Time to be honest about this whole Leadership concept in high performance sport – it is not working.
And why?
It’s not working because of the Accountability Myth: The Accountability Myth is the reason why the current Leadership models in High Performance Sport are failing (badly).
Typically the end of season means a well earned rest, a few quiet drinks with team mates, some time with family and then… the end of season review.
Every team does some kind of season reflection or review – in most cases motivated by one or more “P” – Performance, Politics, Pressure.
By far the most effective review is one that is deliberately and strategically placed in the team’s “performance cycle” each year and is embraced by coaches, players, staff, Management and Board as being an important and positive aspect of progressive performance from season to season.
Here’s a typical football Club scenario. Pick a club – any club – any code – it doesn’t matter.
The team loses a few games, has a couple of bad seasons and the decision is made to sack the head coach.
In fact, Legend AFL Coach David Parkin once said, “There are two types of head coaches. Ones who have been sacked and ones who will be sacked”.
So the club sacks the coach, goes through a search process, finds someone else to be head coach and prepares for the next season.
Next season the team loses a few games, has a bad season and surprise surprise – the Club starts looking for another head coach.
Some Clubs have recruited and sacked several coaches over the past ten years and have not had a change in their on field performance.
Many of these same Clubs have had the same Board, CEO and management team in place throughout that same ten years.
So what they are saying is, “we are doing everything right, we have all we need to win a title, we have a great culture and leadership – all we need is a great head coach and we will be back on track”.
Is it just me or is this a really silly way to run a business?
The Coaching Team.
Gone are the days of the “GURU” coaches.
Sure, the great names of coaching have all been “one man bands” – strong, decisive, authoritarian, leadership focused head coaches who controlled every aspect of the team’s performance.
However, elite sport has developed at an incredible rate over the past twenty years and the knowledge and skills required to win an elite sporting competition are greater than any one person can bring to the table.
Think of the advances in sports science, sports medicine, analysis, IT, nutrition, psychology and technology since the 1980s.
How can we expect that any one person can be THE expert in all performance areas plus coach the team, deal with the media, work with Club Board and Executive, recruit new players, talk to sponsors, meet the fans etc etc etc?
So – the Coaching Team and Performance Team concepts are born.
Here’s how it goes.
Your club has had another poor season.
People looking for answers come up with a lot of ideas on how to improve next year.
The management team determine that what the Club needs is a new high performance facility: new stadium, new meeting rooms, new computer lab, new medical facilities, a new gym and of course the obligatory new recovery facility.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.
This is the Facility Fallacy.
Positive Drug Tests in sport.
What sort of idiot trains hard for months or even years then:
That’s just it: they are idiots. Well most of them are anyway. Some are misguided. Some are lazy. Some just made a genuine mistake.
Positive Drug Tests in Sport: 6 Types of Drug Cheats and How to Recognise them.
Message to the Sports Science community – are you kidding?
Altitude training?
I thought the old approach to altitude training was done and dusted but to my amazement, nations continue to invest in one of the most questionable sports performance “enhancement” methodologies in the business.
You can’t be serious!
I am getting so sick of people talking about high performance environments, about following a process, about systems, about structures, about programs, about initiatives, about workshops and about strategies.
The name of the game is Winning – oops – there I said it.
Winning. Winning. Winning. There, I said it again.
That felt great. I’ll say it some more. Winning. Winning. Winning. Winning.
That felt so good I’ll do it again. Winning!! Winning!!!! Winning!!!!!
The W Word: Winning.
Many coaches will say they want to be successful.
No they don’t. Not really.
They want to be successful again and again and again and again and again. They want to Sustain success and Always have a competitive program, winning athletes and quality players.
So how do you it?
How do you Sustain Competitiveness And Sustain Success?
Having visited more than 30 countries in four continents in the past few years and spent time with sports leaders, coaches, athletes, sponsors, sports scientists, sports academics, sports medicine practitioners, sports administrators, government funding agencies and other sports professionals in many of the world’s leading sports systems,five world wide trends in society
(and by extension in sport) have become very clear and are screaming so loud that they can no longer be ignored.
Ignore them at your peril.
(Cesare Pavese)
Do you remember the moment when you were a teenager and Dad or Mom told you to “save money and think about your future”?
You didn’t listen did you.
And remember the moment when you were 18 and some relative told you to “work hard and make something of yourself”?
Ignored them didn’t you.
Life is full of these moments when people, with all good intentions, give you some advice which they think will inspire you to change your life and become all you can be.
And how many times have you told an athlete “make the most of every training session and make the most of your opportunities”?
And they didn’t listen.
So, what makes people listen to the right advice? How do you engage and inspire the hearts and minds of athletes and have them grasp every session, every minute, every moment as if it was their last?
The Magic Moment: When a Coach makes a Difference.
Leadership?
Lots of people talk about where leadership in sport is now.
But where did our current thinking on leadership come from? How did leadership in professional sport evolve?
And more importantly, where is leadership in professional sport going?
