Regional Business Information for Yorkshire
Learning Lessons From Elite Sport
Attendees
- Ian Briggs - Editor of TheBusinessDesk.com in Yorkshire
- Gary Hetherington - Chief Executive, Leeds Rugby
- Martyn Moxon, Director of Professional Cricket, Yorkshire County Cricket Club
- Helen Whitrod Brown, Associate Dean Enterprise and Partnerships, Leeds Met University
- Gareth Davies, Dean of Carnegie Faculty of Sport and Education, Leeds Met University
- Ralph Rimmer, Chief Operating Officer, Rugby Football League
- Glynn Diggins, Director, Pinnacle Solutions
- Joe McLean, Partner and football finance specialist, Grant Thornton
SPORT is a serious business with managers and coaches facing the same pressures as company executives to succeed and beat the competition.
However, with the focus on winning every game, its approach to maximising the chances of success can often be much more considered than it is by those in business.
Many sports clubs – themselves companies employing thousands of staff and turning over millions of pounds – have recognised the synergies between their approach to sport and how they can better run the business as a whole.
The lessons companies can learn from the practices of elite clubs was debated by a mix of business people, coaches and club directors at TheBusinessDesk.com’s round table debate, sponsored by Leeds Metropolitan University and held at the Headingley Carnegie Stadium in Leeds.
Gary Hetherington, chief executive of Leeds Rugby, said he runs the business on the same principles as the club runs its sport.
He said: “We've managed to identify and understand what makes a successful team and what can we transfer into the running of the business.”
Martyn Moxon (pictured right), director of professional cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, said: “I've not come across anything really different between how we run our club and how we run the business.
“It is about tell and ask and the value of the players owning what they do – the difference between saying ‘this is how I think the business should be run’ and getting people to come to it themselves.”
Hetherington identified four key areas where the rugby club has transferred its approach in sport back to practices within the business itself: recruitment and selection of staff; performance analysis and appraisal; teamwork; and reward and recognition.
On teamwork he said: “A lot of businesses run in silos. If you relate that to a team… even if a winger is not doing the same job as a prop it is helpful to understand what he does – likewise in business.”
Joe McLean, partner and football finance specialist at Grant Thornton, agreed: “Business often operates in a vacuum from each other. We now have constant meetings on how our business and the departments within it have moved on.”
Leeds Metropolitan University, which has close ties with Leeds Rugby and Yorkshire County Cricket Club, is working with businesses to use sports coaching techniques to engender success and improve the bottom line.
It is presently working with supermarket group Morrisons to drive performance in the business using sports practice from director level down.
Helen Whitrod Brown, associate dean for enterprise and partnerships at Leeds Metropolitan University, said: “We have two day workshops and then evening cricket coaching sessions to cement what they have been learning in the day. The vision of the business has to be embedded in the course.”
Glynn Diggins, director at business consultancy Pinnacle Solutions, said using the techniques of sports coaching makes people more receptive to new ideas.
He said: “In business it’s not knowledge that’s the issue it’s whether they take that knowledge and apply it. Coaching is about interrupting a mindset. Most people are interested in sport so they can see the analogy in relation to what they do in the workplace. It’s a massively powerful tool to change behaviour.”
The need for strong leadership is another area where there are strong synergies between business and sport. But Gareth Davies, dean of Carnegie Faculty of Sport and Education at Leeds Metropolitan University, said there is no prescription for a good coach.
“Clive Woodward is a completely different style of coach to Ian McGeechan. But they both have a steely approach and are driven to achieve. In the same way, one chief executive in business could be an accountant, another a sales guy,” he said.
“It’s also knowing not just our strengths but also our weaknesses. It's not just saying 'this is my coaching style' but trying to be a more rounded coach.” - Martyn Moxon
But being a good, strong leader is not illustrated by how many people follow you but how many are alongside you, said Davies.
“A good captain is often the beneficiary of a number of good leaders at different places in the team. It’s about getting other people in the team to take the opportunity to lead,” he said.
Diggins said: “But in business once you are in a management position people think they have to be in total control and be seen to be. Lots of managers are still in the ‘tell’ position through fear."
McLean agreed: “People say they would like a team better than themselves around them – but very few implement it because of inherent insecurities.”
Ralph Rimmer (pictured left), chief operating officer at Rugby Football League, said that good coaches manage the environment.
“You almost want a control freak,” he said. “They manage every environment the players are in. Once you have created that environment you can start to create messages to improve the team. Constant appraisal is part of that.”
Whitrod Brown added that when applied to business, the bigger the organisation is, the harder it is to sustain that environment.
“You might be in a different department in the business but you want the same outcome. The larger the environment, the bigger the risk,” she said.
McLean said: “If someone is rewarded disproportionately for a referral to another department it would change the mindset, otherwise they will be focussed on their own targets and operate selfishly.”
Rimmer added: “You must make sure one person’s failure is not another’s success.”
The attitude of players within the team – be that in sport or in business – is equally crucial to its overall success.
Rimmer said: “There are players we know are going to affect the mindset in the changing room. They are constantly looking at the 1%. That’s just as practical in business.”
Moxon said the best players work hardest. “With Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow (both Yorkshire cricketers) – just in their behaviours you can see they will go far and be top players. They standout and don’t look for excuses, and are trainable. It’s not just through ability but through attitude.
“Those with talent sometimes don’t have the right attitude, so you try and change that but only for so long… until there is someone better.”
Whitrod Brown said Morrisons’ employees are hugely loyal – something a strategy of promotion from within has helped.
“Coaching has developed that instinct to know when to keep investing in someone and when to move on,” she said.
