Pub Retailing Consultancy

"Service with Attitude and Style"

Leadership Development

Boardroom to Dressing Room Leadership Skills. Losing the dressing room

The Signs

The most difficult times for a manager are usually during the early months of a reign where authority needs to be stamped and respect gained. Training must be bright, disciplined and enjoyable during this crucial period. Players must know immediately that you are not to be messed with. If players step out of line, both on or off the pitch, they must know it won’t be tolerated. This is where the respect is gained and trusts formed which can become a spirit, which when harnessed, is worth more than any million pound signing.

But it also has to be understood that players, (like fans) are very fickle, and the absolute key to all of your ideas and to maintaining that spirit, is results. When things aren’t going well on the pitch players will turn on you like a pack of wolves, desperately seeking their opportunity to drag you down, and ultimately get rid of what they perceive to be the problem. Footballers aren’t always the best at looking in the mirror.

There are tell tale signs – training standards drop, players start being late, coaching methods get questioned and tactics are rubbished. On the pitch the discipline is the first thing to dip; players give away needless, petty free kicks, kicking the ball away and berating referees. Arguing among themselves becomes commonplace, body language, flailing arms and blaming team mates for their own failings coupled with a general lack of respect for anything to do with the club, all negatively impact on an already difficult situation of losing games. Worst of all, in this civil war, is the player revolt, which is normally fatal, where they confide in their “friends” among the club hierarchy. At this point there is usually only one winner, well you can’t sack 15 players can you?

The Symptoms

There is no doubt though, the manager can help himself avoid many of these doomsday scenarios. As always, winning games is the key. In my opinion it is imperative you play your best players in the crucial games. It would be folly to give players an opportunity to look around the dressing room and think “this guy hasn’t got a clue” by leaving out your best players. Training should be disciplined but enjoyable. Tactics and team shape should be simple, i’ve seen many managers try to be clever with team formations and end up with a team who are looking around at each other on the pitch looking for direction. Left footers on the right, right footers on the left, right backs at left back, midfielders up front all give the players an excuse (rightly in my opinion) to question tactics and ultimately leadership. If that happens, a lot of the mutual respect has already gone and the damage to the relationship is almost irreparable. There must also be a visible passion and enthusiasm. If YOU don’t look like you care, how can you expect your players to show they are caring and giving you THEIR all?

m.h Coaching & Leadership

"Showing up" in every part of your life.

Some people intrinsically have the ability to show up; it’s inborn in them. And some people have to grow it, nurture it, practice it their whole lives — work at it every day.

The people who already have it, their life’s work is to keep stepping in bigger and bigger, staying on their edge to create more impact. These people need to work at keeping themselves sharp, growing, and accountable, while helping others to do so as well. Their job is to lead, teach, and pay it forward.

The people who are learning how to show up, and maybe even struggling with it, their job is to just do it, to surround themselves with the right people, and to focus on the bigger vision for impact for what they want to create and make to help them move through it.

No matter where you are, I believe your job is to continue working on it, showing up bigger and bigger, using your super powers for good, and expanding your range for leadership and joy in your life.

Showing up might mean that you do all you can to lead your life. You take really good care of yourself. You consider at all times whether you’re contributing to things going better or worse in situations—especially the ones you can’t control.

It might mean that you take risks, swing out, fall on your face, and all the while practice self-love and compassion.

It might mean you show your vulnerability as a leader and ask for help

The Five Components of Showing Up (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)

Let’s break down Showing Up. You know what it is. You have your own version of it, whether you are aware of it or not. But how does it really break down?

Showing Up breaks into five main components: intention, energy, presence, action and skills, and impact.

Creating leadership that thrives (and therefore a culture that thrives) requires that you “Show Up” first. The five components of showing up and creating impact all work together. Enter at any point. For best results, start with “Intention” as it fortifies and accelerates every single component.

·        Intention is what you want to have happen, a desire. It’s what you plan to achieve, a determination. You have to own that intention and be clear on it. It’s also about the intention and regard you have for another human being. How do you see this person? What do you believe is possible for him or her? Do you see this person as another human being? It serves big time to own this intention and be clear on this as well.

·        Energy is how you take care of yourself as well as what you bring to the table. It’s how you set yourself up to be the most thriving, sustainable, powerful instrument of change possible. You have tremendous control here. People often underestimate their power in this component of showing up—this is low-hanging fruit!

·        Presence is how you show up, how people experience you, how present you are to your life right now and to the person in front of you. It’s right here, right now, in this moment. Presence also includes the more traditional forms of presence like stage presence, appearance, charisma, physical presence, and leadership and executive presence.

·        Action and skills are what ensures that you move forward and accomplish your goals. These allow you to show up and create positive impact and pleasure in your life. Action is where you make things real. Your skills and action are always being impacted by your intentions, energy, and presence. In fact, your presence often speaks louder than your actions or words (but you know that already).

·        Impact is what you make happen. It’s what happens overall as a result of applying great intention, energy, presence, actions, and skills to what you wanted to create in the first place. We’re always having an impact — good, bad, ugly, pretty, negative, positive, ineffective, rockin’. Impact, done extra well, starts with an intention. It’s a cycle.

The better you do these five things, the stronger your leadership presence and the more effective your impact.