCOMES

Team Building

Commitment to play to a pattern in a disciplined way offers the team the best opportunity to get the result
they want. But things can go wrong. Most teams will start a game playing to a pattern. Scoring points will
reinforce the pattern and they will keep to it. If points don’t come and the opposing team scores the
pressure to play individually to “save the ship” will result in the team losing its pattern. This won’t
necessarily happen to all players but, often, those in key positions, 8, 9 and 10 come to mind. Deviation
from the pattern means that support for the ball carrier becomes hesitant because the players won’t know
“what is on”. The ball carrier will become isolated and possession will be lost. Players don’t know what is
happening, the team is just playing rugby, making it up as they go. Win, lose or draw a collective pattern
will give the best result and good patterns will create an environment that allows each individual to excel
with the performance of their skill being supported by those around them.

Quotes 23
As it does with the management team, playing to a pattern builds goodwill amongst the players; the team
working together becomes greater than the sum of the parts as an additional factor is created based on
empathy, enthusiasm, confidence and commitment. The players become loyal to each other and to the
whole group.

Developing home grown talent enhances team building. This is why players play their hearts out for their
country. The same is true of clubs, provinces, states and franchises. Based on the use of home grown
talent players will have a natural loyalty that will bring out the best in their play. Selectors must be careful
not to destroy this quality with erratic selections while they are looking for miracle cures.

Synergy

The term for the whole being greater than the sum of the parts is synergy. So if you add up the individual
efforts of all those involved they will be less than what has been achieved by their collective effort. People
working together can achieve more than they will if they are working individually.

Brainstorming

In order to be successful brainstorming must follow some guidelines. The most important of these is that
all contributions are valued and recorded. None are scrutinised until all contributions are recorded. This
enables all participants to contribute and by recording all contributions additional ideas are triggered off in
others.

Once all contributions have been recorded a discussion can take place categorising the options into those
worth further consideration and those that are not. Mechanically those worthy of further consideration can
be ranked. This rationalises the process. However, this may limit discussion and the facilitator should not
rush the process. The exercise is not to rank the options but to discuss them fully and, out of the
discussion, arrive at a ranking. New options may arise and these must be included. They should not be
excluded just because they haven’t been thought of in the first place.

Fail to succeed

Few coaches get it right all the time. Most will be lucky to get it right 50% of the time. So it is important not
to get carried away with the rugby world only wanting winners. In a two horse race there is one winner and
one loser. In any union on any playing day if the measure of success is the outcome of each game then
50% of the coaches are failures. At the end of the season on the win/loss register half of the coaches are
winners and half losers. If the hiring and firing is based on outcomes we have an attrition rate that cannot
be sustained by the game if all the so-called losers are sacked or give up.

So failure is an essential part of the process. It serves to focus the coach more precisely on the team’s
real difficulties. The opposite can be true for the winning coach so that in a winning situation the coach
must be very disciplined to do the same as the losing coach in a situation in which it is easy to get
distracted. It is for this reason that emphasis on performance strategies i.e. how something is done, is an
important tool, as it prevents the coach being distracted by results.

When changes are made to be more successful, it is important that the players are in agreement with
these measures. To do this the natural conservatism of the players must be overcome. Especially the
more experienced ones will find security in tried and proven methods and as a result they will be reluctant
to change and hard to convince. This will be especially the case if the change is a radical one.

Fine-tuning the existing pattern will result in improvements in small increments and there will be little
difficulty “selling” these to the players. However, when it comes to a major change, difficulties will arise
because of player insecurity. These changes may have the potential to place the team well ahead of
opponents, but they may fail because they are too different. While circumstances don’t always allow it, the
change can best be sold by progressively drip feeding it to players.
Quotes 24
Finally, failure should not be blamed on others. All external factors have to be taken into account and the
admission that failure in some aspect of play is due to an external factor that hasn’t been taken into
account, reflects inadequate preparation. There will be some factors over which a high degree of control
cannot be exerted, but even then, measures should be taken to condition players to a range of options that
will limit their effect. More importantly, however, it is essential to exert a high level of control over those
things that can be controlled, as for these to break down is inexcusable...

Reaction to failure

Avoiding failure is avoiding risk and avoiding risk is settling for the mediocre. Failure can be avoided or, at
least reduced, by setting the boundaries so closely within the comfort zone that it will be difficult to fail.
Little progress will be made and the degree of failure will be similarly limited. The key is to take calculated
risks; some may end in failure, but not all. The greater the risk the greater the loss but also the greater the
benefit if there is success.

LET’S BE SYSTEMATIC
Values

The values inherent in the team are similar to the vision and the aims in that they must be worked out
thoroughly so that they provide a stable foundation for all the activity that follows. They are really the
criteria against which actions are judged. As a result they cannot be changed if actions are to be judged
with consistency.

Because of the need to have sound, stable values they must reflect core values the strength of which is in
their simplicity. They must be easily understood and unambiguous. There must be very few ways in which
they can be interpreted. Values should be expressed in plain English and not jargon and business speak.
Brands, products, windows of opportunity, market penetration – all these terms are misleading and
confusing. They turn people off.

One that stands out is that the team values and its playing environment are based on everyone being
included. These are the culmination of input from each of the parts– coaches, trainers, specialists, players,
managers. Because all opinions are included the process is, by definition, slow, there is no quick fix
solution. The process by which decisions are made is just as important as the final decision. As a
collective solution all share in its success and all shoulder responsibility when there are difficulties. In as
much as the burden can be shared in difficulty success should also be shared.

Motivation

Motivating talented players requires an individual approach because the strengths and potential of each
player will be different. As a broad guideline the coach should create a positive environment that gives the
players the space to excel. In this environment they should be encouraged to be inventive and to learn
from their mistakes when something new is less successful.

The players must know that they need not be conservative and play within prescribed boundaries, but that
they should work through new and better methods of performance without the threat of being negatively
criticised. They should expect constructive criticism that is performance based. To achieve this they must
be able to trust the coach, and this will create respect in the coach by the player.

Motivation is based on goal setting and players are motivated by short term challenges that become both
performance and outcome goals. Goal setting is one of the tools of self-motivation. Others are time
management and pre, during and post-match routines and coping strategies.

Quotes 25
There are some guidelines for handling top players. They may be famous, but they should be treated like
everyone else. There will be many distractions in their lives, so it is important to ensure that they focus on
the task in hand, the winning of the game and their role in it.

Even though their ego is being boosted by the media and an entourage of hangers on, they will need
positive reinforcement from those whose opinion they really respect. Hopefully that is the coach.

They should be given credit for doing things well, for excelling in the fitness test, for doing well as a duty
boy and for doing the hard work that is seldom highlighted in the media.

All players, no matter how good they are, will have an “off” day, and it is at this time that support is most
needed.

Finally, it is the coach’s role to work against the trend when the team wins and when it loses. If his/her
outward emotions are the same as those of the team, the peaks will be greater and more unstable and the
troughs lower and more difficult to get out of. It is the role of the coach to maintain an emotional
equilibrium, reducing the peaks and troughs.

In the beginning

A new coach will be watched very carefully by everyone and it is important that he/her establishes his/her
own authenticity. This means that they should not try to be anything more or less than what they are and
they should not try to make out that they know more than they know. Revealing weaknesses and making
mistakes during the first few weeks has a “cleansing “effect on everyone else so long as they don’t
continue. In other words the coach learns from mistakes like everyone else is expected to do. This will
allow everyone to relax and get on with the job. The coach that demands perfection and who tries to be
perfect creates a suffocating environment as everyone limits what they are doing and avoids risk taking so
that they can be perfect themselves.

Of all the characteristics that have to be avoided procrastination is one of the most important. Making
considered decisions after sorting through all the facts is fine and desirable but delaying decisions will
create uncertainty and criticism. The “honeymoon” won’t last long.

Communication

Communication is two way. Not all communication is verbal. There is talking and speaking, the talking
must be meaningful. There is hearing and listening, the hearing must be focussed. How something is said
is equally important as what has been said. By focussing on both and responding by basing what is said
on what has gone before is making a connexion with the speaker creating a mutual dialogue.

Avoid being the coach who suppresses feedback with an avalanche of words. The players won’t give
meaningful feedback if they give any at all. The thinking player will recognise that the avalanche is really
hiding the coach’s insecurity. The coach will be hiding this insecurity behind a need to dominate. In many
ways it is better to say too little than too much. A silence need not be filled with words if the words are
meaningless.

“Don’t speak if you can’t improve on the silence.”

The use of silence is a valuable tool in discussions. It gives others in the group time to enter into
discussion. Agreement will be immediate, but by creating a silence, contrary views and disagreements will
be expressed.

Quotes 26
So when the coach is discussing an issue it is vitally important that the speaker is allowed to conclude
what they are saying before someone else speaks. The discussion should now build on what has been
said and not go off on a tangent as if the person hasn’t spoken. To achieve this it is very important to
define the issue accurately prior to the discussion commencing.

Coaching Partners

Selecting coaching partners is a difficult task because the tendency is to appoint someone similar to the
coach. By doing this the strengths of the coaching team are being duplicated. While it might be less
comfortable, the other members of the coaching team must have complementary skills and personalities,
so that the range of skills available is increased.

What they must share is the same values and principles so that all are working from the same foundation.
The most important value that all must agree to is that there is one boss. Even though it may never occur
when an issue is unresolved and time is running out, it is the boss who has the final say.

The other quality that partners need is the strength to provide honest feedback, not platitudes that will
allow the head coach to think that things are not really as bad as they are. In these situations the partners
must be able to avoid being dominated and still retain their individuality. Equally, the head coach should
avoid pulling rank and should base arguments around the issues. - Lee Smith

WHAT MAKES GREAT LEADERS

Once Leadership talent has been identified, the most admired report more effectiveness in providing 360
degree feedback, developing performance measures, and linking those measures to strategic goals. They
also report doing a better job of holding senior people accountable for developing their employees

These subtle attributes, our research showed, also play a major role in the success or failure of high-
potential individuals. All the organisations we surveyed reported that it is the lack of these less tangible,
more strategic aspects of leadership – things like insensitivity to others, the inability to work in teams, and
a lack of clarity around strategic direction – that most frequently lead to derailment. Ironically, less than 10
percent of both groups place the blame on a lack of technical ability.

Despite some major differences in leadership approaches between the most admired companies and their
counterparts, one startling similarity stands out, the lack of effective methods for measuring the success of
development programs.

Developing Effective Leadership Models

It follows that the next step in developing more effective leadership is understanding what makes a good
leader “tick” and then determining if your leaders have it – and if they don’t. How you can create it. This is
one of the most basic hurdles organisations face, especially those that lack formal leadership models.

According to our own research and that of Daniel Goleman, author of Working with Emotional Intelligence,
emotional intelligence is twice as important as cognitive abilities in predicting. Outstanding employee
performance, and accounts for more than 85 percent of star performance in top leaders. - Fortune
Magazine / Hay Group

Quotes 27
HIT THE GROUND RUNNING – PLANNING YOUR COACHING PROGRAMME

“Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows that this day it must run faster than the fastest lion
or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows that this day it must run faster than the slowest
gazelle or it will starve. So it doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle, when the sun comes up
you’d better be running”
It’s much the same with your rugby team – your players need to be ready to perform when the first
competition game comes along.

I use a rudimentary template that simply lists the key factors that need to be covered then I get a calendar
out and ask the coach to start filling in things. Remember that you only have a limited amount of time to
spend with your players and you need to use that time the best way you can so your team “hits the ground
running”. The key factors of programme development I use are:

➢ Team culture.
➢ Leadership
➢ Technical
➢ Tactical
➢ Physical
➢ Psychological

Simply put, I believe that if coaches consider all these aspects and then decide how much of each they
need to put time into (and why), when, how and how much of each they need to work on, then they are
well down the track of having a coherent plan that will allow them to implement an effective coaching
programme for their players. Importantly, it will also allow them to prioritise their coaching focus. Let’s
look at each of these factors.

Team Culture.

Team culture is simply the way we do things around here and refers to the attitudes, values and norms of
behaviour that typically exist within the team environment. How you establish your team culture is up to
you, but I believe its important to be proactive rather than just letting it happen. If you have a team of
mature, self-reliant players, you may need to do very little here, but you will at the very least want to clearly
establish ‘the way we do things around this team’. You’ll want to lay down any ‘non-negotiables’ you have
and then decide what other other values you wish the team to live by. How much you tell them and how
much you leave up to them will depend on your approach and the nature of the players you are coaching.
If you wish the players to take some ownership of the attitudes and values, it may be a good idea to
organise a meeting of your senior players (the captain, vice-captain and those player’s who you identify as
informal leaders), outline your vision for the team, what attitudes and values you wish to see established
and then let the group know that you would really like their help in creating and normalising these values.
When you run your attitudes and values session (if you do), you can then slit the players into groups,
ensuring there is at least one senior player per group, and then ask the players to come back to you with
what they think should be the core values of the team. The senior players will be able to guide their group
towards the values that you have previously agreed upon with them and the other players will feel that they
have at least had some input into the values and will be more likely to feel some ownership of them. If
your team is a mature one, then you may feel confident letting the team go through the process on its own.
Another technique is to write words (representing what you think are suitable values) on the board, and
ask the players to select what they think are the five most important ones.

Quotes 28
Leadership.

Clearly you’ll want to get the leadership situation sorted out in the team, so you’ll need to get that
established and bedded-in pre-season if you possibly can. You may need to wait and observe for a while
before you make your mind up on your captain, but ideally the captain should be chosen early enough so
that he or she can get comfortable with the team and vice-versa. You may also want to identify other
leaders in the team, both leaders of team culture and also playing leaders (eg a leader of lineouts, a leader
of defence) and let them know what their roles are. You’ll need to plan this.

Technical

What sort of work will you want to do on players’ skills? First you need some sort of skill assessment. You
can do this by putting your players through some skill tests, or you can just watch them at training and
determine where you think they’re at. You only have limited time, so you need to identify the key skills in
which you believe your players are deficient, decide how you are going to change and improve these skills,
then schedule it and do it. Much of this needs to be individualised, but there may be one skill in which the
team is deficient as a group.

Tactical

What rugby philosophy do you wish to get across to your players? Clearly you will need to profile your
team and decide what sort of game best suits the talent (or lack of it!) that you have. Which patterns of
play, game plans and moves will the team use?
What roles do you want the players in each of your positions to fulfil? How will you get this information
across to the players? Will you just tell them, or will you get them to contribute to the session, perhaps
asking them about the game plans they believe should be used and what their roles should be?

You can ask your mini-units to go away and report back to you with what their roles are, how they can help
the other mini-units and how the other mini-units can help them. By doing this you will get valuable insight
into their knowledge and their thinking. You’ll need to decide how complicated you want to get with your
game planning. How much sequencing, if any, will you use? How much structure will you impose versus
letting players use their flair? You need to consider what players are already used to previously and how
much information you can realistically expect them to take on board in the time you have available. If in
doubt, my advice would always be to keep it simpler rather than more complicated.

Phyisical

This is not my area of expertise, but I would make one comment. Use the traditional gut-buster sparingly
with your players. A real tough session where players run till they drop does have some advantages in
terms of shared pain and team-building as identifying toughness, but in general you should try wherever
possible to combine conditioning with skills and decision-making drills. In this way your players will get fit
while having fun, improving their skills and their option-taking and not even realising that they are getting
fit! Remember also that many of your players will not get enough conditioning from your training and
games and will need to do extra, especially big forwards. Your programme should take account of this.

Psychological

This is another aspect that requires ongoing time and effort, but at the least you’ll want to find out if your
players are happy with how things are going and that there are not any pressing issues (on or off-field) that
could interfere with optimal performance. You may wish to get them to fill out a simple psychological
performance profile form that’s asks them how they rate themselves across some key areas. It might be a
good idea to outline the importance of mental toughness (especially the importance of appropriate focus at
all times) during the season and illustrate what it is and how it is demonstrated. – Dave Hadfield

Quotes 29
 An emotional competence is a learned capacity based on emotional
intelligence that results in outstanding performance at work. For superior
performance in jobs of all kinds, emotional competence matters twice as
much as IQ plus technical skill combined.

Personal Competence
These competencies determine how we manage ourselves

• Self-Awareness
Knowing one's internal states, preferences, resources, and intuitions
o Emotional awareness: Recognizing one's emotions and their effects
o Accurate self-assessment: Knowing one's strengths and limits
o Self-confidence: A strong sense of one's self-worth and capabilities
• Self-Management
Managing ones' internal states, impulses, and resources
o Emotional Self-control: Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check
o Transparency: Maintaining integrity, acting congruently with one’s values
o Adaptability: Flexibility in handling change
o Achievement Orientation: Striving to improve or meeting a standard of
excellence
o Initiative: Readiness to act on opportunities
o Optimism: Persistence in pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks

Social Competence
These competencies determine how we handle relationships

• Social Awareness
Awareness of others feelings, needs, and concerns
o Empathy: Sensing others' feelings and perspectives, and taking an active
interest in their concerns
o Organizational awareness: Reading a group's emotional currents and
power relationships
o Service orientation: Anticipating, recognizing, and meeting customers'
needs
• Relationship Management
Adeptness at inducing desirable responses in others
o Developing others: Sensing others' development needs and bolstering their
abilities
o Inspirational Leadership: Inspiring and guiding individuals and groups
o Influence: Wielding effective tactics for persuasion
o Change catalyst: Initiating or managing change
o Conflict management: Negotiating and resolving disagreements
o Teamwork & Collaboration: Working with others toward shared goals.
Creating group synergy in pursuing collective goals.

Contact an EIS Representative

877-267-8375 (toll free) +1-978-371-5922 (from outside the U.S.)

© 1999-2005, Hay Acquisition Company 1, Inc. All rights reserved.

Quotes 30
COACHING PHILOSOPHY AND COACHING BEHAVIOUR

It is immediately obvious that not all coaches operate in the same fashion, have the same beliefs about
coaching or treat their athletes in the same way. This might be interpreted as differing in the ‘how’ of
coaching, rather than the ‘what’ of coaching.
The drawing together of these value statements about how they practise coaching is what we term
‘coaching philosophies’. These value frameworks indicate to the reader what the coach believes is
important in coaching, and are a guide to the coach’s behaviour. It should be obvious that differences
between what coaches report as their beliefs and how they actually behave in practice is a very fertile area
for research.

Coaching Style

These value frameworks indicate to the reader what the coach believes is important in coaching, and are a
guide to the coach’s report as their beliefs and how they actually behave in practice is a very fertile area
for research.

Coaching philosophies

When evaluating a philosophy statement, a number of questions should be considered. The relationship
between rhetoric and practice has already been mentioned. The philosophy should reflect practice, and it
may be advisable to have corroborating evidence (if you are an employer) or the assistance of another
coach to critique your practice (if you want to understand your practice better).

➢ Allow the athlete to exercise self-discipline in matters relating to application, adherence, behaviour
and quality of effort. Do not use the threat of disapproval or punishment to coerce athlete to
behave in a way that the coach perceives to be appropriate.
➢ Value each individual’s contribution equally (this does not mean that they each make the same
contribution to performance, just that the coach values each of them as representative of what any
individual athlete can offer).- Coaching Philosophy and Coaching Behaviour

DEVELOPING TEAM LEADERS IN NEW ZEALAND RUGBY

Team culture and team leadership

Team culture is all about the environment that is created within the team – the ‘way we do things
around here’. Team culture is based on the standards and values that form the basis of team
functioning, without which a team has no ‘behavioural guidance system’. The way that team members
behave on and off the field is the reflection of team culture. Leadership is crucial to the formation of
team cultural principles and it is critical in ensuring that the standards and values that are the flagship
of the culture are understood, role-modelled, monitored and even policed at times.

You can build a strong team from a small nucleus of team leaders who understand fully where you
want to head and who are determined to assist you to build a sound team culture – allowing the rest of
the team to follow along from the lead given by the leaders. As Jerry Lynch says in his book, Creative
Coaching:

Quotes 31
 “You can’t legislate selfless team values, simply model what you can and let the rest join in when they
see what they’re missing. This works in most cases. When it doesn’t, expose the player to the
alternatives within the system and have the player decide what he wants to do, given the choices. A
player may opt for leaving the team, which may benefit all involved. If a player is unwilling to fit into
your team’s programme, be up-front with him. There’s no need to get upset or personal. Simply state
it as it is and let the athlete know the team needs to move forward”.

Coaching approach and team leadership

You should be encouraging the players to be more self-reliant and more self-responsible for a number
of reasons, the prime one being that they are actually the ones who have to make decisions for
themselves on the field and it makes sense that they should practise this important on-field quality of
self-reliance both on and off the field.

When the players themselves buy into your system, it makes your job as a coach so much easier.
Instead of you having constantly to convince and ‘growl’ your athletes into working harder and doing
the right thing, effective team leaders hold their team-mates accountable. They embrace the team’s
ideals and standards and ensure that the team is heading in the right direction. Team leaders have
the guts to stand up and say, “Come on mate, that’s not on, we don’t do things like that around here!”
and ensure that team standards are upheld.

The benefits of having strong team leaders

1. High standards and motivation.

Effective team leaders set and maintain the standards for everyone else to follow. They
consistently give it their all and demand that their team-mates do the same. This is especially
important when you have new players joining the team. The newcomers often look to their
senior team-mates to determine how ‘things should be done around her.’ If the senior players
are slacking off and cutting corners, it is very easy for the younger people to do the same. If
the senior players (to whom we most often look to provide team leadership) ‘poison’ new
players with bad attitudes and selfishness, your team development and, consequently,
performance will undoubtedly suffer.

2. The team will stay mentally tough during rough times.

Effective team leaders are able to help their team-mates to weather the inevitable ups and
downs that occur during games and throughout the season. When adversity strikes, great
leaders maintain their own composure; this keeps their team-mates under control and
resolutely moving forward. Effective team leaders are great at reminding their mates of the
team values of hard work and commitment, refocusing the team back on the task at hand and
doing what they need to do to get back on track generally. Good team leaders are a calming
force who are able to help their team-mates adjust and self-correct.

3. Help you take the pulse of the team and provide input.
Effective team leaders help you know what is going on with your team. They keep you
informed about how players might be doing, who is struggling and if there is any dissension
brewing within the team. They play an important role in moulding and maintaining your team’s
chemistry. Not only do great team leaders keep you up to date on the pulse of the team, they
can also provide you with input and feedback on changes you might be contemplating or ones
you have already instituted.

If you do not have good leaders you can trust, you might miss some important things that are
happening with your players and team. You might not know why a certain player suddenly is
not playing well or why another might not be communicating with you any more. Further, it
might seem like you have lost your players’ enthusiasm and support but you are not sure why.

Quotes 32
 4. Help you oversee and handle discipline.
Finally, great team leaders accept the responsibility of keeping their team-mates in line and of
insisting on adherence to team standards and values. If someone starts slacking off, good
team leaders remind them about the importance of working hard. If someone is thinking about
doing something that might be harmful to themselves or the team, effective team leaders step
in and discourage the person from doing so. This positive policing role is especially important
because, as a coach, you can only be with your players so m any hours of the day.
Obviously, you spend a lot of time with them at practice, but the rest of the time they have a
variety of choices which you cannot constantly watch and monitor, nor would you want to.
However, great team leaders probably tend to spend more time with their team-mates than
you do and can be a positive influence on them, especially on those nights when athletes can
be tempted to do things that could potentially have negative effects on themselves and the
team, not to mention your team, club or association’s reputation. Top-class team leaders look
out for their team-mates and are willing to confront them constructively when necessary.

Selecting Team Leaders/Captains

1. Create a team-leaders group.

Another option is to have your players choose (or you determine) a team leaders group.
Team leaders groups are typically comprised of senior players. The team leaders group
meets o n a regular basis to monitor the team, give input and feedback to the coaching staff
and handle any discipline issues.
It may well be that some of your most experienced players may not be capable or willing to
act as team leaders and you may need to ‘fast-track’ less experienced players who are able to
lead and who actually want to. As long as the ‘non-leading’ experienced players get in behind
these younger leaders, there should not be a problem. I guess what I’[m saying is that player
experience should not necessarily be thought of as being directly related to maturity and
leadership skills.

Leadership is not a Title

Regardless of how you determine who your leaders are, they must understand that leadership is not a
title. Your captains are not automatically going to be respected by their team-mates just because they
have the title. They must earn their respect as well as maintain it throughout the course of the season.
This is similar to the Maori concept of mana, which is a quality that a leader cannot actually gain for him or
herself, but rather it is a quality that is bestowed upon a person by others because of the way that person
is and the way he conducts himself. Formal leadership is not effective leadership and what a leader does
and says is far more important that any title that may be given.

Michael Jordan said “A leader has to earn that title. You aren’t the leader just because you’re the best
player on the team or the most popular. No one can give you that title either. You have to gain the
respect of those around you by your actions.”

Leading by doing and saying

‘Lead by example’ leaders start with having a great degree of self-control, pride, and responsibility. The
mark of a truly great leader is the ability to lead him or herself first. Their work ethic, attitude, and mental
toughness are so exemplary that they rub off on the rest of his/her team-mates. In essence, these players
earn respect by how they conduct themselves and the consistent effort they give at all times.

Quotes 33
How can we train and encourage leaders?

1. Recognise budding leaders.

Learn to look out for and identify players who demonstrate leadership skills, not only those
who show a desire to take a lead on the field, but those who demonstrate solid and reliable
standards and values off the field.

As Jeff Janssen says, “Internal team leadership is critical to your team’s success. Take the time to
evaluate your team leaders and captains and assess whether or not they are leading to their full potential
and helping you take your team where it needs to go. Great leaders plant seeds of success in the minds
of others. They keep people positive and focused no matter how frustrating or bleak the situation might
be. Invest the time to cultivate effective leaders on your team. You never know how much their leadership
might make a difference at a critical moment in your season.” – Dave Hadfield

The 5 Dysfunctions of the team – Patrick Lencioni - AN OVERVIEW OF THE MODEL

1. The first dysfunction is an absence of trust among team members. Essentially, this stems
from their unwillingness to be vulnerable within the group. Team members who are not
genuinely open with one another about their mistakes and weaknesses make it impossible to
build a foundation for trust.

2. This failure to build trust is damaging because it sets the tone for the second dysfunction: fear
of conflict. Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered and a passionate
debate of ideas. Instead, they resort to veiled discussions and guarded comments.

3. A lack of healthy conflict is a problem because it ensures the third dysfunction of a team: lack
of commitment. Without having aired their opinions in the course of passionate and open
debate, team members rarely, if ever, buy in and commit to decisions, through they may feign
agreement during meetings.

4. Because of this lack of real commitment and buy-in, team members develop an avoidance of
accountability, the fourth dysfunction. Without committing to a clear plan of action, even the
most focused and driven people often hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviours
that seem counterproductive to the good of the team.

5. Failure to hold one another accountable creates an environment where the fifth dysfunction
can thrive. Inattention to results occurs when team members put their individual needs
(such as ego, career development, or recognition) or even the needs to their divisions above
the collective goals of the team.

THE POWER OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

The Primal Leadership

Great Leaders move us, they ignite our passion and inspire the best in us. When we try to explain why
they are so effective, we speak of strategy, vision, or powerful ideas, but the reality is much more primal,
Great leadership works through the emotions.

No matter what leaders set out to do – whether it’s creating strategy or mobilising teams to action – their
success depends on how they do it. Even if they get everything else just right, if leaders fail in this primal
task of driving emotions in the right direction, nothing they do will work as well as it could or should.

The difference between the leaders lay in the mood and tone with which they delivered their messages.
One drove the group toward antagonism and hostility, the other toward optimism, even inspiration, in the
Quotes 34
face of difficulty. The two moments point to a hidden, but crucial, dimension in leadership – the emotional
impact of what a leader says and does.

The primal Dimension

When leaders drive emotions positively, they bring out everyone’s best. We call this effect resonance.
When they drive emotions negatively, as with the first executive, leaders spawn dissonance, undermining
the emotional foundations that let people shine.

Quotes 35
The Open Loop

Researchers have seen again and again how emotions spread irresistibly in this way whenever people are
near one another, even when the contact is completely non verbal. For example, when three strangers sit
facing each other in silence for a minute or two, the one who is most emotionally expressive transmits his
or her mood to the other two – without speaking a single word. The same effect holds in the office,
boardroom, or shop floor, people in groups at work inevitably “catch” feelings from one another, sharing
everything from jealousy and envy to angst or euphoria. The more cohesive the group, the stronger the
sharing of moods, emotional history, and even hot buttons.

In seventy work teams across diverse industries, for instance, members who sat in meetings together
ended up sharing moods either good or bad – within two hours. Nurses, and even accountants, who
monitored their moods over weeks or every few hours as they worked together showed emotions that
traced together- and the group’s shared moods were largely independent of the hassles they shared.
Studies of professional sports teams reveal similar results. Quite apart from the ups and downs of a
team’s standing, its players tend to synchronise their moods over a period of days and weeks.

Laughter and the Open Loop

Optimistic, enthusiastic leaders more easily retain their people, compared with those bosses who tend
toward negative moods.

How Moods Impact Results

Emotions are highly intense, fleeting, and sometimes disruptive to work, moods tend to be less intense,
longer-lasting feelings that typically don’t interfere with the job at hand. An emotional episode usually
leaves a corresponding lingering mood, a low key continual flow of feeling throughout the group.

When people feel upbeat, they see the positive light in a situation and recall the good things about it, and
when they feel bad, they focus on the downside. We naturally prefer being with people who are
emotionally positive, in part because they make us feel good.

Emotional Hijacking

Leaders who spread bad moods are simply bad for business – and those who pass along good moods
help drive a business’s success.

Good moods prove especially important when it comes to team. The ability of a leader to pitch a group
into an enthusiastic, cooperative mood can determine its success. On the other hand, whenever
emotional conflicts in a group bleed attention and energy from their shared tasks, a group’s performance
will suffer.

The study found that the more positive the overall moods of people in the top management team, the more
cooperatively they worked together – and the better the company’s business results. Put differently, the
longer a company was run by a management team that did not get along, the poorer that company’s
market return.

Getting to Service with a Smile

Cardiac care units where the nurses’ general mood was “depressed” had a death rate among patients four
times higher than on comparable units.

Resonant Leadership
Quotes 36
When such leaders fail to empathise with, or to read the emotions of a group accurately, they create
dissonance, sending needlessly upsetting messages. The resulting collective distress then becomes the
group’s preoccupation, displacing the attention they need to give to the leader’s message – or to their
mission. In any work setting, the emotional and the business impact of a dissonant leader can be gauged
easily. People feel off-balance, and thus perform poorly.

They share ideas, learn from one another, make decisions collaboratively, and get things done. They form
an emotional bond that helps them stay focused even amid profound change and uncertainty. Perhaps
most important, connecting with others at an emotional level makes work more meaningful. We all know
what it feels like to share in the excitement of a moment, the elation of completing a job well done. These
feelings drive people to do things together that no I individual could or would do. It is the EI leader who
knows how to bring about that kind of bonding. On the other hand, if a leader lacks resonance, people
may be going through the motions of their work but doing merely a “good enough” job rather than giving
their best. Without a healthy dost of heart, a supposed “leader” may manager – but he does not lead.

The Varieties of Dissonance

Dissonant leaders sometimes may seem effective in the short run – they may get a coveted promotion, for
instance, by focusing on pleasing their boss – but the toxicity they leave behind belies their apparent
success. Wherever they go in an organisation, the legacy of their tenure marks a telltale trail of
demotivation and apathy, anger and resentment. In short, dissonant leaders are the bosses that people
dread working for.

The Demagogue

To understand the mechanisms that drive emotionally intelligent leadership, and so create resonance, we
look to new findings I brain research.

How the Four Core EI Domains Interact

For instance, a leader can’t manage his emotions well if he has little or no awareness of them. If his
emotions are out of control, then his ability to handle relationships will suffer.

Self awareness – often overlooked in business settings – is the foundation for the rest. Without
recognising our own emotions, we will be poor at managing them and les sable to understand signals.
They recognise, for instance how their feelings affect themselves and their job performance. In stead of
letting anger build into an outburst, they spot it as it crescendos and can see both what’s causing it and
how to do something constructive about it. Leaders who lack this emotional self-awareness, on the other
hand, might lose their temper but have no understanding of why their emotions push them around. Self-
awareness, on the other hand, might lose their temper but have no understanding of why their emotions
push them around. Self-awareness also plays a crucial role in empathy, or sensing how someone else
sees a situation. If a person is perpetually oblivious to his own feelings, he will also be tuned out to how
others feel.

Once leaders understand their own vision and values and can perceive the emotions of the group, their
relationship management skills can catalyze resonance. To guide the emotional tone of a group, however,
leaders must first have a sure sense of their own direction and priorities – which brings us back again to
the importance of self-awareness.

Emotional Intelligence Domains and Associated Competencies

Quotes 37
PERSONAL COMPETENCE: These capabilities determine how we manager ourselves.

Self-Awareness
• Emotional self-awareness: Reading one’s own emotions and recognizing their impact, using “gut
sense” to guide decisions.
• Accurate self-assessment: Knowing one’s strengths and limits
• Self-confidence: A sound sense of one’s self-worth and capabilities

Self-Management
• Emotional self-control: Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses under control
• Transparency: Displaying honesty and integrity, trustworthiness
• Adaptability: Flexibility in adapting to changing situations or overcoming obstacles
• Achievement: The drive to improve performance to meet inner standards of excellence
• Initiative: Readiness to act and seize opportunities
• Optimism: Seeing the upside in events

SOCIAL COMPETENCE: These capabilities determine how we manage relationships.

Social Awareness
• Empathy: Sensing others’ emotions, understanding their perspective, and taking active interest in
their concerns.
• Organisational awareness: Reading the currents, decision networks, and politics at the
organisational level
• Service: Recognising and meeting follower, client, or customer needs

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT:
• Inspirational leadership: Guiding and motivating with a compelling vision
• Influence: Wielding a range of tactics for persuasion
• Developing others: Bolstering others’ abilities through feedback and guidance
• Change catalyst: Initiating, managing, and leading in a new direction
• Conflict Management: Resolving disagreements
• Building Bonds: Cultivating and maintaining a web of relationships
• Teamwork and Collaboration: Cooperation and team building

Self Awareness

Simply put, self-awareness means having a deep understanding of one’s emotions, as well as one’s
strengths and limitations and one’s values and motives. People with strong, self-awareness are realistic –
neither overly self-critical nor naively hopeful. Rather, they are honest with themselves about themselves,
and they are honest about themselves with others, even to the point of being able to laugh at their own
foibles.

Perhaps the most telling (through least visible) sign of self-awareness is a propensity for self-reflection and
thoughtfulness. Self-aware people typically find time to reflect quietly, often off by themselves, which
allows them to think things over rather than react impulsively. All of these traits of self-aware leaders
enable them to act with the conviction and authenticity that resonance requires.

The Leader’s Primal Challenge: Self-Management

Quotes 38
Self management, then – which resembles an ongoing inner conversations – is the component of
emotional intelligence that frees us from being a prisoner of our feelings. It’s what allows the mental clarity
and concentrated energy that leadership demands, and what keeps disruptive emotions from throwing us
off track. Leaders with such self-mastery embody an upbeat, optimistic enthusiasm that tunes resonance
to the positive range.

All of this is critically important to emotional intelligence. Because emotions are so contagious – especially
from leaders to others in the group – leaders first tasks are the emotional equivalent of good hygiene,
getting their own emotions in hand. Quite simply, leaders cannot effectively manage emotions in anyone
else without first handing their own. How a leader feels thus becomes more than just a private matter,
given the reality of emotional leakage, a leader’s emotions have public consequences.

Similarly, leaders who can stay optimistic and upbeat, even under intense pressure, radiate the positive
feelings that create resonance. By staying in control of their feelings and impulses, they craft an
environment of trust, comfort, and fairness. That self-management has a trickle-down effect from the
leader. No one wants to be known as a hothead when the boss consistently exudes a clam demeanor.

Social Awareness and the Limbic Tango

While empathy represents a necessary ingredient of EI leadership, another lies in leaders’ ability to
express their message in a way that moves others. Resonance flows from a leader who expresses
feelings with conviction because those emotions are clearly authentic, rooted in deeply held values.

Empathy, The Business Case

Empathy is key to retaining talent. Leaders have always needed empathy to develop and keep good
people, but whenever there is a war for talent, the stakes are higher. Of all the factors in a company’s
control, turned-out, dissonant leaders are one of the main reasons that talented people leave and take the
company’s knowledge with them.

Relationship Management

If a leader acts disingenuously or manipulatively, for instance, the emotional radar of followers will sense a
note of falseness and they will instinctively distrust that leader. The art of handling relationships well, then
begins with authenticity, acting from one’s genuine feelings. Once leaders have attuned to their own vision
and values, steadied in the positive emotional range, and tuned into the emotions of the group, then
relationship management skills let them interact in ways that catalyze resonance.

Give the primal task of leadership, the ability to inspire and move people with a compelling vision looms
large. Inspirational leaders get people excited about a common mission.

Quotes 39
The Visionary Leader

THE LEADERSHIP STYLES IN A NUTSHELL:

Visonary

• How it builds resonance: Moves people toward shared dreams

• Impact on Climate: Most strongly positive
• When Appropriate: When changes require a new vision, or when a clear direction is needed

Coaching

• How it Builds Resonance: Connects what a person wants with the organisations goals
• Impact on Climate: Highly Positive
• When Appropriate: To help an employee improve performance by building long-term capabilities

Affliliative

• How it Builds Resonance: Crates harmony by connecting people to each other

• Impact on Climate: Positive
• When Appropriate: To heal rifts in a team, motivate during stressful times, or strengthen
connections

Democratic

• How it Builds Resonance: Values people’s input and gets commitment through participation
• Impact on Climate: Positive
• When Appropriate: To build buy 9n or consensus, or to get valuable input from employees

Pacesetting

• How it builds resonance: Meets challenging and exciting goals

• Impact on Climate: Because too frequently poorly executed, often highly negative
• When Appropriate: To get high quality results from a motivated and competent team

Commanding

• How it Builds Resonance: Soothes fears by giving clear direction in an emergency

• Impact on Climate: Be cause so often misused, highly negative
• When appropriate: In a crisis, to kick-start a turnaround, or with problem employees

Quotes 40
What Makes a Visionary

Transparency, an other EI competence, is crucial too, to be credible, leaders must truly believe their own
visions. If a leader’s vision is disingenuous, people sense it. Moreover, transparency means the removal
of barriers or smokescreens within the company. It’s a movement toward honesty and toward sharing
information and knowledge so that people at all levels of the company feel included and able to make the
best possible decisions. While some managers might have the misimpression that withholding information
gives them power, visionary leaders understand that distributing knowledge is the secret to success, as a
result, they share it openly and in large doses.

Of all the EI competencies, however, empathy matters most to visionary leadership. The ability to sense
how others feel and to understand their perspectives means that a leader can articulate a truly inspirational
vision. A leader who misreads people, on the other hand, simply can’t inspire them.

What makes a coach

Emotional self awareness creates leaders who are authentic, able to give advice that is genuinely in the
employee’s best interest rather than advice that leaves the person feeling manipulated or even attacked.
Empathy means leaders listen first before reacting or giving feedback, which allows the interaction to stay
on target. Good coaches, therefore, often ask themselves, “Is this about my issue or goal, or theirs?”

A good coach communicates a belief in people’s potentials and an expectation that they can do their best.
The tacit message is, “I believe in you, I’m investing in you, and I expect your best efforts.” As a result,
people sense that a leader cares, so they feel motivated to uphold their own high standards for
performance, and they feel accountable for how well they do.

Leasing with Style – The Right One at the Right Time

Morale among top management was miserable, mistrust and resentments were rampant. Joan’s directive
from above was clear, Turn the division around.

Joan did so with a nimbleness in switching among styles that we find marks the performance of star
leaders. From the start, she realised she had a small window to demonstrate effective leadership and t
establish rapport and trust – and that she urgently needed to learn about what wasn’t working. During her
first week on the job, therefore, she had lunch and dinner meetings one by one with each member of the
management team. Joan sought each person’s understanding of the current situation from a business and
organisational standpoint. But her focus was not so much on how a given manager diagnosed the
problems as on getting to now each as a person. Employing the affinitive styles, she explored their lives,
their dreams, and aspirations.

Recognising that this was a talented executive with him to point out ways he undermined his team abilities.
She sensed that he could sometimes be abrasive, inadvertently saying something that would anger
someone – and she promised she would take him aside after a meeting where she saw this happen, to
help him get better at recognising the behaviour himself.

Joan then followed up these one-on-one meetings with a three-day offsite meeting for the management
team. Her goal was team building, so that everyone would own whatever solution emerged fro the
business problems. Using an initial stance of the democratic leader, she encouraged everybody to
express their frustrations and complaints freely in, as she put it, a “kind of cleansing of everything that’s
wrong”.

Quotes 41
BECOMING A RESONANT LEADER

The Five Discoveries

In fact, the higher up the ladder a leader climbs, the less accurate his self-assessment is likely to be. The
problem is an acute lack of feedback, as was the case with Bill. Leaders have more trouble than anybody
else when it comes to receiving candid feedback, particularly about how they’re doing as leaders. More
specifically given the clear contribution of emotional intelligence to outstanding leadership – leaders need
to know where they can improve on the EI competencies.

The paradox, of course, is that the higher a leader’s position in an organisation, the more critically the
leader needs that very kind of feedback.

The Motivation of Change

He spoke with such passion, it was as if he were giving a speech before an enthralled audience. Ali had
connected with his dream, and in that instant it became a larger dream that he had ever considered.

Philosophy, How People Determine Value

Clearly, values play an important role in uncovering the ideal self. Since values change throughout life,
related to events such as marriage, the birth of a child, or being fired, it is one’s underlying philosophy
that’s more enduring. A person’s philosophy is the way he determines values – and which leadership
styles he gravitates toward. A leader who values achieving goals above all else will naturally be a
pacesetter, viewing a more democratic style as a waste of time. Understanding your operating philosophy
can help you see how your ideal self reflects your values.

The Ever-Changing Ideal

Still, if you want to lead an organisation, having a personal ideal vision is not enough. A leader needs a
vision for the organisation. It is difficult to spread the contagion of excitement without having a sense of
purpose and direction. This is where the individual ideal self-image evolves into a shared vision for the
future. To be in tune with others’ vision, you have to be open to others’ hopes and dreams.

Leading with Passion

As Napoleon observed, “A leader is a dealer in hope”. The challenge for every leader lies in reaching
inside to the source of hope. There lies the power to evoke and articulate one’s personal ideal self image
and the shared ideals that flow from it, and so lead others in that same direction. That kind of leadership,
however, requires not only a vision, but also a clear picture of the realities you are facing.

Getting to the Truth

They are open to critics, whether of their ideas or their leadership. They actively seek out negative
feedback, valuing the voice of a devil’s advocate. By contrast, less effective leaders most often solicit
confirming feedback. Not surprisingly, those leaders held far less accurate views of how well they
preformed as leaders. The most effective leaders assessed themselves very closely to how others rated
them as leaders.

The Third Discovery, A Learning Agenda

Quotes 42
Too often leadership coaching revolves around a “performance improvement plan,” a phrase that conjures
images of a remedial rehabilitation project. But rather than being some rote exercise that will fix a person
into being a better leader, learning goals should resonate with a person’s dreams. Because a
“Performance agenda” focuses on achieving some measure of success, it becomes something a person
has to prove. It can provoke defensiveness. Such agendas don’t capture the motivating aspect of how
one’s personal dreams might coincide with the target (an aspect that can be highly motivating). A learning
agenda, however, focuses on the possibility of change that will eventually lead to better performance at
work ( and probably more contentment in life in general).

Small wonder that improvement plans crafted around learning rather than performance, outcomes have
been found most effective. For instance, in a program to improve communication skills, a learning agenda
resulted in dramatically better presentations, a performance agenda tended to make people react
defensively, not wanting to look bad, while neglecting to give them concrete steps to improve their actual
performance.

The best kind of learning agenda helps you focus on what you want to become - your own ideal – rather
than on someone else’s idea of what you should be. It should lead to setting meaningful standards of
performance, rather than taking on an arbitrary, normative standard for success that may or may not fit
with personal goals. When crafting specific, manageable learning goals, it works best to tie them in to
goals that motivate you and ignite your full range of talents.

Goal Setting: A New Perspective

• Goals should build on one’s strengths, nor on one’s weaknesses.

• Goals must be a person’s own – not goals that someone else has imposed.
• Plans should flexibly allow people to prepare for the future in different ways – a single “planning”
method imposed by an organization will often prove counterproductive.
• Plans must be feasible, with manageable steps. Plans that don’t fit smoothly into a person’s life
and work will likely be dropped within a few weeks or months.
• Pans that don’t suit a person’s learning style will prove demotivating and quickly lose his attention.

The Emotional Reality of Teams

What was going on with this team? Through a leadership audit of the team members, the truth came out.
Virtually every one of them was uncomfortable with interpersonal disagreements, scoring low on the
conflict management EI competence. Suddenly the reason for the team’s inability to make decisions was
obvious. It had never come to the collective realisation that open discussion and disagreements about
ideas – as opposed to attacks on people who hold disparate views, sharpen decision making. Instead, the
team had adopted the bait of avoiding all disputes.

The Self-Aware Team

A team expresses its self-awareness by being mindful of shared moods as well as of the emotions of
individuals within the group. In other words, members of a self-aware team are attuned to the emotional
undercurrents of individuals and the group as a whole. They have empathy to each other, and there are
norms to support vigilance and mutual understanding. So although this team leader’s gesture may have
seemed simple, often just such an astute and seemingly subtle move can do more to reduce dissonance
and restore resonance than an action full of bells and whistles.

Sustaining Emotional Intelligence

Quotes 43
There’s no sense hoping for emotionally intelligent leadership when in fact it is not recognised in the
performance management systems or reward systems – so change the rules, if need be, to reinforce the
vision.

When Leadership Building Fails

One important way to ensure that learning does fell important is to make it a mandate that the top leader is
driving personally. To succeed, leadership development needs to be the strategic priority of the
enterprise, an issue that is galvanised and managed at the highest levels – by the executive committee or
governing board.

So the new leadership program appeared as just another in an expanding menu of the company’s HR
offerings. By funnelling the program through his HR training director, the CEO sent the unintended
message that it was a low priority.

Notes

Chapter 3 – No.8
• The ECI-360 assesses the full spectrum of emotional intelligence – based leadership
competencies. For more information, see http://www.eisglobal.com - Daniel Goleman

SPORTS COACHING CULTURES

FROM PRACTICE TO THEORY

Background and Purpose

In borrowing from the work of Hellison (1995) in physical education, it is suggested that, while technical,
tactical and physical content is important to effective coaching practice, the person of the coach is even
more so. In articulating this point, Ayers (1989) contended that ‘there is no clear line delineating the
person and the teacher (coach). Rather there is a seamless web between teaching (coaching) and being,
between teacher (coach) and person. Teaching (coaching) is not simply what one does, it is who one is.
Such a belief adds weight to Noddings (1992) criticism of the developmental philosophy underpinning
existing educational research and professional preparation programmes.

You need to treat people like adults, that’s the bottom line, the days of scrapping with players are over.
Steve’s coaching philosophy permeates all aspects of his work and he is wholly committed to the approach
he takes.

They (players) respond to someone who is on their wavelength. It’s all about dealing with individual
players. It’s better to change something that’s not working than give the player a bollocking because you
want a certain drill to work. Pull yourself away and think how you would respond. I’ve been stood on a
pitch with some fella saying ‘that’s fuckin’ useless, we’re back in this afternoon.’ No respect. You’d do it
but you’d have no respect for that coach. I think I’ve recognised that you’ve got to be on a level with the
players to get a response at the coaching level. I’ve got to be seen to be on a par with them. I’ve got to be
seen to be understanding their problems and be on their wavelength. If I’m on their wavelength, I’ll be all
right. If not, then things get harder and harder.

Steve’s belief in the need to treat players as individuals is central to his coaching philosophy. He believes
he should individualise feedback to players, and that it is incumbent upon him to be aware of them as
different people with particular needs and traits.

Quotes 44
There’s a lot of psychology in the game. You’ve got to see some players up, others you’ve got to bring
down because they’re too fired up. Others you’ve got to put your arm round and give them confidence.
Then there are other players that you’ve got to say ‘hey! I don’t think you’re up for it today bud’. It’s all
psychology when you are dealing with the players. If you tell a player off in front of the other lads then
you’ve lost him. If you ‘wound’ him then he won’t forget it. Yeah he’ll do stuff, but you’ll get no
receptiveness.

The art of management and coaching is recognising the situation. If you’ve got players that know the
game you don’t need to work on pattern.

I would say that knowing your job, recognising situations, responding to players, and ensuring that
whatever it may be, whether it is a lot of work or a little work, recognising that fact and doing what is
required. And if those players come off the training field in the right frame of mind, tired, and happy, and
feeling that it was all worthwhile, then the job is done…. Really, it’s the ability to handle men, that’s the big
thing, to handle people. - Steve Harrison

I believe that somewhere along the line there are certain personalities, certain people, I would say that
adapt to it and pick that kind of thing up. They are just that kind of person. So, at the risk of sounding
boastful, which I certainly would not want to be, when I look back at my career, and right back to my school
days, I find that when I was at infant and junior school I was a milk monitor, I was a prefect, and also head
boy. At secondary school, I captained all the sports teams I played for. So, it seems pretty obvious to me
now that there has been a teaching side to me. In fact, if I hadn’t have been a footballer, teaching would
probably have been the profession that I would have entered.

You’ve got to recognise that those twenty people in front of you will have different ways of learning. Some
can take it in straight away just by listening to what you say. However, just because I believe in a certain
thing and I have pictures in my mind of how it’s going to happen doesn’t mean all the players do. So, I
need to transfer these thoughts to the players realising that they all have different learning rates and
preferences.

That was one of the biggest lessons I learnt. Too many coaches put on these clever, complicated and
highly technical practices that, as far as I’m concerned, look good for their own benefit. At the end of the
day I say, ‘But what have the players got out of it?’ If training is to be of benefit to the players, it is
absolutely essential that they can transfer what you have worked on from Monday to Friday onto the pitch
on Saturday.

I hear coaches say, ‘I don’t care whether they like me or not, as long as they respect me.’ I don’t go along
with that. I think the best coaches will be respected but, to a great degree, they will also be liked. A coach
will not be liked totally but he must be liked by the majority of the players if he is to be successful. I know
very few people, if any, who are respected but not liked. For me, the two go hand in hand.

I think, as a coach, you’ve also got to recognise that not every player you work with is going to be happy
and be able to work alongside you. There will, inevitably, be some personality clashes. Once you realise
that you are not going to get the best out of one another, then most of the time the player has to move on.
Sometimes it’s the coach, but more often than not the player moves. There’s nothing wrong with that
because we don’t all like one another.

Central to his notion of ‘psychology’ is the considered use of verbal and body language, tone of voice and
eye contact. Here, he believes that coaches are constantly scrutinised by their players, therefore they
need to think carefully about how they act in the presence of their charges.

There’s twenty pairs of eyes on me, now we might have lost 3 – 0 and played badly, so they’re waiting to
see how I react. So, now my body language is going to be very important. Also, you learn that sometimes
having quiet words with people on their own, when nobody knows you’ve spoken to them, helps. You
have to learn about your people. Eye contact is very important if you really want your messages to get
home to people. Touch is also very important, as there will be certain people that you probably don’t say
Quotes 45
anything to but as they walk past you, you give them a pat on the back which tells them everything. So
you develop different kinds of relationships with people in so many different manners to get your message
across, to bring I through and I think that’s all part and parcel of coaching. - Graham Taylor

On being an Effective Coach

‘You really have to be aware and be able to recognise the things that are going on with individual players
as you always get players that have a bad time from time to time, so it’s very important as a coach to
recognise that and to act accordingly’.
This, however, is not always viewed by Hope as a scientific or systematic process, rather it is the coach’s
‘intuition’ or ‘art’ coming to the fore. Indeed, for Hope, her decisions on how to act in this sphere of human
relations are based on her ‘gut feelings’, which further emphasises her reliance on her own experiences.

As a group of players, I’m very distant from them as I think I have to be to do my job right. Individually
though, I collar players all the time and have a one on one with them and they find that quite easy. I’ll
generally pull players away and ask them ‘how you feeling today’ as well as the sport specific stuff. I think
they like that individual attention but I’m careful to do it discreetly, not in front of everyone as that could
take them away from the group mentally.

I say to them that we know it’s going to be tough, but that’s good for us, we want things to be tough, we
want to do things that are difficult. It’s what makes you good, it’s what gives you an evaluation of whether
you are any good or not, it’s doing things that are continuously more difficult than what you have done. It’s
what makes you tough.

In further discussing this notion of player ‘buy in’, Bob believes that a coach must be willing to listen to the
thoughts and opinions of the players, because he considers that they positively respond to a coach who is
prepared to enter into dialogue with them, However, in entering into such debate, Bob ensures that such
discussions are on his terms and in keeping with his agenda, thus in reality player input is limited.
- Bob Dwyer

I see my role diminishing, or parts of my role diminishing, as the athlete takes more and more control. For
me, coaching is ultimately about guidance rather than control. - Peter Stanley

On commitment, caring, ‘growing’ and coping

I do care about players. I care about them not feeling as good and I care that they’ve got to lift themselves
and not feel sorry for themselves with work or training. I always have to sort out some players. I have to
stress them. I have to know how good they’re going to be, to see if they can handle it.

On ‘Effective’ Coaching practice:

‘Investing Sweat Well’

When we train, they’re ( the players ) looking at product all the time. I’m not into lots of warm, fuzzy drills.
No one should do any activity not knowing how they can use it on the court. We’ve got to say to players,
this is where we can use it and this is why we’re doing it. I’m into quality sweat. We do it five times well.
I’m not doing it ten times mediocrity. Yeah, I’m into quality sweat!

On coach accreditation

‘Management of people and your own philosophies’ that make good coaching.

‘OK we made it to the break, OK how would you change that?’ What would you say to those players at
this break? How are you going to change what they’re doing on court to that opposition? That’s what
should be in the accreditation and it isn’t. You see, that is really coaching. That’s the true feel of it,

Quotes 46
whereas the accreditation only seems to talk about pedagogy and, you know, whole-part-whole coaching
and whatever.

On the essence of coaching ‘Reading the individual’ and ‘moving the chess pieces’

When questioned about ‘who owns the game plan?’ she replied that the players did, before adding ‘after I
lead them to it’. - Louis Muir

Quotes 47
ATHLETE-CENTRED COACHING
DEVELOPING INSPIRED AND INSPIRING PEOPLE

The principle is competing against yourself. It’s about self improvement, about being better than you were
the day before. – Steve Young

Take the attitude of a student. Never be too big to ask questions. Never know too much to learn
something new. – Og Mandino

Being Athlete-Centred – The Empowering Coach

Current Coaching Practices

In the Professional era, the performance objectives of many coaches depend on winning. The expectation
is that coaches may be held accountable for many uncertainties beyond the coachs’ control (eg. Injuries,
exceptional play by the opposition, poor officiating, the weather). In reacting to this pressure on them,
coaches tend to give athletes extraordinarily gruelling training sessions that demand more than the
athletes can give, sometimes they use dehumanising practices to enforce their control (Pratt & Eitzen,
1989). Unfortunately, for coaches like these, the pressure in this professional ‘must-win’ environment
becomes so great that coaches ‘take over’ in an attempt to ensure their athletes are winning. The
directions become coach-centred, rather than mutual between the athletes and the coach.

If a team is winning, the athletes smile, but if a team loses or tires of being bossed around, generally the
team environment deteriorates. As all of the coaches in this book suggest, once the team environment
deteriorates, it is difficult to win. Winning and success are difficult to achieve without quality team culture.
On the other hand, if athletes truly learn and take ownership of the direction of the team or competition,
success is more likely. From the athletes’ point of view, success is rarely winning, it usually involves
achieving their goals. A coach-centred coach makes mistaken assumptions about what athletes need (to
win) and seldom determines why athletes participate in sport. Conversely, as part of an athlete-centred
approach, one of the coach’s first roles is to determine the reasons why each athlete is participating, and
to establish a mutual vision and direction for the season that both the athletes and the coach own.

Much of the research suggests that no matter what coaching style is used, athletes respond better to
supportive coaches than to punitive coaches (Smoll & Smith, 1989). Ironically, coaches who follow the
coach-centred approach often express concerns related to low athlete productivity, poor performance
quality and lack of motivation and commitment by athletes (Usher, 19970. In contrast, athletes with
supportive coaches show greater intrinsic motivation, enjoy participating and competing in sport, make
informed decisions more rapidly in the ever-changing tactical manoeuvres and demonstrate that trust is
mutual (player-player, player-coach, coach-player, coach-coach).

Wayne suggests that teams with an athlete-centred approach tend to be:

……….middling to fair earlier, but as athletes are developing a team culture, developing a way of learning,
they are actually going to be more knowledgeable and understand the game better as the season
progresses.

Defining an Athlete-centred (Empowering) Approach

Some of the main advantages of using an athlete-centred approach to coaching are that athletes are
motivated to learn and they have a grater understanding and stronger retention of both tactics and skills
Quotes 48
(cognitive, psychological, spiritual and physical), which are so important to success in sport. A coach who
empowers athletes facilitates their learning but does not control it.

Many coaches, who use many different styles, highlight the importance of gaining trust and respect from
their athletes in order to enhance performance (Potrac, 2004). In an athlete-centred model of coaching
this trust must be mutual, and establishing it is largely dependent upon the coach. Mutual trust and
respect between coach and athlete do not mean sameness. Athletes must trust their coaches to make
suggestions and decisions and to ensure athlete responsibility in the best interests of the team. Athletes
trust coaches to be knowledgeable and prepared, and to provide a safe and supporting environment
(Shogan, 1999). Through mutual trust, athletes take responsibility for the learning and performance of
themselves and the team, thereby enhancing the team environment. In turn, coaches trust athletes to be
serious about their performance goals and the goals of the team. Empowerment (power through
enablement) promotes a shared, dynamic power relationship between athlete and coach. Using an
athlete-centred approach is a pedagogical strategy that will assist the development of the trust and respect
that so many coaches seek (Kidman & Davis, in press).

With the athlete-centred approach it is not suggested that the coach should give full responsibility to
athletes. Rather, coaches should exercise their leadership by guiding athletes towards decision making
and allowing them to take their own responsibility for sport participation. Clearly in some situations, with
some athletes, coaches need to be more prescriptive, but the aim should always be to encourage self-
reliance through decision making.

Among advocates of a prescriptive coaching approach, there is a perception that coaches who ask
questions do not know the answers themselves. Indeed, coaches may find it difficult, and at times
daunting, to design questions that generate high-level thinking from the athletes’ responses, then redirect,
prompt and probe for better or more detailed answers. Succeeding with such a technique demands an in-
depth understanding of the game, the athlete, and the context in which a solution is applied.

Team Culture

One key way to encourage self-reliance is to pursue a quality team culture in which athletes gain
responsibility for establishing and maintaining a direction for the team. Team culture, a major
philosophical underpinning in athlete-centred coaching, is defined as the ability to bring individuals
together for the pursuit of a common goal (Yukelson, 1997). In this multi-faceted process, the team’s
pursuit of a mutual goal informs the quality of its functioning and success. Without quality team culture,
success, learning and often winning are difficult. Thus a major challenge for coaches is to bring athletes
together for learning and success.

Many athlete-centred coaches have multiple ways of developing the vision (the overriding direction) and
the values (ways of acting or of ensuring that the vision is met) of the athletes on their team. Their mix of
methods may also differ from those of others with a similar philosophy, as the range of descriptions from
coaches in this book demonstrates. One belief that all these coaches hare, however, is that either the
vision must be mutually created or athletes must buy into an existing vision. In addition, values form the
backbone of the team’s actions, many coaches and athletes identify such values as commitment and
communication. Expectations are often derived from these values. For example, if commitment is a value,
then it is expected that athletes, coaches and managers will live by that value. An accompanying action
might be to apply that commitment to punctuality of the team members and coach. Whatever values are
developed for each team, it is important that the team understands the actual meaning and intent of each
value, and that they agree to or buy into that definition. If the athletes themselves develop the vision,
values and expectations, they take ownership of them, live by them and take responsibility for monitoring
each other.

Quotes 49
Hadfield (2002) proposes four reasons why teaching athletes to be leaders enhances the team
environment. Specifically, shared leadership brings the benefits of maintaining high standard and
motivation, preparing a team that is mentally tough, gaining athlete input to maintain team chemistry and
adhering to team values and expectations.

Significantly, a decision to single out the captain as the only leader often means that responsibility falls on
the captain’s shoulders and the ownership from the rest of the team for various aspects of the team
environment declines.

In summary, empowered athletes:

• Set their own goals and have an intrinsic desire to reach them
• Enjoy their sport
• Show enthusiasm
• Develop self-efficacy and confidence in their ability and are enabled to control results produced by
their skill and effort.
• Understand that they contribute to and take responsibility for their learning and direction.
• Are accountable for their actions.
• Are resourceful and innovative.
• Feel that they are important because of the Coach’s actions in understanding the athletes (eg
listening, empathy)
• Understand that there is mutual trust and respect ‘between coach and athletes, and among the
team.
• Cooperate to enhance mutual goals and directions of the coach, themselves and their team.
• Are more coachable because they have freedom and choice.
• Are highly committed to achieving levels of excellence
• Are willing to engage totally in what they believe in (Kidman & Davies, in press)

Quotes 50
Success vs Winning

To many people, success is measured by how many games or competitions are won or lost. It is a
criterion on which the jobs of many coaches depend. Success, however, is not just about winning. More
important to the concept is striving to win.

Certainly winning is a major factor in sports participation but success is more important. An athlete can
win without performing well or can lose even though the performance has been outstanding. Success is a
measure of how well the athletes are participating, how well they are achieving both personal and team
goals. Winning involves comparing yourself to others. Success is self-measured, based on individual
performance and contribution. In any competition, it is difficult to win in athletes do not experience
success, a quality team culture, an athlete-centred environment, or balance in their lives. The idea of
success as athlete learning, enjoyment, performance or growth is often overridden by a ‘winning at all
costs’ attitude, which ignores athletes’ needs and sabotages the pursuit of excellence with the result that
sport participation degenerates into a means to an end (Boxill, 2003).

Many coaches speak about winning and success as if they are the same. However, winning must be
defined within the culture of the team. For example, Wayne Smith’s definition of winning is:-

……what you want it to be really. Winning may be (with a poor team), moving them up to a
reasonable position on the ladder. It might be walking into the changing room and seeing smiles
on their faces. Winning for me is seeing people enjoying what they’re doing, giving it all they have,
players to the best of their ability, but playing because they love the game, not just because they
are paid to.

One of the biggest jobs in coaching is to educate athletes, preparing them physically, psychologically and
socially. Knowing how your athlete tick and drawing out their athletic capabilities are measures of
success. Because coaching is a people-oriented job, coaches must know how to facilitate the coaching
environments to bring out the best in their athletes and they need to be committed to the individuals with
whom they are working.

Coaches are constantly in a predicament as to whether to do what other people say or to do what they
themselves believe. As winning is so important to society and the media, coaches need to be clear about
their own philosophy in developing athletes. Is it more important to bow to the media or to keep your own
self-esteem?

People with character will find a way to win, those without character will find a way to lose
- Ashley Jones.

The Change Challenge:

Facilitating Self-Awareness and Improvement in your Athletes

The Query Theory coach might approach it this way:-

Coach: Jack, when they turned the ball over and scored that try, what do you think went on there?
Player: Well, their centre rushed up and smashed Bill and we were too slow getting to him. I shouldn’t
have thrown the pass.
Coach: Okay, what other options did you have?
Player: Well, I had Rangi running a cut on the inside?
Coach: Any other options?

Quotes 51
 Player: I suppose a chip might have been the go, especially as they were rushing up and there was
Possibly space behind?
Coach: Okay, which do you think would have been the best option and why?
Player: Their blind-side winger was sweeping across in defence for the chip, so I reckon the inside
Ball to Rangi would have been best, especially since he was running at two tight forwards
And probably could have stepped them and found space.
Coach: Great. So what do you think you need to do to make a better decision in the future?
Player: Well, I knew Rangi was running the cut, so I needed to scan earlier then I did and see their
Mid-field rushing up.
Coach: When do you need to do that?
Player: I think I need to scan quickly when the half-back is reaching for the ball, and again quickly just
Before he lets it go before I focus on catching the ball.
Coach: Okay. Let’s design a drill that can help to train that…….

Athlete-Centred Coaching in Practice – Traps for the Tyro

You’ll find I may be asking more questions of you than coaches you may have had in the past.
It’s not because I don’t know the answers, or because I am asking questions to trip you up. I’ve
found that asking questions really encourages you to continue to improve your self-awareness
and understanding and that it works really well, especially once you really get used to it. I’ll be
checking in with you regularly to see how you are finding my coaching approach and whether
you find it’s working for you.

The Process of Establishing a Quality Team Culture

…….they are policed by the athletes as well because they athletes have built and own them.
The values are ours, not mine, they were not imposed on the athletes by me. The athletes
Ensure that the values are lived. We have a simple expectation that we all must…. be prepared
to face the consequences of every decision we make. The philosophy that we have is that we
will support any poor decision once. But, if the individual chooses to repeat that poor decision,
then they need to be prepared to pay the consequence. That is the ultimate consequence – an
athlete explaining to family and friends that they have not been selected because they could not
be trusted.

So what happens if an athlete has the skill but does not live the values or take responsibility for his
attitude? Don says:

The athlete will not be part of the Black Sox. If the athlete did not live the agreed values of our
culture then (he) would be cast adrift. It is all about respect. Failure to respect the contribution of
each individual in the team will result in cliques or divisions within the team. This is generally the
first sign of the team breaking down. Loners fall into this category. In teams, you are going to
have athletes who don’t enjoy socialising with other people, they prefer to be by themselves…..
the trick is understanding it. There were times when we first started out where athletes did not
quite fit the mould, we tried to just change them so they did fit the mould, rather then actually
recognising what is really important to those individuals and then ensuring that the team
understands. What is important is that each individual buys into what we are trying to do and
they believe that they will be a world champion and are prepared to pay a serious price……and
everyone’s price is different.

Quotes 52
Don and Teaching Games for Understanding

All of our drills are designed to ensure that the athlete completes the ‘think, recognise and execute’
sequence when making a decision. The thinking takes place prior to any action, this process enables the
athlete to identify the likely situations before they execute. If the athlete is surprised then typically a poor
decision will be the result.

Implementing an Athlete-centred Approach

I have a simple approach – if I can’t sell it, then we just don’t do it. It is not necessarily about my
idea, it is about how I might sell something to the athlete, or encourage the athletes to make
improvements to the idea and come back with a better idea. In my experience, failure to execute
a game plan can only come down to one of two reasons, the athlete does not understand, which
means that it has not been communicated effectively, or the athlete does not believe in it – it has
not been sold with the athlete recognising the benefits.

……..one of the organisations I worked for decided to rebrand themselves…..new colours along
with the purpose and core values. We knew that something was going on because the senior
management team kept sneaking off. Then they launched the new brand to the staff (an
organisation of about 300 people) at the same time as they did to the outside world (our major
customers)… They said ‘This is our new culture’ They were talking about all these lovely words
and all the things like that, but I had absolutely no connection to it. Given that the culture of an
organisation is reflected through its staff, how did they expect it to be lived when the staff had no
input into its creation?

Ruth Aitken and Leigh Gibbs, New Zealand Silver Terns (netball) Coaches
Coaching Philosophies of Ruth and Leigh

I also believe what players leave in the Silver Ferns is really important, that they leave it in a
State better than it was when they came in. What I really like about our players is the
experienced ones now feel that it is part of their role to bring on the next level so when they do
leave, the Ferns are still going to be strong. So that philosophy of your only borrowing the
jersey, or bib, I think is really important.

Success is winning, but the concept of winning is bigger than the score. Winning is about
creating the opportunity for players to be able to perform to their best. In a team environment,
the challenge is that all perform optimally at the same time.

The Process of Establishing a Quality Team Culture

During my observations, on e feature of the Silver Ferns camp that stood out was that every player
contributes to the team and supports each other and the team’s campaign. During the actual training or
game, the manager acts as facilitator while the players fill water bottles, look after bibs, and help each
other in different situations. The team’s independence and ability to put the value of selflessness into
practice help the athletes to take ownership of and responsibility for their team as a unit. This observation
is all the more noteworthy in the age of professionalism, when the ‘What’s in it for me?’ attitude often
prevails over the ‘What can I do to help?’ attitude. Thus the Silver Ferns’ team culture was a breath of
fresh air.

You can’t win without ability……..When it comes down to it, my selection criteria for athletes would
be in the order of attitude, attendance, application and then ability. Ability at this level is a given,
its assumed. I want good people with good character, that’s what I am after.

Quotes 53
A promising sign of a good team environment, Ian suggest, is ‘if somebody really struggles to tear herself
away or doesn’t know what to do because they know they are leaving something special’. On the other
hand, a problem is signalled where players can easily part from a team temporarily or permanently.

In contrast, the Black Sticks as a team are bound by their personal integrity. Because they have
ownership of their team and their actions reflect the team values, Ian explains.

We don’t have curfews, we don’t have late fines, or anything like that. We just expect people to
understand human decency.

Implementing an Athlete-Centred Approach

If you are going to do the job and be successful, you have to it your way. If you are going to fail,
you might as well fail doing it your way……..If you are going to be successful, you do it your way
and you take great confidence out of each time you step up to the challenge. My attitude is
always live by the sword, die by the sword and that is why if am going to go down, I am going to
go down my way, then I can take confidence out of that………I suppose it was the fact that my
mum told me she had confidence and believed in what I was doing as a kid, that is probably where
I get the confidence……you take confidence out of knowing that you can work with other people.
Then you still have to have the conviction to do it yourself.

Some Challenges of an Athlete-Centred Approach

So when he must deliver bad news to a player, is he honest? Ian says:

Definitely. Not brutally honest, I am honest. You have to justify your decisions. You get paid to
justify your decisions, so why wouldn’t you be honest about it? If the athlete doesn’t like what they
hear, then that is unfortunate, at least you are all on the same page then. I think at the time, they
don’t want to hear it, but if you have coached them right and been up front with them throughout
the process then you have been true to the player. If you haven’t been true to her, you’ve actually
been a coward and hidden behind your position. My athletes know this from day one. As soon as
I know who’s been picked, I know their strengths, I know their weaknesses. If an athlete is on the
border line of being in or out, they definitely know what they have to do to maintain that
position….. They might not like what they hear, but in the end they’ll respect you for being open
with them.

Lyn and Teaching Games for Understanding

We use (games) all the time to make decisions and add pressure, like risk taking, pressures. We
want people to take risks….There is a time to skill and drill, hone something up technique-wise,
but the rest of the time, once they have got that technique right, they need to apply it. They can
have the best techniques in the world, but if they can’t apply them, then it is a waste of time. We
quickly get to the application which has risk taking, decision making and pressure……The other
thing is recognising that they are in a ball game and they should be using the ball as much as they
possibly can.

Conclusion

Lyn also believes strongly in focusing on a quality team culture through the notion of community. This
community is a group who come together to strive for a mutual direction, often an external goal. Through
a coach’s efforts to ensure this community works well together, it is possible to create a quality sport
environment in which values and principles are adhered to and practised as individuals work together the
four principles of having direct communication, taking responsibility for your own and the group’s
performance, being honest and celebrating difference.

Rod Thorpe on Teaching Games for Understanding

Quotes 54
Learning in context provides a better understanding of the game as well as many opportunities for decision
making, a skill that is consistently considered desirable for athletes.

The Development of Teaching Games for Understanding

Sports psychologists will tell you that two sources of motivation keep coming out at the top of why people
play sport. One is achieving – doing something well (not surprising then that children who are not
physically gifted drop away from activities which emphasise only the technical and physical). The other is
‘affiliation’ – being with others, interacting, friends, the social aspects. Clearly, sessions in which children,
or elite sports performers, interact together are the most motivating, the very essence of teaching games
for understanding.

How Skill Develops Using TGFU

Of course, because people see the emphasis shifting to perception (reading the game) and
decision making, based on players having knowledge and gaining responsibility for training and
performance, people inevitably say to me ‘So you are not as interested in skill’. Wrong. If you
don’t have the skills to exploit the situations you are faced with, your performance has to be
limited.

Many of us, teachers and coaches, realised many years ago that isolated drills transferred poorly
to games.

We can make very fast improvements in the performance of a skill in a single session, but this
might be disadvantaging the long-term learning process. The parallel with direct teaching, in
which some rapid short-lived improvements can be made, and questioning-type approaches, in
which immediate improvement is less obvious, must be see, and thereby lies the problem.

It has emphasised the generic how to coach, to balance the many years of coach ‘training’ of what
to coach.

Asking Meaningful Questions

To truly empower athletes to take responsibility for their learning, use game specific activities,
ensure that they have fun and use questioning for them to become self-award…..I believe at the
elite level, the questioning approach really tests your knowledge and in particular your eyes and
technical nous.

……asking questions and posing problems rather than always telling them the answers……I try
and put groups together and give them tasks to do – for …..i’ve always felt in sport that there’s lots
of different ways to skin a cat, so it’s not just my way – it’s, ‘How else can we do it?’

Questions to Promote Low-order and High-order thinking.

Examples of high-order questions in sport settings include:

• ‘How can we get the ball down the court quickly?’
• ‘In how many different ways can you balance on the balance beam?’
• ‘How can you get around the defence?’
• ‘Why should we push the defence to the sideline?’

Mike McHugh gives some examples of high-order questions he poses to the Wellington Saints:

Quotes 55
 ‘Is that the most effective to defend that screen? Is that good shot selection? What is the
consequence of a bad shot? Why did we as a group of people make that play, when this might
have been more effective?’

A typical example of a problem that requires movement response is ‘Show us how to control the ball most
effectively’ or ‘Show me how to grip the racquet’. Even thought the coach does not express either of these
statements as a question, the athletes must provide the answers by showing the coach how they
understand.

Ian Rutledge highlights the need to deal with those moments of ‘uncomfortable’ silence for coaches using
wait time to enhance athletes’ answers.

….you have to feel comfortable during those uncomfortable times of silences. I reckon it is a true
bit of advice because I think that when I ask questions, the thinking takes time and as a coach,
you want thinking activity…..As a naïve coach, I used to feel uncomfortable by those silences and
I would give the answers. Now, I just sit tight and allow players valuable thinking time and then
get the players to answer. - Lynn Kidman

SOCCER
THE MIND GAME

In the afternoon we gathered the 65 finalists (of the Faldo Series players) together for a question and
answer session on the range. Some of the questions were mine. ‘How many of you have read a sport
psychology book?’ I chided, ‘you’ve got to start reading’.
Preparation is the most important lesson they must learn. They’ve got to understand they have committed
to their discipline. They’ve got to programme their body and mind for the Sunday they wake up leading a
tournament. What people don’t realise when they see me sitting at breakfast wearing my ‘cold’ and ‘aloof’
blank face is that I am already in golf mode. I’m already in the starting blocks and planning my day.
-

Building Team Cohesion

Social Cohesion is very much focused on how well the players get on away from performance and the
training environment. From a coaching perspective, it’s a lot m ore enjoyable environment to manage if
your players all get on well. However, it’s not essential that a team is the best of friends in order to be
successful. Perhaps another, less discussed, element of social cohesion is the idea that players might
support each other in reaching certain goals. Much like the final element of the role commitment exercise,
it is clear that a team within which players support each other in the pursuit of individual goals is going to
have a greater sense of togetherness and desire to succeed for each other. Truly cohesive teams
recognize that by helping each other, players are helping themselves increase the likelihood of personal
and shared success. This support cohesion can be a very important safety net for team spirit.

Quotes 56
We have never seen a successful team that just got on well and was full of social cohesion. Task
cohesion is all about how effectively a team coordinates its efforts to achieve the shared common goal we
have stressed as being so important. So, on the one hand we have the shared goal, and the team high in
task cohesion is excellent at coordinating its efforts to achieve that goal.
Some teams may have the shared goal, but might be ineffective in their efforts to coordinate the available
talent. Successful teams always have a high degree of task cohesion. Successful teams don’t always
score highly on the social cohesion stakes. It’s a nice added extra, but not essential.

Match Review Agenda. The 10-point Review Plan.

1. What were our key goals for the game today? 5. How well did we achieve our teamwork goals?
a) Tactical (ie to what extent did we really support each
b) Physical other?)
c) Attitude
d) Teamwork 6. What did we learn about us as a team from
this match that we didn’t know before we
2. How well did we achieve our tactical goals? played it?
(ie can we do what we say we’re going to do
tactically?) 7. What did we show again about us as a team
in this match that we have already proved is a
3. How well did we achieve our physical goals? strength of ours?
(ie can we put our fitness into action and make
it work for us in the way that we say we’re 8. What did we show again in this match that we
going to?) still need to be working on in order to become
an improved team?
4. How well did we achieve our attitude goals?
(ie can we play with the mentality that we say 9. Is there anything else that we need to note
we’re going to play with regardless of how the about how we played, what we did, or what
match is going?) happened that we should learn from?

10. What does our key theme need to be for

training over the next week to make sure we
stay focused on maintaining strengths and
avoiding weaknesses?

Based upon our performance, what key things do we need to STOP

doing immediately?

Based upon our performance, what key things do we need to

START doing immediately?

Based upon our performance, what key things do we need to

CONTINUE doing?

- Steve Ball & Chris Shambrook

Quotes 57
THE SPORT PSYCH HANDBOOK

Teamwork for the good of the whole

The following points summarise ways in which to create team cohesion:

• Focus on improving communication

• Respect and celebrate differences
• Use an inclusive process in developing team goals.
• Recognize outstanding role behaviours, particularly in the service of team performance.
• Create a vision of the team as greater than any individual.
• Establish a positive-feedback environment climate to maximize learning.
• Encourage fun activities outside routine practice drills.
• Set an example of giving of self to team efforts and self-sacrifice.
• Establish clear expectations regarding roles, hold everyone accountable, and know when to flex
with exceptional situations.
• Teach the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual aspects of the sport in addition to the physical and
behavioural components.

We have found that it is critical to focus on establishing clear role definitions and mutually understood
interrelationships. Several components are important in this process.

• Role expectations: clarifying what each individual is responsible for doing on the team and how he
or she thinks it should be done.
• Role conception: what an individual thinks is his or her particular job on the team and how they
have learned to do it.
• Role acceptance: What an individual is willing to do and the extent of his or her acceptance of how
others see their roles on the team.
• Role behaviour: what the athlete or coach actually does and says.
• Role efficacy: how effective team members see other athletes and coaches in their roles on the
team and in the organisation.

Some of the critical questions that can guide these discussions and the ensuing clarifications include the
following:

• What does the team expect you to do in your job or playing assignment?
• What are your prescribed tasks, activities, and responsibities?
• How do you see your job or playing assignment? What do you actually do and what are the
discretionary aspects of your duties?
• What do you need from others on the team in order to do your job the way you would like to?
• What do you need to know about the other team members’ jobs that would help you do your own
role better?

Quotes 58
Effective Coaches and their Winning Teams

For example, behaviours that lead to positive player outcomes in terms of satisfaction, motivation,
cohesiveness, sense of competency, and a positive team climate include.

• High frequencies of training and instructional behaviours with high support to athletes.
• More democratic leadership that fosters autonomy rather than rigid control.
• Establishing a team climate of mastery or learning rather than only performance orientation.
• High frequency of positive, supportive, and information – bases feedback to athletes.
• Learn each athlete’s individual learning style of preference.
• Coach to the style of your athlete (watch how much you impose your style)
• Provide unconditional support for the athlete (avoid hypercriticism, undue yelling)
• Be careful about unintentionally setting team mates against one another. You want them to work
together.
• Support the concept of cooperation-competitiveness.
• Clarify the role of the individual team members and how they are to work together.
• Be a visionary for the team.
• Learn to deal with the pushy parent or the overly critical parent.
• Remember the development stage, needs, and characteristics of athletes.
• Have athletes behave respectfully to each other.
• Teach athletes to be friendly to each other. They do not have to be friends.
• Remember that males and females are different. Both can achieve at high levels.
• Teach the difference between aggressiveness and assertiveness.
• Look for overtraining and staleness of the team. More is not always better.
• Avoid favouritism.
• Deal with relationship tension. A team without conflict will be mediocre.
• Don’t squelch it. Do teach the team how to resolve relationship tension.
• Hold people accountable, however, always point out more of what the team is doing well than what
it is doing wrong.

Remember, no matter how serious the game is, we play sports. We play soccer, play football, play
basketball. The word “play” must mean something – we do not say we work soccer.

Regularly assess team qualities and responsibilities

Sever scales have been specifically developed for use with teams.

• Leadership Scale of Sport (LSS), a 40 –item, five-point scale that provides an assessment of
leadership attributes.
• Decision-style questionnaires, Case situations commonly faced by teams in which the athlete
categorizes his or her coach on different dimensions.
• Coaching Behaviour Assessment System (CBAS). An observation scale adapted to a
questionnaire
that assesses both players’ and coaches’ perceptions and recall of the coaches’ behaviour (such
as feedback or leadership style)
• Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2 (PMCSQ-2). Respondents indicate the
degree top which the team climate is task involving (mastery oriented) or ego involving
(performance oriented).
• The Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ). A measure of cohesion in sport groups.

Quotes 59
Effective Message-Sending Systems

Use more “ands” than “buts” When giving feedback, the use of “but” increases the chance that only half
the message will be heard, and it will usually be the negative half. Even a message delivered in a positive
manner will be received more negatively if you use “but” instead of “and”. Replacing “but” with “and”
fosters a clearer understanding of the message and greater motivation to work on the feedback. Why?
Using the word “and” tends to result in both messages being heard. For example, “Nice steal, but you
need to work on your transition pass.” This message is typically heard and received as “You need to work
on your transition passes.” The positive comment serves as motivation to work on areas that need
improvement. - Shane Murphy

FHS – SPORTS COACH UK

The Importance of Non-Technical Skills

Coaching is also about how you do it (ie understanding the coaching process, leadership, man-
mangement and communication). Being self-aware and understanding who you are (your personality,
values, strengths, weaknesses and how you appear to others – subordinates, peers and seniors) also
influences your effectiveness as a coach.

The second model is based on the idea of a T-shaped coach (See Figure 2). This model suggest that, for
a coach to develop, he must increase the breadth and depth of knowledge and skills in directly and
indirectly related disciplines (the horizontal part of the letter T) at the same time as expanding and
improving his experience and skills in the coaching process itself (the vertical part of the letter T).

This is not to suggest that the coach should seek to be an expert in every branch of sports science and
medicine, media, and accountancy, but rather to develop continuously his understanding and appreciation
of how such disciplines can support the development of players, however indirectly.

Breadth and depth of knowledge: laws of the game,

tactics, game strategy,
sports science and medicine, planning, budgeting, media, analysis
etc.

Skills and
experience
In the coaching
process

- Roy Headey

Quotes 60
(The role of the coach is) to lead athletes along a path that will take them to the highest possible peak.
The task is accomplished by inspiring athletes to make continual improvement. Coaching is about leading
and motivating athletes to achieve a desired outcome. Coaching is about creating desire.
- Kevin Bowring

Bowring says nothing here about technical coaching, although he certainly believes that good-quality
technical coaching is essential. He goes on to say that for elite coaches, ‘the coach’s job is 20% technical
and training and 80% inspirational. He may know all there is to know about tactics, techniques and traiing,
but if he cannot win the confidence and comradeship of his players, he will never be a good coach.

“Coaching is about managing people, it is a form of leadership and it is not the same as instruction, which
is simply imparting technical knowledge. Good coaches coach activities. Great coaches coach people”.
- Geoff Cooke

Getting the Message Across

Even if it is brief and precise, the most effective message is the one that is actually received, rather than
the one we think we are communicating. There is often a chasm between the two, which has little to do
with the worlds we speak. Research into what we recall reveals that the words we speak from less than
10% of the received message. This means that 90% of our ability to get our message across lies outside
of the words that we actually say. In reality, the variety we inject into the tone of our voice and the pace of
our speaking has greater impact, accounting for 38% of the message received.

Telling a good story is one of the most effective ways coaches can inspire and motivate their athletes. As
a great storyteller, you will transport your audience to your world so they visualise your story in their min’s
eye. Create a short story from your reservoir of experience that illustrates the point you want to
emphasise. Storytelling is simple, describe the situation what happened, what the action was and what
resulted. If you limit it to two minutes, animate it with colour, feeling and humour, you will become both a
great communicator and an essential dinner guest. - Tim Kyndt

Knowing your Athletes

“Tell me and I forget, ask me and I remember because I understand”

The key skill to effective communication is asking questions. Questions raise awareness of issues,
challenges and opportunities, and generate responsibility, who, what, where and when?
Here are so me questions to get you thinking about what you can ask your athletes.
Remember that asking questions should happen throughout the year, during different training and
competition phases, and not just at the start of the season.

Their goal(s)
• What would you like to achieve (by the end of the season)?
• What would you like to change?
The context
• What may stop you from – or help you to – achieve your goals?
• What have you tried so far (to remove any barriers)?
Their options
• What could you do to change the situation or make it better?
• Who or what might help you?
Doing something about it
• How committed are you to these goals or changes?
• What support do you need to give to get things going?
• When will you start this? - Kirsten Barnes

The Life and Times of David Whitaker

Quotes 61
 David feels that his biggest challenge so far ‘has probably been holding my nerve in the elite world –
trusting the principles I’d been developing and convincing the rest of the management that following
these was the right thing to do. It would have been easier for me to coach in the same way people
had always coached before, but I’d vowed to wean my players off the old way’.

When asked what advice he would give to those looking to make the transition from performer to
coach, he doesn’t hesitate. ‘Do it. That would be my first piece of advice. Secondly, you should find
someone to act as a sounding board for your ideas – someone with no vested interest. This person
needn’t be a coach, but it is advantageous if they understand the territory you are entering.
- David Whitaker

Managing Others

To effectively lead a team around the athletes requires coaches to successfully build and maintain
multiple working relationships with people from different backgrounds. Therefore, the modern coach
increasingly needs to develop some specific skills, which include.
• Creating a common vision
• Planning and prioritising
• Reviewing and evaluating
• Communicating
- Simon Timson

AN EMPOWERING COACH:
CASE STUDY OF WAYNE SMITH.
Every season we put groups in the ‘crows nest’ and they look into the future to see how the laws are going
to affect the game……..They report back on how they think teams will play, what new styles will develop.
Knowing this means you can adapt to meet changes before they happen. It’s important to innovate, to be
flexible and understand that you don’t know everything that there is, more than one way to skin a cat.

I am always trying to do things better. Progress for me is not going back to my natural or learned instincts
from years of being coached in a certain way. A questioning approach encourages the self-awareness
that players need to get better at what they are doing. This doesn’t mean you abdicate your
responsibilities as a leader. You set your standards and expectations. Your job as coach is to then
ensure the players come up to them.

Steve (Hansen) and I evaluated each others coaching performance constantly. He’d often say, ‘I think that
activity worked, but ……We sought each other’s views and listened to them.

The ‘game’ in Game Sense is a key to designing training sessions. Instead of using the traditional practice
drills, which have no real relevance to the actual game, Wayne tries to design games that match the
purpose of a particular drill:

I have used the Game Sense-type approach for training since 1986 when I started playing and
coaching in Italy and saw the French influence. I didn’t know then it was called Game Sense, but
we were putting players in match-like situations then changing the rules or the situation to develop
adaptation. Game Sense ensures players practise having to make decisions all the time.

Quotes 62
 Take a drill, then try too think about how you can change the rules, the size of the field, the time limit,
the scoring systems, etc., to ge3t what you want to get out of it. I try to give (the players) a framework
so that they can design their own drills, I don’t have a book of drills because every time I go out there, I
do something new. Drills develop from the last training and reflect what we are trying to achieve next
week.

Advantages of Game Sense

The biggest advantage to a Game Sense approach (opposed activities/games) is that it develops
tactical awareness. You put (the players) in real game situations with similar pressures and you
require them to choose the right options. It also ensures that they have the skills to make the right
tactical decision.

Wayne suggest that players learn from the approach because:

…………they understand it………I could tell them 10 times, ‘You’ve got to meet the ball early, but if
they have self-awareness that meeting the ball early means that you can get the pass away quicker,
then they are probably going to try it a lot more quickly. The thing about questioning is that coaches
need to have knowledge and good eyes. You have to be able to see the three vs two or the two
against one situations.

…………quite often I use a technique where I carry a second ball and I’ll look and see that there are
two attackers against only one defender, I will blow the whistle and throw the ball to the two attackers
and see how they react and how it develops, how they play it. It is not just the skill of questioning, but
it is the understanding of the game, to see it develop or be able to create it. There are a lot of skills
associated with it, it’s not coaching by abdication. You also need to ensure your players understand
why you are using a questioning approach.

Implementing an Empowerment Approach

One of the problems that I faced early on in my career was that people thought that I too soft. We won
the National Sevens when I coached the Canterbury side. It was the first time we’d ever won the
Nationals. I coached the team, and utilised Gilbert Enoka as sports psychologist. There was a public
perception that I wasn’t though enough……If you ask the players (now), they’d say that in my own way
I am a hard coach. I preach attention to detail, expect my players to work hard and am not afraid to
front (up to) them over form and selection issues. I don’t want my players to be better than their
opponents – I want them to be the very best they can be.

Ultimately, I suggest that the best balanced teams are the ones that win anyway…….you can’t
guarantee winning, but what you can guarantee, if you create the right environment, is that on the
paddock they will roll their sleeves up and do the best they can. If you prepare well, play with passion
and enjoy what you are doing, then you’ll do justice to the jersey you are playing in.

Wayne was asked about any difference in success between a prescriptive (autocratic) coach
and an empowering coach:

It depends whether you want long-term success or shot-term success. A term that you hear in the
changing room yelling and screaming as the coach gets them hyped up, arte often beaten because
they will only have short-term success against you (they are going to be really tough in the first 20
minutes) If you just ride it out and keep your cool, react to what you see, talk, guts it out and be
relentless, you’ll get on top of them every time. It is the same in a seasonal sense. The teams who
are autocratically run have short-term success, do really well earlier on. Teams like ours tend to take
a while for everything to come together.

Conclusion
Quotes 63
 Although Wayne does not have all the answers and does not claim to be an expert, he provides
coaches with some insight into how to implement an empowering approach. He has suggested that
the players are intrinsically motivated and learn well when coaches use questioning and Game Sense
to enhance decision making.
- Wayne Smith

You cannot live in the past and expect the future to take care of itself. To succeed in life you must live
for today and invest in tomorrow.
- Unknown

‘Managers promote stability while leaders press for change – only organisations that embrace both
sides of that contradiction can thrive in the turbulent times’
Leading Change’ – John Kotter 1996

‘You must be the change you wish to see in the world’.

- Gandhi

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really
great make you feel that you too can become great! - Mark Twain

‘It’s not the burdens of everyday that drive men mad, it is the regret of yesterday and the fear of
tomorrow. Regret and fear are the twin thieves that rob us of today.’ - Unknown

Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he could and should be and he will
become who he could and should be’ - Goethe

Does your Leadership behaviour affect team cohesion?

Training and instruction had the highest correlation to team cohesion. This implies that effective
teaching of technique and tactics, effective role definition, and specific individualised feedback are also
vital factors. What players didn’t want were coaches who were aloof, discouraged questions and
refused to compromise. Winning may also be a mediating factor. Winning teams tend top feel more
cohesive and possibly more positive about their coach!

Personally, I take the view that players want to be involved and should be encouraged and should be
encouraged to take ownership of their sporting experience. Wayne Smith (former All Black Coach)
sums up this philosophy where his role as a coach is:

…….to create an environment so that players feel comfortable in making decision. In this way
they can cope with responsibilities and they can take ownership of their learning. Players should own
the culture. They should set their own expectations, establish the team protocols,…create the vision
and values. We (as coaches) guide them and facilitate them, but it is their total “buy-in” (collectively)
that we are after. It’s their programme, their campaign. So, my philosophy is to create empowered
players……. – Wayne Smith

When coaching a rabble, a group of ill disciplined, lowly motivated, less skilled athletes, you may need
to start by adopting a more prescriptive approach. Conversely, a group of motivated, self disciplined,
highly skilled athletes that may have played together for some time already may demand a more
inclusive approach. The preference of your athletes may also be influenced by past experiences.
Players who have never previously been involved in decision-making, and who are used to being told

Quotes 64
 what to do, may struggle to come to terms with this increased responsibility. Rugby teams are
dynamic and constantly changing entities. Therefore, you as the coach need to be adaptable, which
means understanding your own coaching and leadership style, your strengths and limitations, as well
as understanding the needs and motives of your athletes.

Some Practical Implications

1) Winning is important. A winning team is generally a happier and more cohesive team!
Remember though that long-term player development will enhance your chances of continued
success (eg the Crusaders).
2) Understanding your athletes. Treat all players equally and fairly, but recognise that each
player in your team is an individual and may have unique needs, motives and learning style.
Some will be more comfortable being told what to do, others will want to participate in team
decision making, some like the “arm around the shoulder”, others need to feel their place is
under threat before they pull out their “A” game. Spend time getting to know your athletes on
a personal level and understand what makes them tick.
3) Players don’t want coaches who are distant, who discourage dialogue and questions, and who
refuse to compromise. This doesn’t mean you have to get too “chummy” with your players, or
let them walk all over you. Player respect is obviously crucial, particularly when you have to
make the tough calls like dropping a player but their respect for you won’t be enhanced by
them seeing you chatting up their partners or throwing up in the garden bed!
4) Provide effective training and instruction through clear communication. This means plenty of
time spent teaching technique and tactics, and providing specific individualised feedback.
5) Role clarity is essential. As a player, how often did you run onto the field not knowing 100%
what you were expected to do in different situations? Ask players to define their role to you, or
partner them up and get them to define each others role. Is their understanding the same as
yours? Note that players don’t necessarily need to like their role – nobody likes being the
“orange-boy”, or being a winger on a cold, wet day when the forwards are keeping the pill to
themselves! However, players need to be committed to their role, and understand how their
efforts contribute to the team success. Player commitment can be helped by recognition and
appreciation of different roles. These don’t necessarily need to be playing roles either. For
example, you could recognise players for off field behaviours – “good deeds” or “sacrificial
acts” that have contributed to the team.
6) Model the behaviours you want from your athletes. If you want respect, treat players with
respect, if you want trust and commitment, demonstrate these qualities yourself.
7) Finally, understand the dynamics of your team. Are players still trying to figure out where they
fit in the pecking order, or are they a mature team who have played together a lot already? Do
you have strong, experienced leaders already, or are they expecting you to “be the boss”? Are
they just coming together for a few games, or are they playing a whole season together? Your
team dynamics should play some part in the type of leadership style you adopt, and
remember, it’s amazing what can be achieved when nobody cares who gets the credit !
- Michael Chu

Quotes 65
Quotes 66
 GOOD TO GREAT

Level 5 Leadership – Key points

• Every good-to-great company had Level 5 leadership during the pivotal transition years.
• “Level 5” refers to a five-level hierarchy of executive capabilities, with Level 5 at the top. Level
5 leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will. They are
ambitious, to be sure, but ambitious first and foremost for the company, not themselves.
• Level 5 leaders set up their successors for even greater success in the next generation,
whereas egocentric Level 4 leaders often set up their successors for failure.
• Level 5 leaders display a compelling modesty, are self-effacing and understand. In contrast,
two thirds of the comparison companies had leaders with gargantuan personal egos that
contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of the company.
• Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce sustained
results. They are resolved to do whatever it takes to make the company great, no matter how
big or hard the decisions.
• Level 5 leaders display a workmanlike diligence –more plow horse then show horse.
• Level 5 leaders look out the window to attribute success to factors other than themselves.
When things go poorly, however, they look in the mirror and blame themselves, taking full
responsibility. The comparison CEOs often did just the opposite – they looked in the mirror to
take credit for success, but out the window to assign blame for disappointing results.
• One of the most damaging trends in recent history is the tendency (especially by boards of
directors) to select dazzling, celebrity leaders and to de-select potential Level 5 leaders.
• I believe that potential Level 5 leaders exist all around us, if we just know what to look for, and
that many people have the potential to evolve into Level 5.

Unexpected Findings

• Larger-than-life, celebrity leaders who ride in from the outside are negatively correlated with
going from good to great. Ten of eleven good-to-great CEO’s came from inside the company,
whereas the comparison companies tried outside CEOs six times more often.
• Level 5 leaders attribute much of their success to good luck, rather than personal greatness.
• We were not looking for Level 5 leadership in our research, or anything like it, but the data
was overwhelming and convincing. It is an empirical, not an ideological, finding.

First Who……….Then What

The executives who ignited the transformations from good to great did not first figure out where to drive the
bus and then get people to take it there. No, they first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong
people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it. They said, in essence, “Look, I don’t really know
where we should take this bus. But I know this much, if we get the right people on the bus, the right
people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace
great.”

Well’s Fargo’s approach was simple: You get the best people, you build them into the best managers in
the industry, and you accept the fact that some of them will be recruited to become CEOs of other
companies.

Quotes 67
It’s who pay, not how you pay them

Their moral code requires building excellence for its own sake, and you’re no more likely to change that
with a compensation package than you’re likely to affect whether they breathe. The good-to-great
companies understood a simple truth: The right people will do the right things and deliver the best results
they’re capable of, regardless of the incentive system.

Yes compensation and incentives are important, but for very different reasons in good-to-great companies.
The purpose of a compensation system should not be to get the right behaviors from the wrong people,
but to get the right people on the bus in the first place, and to keep them there.

I used to be in the Marines, and the Marines get a lot of credit fro building people’s values. But that’s not
the way it really works. The Marine Corps recruits people who share the corps’ values, then provides them
with the training required to accomplish the organization’s mission. We look at titg the same way at Pitney
Bowes. We have more people who want to do the right thing than most companies. We don’t just look at
experience. We want to know: Who are they? Why are they? We find out who they are by asking them
why they made decisions in their life. The answers to these questions give us insight into their core
values.

Rigorous, not Ruthless

The good-to-great companies probably sound like tough places to work and they are. If you don’t have
what it takes, you probably wont last long, but they’re not ruthless cultures, they’re rigorous cultures, and
the distinction is crucial.

Wells Fargo also sent some of its own managers packing in cases where the Crocker managers were
judged as better qualified. When it came to management, the Wells Fargo standards were ferocious and
consistent. Like a professional sports team, only the best made the annual cut, regardless of position or
tenure. Summed up one Wells Fargo executive: “The only way to deliver to the people who are achieving
is to not burden them with the people who are not achieving.”.

To let people languish in uncertainty for months or years, stealing precious time in their lives that they
could use to move on to something else, when in the end they aren’t going to make it anyway – that would
be ruthless. To deal with it right up front and let people get on with their lives that is rigorous.

How to be Rigorous

The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake. The best
people don’t need to be managed. Guided, taught, led – yes.

All of the debates were for the common good of the company, not your own interests.

A Climate where the truth is heard

Not because vision is unimportant, but because expending energy trying to motivate people is largely a
waste of time. One of the dominant themes that runs throughout this book is that if you successfully
implement its findings, you will not need to spend time and energy “motivating” people. If you have the
right people on the bus, they will be self-motivated. The real question then becomes, how do you manage
In such a way as not to de-motivate people? And one of the single most de-motivating actions you can
take is to hold out false hopes, soon to be swept away by events.

Quotes 68
When you conduct autopsies without blame, you go a long way toward creating a climate where the truth
is heard. If you have the right people on the bus, you should almost never need to assign blame but need
only to search for understanding and learning.

The Stockdale Paradox

Retain faith that you will AND at the Confront the most brutal
prevail in the end, regardless same time facts of your current
of the difficulties. reality, whatever they
Might be.

Understanding your Passion

This doesn’t mean, however, that you have to be passionate about the mechanics of the business per se
(although you might be). The passion circle can be focused equally on what the company stands for.

Freedom (and responsibility) within a Framework

The good-to-great companies built a consistent system with clear constraints, but they also gave people
freedom and responsibility within the framework of that system. They hired self-disciplined people who
didn’t need to be managed, and then managed the system, not the people.

Quotes 69
 HOW TO TELL IF YOU’RE ON THE FLYWHEEL OR IN THE DOOM TRAP

Signs that you’re on the Flywheel Signs that you’re in the Doom Loop
(Good-to-Great Companies) (Comparison Companies)

Follow a pattern of buildup leading to breakthrough. Skip builup and jump right to breakthrough.

Reach breakthrough by an accumulation of steps, Implement big programs, radical change efforts,
one after the other, turn by turn of the flywheel; dramatic revolutions; chronic restructuring – always
feels like an organic evolutionary process. looking fro a miracle moment or new savior.

Confront the brutal facts to see clearly what steps Embrace fads and engage in management hoopla,
must be taken to build momentum. rather than confront the brutal facts.

Attain consistency with a clear Hedgehog Concept, Demonstrate chronic inconsistency – lurching back
resolutely staying within the three circles. and forth and straying far outside the three circles.

Follow the pattern of disciplined people (“first who”), Jump right to action, without disciplined thought and
disciplined thought, disciplined action. without first getting the right people on the bus.

Harness appropriate technologies to your Run about like Chicken Little in reaction to
Hedgehog Concept, to accelerate momentum. technology change, fearful of being left behind.

Make major acquisitions after breakthrough (if at all) Make major acquisitions before breakthrough, in a
to accelerate momentum. doomed attempt to create momentum.

Spend little energy trying to motivate or align Spend a lot of energy trying to align and motivate
people; the momentum of the flywheel is infectious. people, rallying them around new visions.

Signs that you’re on the Flywheel Signs that you’re in the Doom Loop
(Good-to-Great Companies) (Comparison Companies)

Let results do most of the talking. Sell the future, to compensate for lack of results.

Maintain consistency over time; each generation Demonstrate inconsistency over time; each new
builds on the work of previous generations; the leader brings a radical new path; the flywheel grinds
flywheel continues to build momentum. to a halt, and the doom loop begins anew.

Quotes 70
It all starts with Level 5 leaders, who naturally gravitate toward the flywheel model. They’re less interested
in flashy programs that make it look like they are Leading! With a capital L. They’re more interested in the
quiet, deliberate process of pushing on the flywheel to produce Results! With a capital R.

Getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats –
these are all crucial steps in the early stages of buildup, very important pushes on the flywheel. Equally
important is to remember the Stockdale Paradox: “We’re not going to hit breakthrough by Christmas, but if
we keep pushing in the right direction, we will eventually hit breakthrough.” This process of confronting the
brutal facts helps you see the obvious, albeit difficult, steps that must be taken to turn the flywheel. Faith
in the endgame helps you live through the months or years of buildup.

- Jim Collins Good

to Great

DEVELOPING MENTAL TOUGHNESS

As depicted in Figure 2.1, their job is to establish a clear vision for the organisation and to formulate a
strategy that will deliver that vision. The vision and strategy must then be communicated to the whole
organisation. As part of this process, the leader must exhibit a level of rational thinking sufficient to satisfy
some and convince others that logic has prevailed. In communicating the vision and strategy, the leader
also needs to exhibit the emotional side of him or herself which will inspire everyone to follow.

Figure 2.1 No hiding place for leaders.

ESTABLISH CLEAR VISION

FORMULATE STRATEGY AND PLAN

COMMUNICATE

LOGIC EMOTION

VISIBILITY, EXPOSURE, VULNERABILITY

Quotes 71
Case Studies

The root of it all was Andy’s belief that he had been fortunate to get the position, that there were people
more experienced and qualified to do the job. He was just waiting for them to find him out. In essence, it
was hi lack of self-belief that was causing the problem and this was exacerbated when the pressure was
really on. His focus on how lucky he was became even more pronounced, and he loathed presenting to his
board members and other colleagues on relatively mundane issues. His motivation became more to do
with avoiding failure.

Business pressures

With all of this comes the pressure to manage the ‘soft’ side of people well, their motivation, their
confidence, their personalities. Managers now have the added pressure of managing people rather than
merely managing the completion of tasks. Managing people is hard. They have their own views on how
things should be done. They have feelings and emotions, which are sometimes unpredictable,
unexpected and inexplicable. They have frailties and make mistakes. They like to be praises and to be
made to feel good about themselves. Put simply, this humanistic management drive is placing even more
demands on managers and leaders, they are now being asked to be coaches too!

What is pressure?

He was attempting to deliver against the enormous, and unrealistic, expectations of the numerous
stakeholders who closely observed and commented on his every move.

Over to Adrian…….

In 1988 things were very different. In many ways this was down to maturity, and the capacity to think
about challenges and life in a more philosophical way. I had realised that it was important to keep things
in perspective. It was, after all, just a swimming race. It didn’t take me long to think of people in situations
that could rightly be considered more challenging than mine. Besides, what a great opportunity to really
race the other swimmers on a big stage. I also thought that some of them were probably scared of me
now!

Do only the tough survive?

The great Australian side under their former captain, Steve Waugh, openly referred to a policy of ‘mental
disintegration’ to root out the psychologically weak amongst their opponents.

Over to Adrian…….

When I stood up for a race I did get excited about competing against the best in the world, whereas before
I would worry that they would be better than me. I just concentrated on all my strengths and enjoyed just
getting amongst it. I would always swim faster than I could in training, I almost needed the pressure of
racing to stretch myself.

In business, we are in a competitive world, particularly in our sector, yet I am not afraid of failing. For me it
is more about working on our strengths and recognising we have a lot to offer the market. A lot of the time
it is about not being distracted by other people and their pessimism, but staying true to your strategy and
silencing the negative voices – even if they are in your own head!

Quotes 72
Thriving on pressure

Mental toughness enables you to bounce back after setbacks, to maintain belief in yourself when doubts
are gnawing away at you, to remain focused in the face of numerous unwanted distractions, to keep going
when all seems lost, to turn threats into opportunities, to find ways of motivating yourself when you are
struggling to keep going, to harness thoughts and feelings so that they work for you rather than against
you, to make choices when there appear to be none available, to remain in control and to even enjoy
pressure.

What mental toughness is

Essentially, good performers reported their pre-performance heightened mental (eg apprehension,
excitement, doubt ) and physical (eg butterflies, heart rate, nausea, muscle tension, nervous ) states as
being relatively debilitative to their upcoming performance. Elite performers on the other hand, reported
the same states as being facilitative.

Quotes 73
Figure 3.1 The four pillars of mental toughness

SUSTAINED HIGH
PERFORMANCE

KEEPING STAYING MAKING MAINTAINING

YOUR STRONG YOUR YOUR FOCUS
HEAD IN YOUR MOTIVATION ON THE
UNDER SELF - WORK FOR THINGS THAT
STRESS BELIEF YOU MATTER

MENTAL TOUGHNESS

Quotes 74
What do you do with your stress?

Recognising what you do with your stress and what it does to you is therefore pretty important. Have a
look at the list of stress categories below. Do you recognise yourself in any of them?

• Stress hoarder – You keep your stress to yourself so that others are often unaware of it. You
appear calm and in control to the outside world, but this merely hides an inner turmoil.

• Strress delegator – You knowingly pass your stress on to other people to deal with. You see lots
of other people under stress when you feel fine.

• Stress carrier – You may not experience too much stress yourself, but unwittingly cause lots for
other people. You notice people turn on their heels as they catch sight of you and disappear
hotfoot in the opposite direction.

• Stress protector – You protect other people from stress by taking it on board yourself. You see
yourself as a warrior who rescues people from their stress.

• Stress avoider – You do not put yourself in situations that are likely to cause stress. You lead a
safe, unstimulating, comfortable existence.

• Stress sponge – You feel that you can cope with any amount of stress. You put yourself in as
many difficult and challenging situations as possible.

• Stress rationaliser – you accept stress as part of life. You view it as something you must learn to
cope with and are relatively uncomplaining and ‘just get on with things’ during times of stress.

• Stress buster – You view life as too short to have to bother about stress and confront issues that
cause it head-on in an effort to sort them out.

• Stress denier – You refuse to accept you are under stress, despite feed back to the contrary.
You consider it to be a sign of weekness to admit that you are stressed.

• Stress magnet – You seem to be constantly stressed. You wonder why you always feel out of
sorts.

Controlling mental symptoms

A common form of mental relaxation is Meditation, which typically comprises concentrating on breathing
and using a mantra or keyword spoken silently on each exhalation. This technique is based on the
principle of distracting you from negative thoughts and focusing you instead on the mantra or keyword as a
means of clearing and calming your mind. I have used meditative relaxation with both business and sport
performers who have experienced intense mental symptoms when under stress. They have typically
learned three forms of relaxation: deep, intermediate and quick forms.

Quotes 75
1. The deep form of meditative relaxation, typically lasting between 15 – 20 minutes, is generally
practised sitting or lying down and with your eyes shut. You then progress through various stages
as follows:-

• Focusing on your breathing.

• Focusing on saying ‘one’ silently to yourself on each breath out.
• Counting down from 10 to 1 on each successive breath out.
• Focusing on saying ‘one’ to yourself.
• Counting up from 1 to 7 on each breath in.
• Opening your eyes

2. The intermediate form of meditative relaxation is essentially a shortened version of the deep form
and is practised over approximately 5-6 minutes. It can be used as a means of composing
yourself in those final hours or minutes in the run-up to that important event.

3. The quick form of meditative relaxation can be performed over a few seconds as a means of
re-focusing or calming your mind in those crucial moments during performance. This simply
involves focusing on the mantra or keyword over three or four breaths out. Executives I have
worked with use this quick form of relaxation to compose themselves before important
presentations or maybe to manage any anger, frustration or other negative emotions when it is
important that they are kept under tight control.

What does self-belief look and sound like?

They do not take things personally and see negative feedback only as a means of moving further forward
in their development. They have no need to inform others of their own achievements because they
possess an inner belief that requires no external reinforcement to sustain it. Of course, these performers
have doubts from time to time, but this is mainly about their confidence in specific situations and can
actually serve an important purpose – it prevents them from becoming complacent.

Staying strong in your self-belief

Over to Adrian

To reflect back on the point Graham made above on taking credit for your own successes, I can’t help but
think that his is one of the most critical aspects of building self-belief. At my most fragile I found it difficult
to hold on to these past successes, and worse than that, I thought I would be somehow arrogant to think
that I was ‘great’ because of something I had done.
During my childhood we were brought up to believe that arrogance and superiority were highly unattractive
qualities. I still think this is right, but it can be a filter to how we think of our success. Getting beyond that
to a place where I would walk out to a race believing I would win, that I was better than my rivals, was
difficult but ultimately became my biggest strength. I am sure that I started to attribute these successes to
my own abilities (i.e. the internal-constant quadrant) and I got over my own internal resistance. I no longer
see it as arrogance, but a very important piece in holding on to my self-worth.

Making your motivation work for you

Over to Adrian

I think that I have worked this one out for myself, but it has taken me a long time! I spent so long in
swimming just looking for the next mountain to climb (or medal to win!) that I forgot to take in the view. I
remember reading a newspaper article about a race I had swum, in which I had equalled my own World
Record, and the journalist said that I looked like the unhappiest person in the pool, it’s great when other
people give you these gems of feedback! Luckily, I read this one and decided to do something about it.
Even the, it wasn’t until a few years after I had retired from swimming that I actually ‘allowed’ myself to
think good things about my career.

Quotes 76
Maintaining your focus on the things that mater

Over to Adrian

I think that I box things in my head. I now categorise them as useful or not useful to me in the moment. I
make split second decisions, and if the information, or noise, or email is not relevant in that moment then I
put it away until I can deal with it. It is the art of staying in the moment, and the key is realising that you
have total control of how you interpret external information.

It’s even harder to remain focused on the things that really matter when the pressure is on. Pressure, in
itself, can be a major threat to your focus. Thinking about the consequences of failure or how you must be
successful, for example, distracts you from focusing on the very things that really matter in delivering the
performance you are aiming for.

Given that the capacity of the conscious mind is so limited, then what you put or allow into it is pretty
important.

Shutting out the ‘usual’ distraction in your performance environment

Accept the existence of distractions

Accept potential distractions as a natural part of the performance environment, they exist and there is
often little you can do about them. Don’t try to ignore them – this effort alone will take up some of that
valuable focus. Instead, let thoughts of them pass and return to what you want to focus on. You will grow
accustomed to encountering distractions and therefore not be surprised by them.

Focusing on your performance only

The key to focusing on your performance only lies in setting the different types of goals. To briefly recap,
goals can be divided into outcome, performance and process goals. Outcome goals are essentially
around winning or achieving some performance standard that is benchmarked against others’
performance. Difficulties arise when outcome goals are the only ones that have been identified, with
others’ performance then having a big influence on your level of success. Being able to focus on your
performance only involves identifying ‘what’ level of performance you want to achieve (ie performance
goals) and ‘how’ to achieve it (ie process goals)

Focusing on performance when there are other things going on in your life

• Parking worries and coming back to them.

1. Write your thoughts down on a piece of paper and put it in a secure place so you can
come back to it at a time designated by yourself.
2. Imagine yourself writing your thoughts down on a piece of paper and placing it in an
imaginary box to deal with at a later time.

Both methods provide the assurance that you will come back to them at a time that better suits you so you
can put them out of your mind for the time being. The key is to ‘park’ any worries so they are not taken
into the performance environment, but instead are dealt with at a more appropriate time.

Quotes 77
Planning restoration periods

Restoration is crucial in the sustained high performance delivery process. Just as your body needs rest so
that it can recharge its energy resources, so does your mind. Relentless pressure will take its toll in the
form of mental fatigue and reduced concentration capability.
It becomes more difficult to focus over sustained periods and the only answer is a time-out. Relaxing
holidays are one obvious means of restoring the mind’s energy in readiness for a renewed challenge.
Planning regular holidays in your calendar is an important way of reenergising your focus. Another way is
to plan ‘quiet’ times in your weekly schedule where you will not think about work.

Pressing the focus on-off switch.

This is when you most need these time-outs and planning them into your diary might be the only way of
ensuring that they happen. The distinction between restoration and enjoyment is important. Restoration
involves allowing your mind to wind down and not taxing it too much.

Not getting derailed by success and failure.

The seldom ‘beat themselves up’ after failures, but they are careful to identify and analyse the causes.
This process involves drawing out the learning points before leaving the failures behind as history and
moving on armed with their learning.

In the case of failure:

• Do not beat yourself up!
• Identify and analyse the causes
• Draw out the learning points to take forward
• Leave the failure behind as history

In the case of success:

• Spend time celebrating it!
• Scrutinise and understand the reasons for your success
• Use these reasons to build on your strengths and to reproduce in future performances.

What difference will it really make if I improve my mental toughness?

The ability to respond positively to multiple and sometimes conflict pressures and deliver consistently
successful performance.

and

The ability to perform at consistently high levels through times of personal and professional pressure.

What about mental toughness in teams?

Firstly, mentally tough teams have a strong collective belief in a number of areas, including their ability to
deliver high performance on a sustained basis, belief in one another’s capability and belief in the
designated leader. This collective belief is backed up by robust self-belief in individual team members that
enables them to both offer and ask for advice, support and coaching from others in the team. This belief
sustains their commitment, determination and focus when times are hard. It also enables openness and
challenge that form the foundation of the team’s further growth.

Quotes 78
Secondly, the motivation of all team members is reflected in a strong commitment to collective goals and
needs that are actually prioritised above their own. However, mentally tough teams also work hard at
aligning team and individual aspirations so that they complement one another rather than cause conflict.
Indeed, such teams work hard to support one another in striving to hit individual targets so that all team
members’ achievements result in a shared sense of pride and success. Mentally tough teams learn from
setbacks and use it as the basis of an enhanced determination to succeed in the future. They also deal
well with challenge and even conflict, recognising that it can serve an important purpose and help in the
team’s further growth.

Thirdly, mentally tough teams are highly resilient and supportive of one another when under pressure.
There is a heavy emphasis on caring for team members’ well-being with support being constantly available
for individuals or units who find themselves in difficult situations. These teams are good at helping one
another with the symptoms of pressure, and sometimes stress, but are always keen to tackle the sources
of pressure. Pressure is openly talked about and monitored so that action can be taken when required.

Finally, mentally though teams are not easily distracted from their purpose. They focus on controllables
rather than wasting valuable energy on things they have no influence over. They focus on maximising
supports and minimising constraints. They ‘share’ their focus around team members so that they have all
the angles covered. In this way all members assume an accountability and responsibility that ensures the
team remains on course towards achieving its goals. Mentally tough teams also have carefully considered
and prepared responses for dealing with different circumstances that may arise so that they are not easily
derailed when things do not go as planned.

A final word from Adrian…….

Self-belief, motivation, handling pressure and being focused

Wrap-up

Pressure is nothing more than the shadow of great opportunity.

By: Professor Graham Jones and

Adrian Moorhouse MBE

PATRIOT REIGN

Reversal of Fortune

“What will you do this week in order to lead your team to victory?” It may have been on the quarterbacks’
test, but it was understood that the question was for everybody.

Rookies and replacements

This was a team evaluation meeting where no opinions were spared. It was just a bunch of smart guys
talking football. But instead of a bar top there was a conference table, and rather than pure emotion –
although there was emotion here – their conclusions were backed up with numbers, trends, and
anecdotes. Every Patriots player was up for discussion. There were strengths and weaknesses for each
one. There were comments and sometimes statistics on his mental errors, his performance in the weight
room, his ability to be coached, his attitude, his ranking compared with others at his position league wide
and his ability to help the team next year.
Quotes 79
Emotionally, this was easier for Belichick to do than it was for the position coaches. The head coach was
not dealing with a group of six to ten players to whom he may have grown close over the course of a
season or two. Belichick didn’t bring that type of closeness into it. He took the panoramic view. If he saw
a weak spot from overhead, he was more likely to fix it aggressively. Business first. What he wanted to
be able to gauge from these meetings, simply, was whether a player still was a good fit fro the Patriots. If
not, it was time to move on.

It wounded as if everyone wanted to do that with young tackle Kenyatta Jopnes. He had made 23 mental
errors – the highest number on the team – in 661 plays. His blocks graded out at 72 percent, the lowest
on the team. His position coach was Dante Scarnecchia. If the Patriots had been a college, Scarnecchia
would have been tenured. He has held a number of positions in his twenty years with the Patriots.
Belichick respects him and takes his analyses seriously. Scarnecchia reported that Jones had poor
practice habits, was late off the ball, and had questionable mental toughness.

“There are days when that guy comes out to practice and you just know that he ain’t gonna fuckin’ work,”
Scarnecchia said. He said that Jones’s effort at Miami in October “was one of the worst ten-play stretches
of any tackle in the league”. Belichick agreed. “He killed us that day. There are stretches when he’s just
brutal.” The only thing positive they could say about him was that he was young – twenty four – and that
he enjoyed facing good players. “He is your typical coach-killer,” Charlie Weis said. “Most of his
teammates have no confidence in him. All of the offensive linemen know he cant be counted on, and the
quarterbacks know it as well.”

They still weren’t done with him.

Scarnecchia reasoned that Jones may have had a self image problem. “Not to get too fuckin’
psychological here,” he said. He then questioned his own coaching, wondering whether he should show
some restraint and not ride Jones so much. “But,” he concluded, “that would be very hard.”

Most people in the room – including new quarterbacks coach Hufnagel – realised that Jones was the
baseline. They realised that no other player they evaluated was going to fall below that level. If so,
nonplay-off seasons were going to be the norm.

Finding the missing pieces

During the amending and rewriting of the book, the Patriots sketched a silhouette of a quarterback and
unknowingly came up with a Tom Brady portrait. “It fits him to a T”, Pioli says. The book says several
things about what a quarterback for the Patriots must be, but four of them stand out.

1. “Be the mentally toughest and hardest-working player on the team”

2. “Be able to take a big hit and then walk into the huddle and call the next play”
3. “Have his head screwed on straight enough to handle the pressure and scrutiny to which all NFL
QB’s are subjected.

They hate their coach

Meanwhile, Belichick had a team that was turning him into a mellow coach. These Patriots were much
more coachable than his team from ‘O2. They listened. They were resourceful. They didn’t make
excuses. They had gone to Denver and won, sparked by an intentional safety. That wasn’t even the best
part of the game. On the winning touchdown, Brady to David Givens, the receiver ran the wrong route.
He was supposed to be running a slant and took off on a back-shoulder fade instead. Brady noticed the
error immediately and adjusted by throwing for the fade instead of the slant. The players seemed to have
a wit and awareness that the coach loved.

Quotes 80
This team played each week as if it had something to prove, and Belichick like that He respected this
team. Whenever someone asked him about the team, he would reply with a rare answer, a “media-ready”
answer that actually represented his true feelings. He would tell people that the thing he like about the
Patriots was that they always tried to do what was asked of them. They were students who stayed late
after class, determined to figure out some theorem. It sounded kind of plain, but the coach liked their
effort.
- by Michael Holley

THE LAST SEASON

An Opening Statement

Choosing my words carefully, I try to make players understand that I’m criticizing their performance, not
their personality. If, for example, a player has begun to lose sight of his team mates, I don’t tell him,
“You’re being selfish by shooting the ball too much.” The use of the word “selfish” would indicate
something fundamentally wrong with him as an individual, which would only cause resentment. Instead I’ll
say, “You were a little thirsty out there, weren’t you? “being “thirsty” for individual glory is why he
abandoned the concept of team ball. The player is much more likely to absorb the criticism and modify his
behaviour.

If there is any major misconception about me, or any coach, for that matter, it’s that we’re not as engaged
if we don’t scream at the refs or pace along the sidelines. Such antics only serve to distract the team from
the game plan. I also believe the majority of coaching is done before the game.

Losing our way

“Great things are being said here, but the actions are what matter”.

The here and now

“You are only a success at the moment that you do a successful act.” You cant be a success the next
moment because you have already moved on to do something else, even it it’s accepting the award for the
successful moment that just passed. That is why I’ve always told my players the glorification comes from
the journey, not the outcome.

Yet at the same time, my job forces me to do whatever I believe is necessary to enhance the team’s
growth, even at the expense of the individual.

I believe the goal is to win every game, developing momentum and confidence, and then see what
scenarios play out.

Round One: Houston

I rarely come down hard on anyone, but this is the playoffs. They must be willing to take direction. Like
they say in the military, in the time it takes to question an order, you might be dead. “You cant bring the
mood of the team down simply for your own personal reasons,” I told him “You’re not a coach and you
don’t think like a coach. I have to do what’s best for the psychological nature of this team. So in that
regard, you’re going to have to do your best job to have an attitude that’s correct about it”

Achieving oneness does not guarantee success, but it greatly enhances a team’s chances

Quotes 81
Round Two: San Antonio

Players often explain a loss by saying, “we didn’t match their intensity.” The phrase is overused but
accurate. Less talented teams with greater intensity defeat more talented teams all the time. Matching
intensity does not mean initiating aggressive, frenetic action. That often causes players to go out of
control, out of character. Matching intensity means completing with full alertness, with a commitment to
sound principles and execution.

Round Three: Minnesota

But this week he has displayed a whole new level of commitment. He’s been relentless about making sure
his team mates pay attention to the coaching staff.

The Final Round: Detroit

Only in achieving that degree of oneness can a group of men truly make the necessary sacrifice to win a
championship.

Epilogue

Most of all, I can’t wait to bring twelve individuals into a circle before practice begins, to look in their eyes,
and know we are a team of one.
- by Phil Jackson

Quotes 82
THOUGHTS ON DEALING WITH A DEFEAT
• Effort and improvement should be emphasised rather than winning and losing
• To have an excuse for failing is not productive
• “Successful athletes state repeatedly that the single most important component for positive
outcomes is to know you can do it and having the self confidence in ones ability to meet goals and
succeed. Highly confident individuals keep going because they know their hard work will pay off”
• Goals should be performance based rather than depending on the contests outcome
• Dwell on strengths rather than weaknesses
• Learn from our mistakes and direct our energies in to the next match
• Practice and skill development will improve the performance and reduce the difficulty
• Top athletes never say I am not good enough
• Athletes need to go from its not my fault to its my responsibility
• They need the incentive to improve and feel responsible for their performances
• Give instructions that emphasise effort
• Greater effort towards skill development and concentration are needed
• Skill development improves performance and reduces the feeling of helplessness
• Offer supportive non verbal and verbal messages
• Players do not respond to sarcasm
• Build players self esteem and confidence
• Deal with and not react to problems
• Give accurate and honest feedback
• As a coach you learn from a defeat by analysing it, learn from it them bury it
• Your decision will not be right 100% of the time but you need to hit a high percentage – no one
expects you to be right all of the time
• Don’t accept excuses for a poor performance deal only in reasons that can be dealt with
• Be measured by results not dominated by them
• How best can I deal with this and help my team win
• Re-emphasise belief in the team and allow everyone to move on
• Focus on continual improvement in performance rather than a fixation with the result
• Stick to the plan
• You are under pressure if you have a lack of confidence in dealing with the situation
• Go and tell the players how to feel
• SUMO – Shut up and move on!
• “Failure is part of the dance”
• I understand what went wrong, lets learn from it and be much better next week
• “Sometimes beaten, never conquered”
• Don’t be consumed by the outcome.. Focus on the process
• Don’t allow a defeat to be an emotional disaster, treat it as a wake up call to work better and
harder.

Dealing with big games

• Don’t hide…. Nothing should be different, simple things needs to be done better – Decision
making / Discipline / Skill
• Do not allow psychological gifts
• Be like rowers who can’t see the finish row one stroke at a time until you reach the end – focus on
one game at a time

Quotes 83
DEALING WITH DEFEAT

Effort and improvement should be emphasized rather than winning and losing.

• Does the Athlete have the skills to succeed?

• To have an excuse for failing is not productive
• “Successful Athletes state repeatedly that the single most important component that is responsible
for positive outcomes is to know you can do it and having the self confidence in ones ability and
preparation to meet goals and keep going because their hard work will
eventually pay off.
• Goals should be performance based rather than depending on the contests outcome
• Drawer on strengths rather than weaknesses
• Learn from our mistakes direct energy into the next match
• Practice and Skill development will improve performance and reduce task difficulty
• Top athletes never say I am not good enough
• Athletes need to go from `its not my fault’ to `its my responsibility’
• They need the incentive to improve and feel responsible for their performances.
• Give instructions that emphasize effort
• Greater effort towards skill development and concentration are needed
• Skill development improves performance and reduces the feeling of helplessness
• Offer supportive non verbal and verbal messages
• Players do not respond to sarcasm
• Build players self esteem and confidence
• Deal with and not reacting to problems
• Give accurate and honest feedback
• As a coach you learn from a defeat by analysing it, learn from it then bury it
• Your decisions will not be right 100% of the time – but you need to hit a high percentage – no one
expects you to be right all the time
• Don’t accept excuses for a poor performance and deal with reasons that can be dealt with
• Be measured by results not dominated by them
• How best can I deal with this to help my team win
• Re-emphasise belief in the team and allow everyone to move on
• Focus on a continual improvement in performance rather than a fixation with the result
• Stick to the plan
• Under pressure = lack of confidence in dealing with a situation
• Go and tell the players how to feel
• SUMO
• `Failure is part of the ? ‘
• I understand what went wrong – learn from it and be much better next week
• “Sometimes beaten never conquered” BILL BESWICK

Quotes 84
Mental Toughness

• Setbacks are an inevitable part of the challenge, learn from them to be a more complete player
• You cannot choose what happens but you can choose how to respond
• Don’t let results over come your enjoyment of the game
• Never stop learning
• Prepare the players – when the pressure comes – the players have a and a - not
and caught off balance
• Never allow ourselves to be passive
• Self reference – think through and account for your actions – vital part of the learning process
• To recover from inevitable set backs players and coaches must possess a high of mental
toughness – that develops a winning attitude
• Start with the individual – enhanced by a team culture that consistently reinforces the value of
being positive in the face of adversity
• Presence, personality and communication skills to “Sell the Dream”
• Create a reason “why everyone is working hard”
• You are the model that tells everyone how to feel
• How best can I deal with this to help my team win
• Good production & good relationships = Peak performance
• What gets rewarded gets repeated

VISION TRANSMISSION

Focus on Now Resnance

Manager
Relationships
Reflect on the past
Coach Social
Awareness

Plan for the future Manage Self

Self A

• Vision which encages heart as well as the mind

• Players need to believe that winning is as important to the front office as it is to the guys on the
field
• All people are looking for leadership, looking for direction and be told how they will achieve what
they want to achieve.
• If you dont offer a plan for people to get excited about you cant expect them to give their best
effort.

Quotes 85
 Stats / Comparisions

Long Term Goals - 5 years

- 3 years

Goal - Highly motivated, best prepared, most collectively cohesive best managed team
in the league.

• What is important money or the shirt - plenty of places to pick up money – those who want to
work for the team.
• Players have heard nothing but negatives – Hey fella’s you are this close to being good.
• Chance to tell your kids and grandchildren that one time in your life you were the best! Most
people go through their whole lives and don’t know how it feels – when you do you will have it
for the rest of your lives.

SL to make an effort to talk to people – part of my role – team will play hard every week, we might not win
but no one would ever question our effort.

• Winning stems from commitment – commitment with attitude.

• Battle for the minds of the players and the minds of the fans – no small task doesn’t happen
overnight.
• Plan must be sold – must be a logic to it

What does your Club represent?

What does it mean to wear your Clubs colours and badge?

• Not interested whether it could be done, I simply want to do it !

• Visions, need the team to understand them and become emotionally involved in their pursuit, it
gives us motivation and long term success.
• The ability of a team to rise to the level of star performance is determined by how harmonious the
team is.
• Hopefully I will tune into your sense of values, priorities and goals.
• Give us a shared hope and dream
• You cant inspire people without understanding their perspective of their hopes and dreams
• Knock the nail on the head to drive the point home
• You don’t get instant wins by going on a course – gradual improvement
• Think what the customer wants
• “Come with me” – people come first

By spending time getting peoples ideas a Leader builds trust, respect and commitment

“I am happy because I want nothing from anyone. Titles and distractions mean nothing to me. I do not
give praise. The only thing that gives me pleasure apart from my work is the appreciation of my fellow
workers”. – Albert Einstein

Quotes 86
Ultimate Goal

Remove all barriers, all negative forces to enable total concentration or achieve the Vision.

Chance

• What should we chance now? – Signature signing

• How can we change this teams self image from struggler to winner?
• How can we change the environment?
• What is the personality of this team and which approaches do they respond to best?

Are you in or out?

• Developing home grown talent enhances team building

• Measured by result not dominated by them. See the bigger picture
• Focus on excellence & performance is best way to ensure consistent results and great player
relationships.
• Vision of environment – cater for the players needs and also players feelings, individually and
collectively identified early and brought back to the positive creating r

Give a reason “Why” everyone is going to work hard

• Performance follows attitude

‘If a coach takes advantage of relationship opportunities successfully they will build a motivated and
psychological robust team. The strength of the relationships will surface and the team & coaches will stick
together and are far more likely to see it through to better times.”

• Ensure the dressing room is getting right message

When teams stay the course and hold fast to their philosophy through the good times and the bad they
work from a firm foundation, they gain and identify, they count for something – what is our philosophy?

• Why have you committed to Rugby?

• What is possible and reasonable to achieve?
• Players take ownership of a realistic target
• Stay in the race till the end
• Talk about the journey, the achievements, the possibility of excellence
• Keep the dream going – what is the staff vision?

100 words to describe our team, reduce to 10, reduce to 4, put in a sentence

This is why we go through the agonies………………………to achieve dreams

Challenge change from my agenda to we – our vision

Not only run but take time to ask themselves where they are going and why.

Quotes 87
Get all the players, staff and fans driving in the same direction so they share a common vision of what can
be achieved. Head coaches are often appointed to failing teams, players have lost their reason…….why?
The first step is to establish a vision, this is where we can go and why – vital to remotivating and
recharging energies

Give a man a reason why and he will always find a how!

Ask yourself do you have the desire to achieve the vision?

Building Social Capital

• Win their respect

• Clarify of direction
• Communication / Inspiration – Players believe the message
• Shared Values
• Emotional Stability
• Warmth of personality /
• Caring for the players as people
• Trust
• Honest
• Fairness

To recover from inevitable set backs players and coaches must possess a high degree of mental
toughness – That develops a winning attitude.

Control their minds……………don’t allow thoughts to undermind self center.

Quotes 88
 Coaches Applications of Sport Psychology

Assessment of Players Planning Strategies Match Preparation Performance Management

Performance profiling of players in Team goal setting in order to develop a Importance of individual routines is Pre-match aerobic exercise session to
conjunction with coaches perceptions of strong collective identity and ensure paramount. Psychological role of coach is control physiological arousal and develop
player qualities used as basis for greater clarity of purpose during to ensure that some practices aid a more relaxed state of mind
discussion adverse/off track periods. Overall team individual optimization of performance
goals stem from individual-small group-
whole team discussions
Personal knowledge of players Agreed code of conduct signed as a Discussion of optimal pre-comp routine for Importance of emotional control, body
background and social, life, financial guiding set of principles and values with player is key for the coach to ensure that language, analytical skills in context of
circumstances in facilitating an group empowerment to fine. ideal performance state is achievable poor ref decisions, player error and poor
understanding of player motivation and each match. Coach’s role is also to decision making. Key to delivering well-
responses in competition Noted problems emerge in that discuss plan B’s when normal routine balanced, tactical, confidence building
implementation of penalties usually needs cannot be completed (i.e. what is your message at half time
to conducted by management as players back-up going to be?)
may not be responsible enough to do so.

Young academy players often fail to

police each other, but as they get older
they understand better the value of team
values
Video analysis of training, as opposed to Player has an individual development Players need a specific vision of what Importance of sticking to the game plan
simply games, aids personal development programme covering expectations and they want to achieve; a specific role and whatever situation as well as adaptability
when conducted one to one. development goals agreed pre-season. function; emotionally prepared for to different environmental circumstances.
Debating point: How regular is Reviewed/monitored and re-set at 3 adversity; and a visual plan of how they’ll Debating point: “What if?” scenarios
regular? monthly intervals deal with mistakes and good play. and contingency plans. How
Visualisation exercises are a key method. widespread are these?
Ability to control nerves with a set routine
and focus on priorities; ability to mentally
rehearse pre-planned strategies.

Assessment of Players Planning Strategies Match Preparation Performance Management

Understanding developed through use of Players set specific goals for training and Clear concise plans with a great deal of Home or away: care taken to make the
survival camp, but usually through matches – related to personal physical and mental rehearsal. Role environment familiar; discuss personal
informal discussions between development. One to One assessment clarity, trust in teammates, clear options – goals and issues that have arisen through
coaches/players. takes place in reviewing these goals. plan B; personal discipline and the week; observations made during the
Rely on input from senior players, captain, Psych planning and goals must be accountability are primary behaviours that match; injuries and replacements
assistant coach, physio – the main actors. reviewed regularly; can be can bind a team. considered; Maximum 3 performance
Note down extremes of behaviour in counterproductive if set and then not Debating point: Importance of a indicators to reinforce for the second half
matches revisited leaderless team? All responsible.
Honesty sessions planned into Use of team-building days using physical Use of audio-motivation and motivational
programme where players review exercises/tests of character: Team goals videos as well as invited special guests
Quotes 89
performance/progress; alongside open and mission statements developed for used as methods of assisting player
door policy these ‘trust building’ and ‘teammate motivation, confidence and performance
understanding’ activities.
Verbally questioning players about their Team bonding day for players and one Player involvement in planning strategies Half time routine is to: replenish,
experiences is invaluable, as well as specifically for the families of the players. for different parts of the field. Young rehydrate and recover; 3 minute break; 2
questioning their skills tactically in Goals are set in terms of units, points in players derive greater ownership, and are minute timed speech which is a SWOT
training/game situations and physically in league, mood in camp, honesty. better placed to understand and execute analysis plus 5 key priorities. Emotions
terms of resilience. Debating point: Good example of how from previous 40 mins need to be history,
Also, changing roles – players coach, use of performance and process goals all that matters are opportunities available
backs train as forwards, coach trains as are critical. in the 2nd half.
player.
Observations during training and Separate day for code of conduct Coach needs agreement on strategy from Getting balance right between creating an
matchplay as well as socially during development based on players players, they need to support the coaches under or over aroused environment pre-
interactions with others; important expectation of players, management and vision for the team. The coach needs to game – and sending clear/coherent
feedback from medical staff in relation to management expectation of players. ensure that players know ‘why’ they are message to players during match and at
player’s state of mind and response to Signed code and a loyalty card received doing this as opposed to simply telling half time
physical set-backs/injury. Use of in return. them ‘what’ they are going to do.
imaginary mental toughness scale where Debating point: An important reminder
player is placed along it based on a of commitment how easily is this
variety of criteria. enforced/monitored?
Problems with questionnaires due to
potential for self-serving responses

Assessment of Players Planning Strategies Match Preparation Performance Management

Important to meet with families and Team missions and behavioural/mental Key prep skills to prioritise: kit, Match review is structured: video is edited
partners of players to understand: skill code of conduct enable players to punctuality, knowledge of opponent, for technical analysis, player performance
What motivates, upsets, distresses, focus on the process while mindful of the communication with teammates, is statistically analysed and feedback with
irritates the player; what role they play in outcome. Critical for players to be visualization of unit and team roles individual player reviews a day or so after
helping them reach their goals; outside accountable and set his/her own goals the match. No objectivity can be offered
distractions and player expectations. and standards in the dressing room due to emotions of
result usually clouding the true
performance/process behind each
individual
Discussion with valued observers and Establishing a support team for the player On match day, players are asked to Post-match review: players invited to
significant others is important in getting a and working out who these individuals are control attention and focus on 3 important discuss areas of the game and offer
mental feel for the player is key to assessment and planning. Who skills; visualize these skills performed views. Performance indicator sheet used
is Team You? Ultimately, it is about successfully; develop and employ arousal which aids analysis of player performance
finding the mechanism via which players control techniques – breathing, imagery, against subjective view of their
are comfortable with each other, use of music; physical rehearsal of skills state/preparation for the game
accountable, disciplined and honest in warm-up

Observational assessments based on Army camps pre-season facilitate an Importance of players developing their Post-match review: personal and player
player reactions in certain situations. environment where trust/shared own personal strategies, and ensuring as observations supported by video analysis
Informal, subjective as opposed to formal adeversity allows team planning and goal a coach that this can be facilitated within a and match statistics
Quotes 90
questioning/questionnaires. Training setting for season to be a more successful ‘team’ setting: Visualisation, music,
camps useful for appraising players. exercise highlight confidence video clips.
Debating point: How do coaches find Debating point: Necessitates once
best fit for the team? again that coach has implicit
knowledge of a players pre-match
routine
Players given responsibility for warm-up, Code of conduct imposed by Written key points that they can read in Individual and group reviews conducted:
discussing unit strategies, post match management staff…..but they need to be dressing room prior to game. Practice of verbal, videp, written points. A4 sheet
analysis. Differing environments and regularly reinforced, reviewed and specific skills before game Debating about why we won – GOOD and why we
tasks to see how players cope evaluated or else the process falters by point: How do coaches provide lost – plus pull out positives and achieved
the middle of season (and particularly I environment for confidence banking objectives (which we completed
would imagine if this is during a poor just before game? regardless of result). CRITICAL –
run of form?) WHOLE GOAL
SETTING/MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IS
MEANINGLESS IF THIS CANNOT BE
CONDUCTED MATCH BY MATCH
Quarterly review with each player using Team systems developed which are
SPsych, including psych behaviour of a flexible. Specific team goals set for
player – encouraged to use a variety of season, broken down into smaller goals
techniques offered – goal setting etc. that are monitored and evaluated. Unit
Outcomes discussed in review. goals set for matches; players agree code
Interim weekly meetings and constant of conduct for training matches – bring
contact with each player one to one collective security; easy to forget unless
important – all relevant issues discussed consistently referred to. Time for
individual planning/development is limited
but it is important. Sport psych work
successful (esp with backs) after initial
sceptism.
Areas of Interest Areas of Interest Areas of Interest Areas of Interest
Further methods of assessment and Emphasis on goal setting for training Role of mental conditioning in a standard Discussion of match day psych being a
analysis including: team specific sessions and monitoring player competition week. Limited work is case of responses and reactions to self
assessments; identifying individual player developments in training/practice. followed through ‘in season’ as opposed and others. Personal stories to offer
traits in order to respond to individual in Debating point: Reinforces issue of to the emphasis placed on mental training
specific manner practice is rehearsal as well as useful pre-season
mental training for enhancing self-
confidence

Learning styles; psychological differences Player planning at individual level is often Pre-match team talk – to debate what the Post-match: when is the right time to give
between successful and less neglected. Sport psych only involved essential formula is for giving direction praise and build confidence, vs be critical
successful/young players when player perceived to be off the rails and focus for the team. Is it a time to be and air views of dissatisfaction without
technical or a time to be passionate damaging a players confidence. Post-
Quotes 91
 match review sheets: what are the most
useful systems? When should analysis
take place, before building up to next
game?
Mental toughness/skills can they be Mental toughness: What is it? The ‘tick-box’ nature of goal setting where Communication is key: how do you
assessed via a questionnaire? achievement/success is governed by a encourage quiet players to speak up to a
restricted number of achieved goals which required level
may not paint a true picture of reality
Transition from academy to 1st team Do we prepare pre-match as one team or Half-time team talks - overload or
falters usually on mental strength. Can can we prepare as individuals. Should minimalist? When is the best time for a
this be predicted? there be consistency in prep routines pre- team talk – home, away – coach or player
match, or should we keep things fresh? driven?
How much physical and mental down time
is appropriate pre-match? What times to
do this?
How do you motivate a team when the What is the purpose of a team unit How do we deal with a players loss of
stimulus is not there? Complacency = meeting? How long before kick off should focus, self-doubt, reacting to/affected by
lack of attention to detail they take place? How much info will stick physical intimidation, reverting back to
on match day? type?
Never enforced a diary system for players More information on attentional and More info on assessment of individual
but would like to explore this. The best arousal control techniques. Which performance objectively without
way motivate and monitor players - in a strategies work best for diff personality undermining confidence
structured fashion but specific to their types? How do you maximize self-belief
needs pre-match and control physical anxiety
levels
How to get players to buy into mental prep Dealing with losing as a coach….when to
strategies? How to deal with ego’s? How say something; being honest yet positive
to get them to be honest about with feedback to players; controlling
weaknesses – and deliver important myself – desire to unload emotions
constructive info without upsetting the without thinking clearly/constructively. No
player clear system
How to avoid transmitting your own stress Debating reaction of players to being
to players substituted; and when things don’t go to
plan on the field
Home and away mental preparation: what
advice on differences in strategies

Quotes 92
Vision Transmission
Why have a vision?

You need a vision that engages the heart as well as the mind

If you don’t have a plan for people to get excited about how can you expect them to give their best effort

Give a reason “why” everyone is working hard

Tune into the sense of values priorities and goals to give us shared hopes and dreams

You cannot inspire people without having a perspective of their hopes and dreams

I want to change the agenda from “my vision” to “our vision”

I want people not only to run but to ask themselves where they are running and why.

“if the coach takes advantage of relationship opportunities successfully then he builds a motivates and psychologically
robust team. When a team struggles the strength of the relationships will surface and the team and coaches will stick
together and see it through to winning times”

This is why we go through the agonies…… to achieve dreams

When teams stay the course and hold fast to their philosophies through the good times and the bad they work from a firm
foundation, they gain an identity, they count for something…. What (fans) is our philosophy?

Get all the players, staff and fans driving in the same direction so they share a common vision of what can be achieved.
Head coaches are often appointed to failing teams where players have lost their reason why. The first step is to establish a
vision, this is where we can go and why – this is vital to remotivating and recharging energies.

Give man a reason why and he will always find a how.

How do you create one?

By spending time getting peoples ideas a leader builds trust, respect and commitment

What kind of rugby do I believe in?

What will characterise my teams play?
What is the right approach for the team as it is now?

We have had to battle for the minds of the players and the minds of the fans…. It doesn’t happen overnight

The plan must be sold ….. there must be a logic to it

Visions need the teams to understand them and become emotionally involved in their pursuit… it gives us motivation and
long term success

Quotes 93
How do we change the culture?

What should we change now?

How can we change the teams image from struggler to winner

How can we change the environment

What is the personality of the team

What does your club represent

Control the players minds - do not allow thoughts to undermine self control

Ensure the dressing room is getting the right message

What is possible and reasonable to achieve?

Talk about the journey, the achievements, the possibility of excellence

Keep the dream going

Who needs to be in?

Players need to believe that winning is as important to the front office as it is to the guys on the field

Goal – the most highly motivated, best coached and socially cohesive team in the league

To give people the opportunity to tell yours kids and grandchildren one time in your life you were the best. Most people go
through their whole lives and not know how it feels. When you do you will have it for the rest of your life.

I am happy because I want nothing from anyone. Decorations titles or distinctions mean nothing to me. I do not crave
praise the only thing that gives me pleasure apart from my work is the appreciation of my fellow workers – Albert Einstein

Quotes 94
Ultimate goal is to remove all barriers and negative forces to enable total concentration on the achievable vision

Developing home grown talent enhances teambuilding

Winning stems from commitment commitment stems from attitude

To rise to a level of a star performance is determined by how harmonious the team is

Are you in?

Are you in or out – American Football story

Ask yourself do you have the desire to achieve the vision

Loyal fans who stayed - similar to the players that stayed … you have a chance feel part of it and build the team

Not interested in whether it can be done I just want to do it

PLAYERS MUST STAY MENTALLY TOUGH DURING THE HARD TIMES, SAYS
SPORTS PSYCHOLOGIST.
For Wales to therefore triumph against France and win the Grand Slam for the second time in four years, it is important
that each player is comfortable with – and believes in – their directed roles within the dynamics of the team. Then, to
maintain a cohesive and effective unit, Ryan Jones and his players must continue to focus on these specific tasks during
the actual performance even when they hit the “hard times”.

Without doubt there will be instances when the players will lose concentration due to the pressure and emotions
experienced within the intense atmosphere of this important match. At this point, it is imperative that they stay robustly
confident in themselves and their match plan, as this will help them to be aware of any misdirected attention.

At Uwic, we work with coaches to make sure that the roles directed are understood and then accepted by the performer as
beneficial for the team. Once achieved, this belief will assist the performer to become aware of what not to focus on so
that when irrelevant thoughts are present and subsequent concentration is affected, such conditions are used as a trigger
to focus once more on the correct aspects of performance.

Today, it will be the team that has the ability to effectively concentrate throughout the entire match that will come out on
top. (A powerful ally for Wales will be the confidence they have gained through reflection of their experiences in the
previous four matches.) Specifically, how they have had the mental toughness to maintain focus during the “hard times”.

NZ RUGBY COACHING
As Coaches, you can’t change the world, but you can do your piece to encourage character, self-reliance and leadership in
the players that we coach. I am reminded of the old story about the little boy walking along the beach where there were
tens of thousands of starfish washed up and dying. When a man saw the little boy throwing them back into the sea one by
one, he told the boy he was wasting his time, that he wasn’t making any difference. The little boy replied “I made a
difference to that one, I made a difference to this one”, and as coaches, you can make a difference with your players.

Questioning, like anything else, is an acquired skill. Coaches will find that the more questioning they do, the better coach
they become. The following are useful tips to enhance your “querying”.
Quotes 95
Firstly, ensure that you plan your questions. When you know what skill or move you will be coaching, plan questions that
will assist athletes to learn the skill / move. If necessary write them down.

• Make sure that you leave your athletes sufficient time to answer questions. Don’t be tempted to rush in with the
answer (i.e. augmented feedback) when there is a gap between when you ask the question and when the athlete
answers it.
• If athletes seem unaware of what they have done, or why they have done it, probe with more questions that will
lead them to discovering the answers for themselves.

THE WISE WORDS OF RUDYARD

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies, or being hated, don’t give way to
hating, and yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

I you can dream – and not make dreams your master;

If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken twisted b y knaves to make a trap for fools, or watch the things you
gave your life to broken, and stoop and build em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, and lose, and start
again at your beginnings and never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on
when there is nothing in you except the will which h says to the: “Hold on”.

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends, can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run – yours is the earth and everything
That’s in it, and – which is more – you’ll be a man my son!

Stick to your standards – don’t be dragged down by others who have lower standards than you. There will be times when
it will be tempting to do so, but don’t give in to temptation. If you are a leader, you lead by what you do and what you don’t
do, what you say and what you don’t say. You cant “not lead”. Remember that leaders must get used to being happy with
being respected by their peers rather than worrying about being liked all the time. There will be time when your peers may
be hacked off with you if you front them about their poor standards. Don’t worry about it. Do the right thing and you’ll rest
easy in bed at night. If you don’t, you must learn to.

Think the right thoughts, because these thoughts will guide your actions. You will be judged by your actions (not your
intentions), so think the right things, do the right things and form a habit of doing both.

Judge your results by how well you perform, not whether you win or lose (at the risk of stating the obvious!). Yeah, I know,
the higher up you go the more you’re judged on winning or losing. But if you get the performance right, the winning will
look after itself. Don’t celebrate too spectacularly when you win and don’t sulk for a week when you lose.

Don’t worry about what people who you don’t respect say about you behind your back or to your face. Judge your self-
esteem by how you think about yourself, not how others think of you. Listen carefully to criticism from people whose
integrity you respect and whose knowledge you respect. Let the rest be like water off a duck’s back. Learn to control the
controllables.
Quotes 96
Learn to bounce back from mistakes and disappointments. Be strong, learn from your errors and take up the challenge.
Don’t keep making the same mistakes. Be sure to be self-analytical after your wins also. Fix things up that need fixing and
prioritise the most important things. As Alan Martin of L>V> Martin’s always said “It’s the putting right that counts.”

Be mentally though. Never give up until the final whistle. Understand why you are coaching or playing and know where
your “wellspring of desire” resides within you so you can call on it when times get tough. And trust me, times will get tough
if you take on big challenges.

STEPHEN COVEY’S SEVEN HABITS

Lack of self-reliance, initiative, mental toughness and decision – making under pressure that seems to be evident in many
of our elite players. Many of these elite youngsters don’t have access to the experiences that players had in the past that
helped to build and nurture these qualities.

Habit 7 is the habit of Renewal, crating an upward spiral of growth. Covey calls this “Sharpening the saw”, on the basis
that if you are going to cut down a large tree, you must stop once in a while to sharpen your saw, otherwise you will get
nowhere fast and just wear out your saw and your arms while the tree stays standing. Just as we must look after the
goose that lays the golden eggs (otherwise there will be few or no eggs produced), so we must look after ourselves in
mind, body, heart and spirit if we are to produce the best of which we are capable. A person who eats poorly and does not
exercise, who fails to deal with stress in their lives and who fosters toxic relationships with others is unlikely to produce
their best and reach their potential.

The Seven Habits is a principle-centered paradigm. Principles are guidelines for human conduct that are proven to have
enduring, permanent value – they are fundamental. Covey believes that all great people, teams and companies are
founded on human character, character that is based in strong values and unchanging principles. He talks of finding your
own “True North” – the values that guide you.
By Dave Hadfield

Quotes 97