‘What not to do in leadership’ by the French Football Team
Today I’m in Queenstown and I just can’t help be swept up by the pride and adulation the Kiwis have for their national football (soccer) team, The All Whites. Even if you’re not a sports fan, you can’t help but admire what they have achieved. Every person on the street, in the airports, every cab driver will tell you how the All Whites are a champion team that played well above their ability in the FIFA World Cup. And while they didn’t get through to the finals, either did many more high profile teams, including of course ‘Les Blues’, the French.
So while the Kiwis are crowing about how amazing their national football team performed, the French too are crowing about how pathetic their team was. And I have to agree with both sides. It got me thinking about 6 things not to do in leadership, inspired by ‘Les Blues’…
1. Sack experience when you start in a new role
When Raymond Domenech was anointed coach 4 years ago, he immediately wiped the slate clean and sacked a lot of experienced players. These players were the workhorses of the team. He believed they needed to install younger players with more flare and better national profiles.
We’ve all seen this many times in companies as well. The new CEO or business manager decides to inject a totally new management structure to really stamp his or her mark on the new team. Invariably, this tends to follow the same path as the French Football team – you often don’t realize what you had until they are gone. Years, decades of experience and IP gone out the window mainly due to ego and insecurity…
2. Choose a leadership group based on popularity
Domenech appointed Franck Ribery (the guy with the really bad teeth) to the leadership group over Yoann Gourcuff. It has been well publicized that Gourcuff is a much better leader on the field, but he is not popular with a number of the rock-star players because he doesn’t like getting on the fizz at night clubs, he’s quiet and listens to opera music.
Ribery has a much higher profile in France and is more popular with the coach and fellow players. But he just hasn’t got the leadership skills to be captain. To make matters even worse, throughout the World Cup Ribery played in the positions he wanted to, not where he was best suited to play.
How many times have you seen leaders appointed on the same basis? Working in elite sport for 15 years, one thing I’ve learned about the world’s best athletes and the world’s best sporting teams – is that it is much better to be respected rather than just being liked. To be respected as a leader means you often have to make hard and courageous decisions. Making difficult decisions is what great leaders are paid to do…
3. Play for cash, not passion
What a contrast comparing the 2 teams again – the French and the Kiwis. The top French players including Thierry Henry with a contract worth £27.2 million, and Nicolas Anelka and Eric Abidal, both with contracts worth £15 million and transfer fees of £90 million, compared to the better known NZ players Shane Smeltz, Ryan Nelson, Rory Fallon and Mark Paston (I know, I had never heard of any f them either) who are lucky to earn over $100,000 each playing in second or third tier competitions around the world.
If you watched any of the All Whites games or saw the highlights, it was obvious they were all so proud to be playing for their country. In contrast, the French team looked like they really didn’t care. With all of the off-field dramas and tension in the locker room, I really think a number of their players would take cash over country any day.
We’ve all seen the senior executive who is checking in, doing their time to accumulate the dollars. They are physically present, yet mentally absent. Sure, money is very important and we all need it, but if you are only turning up to work for the dollars alone, I really think you need to have a good hard look at what you are doing! A small percentage of people are very fortunate and love their job every day, while the majority of people have to find a balance between doing what you have to (the tedious working tasks) and finding joy and rewards in other areas of your job. If you don’t have any passion in what you are currently doing – either get out and start a new career or try to shift your attitude and learn to love parts of what you do. Passion is infectious, so to is negativity and apathy.
4. Pick an team of individual rock-stars
Sticking with the theme of point 3, the French have picked a team of individual rock-stars, rather than selecting a team that will perform well together. Their entire team is individually paid millions and millions of dollars (pounds) and play for a number of the world’s best football teams. Yet when they play together, they play like 11 individual players doing their own thing. Or to stick with the music analogy, the lead singer is belting out his own tunes, the drummer is always playing solo, the saxophone player wants the spotlight and lead guitar is fighting with the singer to grab the spotlight at the same time.
In sport, just like in business, it is imperative that the band plays well together. Of course rock-stars are important. In business, they could be the number 1 sales person, the creative genius or the flamboyant CEO. But in teams rock-stars are only as good as the rest of the team. To quote Paul Roos, coach of the successful Sydney swans ‘don’t select a team of champions, select a champion team that plays well above their ability when they come together’.
5. Fight your battles in public
Come on lads, seriously! What a bunch of pork chops carrying on the way you are. Even my French friends think you are a ‘bande de clowns’ (bunch of clowns).
After striker Nicolas Anelka was expelled from the team following his insulting barrage to coach Domenech after France’s defeat against Mexico, the entire team staged a walkout the following training day. This resulted in a furious exchange between captain Patrice Evra and the fitness coach (having been a fitness coach in sport for more than 15 years, of course it wasn’t his fault!), which provoked the resignation of team director and French Football Federation managing director Jean-Louis Valentin.
The global press picked up on the drama and the French press starting running headlines including ‘Deserters, cowards, miserable tantrum-throwers…’
Even French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his sports minister Roselyne Bachelot got in on the act calling for “dignity and responsibility otherwise disciplinary action will follow”.
Every leader knows to air their dirty laundry in private. Sure, tension is a normal part of running a team. And ‘healthy tension’ can be very positive and has the capacity to create a much more cohesive and stronger unit. But avoid arguments and negative conversations in relation to other team members in the public domain. End of story…
6. What do you think?
Leadership requires a combination of skills, persistence, judgment, passion, communication and synergy. We can learn a lot about what not to do reviewing the circus created by the French national football team at the FIFA World Cup.
I’ve got to fly – I’m delivering a keynote presentation for 700 New Zealand school principals (never thought I’d get the opportunity to talk to 700 principals, in my schooling days they were always telling me what to do…)
What else you have learned not to do in leadership as a result of Les Blues?
Andrew May