I’ve been coaching football (soccer for my friends across the pond) for a fair few years.
It started accidently! A local community football group were intaking the next year group. Some of the parents were invited to the local pub to hear what the older groups had to say. So I’m sat there, next to a few other parents, and to what I’m thinking is, ‘who wants a drink?’ and I put my hand up, the actual question was ‘who wants to coach next year?’. Thanks Bal, was a reply I heard.
It’s been about eight years now. Coaching the same group of boys. Some have left, some new ones joined, but there is a core group that have remained committed.
And oh boy, have the coaches remained committed! From training in the rain & snow to organizing the matches for the weekends, last minute cancellations and then parents saying their kid has been sick and can’t play 30 minutes before kick off.
One thing during this process that I’ve learnt is, there are so many similarities with business.
Let me break it down for you on some of the key topics,
1. Preparation is key. We have exercises planned out for training. We have warm up exercises. We have tactics. We have player performance. We have tables. We have position numbers. We have it all. A bit similar to a business. Preparation is key in everything that is done in business. Prepare and then execute.
2. Team commitment. Not to talk too much here but one of my favorite coaches, Coach John Wooden, has a great framework for success. This is vital in both football and business. From friendship to loyalty and team spirit to confidence, it all matters how you work together and how you all can be successful.
3. Coaches and Mentors. I’ve said it before and say it again, it’s so important to have a coach and/or mentor at work. Someone who’ll support you, guide you and provide you advice when you need it. This differs slightly from a sponsor (which I’ll talk about in another post). I’ve been blessed to have some great mentors, and my current coach who is half way around the world is always available when I need to talk.
4. Learning & Development. You have to be continuously learning and practicing in football. Different ways to kick the ball (inside of the foot, outside, etc..) there’s different ways to defend your goal, different ways to attack (counter attack, possession based, etc..). With all of this, it’s very much similar at work. You have to learn the trade in detail but to really stand out, apply and enhance it.
Why do some of these footballers really stand out? Messi, Ronaldo, Beckham….
Because they all did the above. They all prepared like no one else.
When Ronaldo first joined Manchester United, someone asked why the lights were on in the morning… only for someone to say, Ronaldo was in at 5am exercising. Similar to Beckham for when he was at Real Madrid, for some comments he made, he was frozen out of the first team — yet carried on training and was always there for the team, and it was his team members that went to the coach to have Beckham play for the first team again.
In business, are you winning?
Are you measuring your success as person in business?