One of our best known sports leaders, the 2003 World Cup winning Head coach of England’s rugby team, Sir Clive Woodward, shared his experience of transferring leadership methods between sport and business with an audience of the region’s entrepreneurial leaders at the Hilton, Gateshead 20th April 2010.It was the second time that the Entrepreneurs’ Forum’s have invited Sir Clive to the region and comes at a time when opinion suggests that entrepreneurs will play a key role in leading the region out of the tough economic climate of the last 18 months.
Sir Clive kicked off by emphasising that talent alone is not enough and that a thirst for knowledge is essential in maximising the potential of any individual or team; something that will have reassured the 160 delegates, Entrepreneurs’ Forum members and guests who were primed and ready to learn as much as possible to take back for the benefit of their businesses.
Sir Clive’s coaching style is based on experience from the business world, from being an international player and learning to coach with hands on experience once retired from his playing career. As such, many of his coaching methods were new to rugby and he created an environment where change thinking and thinking differently became the norm.
He was the first full time England rugby coach of the professional era and he developed his ideas based on 9 years in the corporate world with Xerox and, perhaps more crucially, 9 years running his own IT leasing company alongside his sporting career.
It was this practical experience developed from different fields that has shaped his approach to sportsleadership. He is currently the Olympic Performance Director for the British Olympic Association., working alongside other key stakeholders in British sport all aimed at delivering a successful outcome for as many sports and athletes as possible for the London 2012 games.
When he first took on the England role his focus was on building the capability of the team, but alongside the team development he also realised that to be a world-class team it needed to be comprised of world-class individuals.
‘In business we can sometimes lose sight of the individuals developmental needs by concentrating on team all the time’ .
The focus became the need to work with each player, benchmarking them against the best in the world in their position, breaking down and studying the elements of their game that could be improved.
‘This is no different to any small business or organisation; I believe that we need to have champions in every role in a business in order for it to really achieve its maximum potential, not just at the top.’
Sir Clive harnessed the talent of people and experience from outside the world of rugby introducing the team to high achieving individuals from the world of sport and business, developing the latest IT technology for detailed analysis and taking them to work with other teams such as the Royal Marines.
Their time with the Royal Marines gave them a real insight into how to handle pressure, but more importantly thinking correctly under pressure or T-CUP as Sir Clive refers to it.
‘There’s no way that the Royal Marines can recreate every potential scenario that they’ll encounter so they spend a lot of their time in planning, working through situations and determining how they will respond. It’s an essential part of their training because if they make the wrong decision in it could be life or death.
'For the England team it was the difference between winning or losing but we took their approach back into our environment and developed this kind of thinking to be better prepared for any situation that could confront us ,on and off the field of play. Everyone in the team got used to making decisions under pressure, the players and coaches were a special group of people with an outstanding attitude to the job in hand. I’d like to think that our ability to think correctly under pressure made the difference at 17 – 17 with only seconds on the clock back in 2003.’
Sir Clive described for delegates the four components elements that need to be in place to create champions and alongside talent, thirst for learning and the ability to think under pressure, it’s attitude that really marks those who will succeed.
Current thinking suggests that most champions have spent 10,000 hours practicing and perfecting their performance, learning and thinking about how they can make the most of their talent. So there is no substitute for hard work.
The importance of having the right attitude was demonstrated when Sir Clive spoke about shared responsibility. As a leader he does not mean that you should delegate responsibility but rather encourage others to join your journey with you and accept responsibility not only for their actions but also for those of the business or team.
He quoted one of the all-time greats, Mohammed Ali, ‘Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.’
He used this to explain that having talent, whether it be in sport or business, is the starting point for any individual. Often he feels that too many people believe it to be the finishing point. It’s what you do with your talent and how you develop your skills and knowledge that count and differentiates an individual or business. There are always ways to increase our knowledge. We live and work in testing times and having a ‘sponge’ like mentality is the one that will enable people to adapt most successfully to change.
Entrepreneurs’ Forum board member, Steven Bell introduced Sir Clive to his entrepreneurial peers and summed up his own thoughts at the end of the workshop,
‘For me, the workshop has come at exactly the right time. We’re looking at leadership within the business and the lessons learned today will be invaluable as we move forward. The interactive element of the workshop allowed me to write down some of the issues we face and offered real practical insights into the actions we should look to take. This afternoon hasn’t just been about sitting and listening, it’s been a genuine opportunity to learn and take time to think about what we can do as a business to improve our performance. ’
The Forum’s Chief Executive, Carole Beverley was delighted to welcome Sir Clive back to the region 6 years after he first spoke to members,
‘As a region we’re often seen to be playing catch-up but we know that we have the people with the talent and attitude to succeed. When Sir Clive took over the England team few would have expected such a high level of success for the team, crowned by winning the world cup but his vision and attention to detail and innovative coaching style proved to be the difference. By bringing speakers of Sir Clive’s calibre to the region our aim is to support the learning and personal development of the region’s entrepreneurs giving them the opportunity to work on rather than in their businesses and think deeply about what will bring them success.’
‘It’s essential that our speakers bring a thoroughly practical approach based on real experience and it’s clear from feedback that those who joined us today will take meaningful action in their businesses based on what Sir Clive has shared.’
Mike Parker, director of Orange Bus Ltd. Agreed, ‘The afternoon with Sir Clive was excellent. As a big fan of the work he did with the England Rugby team it was fascinating to hear about that process from the man responsible for their success. To hear how he applied small business principles to the running of a sporting team was both novel and inspiring.’
‘Without doubt many of the lessons I learnt from Sir Clive will be applied to the running of my business - and I'm sure they'll be well received by all whom I work with.’
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