Four leadership lessons from football manager Nigel Adkins

My friend Dan Buchanan is one of those people who always gives his best to help — that’s true in his work with elite athletes (currently soft tissue therapy at Derby County FC), in his private practice on sports injury and performance (check out Go Perform), and as a friend. When I talked him through my Let’s Go thinking on navigating collaboration to achieve things in groups, he was quick to see a link to sports.

“You have to talk to Nigel Adkins — he’s very thoughtful about getting the best out of teams and always open to new approaches — I’m sure you’d have a great conversation.”

If you have more than a passing interest in football, Nigel Adkins doesn’t need an introduction — a seasoned manager with a track record of impact, most widely hailed for back-to-back promotions with Southampton, taking them from the 3rd tier to the Premier League — and setting foundations for their continued success.

So Dan, Nigel and I met up near Reading and the three of us were soon throwing around examples from football, rugby, the NHS, and business. It’s refreshing to get new perspectives and whenever people speak from a depth of accumulated experience you learn something. Here are the four things Nigel said that struck me as resonating much wider than football management — and make great food for leaders everywhere.

“Passion is everything — when they think it’s a job they have to go”

We talked about passion as a mix of raw belief in the project and a tribal connection to the group. It was funny to think that footballers might turn up with the same toxic indifference that derails ambitious creative teams in other industries. It was a good reminder that purpose doesn’t mean an intellectual idea, but a visceral connection to the cause. We have all seen the power of a team who are deeply committed, but will we as leaders find the ruthlessness we need when people just don’t care that much?

“Long term vision isn’t enough, you need an immediate plan”

There was a phrase Nigel kept coming back to which was “the time factor”. It’s obvious from the outside that football management requires short term results, but in this conversation it was clear that you have to navigate a constant flow between immediate actions and longer term strategy — without neglecting either. You likely know that some things need to be fixed or investigated further — but what is urgent depends on time. Dan broke it down like this “on one level all that matters in a week is the 11 who are playing the next game and those who can have an impact from the bench”. It made me wonder about organisational life — I have heard more critique of leaders who neglect vision, but how often might long term planning bea way to hide from what is needed right now?

“You have to work with what you’ve got — but don’t ignore politics and personalities”

It was fascinating to hear about arriving in a new role, and all the ambiguities and uncertainties a manager has to face — a complex environment with allegiances, power balances, and big characters. You are often there to change things, but outside of a transfer window you largely have to get along with what you have. Nigel emphasised the importance of getting to know what makes individuals tick and getting to grips with the dynamics between players — he emphasised training ground observation (“from the sidelines you can see things from body language that you miss in conversation”) as well as having seen value from active conversations on individual personality assessments (“it’s the process of doing it together as well as the results themselves”). Outside of football we might not have transfer windows but personality looms large and we can’t always control who is on the team— so, let’s remember to observe as well as interact, and make time to dive deeper.

“There is no right and wrong — you are where you are — can you adjust?”

I asked a question about whether a particular decision was right or wrong and, with a wry smile, Nigel was quick to challenge. He spoke of a present moment focus — where are we now? what will help us get to where we need to be? When you have an ambitious goal, significant challenges in your way, and big repercussions of the results, it’s wise to focus on things in your control — and that is always in the present moment. Perhaps there is wisdom for all of us in that old football cliché: “Take each game as it comes.”

Let’s Go is a consulting practice that offers practical support for organisations who want to get better at collaboration. 2017 is a big year for us and we will be busy with:

• Inspiration and events to make sense of collaboration — for example engaging top 65 leaders of a pharmaceutical division through what it takes to navigate collaboration (culminating in co-building a sculpture)
• Embedding structures for more productive collaboration — for example setting up a new way of working together for a group of public sector organisations
• Training and leadership development — for example training and coaching a housing provider on navigating complex partnerships
• Taking on complex collaborative challenges — for example helping a large charity support the ecosystem around employee giving