7 Coaching Lessons from the World of Sport: #2

#2 Make everyone feel part of the same team. No cliques, no favourites, no inner circles.

Are there cliques in your team? Are you guilty of favouritism?

The picture here is of the Colombian 2014 World Cup team, who demonstrated, for me, one of the clearest examples of a team coming together to achieve together.

A clear star here was James Rodriguez who won the Golden Boot this year; yet the culture in the Colombian team wasn’t that of stars and egos.

When James scored against Nigeria and ran to the corner to celebrate, he waited for his team mates to come and dance with him. Furthermore, on looking up to the bench and seeing the substitutes celebrating, they all ran down the touchline to form an even bigger dance troop – shown in the picture here.

When James scored his second goal against Uruguay thanks to a fantastic flick header from Cuadrado, he didn’t run to celebrate and take the glory. He acknowledged that it was more about the set up than his finish, and if you watch the footage of James after the goal, you see him point quite specifically at his teammate, seemingly suggesting it was as much Cuadrado’s goal as Rodriguez’s.

This lesson also makes me think about another favourite sporting event, the Ryder Cup. I mention this specifically here as I remember a conversation I had with my dad when I was very young about the European and US teams. I remember my dad talking about the 13th man, which at the time I didn’t really understand as there are only 12 players on a Ryder Cup team. He explained to me that on the US tour, players don’t mix, they are individuals, focused on the tournament and the round they have to play that day – I distinctly remember him saying ‘Al, they won’t even have breakfast with one another if they’re in the same hotel’. In contrast, on the European tour, players got on well, joked together on the course, and, well, probably ate breakfast together.

The US players are strong, outstanding individuals. When it comes to the Ryder Cup though, in recent times they have struggled when playing as a team – the European team coming together far more naturally, as one group, and so as a result, they had the benefit of the 13th man. The team itself.

So let’s think about your teams. We all know there are ‘stars’ or ‘hi-pos’ as they called in the corporate world. Does the star team member get cut a break? How do we level out the team to maximise the strength of everyone?

Also, we know, not everyone is going to be the first batsman, nor your top striker. But we will always struggle without a strong middle order, without someone to set up that striker. I remember Usain Bolt’s anchor leg in the recent Commonwealth Games – I have to admit I don’t remember who ran the 2nd leg. I have no doubt however that the Jamaican relay team coach knew the ins and outs of his 2nd leg athlete just as well as his anchor leg.

Do you know your middle order well? Do you spend time with them as well as your strongest and weakest? The middle 70% are often going to be the ones perhaps low in confidence because they’re well aware they don’t have the sparkle of the hi-potentials, or under supported because they don’t cause you the problems of your weaker team members.

How are we involving everyone and forming that team mentality? Do you stop the egos from taking over, including your own? Interesting to think about whether this is something that happens naturally for you as a leader, or if it’s something that you actively have to make happen. Either way, I think we all see the benefits that can be reaped.

As a closing point, James Rodriguez has been signed to Real Madrid after the World Cup. Will he come back to the Colombian team with the same all-inclusive mentality in 2018? In my opinion, this will depends heavily on how he is treated by the coach.