We have all been in some form of team that has really functioned, a team with true cohesion that has all the necessary ingredients to be truly intra-active; where the right things happen without a word being spoken, almost as if you are reading each others’ minds. The sad thing is these teams rarely come along and their longevity is limited as the individual team member’s circumstances change, so the magic chemistry that created the team alters and fades. Now compare that experience to that of the English Football team in the 2010 World Cup, great in terms of its individual components potential but found wanting when it came to competition.  Two English teams that have achieved international success are Clive Woodward’s Rugby World Cup winners and Grant Flower’s Twenty20 Cricket World Cup winners. Both teams had similar qualities and it is these qualities and their relevance to success that are worth exploring further if we are to identify the ingredients of successful teamwork.

Leadership was key to both these teams success with the strategic leadership, the shaping of the environment to create success, coming from Grant Flower and Clive Woodward. They created the strategic conditions but both were supported superbly on the field by the strong tactical leadership of Martin Johnson and Paul Collingwood.

What Clive Woodward and Grant Flower were able to develop was a real Vision for both their teams that was sold to and bought into by every team member in each of the squads. Their vision became omnipotent and their vision became reality as the teams belief grew. Their vision became the team’s vision. Working like a motivational magnet it pulled the players to greater heights of self belief as individuals and as individuals their shared belief and team ethos made for a stronger more cohesive team; much stronger than the sum of the parts as ethos, beliefs and attitudes are contagious and empowering.

Once a vision becomes reality in the mind of those striving for it, it is all the smaller supporting aspects working in unison in the background that support the team to greater achievement the momentum is all consuming.  Preparation of all aspects is key to shaping the future, so developing the team’s confidence, inherent flexibility and indefatigable spirit. This remarkable cohesion is created through empathy and understanding of each team members needs and the whole team’s requirements. From medical preparation to physical preparation and probably most importantly the psychological preparation, which is the oxygen of great performance all are considered, delivered and all contingencies prepared for during the preparation phase. Look at the Italian coach’s reaction to Italy’s (The World Cup holders) exit in South Africa. Marcello Lippi stated “I take all responsibility for what happened. Because if a team shows up at such an important game with terror in their head, heart and legs and if the team is unable to express its abilities it means the coach didn’t train that team as he should have done, psychologically, technically or tactically.”

Now let’s look at the German experience at the World Cup. A spirit of positivity is engendered by blending some of the innocence and naivety of youth with the wily know how and maturity of the experienced players. This positivity enhances self belief and delivers a constant positive attitude that refuses to recognise defeat and fosters continual improvement. The German coach Joachim Loew talks of the “lightness” of youth which courses through his team and when they play – they so clearly enjoy it.

A team is made up of people and it is important to have the right people in the right seats- Johnny Wilkinson great kicker attacking runner and great tackler at fly half and Craig Keiswetter hard hitting opener and able but not brilliant wicket keeper. Both allow options in other areas of the team both were the right players in the right seats. But a team needs more: someone with a sense of humour and a wicked wit such as Matt Dawson and Graeme Swann, people who communicate well like Lawrence Dallaglio and Matt Prior who support the captain and his message. |The team needs its quiet warriors who lead by example on the field showing the courage and grit of Richard Hill, and Eoin Morgan who do their business superbly.

And then and only then there is the superstar the Kevin Pietersen or the Johnny  Wilkinson. But these superstars have been nurtured and developed within a team they are not hungry for the next contract and further individual accolades, they are not so overpaid that they are disinterested, they are as hungry for team success. They share in that success and consider themselves part of the winning formula and not the sole architects of it. They put team success ahead of personal reward and status.

Team Cohesion and understanding is critical to the bonding experience which leads to the interdependence that a great team has is spades; it is developed away from the ipod and other individual entertainment technologies, it is developed through mutual experience and understanding which can be fostered and which, in both Rugby and Cricket, is honed on long tours away from home. It is interesting to compare the frequency and length of Rugby Union and Cricket tours with Football and Rugby League tours and the comparative success internationally.

The old adage that there is no I in team but there is a me holds true and it is the ability to put the right blend of characters in a team that is essential to success those who add extra curricular value on top of their sporting prowess whether it be through their leadership, communication, sense of humour or an outstanding work ethic. Those that fit into a team ethos and further empower the team through their presence are essential. The team needs leaders throughout it to supply strategy and vision at the top and to supply guidance and tactics at the bottom people who stand up when the going gets tough, people who have pride in their team, people who have passion in their performance people who hate losing, people who care. Creating a sensational team is far more difficult than just picking the best individual players and that is why we often have far better prospects in international competition on paper than we ever do in reality.

I wonder if a team from the Championship would have played in such a lack lustre way in South Africa?

Leadership is inherently about taking risk, risks with people and risks with situations. It is the ability to judge when risk has to be taken and mitigating that risk whilst understanding how much risk needs to be taken that truly marks out a good leader. Humans are naturally risk averse, their instincts are designed to protect them and therefore they like to live within their comfort zone. And yet if we were all to live within our comfort zone mankind would not be progressing and pushing at the natural and technological boundaries in the way that we are. Let us look at the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The ability to drill in that depth of the ocean was a risk but a risk worth taking, however to do it with a paucity of planning for contingencies should an accident happen and the lack of the necessary  safety measures to prevent an ecological disaster was not. Leaders will always serve several masters in their decision making and leaders need to remember the moral component of risk taking in all their deliberations.

Continuous improvement and development are all about risk management. As to progress an organisation has to learn and to learn there has to be experimentation and with experimentation comes failure. Climbing a ladder involves a risk and we naturally mitigate it. For it is ‘laddership’ that is so important in leadership and the true understanding of risk. One step at a time the more competent the more confident and yet that confidence should never be allowed to become over confidence. ‘Laddership’ is about rungs and levels and risk can be viewed this way.

Humans naturally remain in their Comfort Zone Bubbles if they believe they are going to be criticised for experimentation and yet it is experimentation that leads evolution in whatever sphere. A blame free culture where experimentation is encouraged is where true development will happen. This normally happens when an organisation is in the doldrums or has hit rock bottom as it is often only then that leaders are happy to take the necessary risks for experimentation as they have nothing to lose.  Hence the cycle of moving from prominence to the also rans always repeats itself unless leaders are prepared to take risks and empower their people.  Look at the rise and fall of an empire it starts with a drive a hunger that empowers risk and ends as its exponents clutch the comforts they have made their masters and are so frightened of losing.

To empower people the overarching philosophy in any organisation has to be a positive one. How do humans best learn through positive encouragement or negative criticism? Positivity and praise are key elements that underpin a risk culture as they prevent the blame being passed and hence people avoiding risk. Key is to ensure that responsibility is delegated downwards whilst accountability remains at the highest level.

Risk must be taken consciously and hence an organisation and its leaders need to be aware of the risk they are taking. This requires good communication practices and a clear understanding on expectation and boundaries for it is only with these in place that true informed empowerment can happen. If the box where freedom of action is understood the liberation is total inside the box and communication expected when venturing outside the box. If expectations and boundaries are not understood then inevitably restrictions are self generated and limit the empowerment particularly when a blame culture is dominant.

Unfortunately even with the best will in the world mistakes will happen and they will happen with no malice of forethought or wicked intent. They will happen because we as members of the human race are fallible. The Human factor must always be considered in contingency planning and the human factor must always be taken into account when reviewing a failed action or procedure. Mistakes will happen it is the speed of recovery that ensures they are not fatal. No one sets out to do a bad job, most humans thrive in a positive culture. As long as mistakes are learned from then they must be seen in a positive light as part of the learning. As failure is essential to success then the risk of failure or mistakes must be planned for if a non-blame culture is to hold prominence within an organisation.

A blame culture exists if an organisation or individual focuses on the problem and not on the solution. Yet the solution is the home of the required development. Hence risk has to be part of development and blame has to be banished to the background if the drive for success is to dominate the fear of failure

Turning good ideas into action in this modern world is extremely difficult and often does not happen. How many times have you reflected on something and wished you had done what you had thought you might do at the time. How many times have you done nothing about an idea which then makes someone else rich and famous? But what is it that causes that performance gap between thought and action?

The human race is naturally reserved and averse to change hence when it comes to new ideas we are often pessimistic; the media ensures we are constantly bombarded with bad news and we are not encouraged by bureaucracy and regulations not to take risk. Some of us in our soft and comfortable society are not even able to recognise true failure and therefore unable to sustain a risky venture for the required gestation period. The motivation to succeed is crucial to closing the performance gap and it has to be dominant over the fear of failure. Positive thinking creates positive outcomes.

Yet failure always precedes success think about the UK’s great inventors Thomas Edison, George Stephenson, Alexander Graham Bell, James Watt, and James Dyson. The industrial revolution would never have happened without a positive ethos and attitude no spinning jenny, no steam engine and no railway.  Failing has to be seen as a positive factor rather than a sign of weakness and incompetence and the domain of lesser beings. Failure has to be accepted if not encouraged as long as the necessary lessons are drawn from it. Expecting and exploiting failure is key to success and closing the performance gap.

The speed of life is a critical factor, nowadays with modern communications, and productivity expectations. Time is precious and without rituals and discipline many ideas quickly fade into the past and disappear until they are reflected upon. The ability to turn thought into action by planning and “operationalising” an idea is key to closing the gap and that requires great personal discipline.

Leadership, employee empowerment and creating a non blame culture are vital in enabling an organisation to liberate itself from fear. Bosses have to free up and encourage their people to explore, learn and evolve, to fail and then to succeed. All too often in the modern world bosses shy away from failure hence they shy away from progress and in doing that they inevitably allow their competitors advantage. Change is a natural phenomenon and it has existed throughout evolution it is only the pace of it that has increased and it is that pace that has enlarged the performance gap.

Individuals need to develop self leadership to prevent a performance gap appearing in their own lives. They need to develop disciplines in time management, rituals that make behaviour consistent and thorough whilst leveraging time for strategic contemplation and most of all the required relaxation. Clear vision does not occur in a cluttered mind and clear vision offers the chance to exploit opportunity.

Just how many ideas are lost through a lack of energy or discipline, a lack of leadership and empowerment, a fear of failure and a desire to maintain the safety blanket of the status quo? Whatever it is it change is evolution and evolution is here to stay it is just the speed of it that makes the gap more evident. However where possible it is a gap worth closing and we need to “mind the gap”.