CELEBRATORY 50TH EDITION OF THE QUARTERLY LEADERSHIP & PERFORMANCE JOURNAL OF THE LMA.
SPRING 2022 | ISSUE 50
PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY
YOU HAVE TO VIEW ALL MATCHES, INCLUDING FRIENDLIES, AS GREAT OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE, TO TEST YOURSELF AS A TEAM.
GARETH SOUTHGATE OBE LMA PRESIDENT
WITHOUT A DOUBT THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN FOOTBALL IS THE FOOTBALL MANAGER, BECAUSE THEY ARE THE FULCRUM OF EVERYTHING THAT IS HAPPENING WITHIN THE TEAM.
SIR BOBBY ROBSON CBE LMA HALL OF FAME MEMBER
Welcome to the 50th edition of The Manager. This journal was created by the LMA with a number of aims. We wanted to share the insight of our members across the leagues, highlight the LMA’s work and grow its positive impact on the game, and develop a deeper understanding of football management as a discipline and a career. It has allowed our members to share their unrivalled depth of knowledge, experience and expertise, as well as their unequalled passion for the game.
We have also provided vocationally relevant leadership, performance and wellbeing content, not only from our members, but from influential leaders and experts in football and other sports, from business and from academia. I would like to thank personally all of the contributors who have made The Manager what it is today. I would like to extend my thanks and gratitude to our redoubtable
Editor Alice Hoey, who has been an ever-present and integral part of The Manager team for over 14 years, and to the LMA team, including Jim Souter, Sue McKellar, Mark Farthing, Gabby Ward and our Brand and Design Manager Ian Cherry, who designed this special edition.
As The Manager has developed, we have learnt that many of the principles of leadership and
performance are common to all areas of life. The insights delivered over 50 editions have therefore helped to inform how we, the LMA, operate as an organisation. We continue to advocate a best practice approach to addressing issues that affect the game and wider society, such as underrepresentation, discrimination and abuse, financial irregularities, governance and existential threats. Good communication has been a running theme throughout much of the content in The Manager and we believe that this, with a more unified and proactive approach in the game, will be key to delivering lasting change.
At the time of writing, we are acutely aware of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and our sincerest thoughts are with those affected. The
LMA has made a donation to the Disaster Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, with the money raised being used to set up safe centres, providing beds, food and washing facilities inside Ukraine and on its borders. Finally, in conjunction with the publication of our 50th edition, I am delighted to announce the creation of the LMA’s new Online Platform, where you will find all content from the LMA’s Institute of Leadership and High Performance, previous editions of The Manager, LMA Insights, audio and video content.
I hope this edition highlights some of the incredible insight we’ve brought you over the years, and that The Manager continues to be an engaging and valuable read.
It turned out I actually knew quite a bit. My background was in speaking with senior figures in business, law, international associations and NGOs, learning about how they managed their people and resources, their challenges and the tools they used to overcome them. It took all of a few interviews for The Manager – David Moyes and Sam Allardyce among those in that inaugural edition – to realise I was still on familiar ground.
Immediately, I saw obvious parallels in the way that these leaders spoke about issues like managing in a high-pressure environment, culture, motivation and self-improvement, and the professional and personal hurdles they faced in trying to achieve their goals. If there was one difference it was the immense passion with which they talked about their jobs, the like of which I had not experienced before. But I could
Alice Hoey
see, too, that far from setting them apart, any differences there were in their backgrounds and work environments would provide some fascinating lessons on both sides.
Since those early days, the magazine has gone from strength to strength, evolving its content all the time, in part because we all learn and develop with experience, and in part to reflect the changing focus areas of the LMA and subtle shifts in the manager’s role.
Constant throughout, though, has been an overriding emphasis on providing content that we hope has helped you to become a better manager - more capable, more employable, and more mentally and physically resilient. Central to that has been the idea that we tend to improve fastest when we take on board the ideas and experiences of others, learning both from
our peers and from professionals in altogether different fields. In this anniversary edition, we reflect on, and celebrate, the breadth of insight we’ve brought you over the past 50 editions, from the LMA members who have graced our covers to the coaches and leaders across sports and beyond.
And we look to the year ahead, speaking with, among others, England Manager and LMA President Gareth Southgate OBE, Rugby League’s Tony Smith, and Reading’s Michael Gilkes, just taking his first steps up the management ladder. As Smith says, “The more you can be exposed to people with different ideas and alternative perspectives the better. There are many resources that managers can now tap into, and some great support available. Sometimes you just need the self-awareness, the courage and the encouragement to reach out for it.”
WhenI first started working on The Manager, some 14 years ago, I had only a vague idea of what it was to be a football manager. It was clearly a tough, stressful and technically difficult profession, but what did I know of what it was to lead a team to success on a football pitch?
At Arbuthnot Latham we have a dedicated team who focus on sports professionals at every stage of their careers. The breadth of our service offering across banking, lending, financial planning and investment management means we can help you, your family and your business interests.
As the chosen partner of the LMA we are happy to offer a second opinion on any financial matter for members during a free initial consultation - contact Head of Business Development Nick Gornall on mobile 07341 088163 or email at nickgornall@arbuthnot.co.uk for an initial conversation.
On life’s journey we’re here to help you go further
EDITOR
Alice Hoey alicehoey1@gmail.com
EDITOR FOR THE LMA
Sue McKellar Sue.Mckellar@leaguemanagers.com
ART DIRECTOR
Ian Cherry
Ian.Cherry@leaguemanagers.com
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Gabriella Ward Gabriella.Ward@leaguemanagers.com
SENIOR WRITER
Mark Farthing Mark.Farthing@leaguemanagers.com
PUBLISHER
Jim Souter Jim.Souter@leaguemanagers.com
The League Managers Association, St. George’s Park, Newborough Road, Needwood, Burton upon Trent DE13 9PD
The views and opinions expressed by contributors are their own and not necessarily those of the League Managers Association, its members, officers or employees. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.
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John Sillett had a successful career as a player, for Chelsea, with whom he won the First Division title and played more than 100 games, Coventry City and Plymouth Argyle. In 1968, after hanging up his boots, he was appointed Bristol City Youth Coach, and took the team to the FA Youth Cup semi-finals. As First Team Coach from 1970 to 1974, he played a significant part in the development of the team that would go on to gain promotion to the top flight. In June 1974, he was appointed Manager of Hereford United, with whom he won the Third Division title the following year.
In 1979, he joined Jimmy Hill’s coaching staff at Coventry City, where he remained for five years, later becoming Chief Coach. During his tenure he led the side to the 1987 FA Cup Final, its first major trophy, reached the semi-finals of the League Cup and achieved a club best finish of seventh. In 1991, John returned to Hereford as Manager for a short spell as well as scouting for the England national team under SvenGöran Eriksson.
I was privileged to know John for many years. He was a genuine, wellmeaning gentleman, greatly admired throughout football for his honesty and professionalism.
John was very highly respected as a player and a manager. His contribution to football, as both a player and a coach, was extremely significant.
John holds the FA Cup aloft following Coventry City’s famous victory against Tottenham Hotspur in the 1987 FA Cup Final at the old Wembley Stadium.
HOWARD WILKINSON LMA CHAIRMAN
Frank patrols the touchline at The Hawthorns during his stint as West Bromwich Albion’s interim manager.
Frank’s first spell in management was with Portsmouth, having previously served as Assistant Manager, and he enjoyed great success at Fratton Park, winning promotion from the fourth division in 1980.
A spell at Sunderland followed, before he was appointed Manager of Cardiff City in 1986, guiding the club to promotion in the 1987/88 season. He returned to Portsmouth later that year to assist John Gregory before becoming Manager himself in 1990. The following year, Frank moved to Swansea City and then worked with Harry Redknapp
at West Ham before returning to Cardiff City as Manager in February 1998. Under Frank, The Bluebirds again won promotion in the 1998/99 season.
Frank became Assistant Manager to Gary Megson at West Bromwich Albion in 2000 and helped the club win promotion to the Premier League on two separate occasions. After a spell at West Brom as Caretaker Manager following Megson’s departure, he later rejoined him at Leicester City.
When Frank entered football management, he quickly built on the status he had achieved at the clubs he played for, in particular at Swindon Town where he earned legendary status. Frank’s down-to-earth nature and passionate demeanour was widely respected across the game.
Frank will be very much missed by all who knew him, and particularly by those who had the good fortune to work alongside him and share in his significant successes.
HOWARD WILKINSON LMA CHAIRMAN
The next-generation venue for football teams to train, relax and reenergise, Carden Park has hosted many international sports teams in 1000 acres of stunning countryside
Luxury spa - two championship golf courses - private dining - gym - 197 rooms
Words:
Chris Hughton
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Chris Hughton LMA Board MemberContinuous learning is more important now than it ever has been. The pressure on those working in football management and the competition for opportunities in the industry are so great that we have to be at the very top of our game, always evolving and moving with the times.
There are also now so many ways to do that, much of them accessible through the LMA. We can access courses and information to enhance our knowledge of management and leadership, and follow changes in our environment and the technical side of the game.
And it’s important to be open to all types of learning. For me what’s invaluable is the experience you gain from your peers, especially those you’re working closely with. As an example, I learned a lot from Martin Jol when I was his assistant manager at Tottenham
and made a conscious effort to gain as much from working with him as I could. I knew it would be vital if, one day, I were to follow my ambition of going into management.
Now, when I’m managing a club, I hope that those working with me will take any opportunity they can to learn from me and my career journey. You have to grab these moments to learn, and not worry about being too pushy. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re asking for advice all the time, but you put yourself in a position where you can learn as much as possible.
Mentoring can be an important part of that, too. I consider it a privilege to be a mentor and an honour to give something back. As an experienced manager I feel a sense of responsibility to reach out and support up and coming coaches, and it’s hugely rewarding to know that somebody wants to spend time with you and values the information and experience that you’re able to share with them. Often, that information won’t be immediately relevant, but one day you’ll think back, and it will help you out.
“I try to encourage my players never to play more than three weeks at a time and to take a week off and relax, two weeks if they can, to energise their brain as well as their body. I think you can overdo it and play too many events in a row and all of a sudden, you make more mental mistakes than you do physical ones. So it’s important to re-charge your mind as well as your body.”
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Tiger Wood’s coach Butch Harmon watches on as he plots his way round Sawgrass Golf Course at The Players Championship, 1999.One of the founding principles of The Manager was to look outside the world of football to other sports for inspiration and ideas. Here’s a snapshot of just some of the elite coaches and athletes whose experience we’ve learned from over the years.
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SWIMMING
Ellie
Paralympic Gold-medallist
“I couldn’t have achieved what I did without [my coach] Billy Pye. He pushes me, but he’s also very aware of who I am and what I need. He treats me as a human as well as an athlete. He understands that it’s not just about swimming relentlessly and we can talk and be open with each other.”
Team GB’s Ellie Simmonds OBE swims for gold at the 2016 Paralympic Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Simmonds OBE
Sir Dave Brailsford CBE GM, Team Sky
“The more time I’ve spent at the cutting edge of sport, the more I’ve come to realise that, while we have all of this in-depth knowledge, way more than we could ever impart on a day-today basis, many of the things we talk about are relatively peripheral. It’s the doing part, the practical application and the attention to detail around that, that really makes the difference. It’s the things you can build on and develop over time. So, while we can think up a great idea, unless it can be translated into something simple, something that people can actually put into practice, it won’t have the impact we’re after.”
Sally Gunnell OBE
Olympic Gold-medallist
“Knowing what you want to achieve – this week, this month, this year – is the first step to achieving anything. Those outside of sport could learn a lot from athletes’ mental strength, belief in their abilities and setting of goals. Visualisation was my key, as was finding the right balance between singular determination and openness to new ideas.”
Ennis-Hill DBE
“You have to stay two steps
ahead of the athlete and keep looking for ways to move their training forward. You have to look at how you can improve your learning, whether that’s from books, from the network around you, from sports scientists and other coaches. You have to keep looking for the next thing that will add value to your training sessions.”
SAILING
Stephen Park OBE
Team GB Sailing
“We encouraged our athletes to have good routines to control the things they could control and they each had a checklist to help them plan. It was as detailed as having a strategy for if they won all of their first day races or lost all of them, what they were going to do if they had gear failure or if one of their family got ill. We try to operate in a logical world, rather than an emotional one.”
Wendy Tuck
Clipper skipper
“One of the biggest things I learned was to be kinder to myself. We all make mistakes especially on a yacht race, where there is so much scope for error. You have to give yourself a set timeframe to be sad and angry at yourself, then snap out of it and get on with the race. I also learned to delegate more. During my second Clipper race, we had some really good sailors on board, so I coached them a little, meaning they were more
able to help teach the novices. That took the pressure off me and had benefits for everyone on board.”
Anna Mayes Head Coach
“You can’t underestimate the value of shared experience. Your greatest losses can also create unity, because they make you address your contribution to the squad in terms of your individual performance and that of the team.”
Michael Vaughan OBE International cricketer
“Playing cricket at the highest level is all about preparation. Get that right and you free players up to just go out there, play the game and express themselves.”
John Buchanan Australia Cricket Coach
“You’ve got to understand yourself inside out and you never sacrifice or compromise your principles. The essence of coaching is relationships. Whatever you deliver to an athlete it has to be consistent with your values and principles, because consistency is what an athlete seeks in a coach.”
Matt Willcocks Coach
“Some players might have all of
the game (the roof), but a poor lifestyle (the walls), so the whole thing falls down. What we try to do with our players is grow the foundations, make the walls stronger and make the roof more watertight. If we can make improvements in each of those areas, together we will produce a better tennis player, one who will have the best chance of winning on and off the court, now and in the future.”
RUBGY
Tony Smith Head Coach
“For us, it isn’t just about winning; we’re all about developing ourselves as players and individuals. We believe that the by-product of being the best we can be, on and off the field, is sustainable success, and that’s what we’re aiming for.”
Eddie Jones
England Head Coach
“To be instructive as a coach is no longer enough, at least not in the long term. You have to engage the players in the learning process; it’s now very much an interactive player-centric model of coaching. You’re not leading the players by stick, but by shared knowledge; you’re guiding and developing them as leaders, and sharpening their decision-making processes.”
Pat Lam Head Coach
“Vision drives leadership,
leadership drives culture and culture drives performance, so your vision is key. It needs to drive every decision that’s made and you can and should hold people accountable to that.”
Billy Beane
GM, Oakland Athletics
“We were interested in creating a process that allowed us to understand why we were successful, but also why we failed. Having as much information as possible, subjective and objective, is always good and should be built into the decision-making process. Also remember that sometimes when people come in from outside they have the ability to see and challenge things, whereas those who have grown up in the business may have come to accept it as the way things are.”
David Franco Mental Skills Coach
“When it’s a close game and the crowd is going wild what happens in the minds of the pitcher and the batter in those 15 seconds between pitches can determine whether you win or lose. We have to help each player calm their mind and avoid falling into the mind traps that have previously taken them into a poor mental space. They need routines to focus on the right things at the right time.”
CAR RACING
Ross
Technical Director, F1
“There was no us and them, no silo mentality. The team was, in my view, like a car; it would never be a success if we got only one element right. And it was the performance of the car as a whole that was our measure of success rather than any individual element.”
// Action Images
Brawn GP’s team boss Ross Brawn OBE has a conversation with Jenson Button at the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix. Brawn OBE“We changed the leadership group around for each competition to enable more players to have the experience of speaking up and making their opinions heard. We also took shared responsibility for some decisions. It stifled conflict and helped to remove any blame culture in the side; decisions are more readily accepted when they’re collective.”
England coach Tracey Neville MBE after the match at the 2019 Netball World Cup Third Place Play-Off between England and South Africa, Liverpool, Britain. // Action Images
Danny Kerry MBE
England and GB Head Coach
“We framed the Olympics in terms of a challenge rather than a threat; it was something for us to get excited about, not fear. We also had a very clear model of pressure training, where we saw pressure as a function of judgement, consequence and expectation. We made sure our training environment had healthy amounts of those three things built into them.”
MOTOR RACING
Petter Solberg
Rallycross driver
“I think part of the reason for our success is that I handpicked people who I knew to be experienced and passionate, people who worked well as a team and who I knew weren’t just ‘yes people’. I wanted my team members to have opinions and ideas. We work very hard together in the same direction and when something’s not right we are able to recognise it very quickly and try a different approach.”
Andy Barrow
Paralympic Gold-medallist
“Everyone has to overcome some kind of adversity in their life; it teaches you perseverance, positivity, resilience, and the importance of perspective and trying to control only what’s within your control. I then honed
these things through a career in sport, as well as learning other things like discipline, coachability, determination, time management, and how to be analytically minded and process driven.”
GB ROWING
Tim Foster MBE
Olympic Gold-medallist
“We were the four best rowers in England, but that was no guarantee that we’d win gold; four average rowers could beat us if they worked together better. But we were highly focused; our shared goal of winning was the foundation of everything that we did. No matter what happened along the way we were going to win.”
Josh Apiafi
Sky Sports presenter
“It’s a challenge to engage people in racing. If you watch the World Cup you can go outside and kick a ball in your garden, but if you watch the Derby you can’t just pop to the local riding school and get on a horse. What that means is we have to make the most of the entertainment side of the sport and try to engage people with the stories behind the individuals in racing.”
Experience counts. Since the inaugural edition we’ve evolved the look and content of The Manager, but one thing has remained constant, the calibre of managers we’ve featured and the fascinating insight that they’ve shared.
As well as reviewing the players’ performances I assess my own. I examine the decisions I made and then try to learn from that.
David Moyes
The pleasure of winning only comes when you’ve won something, the fear of losing is always there.
Mick McCarthy
The manager is the fulcrum; everything revolves around him. A good chairman will get the right manager and then give that manager a chance.
Sir Bobby Robson CBE
Management is tougher than it ever has been, but I love my job and if it all ended tomorrow I’d still be the happiest man alive.
Fabio Capello
I have always believed that the way you behave and the way that you do things are far more important than what you say. Roy
I don’t want to impose my ideas on the players, but they have to be convinced that the ideas I propose are good.
You’ve got to create in the players’ minds this thirst for knowledge, a thirst for learning and, most of all, a thirst to take responsibility.
It’s necessary to embrace the science side of football, but it’s also important that we don’t lose sight of exactly what the game is. Steve Bruce
Carlo Ancelotti
Tony Pulis
Sir Alex Ferguson CBE
Hodgson CBE
It’s
The fans know I
There are many ways to do things and many ways to succeed. If there were a single winning formula, everyone would use it.
I always feel that whether you create it yourself or it happens vicariously, having a strong spirit is essential.
Martin O’Neill OBE
will always try my best and if I ever make a mistake it will be an honest one, made trying to do my best for the club.
Ally McCoist MBE
an ongoing process of selfdevelopment and if you stop thinking that you can learn then you are in big trouble.
Alan Pardew
Michael Laudrup
I’ve never believed in forcing people to do things. Even as the manager you are still part of a team, a dream and an aspiration.
Roberto Martínez
Too often people focus on the end of the journey and forget to live in the moment and enjoy the journey as it is happening.
Brian McDermott
We are all evolving and pushing the boundaries to see how we can get to the next level.
Sam Allardyce
The group is more important than anything else. So the person who scores the goal is as important as the third goalkeeper who never gets to play.
André Villas-Boas
I worked under seven managers while coaching at Spurs, so there was always something to learn. It was exciting to see what each new manager would bring.
Chris Hughton
We have to raise ourselves up to the same level, anticipating not reacting.
Chris Coleman OBE
You have to be true to yourself. All the managers I’ve worked under as a player and a coach have been themselves, warts and all.
Nigel Pearson
It’s all well and good having beliefs as a manager but you also have to prove that you’re right.
Gus Poyet
It’s part of my job to give the players the confidence and time to progress. That confidence comes in part from the manager’s own demeanour.
Ronald Koeman
I had to convince the players of all the positives to take from the matches and stimulate a positive mentality in the group.
Michael O’Neill MBE
before we see them as a professional.
Major Frank Buckley
Mark Hughes OBE
In my case there was no particular innate talent; I’ve just worked hard to make something of myself.
Eddie Howe
When you have the bond of trust you have a chance of achieving anything.
Sean Dyche
Brendan Rodgers
GENEROUS, GENUINE AND RESPECTED BY ALL
WE REMEMBER GRAHAM TAYLOR OBE
To be really happy, we must throw our hearts over the bar and hope that our bodies follow.
Sometimes you have to take a few steps backwards before you can move forwards.
It’s important to keep perspective and maintain a good overview. Otherwise it’s hard to see the wood for the trees.
Graham Taylor OBE
Mark Sampson
Slaven Bilic
You have to view every match, including friendlies, as great opportunities to improve, to test yourself as a team.
Nothing can prepare you to stand in the dugout, 4-0 down, and have to think clearly and know what to change.
I’d like to think we taught them good habits on and off the pitch.
Gareth Southgate OBE
Paul Lambert
John Gregory
As well as the big achievements and highlights, there are countless little moments that make a difference to your career journey.
Rafael Benítez
I know I can help them better if I’m able to see things as they do.
Nuno Espírito Santo
If you want them to perform at their best, you can’t be screaming at them, because they’re feeding off your energy.
Tanya Oxtoby
I was brought up to believe in certain values and that, if you lived those values, then more often than not you’d be successful.
Phil Neville
You can’t ever allow yourself to become complacent. If you ever think you’ve cracked it you’ll come unstuck.
Chris Wilder
You can be at it 24/7, but you shouldn’t be. That’s something I’ve learned over the years. Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp
Sometimes you have to look at yourself and say ‘hey, I’ve done pretty well to be where I am, because this world isn’t easy’.
Gareth Ainsworth
The deal is I make you a better player, you make me a better manager.
Howard Wilkinson
When you work with people who have been through diverse life experiences, you’re better placed to solve problems.
Chris Powell
I allow them the freedom to play, grow and develop without undue pressure. I’ll take that pressure on.
Casey Stoney MBE
Gerard understood that football, like life, continues to evolve. He was an innovator.
As well as reviewing the players’ performance I assess my own. I examine the decisions I made and then try to learn from that.
Gérard Houllier OBE
Dean Smith
HERE’S TO THE NEXT FIFTY.
The one thing I learned more than anything else as a manager was to be your own person. As the manager you have to remain completely authentic.
Walter Smith OBE
I’ve always enjoyed talking with people, getting to the heart of what motivates them, what’s important to them and what’s going on in their lives.
Gareth Southgate OBEInterview: Sue McKellar
Words: Alice Hoey
Photography: Reuters // Action Images
Eight months after a highly successful Euro 2020 campaign and having qualified as group winners for the 2022 World Cup, England Manager and LMA President Gareth Southgate OBE reflects on leadership, learning and long-term thinking.
Anyone of note in any leadership position is constantly thinking about what new ways of working may be out there and how they can improve their knowledge and understanding. But what’s most important is that you take an experiential approach, applying what you’ve learned to your own individual situation. So, while you can sit in a masterclass or workshop and study academic theory, you have to be able to take that information and those ideas and see how they might fit with the realities of your own environment and the challenges you face.
I take something of a hybrid approach, so I listen to podcasts, watch video content on various platforms, and read a lot. That includes The Manager, in which I always find something of interest that I can learn from. I look forward to each new edition coming through my letterbox or picking a copy up from the stand in the reception of St George’s Park.
As a manager, you’ll always be interested in the technical elements of the game, but I think the more experienced you become the more you really focus on the
leadership and management side of things. I think you also look more to other sports and businesses for inspiration. Over the years, by meeting people in varied sports and businesses, it’s confirmed my belief that the issues and challenges you encounter as a leader are essentially the same whatever your field. Whether you’re talking about the importance of a vision, forming a strategy to achieve that vision, leading and managing people, empathy or getting the best out of people, there’s a lot of crossover. I’ve always believed that was the case, but the longer I’ve been in a leadership position the more I’ve seen the relevance of it.
When you go into a new team or business, there will be changes you want to make for the longer term, things that will bring about more sustainable success. However, you have to get results early on in order to afford yourself time to do that. Without that short-term success people start to lose confidence that what you’re telling them is possible and may lose belief in your methods. They need to see some evidence that you really know what you’re doing. When you have longevity it gives the team stability, and that’s important for success. While you may see a team succeed without that longevity in terms of the manager or head
you’re talking about the
of a
forming a strategy to achieve that vision, leading and managing people, empathy or getting the best out of people, there’s a lot of crossover. I’ve always believed that was the case, but the longer I’ve been in a leadership position the more I’ve seen the relevance of it.
Whether
importance
vision,
Gareth Southgate OBE applauds the supporters after England’s historic UEFA EURO2020 knockout victory against Germany.
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Over the years, meeting people in varied sports and businesses confirmed my belief that the issues and challenges you encounter as a leader are essentially the same whatever your field.
The stage is set as the teams complete their warm-ups and the atmosphere builds at Wembley Stadium before the UEFA EURO2020 SemiFinal between England and Denmark.
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England fans gather before the UEFA EURO2020 Semi-Final with flags to show their support. The campaign captured the imagination of the country.
// Action Images
Gareth Southgate OBE watches on from the technical area as England take on Germany in the UEFA EURO 2020 Round of 16 at Wembley Stadium.
// Action Images
I’ve always enjoyed talking with people, getting to the heart of what motivates them, what’s important to them and what’s going on in their lives.
coach, it will be there somewhere else, in other key roles within the organisation.
You have to constantly adapt your approach as a leader, because you’re managing an ongoing process of change and adaptation. In the short term, for example, each member of the team will be in a different place psychologically after a match. Some will have played well, others will be disappointed in their performance, and those who didn’t play at all will be wondering what your response is going to be as the manager. In the longer term, meanwhile, the team evolves as older players leave and younger ones come through and need to be integrated into the team and understand its culture. That culture itself needs to be maintained and given your attention, because while it might seem well embedded it doesn’t take much in terms of behaviours and attitudes to put it at risk.
Managers are now leading bigger teams than ever and have specialist support in every department. What’s more, in each of those areas things are advancing incredibly fast; things can change within days, with new pieces of research out and
best practice shared quickly and openly. Everybody is looking for an edge, so we wouldn’t be recruiting the right people if we just went for individuals who were comfortable in their skills; we actually need people who don’t think they know everything already, people who are always looking for ways to grow and improve.
I’ve always enjoyed talking with people, getting to the heart of what motivates them, what’s important to them and what’s going on in their lives. The longer you work with someone and develop a relationship and psychological safety with them, the more open they tend to be, but it takes time. It’s only through close observation and communication that you really discover what your players’ individual needs are. You can get a good idea of where someone’s head is at, and whether they might need some additional support, from their body language and behaviour, but it’s only through really talking to them that you’ll know the root cause. It’s easy to make incorrect assumptions about what’s going on.
After all, things haven’t always gone right in my own life, and there are plenty of things I still feel I haven’t achieved. I know
there is always something more for me to aim for and people and experiences I can learn from. What’s more, the sport itself keeps you humble, because if you don’t get things right there’s always a potential defeat just around the corner. Humility also has to be coupled with a sense of authority, because for people to follow you they need to know that you are competent, experienced and knowledgeable enough to deal with any situation that you might come up against. They need to be confident that you’ll be able to help them get through any problems they face and that you aren’t going to crumble under the pressure.
With any competition, you begin with a vision of where you want to take your side, and over the course of the journey you discover the best ways to work with them. You constantly tweak and refresh things along the way - how you deliver meetings and training sessions, engage the players, and foster a strong team identity. When I look back, one of the things that gave me most pride was to see how the players behaved as a group, the support, value and respect they showed one another, regardless of whether they made the final 11 or not. WE ROSE
Over the years, we’ve offered up our thoughts on a wide range of leadership essentials. Here’s our pick, in brief, of some of the most pertinent to modern management.
Start by getting people’s support or agreement on small issues or ideas, then work your way up to larger, more important ones. Ensure you use words and context that frame the issue in a positive light. Using the name of the person you’re trying to persuade also helps; it validates their existence, making them feel more positive about you. Do something nice for them. It will make them more likely to want to return the favour.
Deal with issues as soon as you’ve identified them, and before they have time to grow. If you’re too slow, people may think the behaviour is deemed acceptable or that you haven’t noticed. Discipline should be a positive process where everyone works together towards clear and accepted behaviours and practices. People rarely change their behaviour in the long-term because they’ve been instructed to. Consider giving team-members a say in how poor behaviour or rulebreaking is dealt with, and be consistent.
Identify the barriers to achieving your goal, then figure out how to remove them. The Plan-Do-Check-Act method can help here. Think laterally and look at your problem from different perspectives, seeking views that clash with our own. Take your time. Solutions that are rushed or ill thought through often only scratch the surface or tackle the wrong issue altogether. Consider whether there may be deeper, underlying issues. A problem is like a weed; if you only address the visible parts it will keep reappearing.
Every meeting should have a clear objective and an agenda, circulated in advance. Don’t cram too much in. Ban phones and laptops. When people hog the floor or get stuck debating something, verbally make a note of the point and commit to addressing it another time. Close by recapping any decisions made and giving clear next steps. No one should leave unsure about what was achieved or how to act on it. Think about when you hold meetings –e.g. catch-ups on Friday afternoons rather than Monday mornings, when everyone is most refreshed and productive.
Outline roles and responsibilities from the outset, because lack of clarity can result in an overlap of activities or duties, confusion and unnecessary errors. Team members may also disengage and lose interest in achieving their goal. Remember that we fulfil informal as well as formal roles; while not always necessary to achieve our goals they can still impact on the team’s progress towards them. Giving team members the opportunity to discuss one another’s contributions, formal and informal, can help to clarify roles and responsibilities.
Personal brand is what makes you stand out, what comes to mind when people think of you. Managing your brand is about having some control over that and ensuring it’s a fair representation. To better understand how you are perceived, ask colleagues and friends for key words on how they see you, then write a short personal bio to crystallise how you see your personal brand. If there’s a mismatch, how can you resolve it? Consider how you communicate and behave in different situations, and your role as a brand ambassador. Be authentic and consistent.
An effective mentoring relationship benefits both sides, helping to develop specific professional skills and knowledge, and improving clarity of thinking, self-reflection, psychological wellbeing and confidence. A good mentor will support and challenge you, and help you to come to decisions and find solutions independently. They’ll share lessons and experiences, but won’t tell you how things should be done or push you in a particular direction. A good mentor will be a great sounding board and listen without judgement, so choose someone you trust and respect, and who you would feel comfortable talking openly with.
Don’t attempt to multi-task - the brain takes time to settle down each time it switches from one task to the other. Turn off or move away distracting phones and laptops, and write down any issues or questions that are stopping you from focusing on the task in hand. Don’t be overambitious. Set small goals, as focus tends to dissipate when we feel we aren’t making enough progress. Stress and lack of sleep reduce concentration levels, while exercise has the opposite effect. Practising simple mindfulness exercises, involving paying total attention to one thing at a time, can also help to build focus skills.
Ask what you hope to get from the conversation – perhaps to boost the other person’s confidence, improve their work rate or refine their performance – then tailor your feedback. Give feedback soon after the event, and aim to be positive, as it stimulates the reward centre in the brain, increasing receptiveness. Negative feedback turns the threat response on, which may cause defensiveness and a lack of engagement. Avoid ambiguity and exaggerated words, like ‘never’, ‘every’ and ‘always’, and refer not to the individual but to their actions and behaviours. Raise only one or two issues during a feedback session and provide evidence where possible.
Never change for the sake of it, but think ahead and look outside of your normal circles for ideas, asking whether and how they might be useful in your context. Engage people from the outset, communicating the consequences of a lack of change and the benefits of your plans, their roles in it and how it will work. Assess whether you have sufficient resources and the right people to champion it. Trial things on a small scale first and be prepared to listen to feedback and make tweaks along the way.
Words: Alice Hoey
Photography: Reuters // Action Images
In the summer of 2008, Richard Bevan welcomed an unsuspecting readership to the pilot edition of The Manager, outlining its aims for the very first time. One of these, he said, was to “develop a deeper understanding of football management as a discipline and a career,” because, “to the LMA, a football manager is as highly skilled as a City lawyer, a corporate accountant or a company CEO.
The challenges that face football managers are common across many businesses, day in, day out,” he added. “They can learn a lot from football managers and vice versa.”
From the outset, we wanted to look at the disciplines of leadership and management through a much wider lens than just football, or even elite sport. We would think laterally, be a magpie for ideas and inspiration, and find relevant, transferable skills in a diverse range of fields.
It’s a journey of discovery that has taken us from the boardrooms of FTSE100 companies to the Cirque du Soleil and the Royal Ballet, through the Houses of Parliament to the highest ranks of the military. We’ve heard from award-winning head teachers, best-selling authors, actors and head chefs in order that you might view your own roles and responsibilities from another perspective.
So what did we learn about leadership? Well, interestingly, and proof perhaps that the skills are the same whatever form the ‘team’ may take, we found consensus about what good leadership looks like. Real leaders are masterful communicators who engage their people and take them with them. There’s no room for
command and control, even in the military.
“There’s a perception that being a leader in the army is easy, that it’s about shouting orders and enforcing discipline,” says MP Sir Hugh Robertson, who served as an officer in the Life Guards, rising to the rank of Major, “but to lead soldiers in active service is one of the most testing leadership roles there is. To keep people safe and working at their best, shouting makes little or no difference. You have to be very well trained, have your team’s trust and keep reminding them of the bigger picture.”
Brigadier Ged Salzano MBE, adds that leadership is more about having moral authority than anything else: “Leaders don’t need to know all the answers, but they do need to ask the right questions. If their orders are good, just and right, the resulting performance will be good.”
Likewise, in the world of business, Sir Michael Darrington says forcing or over-incentivising people will get you nowhere. “The worst reason for doing anything is because your boss has told you to,” says the Greggs MD. “As a leader, if you have to tell someone to do something you’ve already failed.”
Rank and position, therefore, have no bearing on your ability
winning every season.
Leaders need to ask how they can create the conditions in which their team members will invest themselves in the effort.
to lead. “I know many people at the top who are not leaders,” says best-selling author Simon Sinek. “They have authority over us and we do as they tell us because of that authority, but we wouldn’t choose to follow them. Yet, I know many people who are more junior in an organisation who have no authority and yet they’ve made the choice to look after the person to the left of them and look after the person to the right of them and we would follow them absolutely anywhere.”
We learned also that as well as inspiring others to follow their vision, leaders need to make use of the expertise that exists among their people, encouraging collaboration, keeping an open mind when making decisions that affect the team and actively listening. This, in particular, is a skill that is much underestimated and often lacking, according to hostage negotiator Richard Mullender, saying, “There’s not one element of communication that doesn’t rely on listening. Once you can do that well everything else becomes much simpler.”
Within that collaborative environment great leaders foster an ensemble mentality, whereby every member of the group is prepared to put the team’s goals ahead of their own and make sacrifices to move
forward towards it. They cocreate a strong sense of belief and belonging, getting buy in from everyone to a common set of standards and expectations, behaviours and benchmarks. That requires the leader to be an expert storyteller, weaving in the heritage and values of the organisation to find compelling reasons for the team to set themselves apart.
Author of best-seller Legacy James Kerr says people will rise to a challenge if it’s their challenge. “Leaders need to ask how they can create the conditions in which their team members will invest themselves in the effort. What is their common cause? How can you make your team be their team?” Persuading the most talented individuals in the group to set aside their egos for the good of the team is particularly important, and often presents the biggest challenge for leaders. Here we found real parallels with those working the arts.
Actor Robert Carlyle OBE, for example, provided some perspective from the side of the performer, saying, “To have a career as an actor you have to learn very quickly that it is a collaborative process: you will always be a cog in a massive wheel. Of course, when you enter the world of ‘stars’ there are some cogs bigger than others, but they are still cogs.”
Sir Michael Boyd, Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, used a different analogy for the danger of celebrity culture, saying you get ‘tall plants, but flimsy ones’. The whole is much stronger than the sum of its parts, he says, but only if everyone invests in the whole. “That means an exhaustive process of sharing with, and listening to, everybody to define what we are after.” Within the directors of the RSC productions, they took quite extreme measures to put success ahead of individual self-interests. “Nobody will really be utterly in control of their own little bit,” says Boyd. “We will visit each other’s rehearsal groups. We’ll give each other notes and help to assess each other’s work. It’s not going to be easy and there’ll be some bruised egos but we will be teaching each other.”
Success in the arts, as in business, isn’t just about practice and high standards, but also expression and innovation. Leaders must create a psychologically safe environment where their teammembers feel trusted enough to make decisions for the team and confident in being able to experiment and voice their ideas. “We’re not looking for carbon copies here,” says Stuart Worden, Head of the Brit School.
“It’s not helpful, interesting or valuable for art or commerce or anyone to just replicate what has been done before.” It was a sentiment echoed by businessman Herb Kohler, who said, “We encourage the creation of prototypes and, if at first they fail, we’ll try something else.”
This willingness to take risks and commitment to look for opportunities to grow is one of the pillars of a high-performance environment, and it’s the job of the leader to foster a culture with continuous improvement at its heart. Here, we’ve learned from the insight of some of the world’s foremost leadership experts, who point to the need for solid foundations, long-term thinking and a willingness to question everything, even when things are going your way.
“One of the problems that follows success is that we don’t ask enough questions,” says author Rasmus Ankersen. “When we fail, we ask questions (why did we fail, and how can we improve?) but when we win we just cruise on. That’s very dangerous because if we don’t know what made us successful how are we going to be able to consciously repeat it?”
“Winning is the result, the question is what brought you to the pitch in the first place?” agrees Sinek. “Why do you continue to show up every
day? It’s when people feel a part of something bigger than themselves that things start to shine. Some of the greatest sporting coaches will say winning comes second; it’s the players that come first. These are the coaches who think long term, who say, it’s not about winning this season, it’s about winning every season.”
So the leaders behind the most successful elite teams, inside and outside of sport, are creating the conditions in which sustained success can take place, regardless of short-term success. “Managers who are taking a more short-term approach are simply playing for time,” says Kerr. “That’s a failure of leadership at an ownership level. The right strategy has to be to build a winning culture - a championship team, rather than just a team of champions.”
Ultimately, much of this boils down to that much-used word, ‘culture’, that common set of thinking that motivates your people to behave in a certain way. Annie Coleman, Cerebellum Partners, likens culture to an iceberg. “The bits you can see - the espoused values, ambition and purpose of the organisation, are really just the tip. Most of what makes a culture goes on underneath; it’s the interactions and the much
Most of what makes a culture goes on underneath; it’s the interactions and the much more visceral experience you have of an organisation.
I knowthe onus
is on me to role model as many of our leadership behaviours as I possibly can.Annie Coleman.
Action Images
more visceral experience you have of an organisation.”
For David Brear, Group CEO of 11FS, it isn’t dissimilar to bringing up kids. “Being a good parent isn’t about whether my children act nicely when my wife and I are around, it’s about instilling the right values and beliefs so that they’re good people when we’re not there. When your people actually believe in what they’re doing and share your purpose, then your job as leader becomes very different; it’s about facilitation of culture, reinforcement of what we’re doing and looking for opportunities to grow and diversify.”
There’s no better way to reinforce your culture, however, than to embody it yourself as the leader, something Helen Webb tries to do daily as Chief People Officer of the Co-op. “I know the onus is on me to role model as many of our leadership behaviours as I possibly can. I’m a very open and direct leader and I’m always looking to develop relationships and build trust. I’m not perfect, but what’s really important is that I demonstrate that I’m trying.”
She highlights, too, the value in looking outside of your own bubble for ideas and inspiration, not only as a means to advance the team or the organisation,
To lead soldiers in active service is one of the most testing leadership roles there is. To keep people safe and working at their best, shouting makes little or no difference. You have to be very well trained, have your team’s trust and keep reminding them of the bigger picture.
but to improve yourself as a leader. “As an example, over the last 18 months I’ve been looking globally, not just at fellow cooperatives, but more generally to see how other organisations are developing their leaders from within,” she says.
As the Leaders Club’s Stephen Fletcher says, “Sometimes all it takes to improve your skills is being with someone who is innovative and inspiring and who raises possibilities you never thought of before.”
It’s important that as leaders we don’t focus so hard on our immediate needs that we fail to
Sir Hugh Michael Robertson, Chairman of the British Olympic Association.To have a career as an actor you have to learn very quickly that it is a collaborative process: you will always be a cog in a massive wheel. Of course, when you enter the world of ‘stars’ there are some cogs bigger than others, but they are still cogs.
Actor Robert Carlyle OBE arrives at the premiere of Trainspotting 2. Reuters // Action Images
Being a good parent isn’t about whether my children act nicely when my wife and I are around, it’s about instilling the right values and beliefs so that they’re good people when we’re not there. When your people actually believe in what they’re doing and share your purpose, then your job as leader becomes very different; it’s about facilitation of culture, reinforcement of what we’re doing and looking for opportunities to grow and diversify.
spend enough time on the things that would make the biggest difference to our futures. “In whatever organisation I walk into I see people limiting the difference they could make,” says leadership expert Steve Radcliffe, “either because they don’t see themselves as leaders or they don’t know how to form themselves as leaders.”
Self-doubt, loneliness and even depression are unfortunately all too common among senior leaders, where the responsibilities can be weighty and the pressure to get results fast intense.
“There are times in the job when it’s very lonely and when times are tough it can seem like the whole world is watching and judging you,” says head teacher Margaret Dudley. “While there may be support available, only you can manage that situation.”
Alastair Campbell, who worked under extreme scrutiny and pressure as Tony Blair’s communication aide, was one of the most open about these challenges, the need for resilience and his battle with mental health. Having suffered bouts of depression since a
serious breakdown at the age of 28, he believes his past has equipped him with greater mental resilience. “When you’ve experienced something like that and have made it out the other side, then sitting in front of a roomful of journalists or coming up against severe criticism is something you can cope with because you know you have survived far worse.”
A football manager might not immediately see the parallels between the challenges of their job and those of a political aide like Campbell, a head teacher like Dudley or the countless other incredible leaders whose insight we’ve not even touched upon here. However, when you spot them it can be eye-opening.
So what did we learn about leadership? We learned that the skills of a great leader have nothing to do with rank or seniority; that they traverse job types and sectors, and that they can be transferred, translated and applied to any type of ‘team’. Most of all, that there is a wealth of incredibly valuable experience out there for leaders open-minded enough to listen to it.
Words: Alice Hoey Photography: Action Images
FROM ANOTHER SPORT:
Former GB Coach and current Head Coach of Hull Kingston Rovers Tony Smith has long seen the benefits of learning from other sports, for performance, personal development and wellbeing.
Of all the sports that we’ve reached out to in The Manager, one has never failed to fascinate. Rugby, both Union and League, has earned a reputation as something of an innovator in the world of sport and, over the years, its leaders have spoken openly and honestly about the highs and lows of the job, their core values, and how they’re pushing the boundaries in terms of culture, coaching and leadership.
Having been nurtured in that environment, Smith came to the UK, where he has now been coaching for over 20 years. Prior to his current role at Hull Kingston Rovers, he spent nine years at Warrington Wolves and when he left in 2017 his was the longest tenure in the league. During the two-year gap between roles that followed, Smith became a consultant and mentor for the LMA, and has maintained close ties ever since. He invited some LMA members to spend a day
observing how he does things at Hull, with a view to expanding the programme over the course of the year.
“I know I got a great deal from the experience, too,” he said, “because you always benefit from fresh eyes and a different perspective. I’ve learned as much speaking with managers in football as they have from me, and it’s not only about education and new ideas. Sometimes it’s also validation, affirming the ideas you already have and
I realised straight away that there was a crossover between the kinds of challenges I’ve dealt with in my career and the difficulties of being out of work, and those that managers face in football.
giving you the confidence to see them through.”
Despite his extensive experience, Smith says he continues to develop, learning from his peers in sport and business: “Every manager will tell you it’s a constant learning experience and the more you can be exposed to people with different ideas and alternative perspectives the better.”
Smith talks about the period when he stepped away from rugby as being his most difficult time, and it brought into sharp focus for him the need for more attention to be given to the wellbeing of managers and coaches.
“I’ve always been interested in player welfare and the importance of sports being more welfare minded in general, but there has in the past been much less thought given to the managers,” he says. “We were the ones looking out for the players, but no one was looking out for us.”
When he got involved with the LMA, he was pleasantly surprised at what was going on in terms of manager education and support, and saw an opportunity to give something back. “I realised straight away that there was a crossover between the kinds of challenges I’ve dealt with in my career
and the difficulties of being out of work, and those that managers face in football,” he says. “I also wanted to share my own experiences and views on learning, and encourage people to look outside of football, to be better prepared when the next opportunity comes along.”
Managers are often reluctant to share their emotions, struggles and lack of confidence, says Smith. “However, I found that during that tough period it was great for me to go and share openly with others; it was cathartic. What’s more, I was well placed to give suggestions and advice so that others might avoid getting to the point where they felt burned out and in need of support.”
Prevention is always better than cure, so it’s important that managers are self-aware and able to recognise what they need and how to access it before they get to breaking point. “As a manager you need to be able to spot the signs of mental and physical fatigue in those around you, but it’s difficult to take good care of others if you’re not also looking after yourself,” agrees Smith.
“There are many resources that managers can now tap into, and some great support available. Sometimes you just need the self-awareness, the courage and the encouragement to reach out for it.”
Tony celebrates with Luis Johnson after the Super League game between Warrington Wolves and Hull Kingston Rovers.As we look back over 50 issues of The Manager, we also reflect on some of the most memorable moments in the life of the LMA over the same period, from conferences and masterclasses to awards and landmark events.
9th October 2012
16th July 2008
19th September 2008
1. LMA Chairman Howard Wilkinson and HRH Prince William at the St. George’s Park grand opening in 2012
2.
LMA Hall of Fame dinner with Sir Bobby Robson CBE at The Dorchester Hotel
3.
An audience with LMA members Sir Alex Ferguson CBE and Arsène Wenger OBE at Wembley Stadium
4. LMA Annual Awards 2010 at the Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London 10th May 2010
5.
The first LMA Annual Management Conference at London’s Cumberland Hotel 30th September 2010
6. LMA members support the Prince’s Trust Youth Programme 10th April 2010
7. LMA Dinner to induct José Mourinho into the LMA Hall of Fame at The Hilton Park Lane, London Sunday 21st November 2010
8. LMA member Gianfranco Zola OBE during the LMA / F&C Dinner at Stamford Bridge 1st December 2010
9.
The launch of the LMA’s Leadership book The Manager 29th August 2013
LMA
10.
LMA Annual Awards dinner 2011 at London Hilton, Park Lane
23rd May 2011
4th October 2011
LMA Hall of Fame Dinner in 2011 at Wembley Stadium
9th November 2011
11.
Dinner at The Etihad Stadium with Roberto Martínez and Tony Pulis
12.
13.
Dr Steve Peters at the LMA Annual Management Conference at The Emirates Stadium 12th October 2011
14.
An Insight into Sporting Success dinner at The Grosvenor, London 20th March 2012
15.
LMA Annual Management Conference with Michael Johnson 4th October 2012
17.
16.
The Annual Castrol LMA European Managers and Coaches Forum at St. George’s Park 13-15th January 2013
28th March 2017
18.
The LMA’s first corporate football tournament at St. George’s Park 27th September 2013
LMA member Alan Pardew hosts a coach education session for NSCAA
19.
LMA member Guus Hiddink takes part in a conference for Castrol in Berlin 9th May 2017
20.
LMA member Roy Hodgson CBE hosts a seminar for members and coaches 24th March 2009
21.
LMA Ambassadors have provided coach education sessions for long-standing LMA Partner Elite Soccer for over 10 years
22.
LMA member Antonio Conte takes part in a Q&A and dinner with LMA Corporate Partner Castrol
6th November 2018
23.
LMA members evening with Pep Guardiola at The Etihad Stadium
5th March 2019
24.
The LMA joins other football organisations to sign a joint Declaration committing to building a mentally healthy environment at all levels of the game as a lasting legacy of the Heads Up campaign
27th July 2020
3rd
27th
25.
LMA Board member Hope Powell CBE becomes the first manager from the women’s game to win LMA Performance of the Week 12th February 2021
26.
LMA members Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Tanya Oxtoby take part in a Q&A for Santander Universities at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 2019
27. Executive Vice President of MLB team Oakland Athletics Billy Beane takes part in a webinar as part of the LMA’s online series during lockdown
August 2020
28.
Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp are inducted to the LMA Hall of Fame at The Midland in Manchester 28th November 2019
29. The Red Arrows host a performance visit for LMA members 3rd March 2020
30.
LMA Corporate Partner GB Railfreight unveiled a newly named Class 66 locomotive in honour of its partnership with the LMA and Prostate Cancer UK
12th August 2021
31. Exclusive LMA masterclass at the Old Course Hotel, St. Andrews 13th November 2019
32.
LMA Ambassador Seema Jaswal hosts Santander X Entrepreneurship Awards at Wembley Stadium 4-6th October 2021
33.
LMA member Rafael Benítez hosts a study visit for a group of LMA members 5th September 2018
34.
LMA members using their influence to raise awareness of the ‘Shining a Light on Suicide’ campaign run by Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership 5th March 2021
35.
LMA members’ Autumn Leadership Forum at The Belfry 5th October 2021
36. England Rugby Head Coach Eddie Jones delivered an LMA Performance Experience for LMA members and coaches 8th March 2022
37. LMA European Senior Managers and Coaches Forum at Quinta Do Lago, Portugal 19-20th March 2019
39. LMA Annual Management Conference with Louis van Gaal at the British Museum, London 17th November 2015
38.
LMA Hall of Fame Dinner with Manuel Pellegrini 19th November 2014
The 2021-2022 season has seen a record number of health assessments completed since the LMA Wellness programme was first launched in 2002, with 242 health tests carried out in the past year. 2021-2022
John Toshack MBE, Carlo Ancelotti, Tony Pulis and Claudio Ranieri are inducted into the LMA Hall of Fame at the 2017 LMA President’s Dinner 7th December 2017
40.
41.
T HE W OR L D ' S MO ST E X T E NS I VE L IB R A RY OF P R OF E S S ION A L C O A CHING S E S S ION S AT YOUR F INGE R T IP S
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“ I w i s h I ’d ha d i t w he n I s t a r te d co a c hi n g ” S ir A l e x Fe r g u s o n CBE
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“ l l o ok f o r w a r d t o r e c e i v i n g e ve r y i s s u e ” J o s e M o u r in h o
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Words: Alice Hoey
Photography: Action Images
After a professional playing career of nearly 20 years, Michael Gilkes took his coaching badges, did some media work, and even qualified as a mortgage advisor before ending up back in the bosom of the club where he made his name, Reading. In February 2022, Academy Manager Gilkes was asked to work alongside Paul Ince in taking interim charge of the first team and is focused on one thing, hard graft.
I’VE BEEN INTERVIEWING FOR EACH NEW ROLE WITHOUT KNOWING IT. That’s the best way I can explain it. If you look at my career since I came back to Reading, I started out coaching the U14s part time before becoming Assistant U18s Coach to Dave Dodds, who I learned a great deal from. I then moved to the 21/23s with Martin Kuhl, and was fortunate to lead that side briefly before quickly moving up to the first team with Jaap Stam. I feel very fortunate to have worked with him, and later Paul Clement.
I looked at areas where Reading could improve how it operated and, having identified player pathways and its dealings with contracts and agents, I became Football Operations Manager at the club. When they approached me to become Academy Manager I jumped at it, but within months the Covid pandemic hit. That was a journey nobody could have planned for and it changed a lot of people’s lives. During that period, I helped with the first team, as the restrictions meant they needed more coaches, and manager Mark Bowen later invited me back.
OUR ACADEMY IS ALL ABOUT TRYING TO BUILD BETTER PEOPLE.
Obviously we want to help the
players perform the best they can on the pitch for our club and to do well elsewhere. However, not everybody’s path is going to be a straight one and we want to build strong characters who can respond well to positives and negatives. It’s really about preparing them for anything in life, not just in football.
That takes a team effort. When an academy player transitions to the first team, here or elsewhere, it’s not the result of just one person’s success, it’s all the staff who have been involved from the beginning. Yes, that player has to have talent, but they also have to be nurtured to be patient, resilient and to have a team mentality.
We all have quite different personalities, and I’m a great believer that, in whatever you do, your personality should shine through. You have to connect with people in order to work out how to get the best out of them. That can be a challenge sometimes, but it’s about give and take. I believe I’m not just here to manage the players, I’m here to learn from them as well.
On the courses I attend I meet many coaches and managers, some of whom have been in their
roles for many years. It’s great to be able to bounce ideas off them and learn from their experience. Advice isn’t the right word for what they offer; it’s continuous, freely available and welcoming. I’m fortunate to be around so many people who are willing to support me with open arms.
As well as rubber stamping some things that I already knew, it has taught me new tools and given me a better understanding of how to use them in my day-to-day role. For example, the importance of having the strength and understanding
to take a step back and listen rather than acting on emotion. I’ve learned to take all the information in, to evaluate and understand.
And that’s great. Everyone is trying to stay abreast of changes in the game and to keep improving. I think in this country we tend to be open to ways to improve as coaches, and as long as we’ve got that passion for learning there is so much we can learn from our peers. There’s one thing we can learn from foreign coaches, in particular. Many of them speak at least two languages, and that puts them in a stronger position in terms of their careers. It’s one area where we don’t always fulfill our potential in England.
But, while I could say I want to manage a first team, or achieve this or that, most of all I’m just really focused on working hard. That’s always been my goal, and I think so long as you’re doing that the rest should sort itself out. I believe I still have a lot to offer the game so I’ll keep on ‘interviewing’, because you never know what’s around the corner.
Words: Alice Hoey
Photography: Action Images
While there’s now a real desire to ensure organisations are diverse and inclusive, lasting change will require more than good intentions, it will need education, transparency and good leadership.
When George Floyd was murdered in police custody in May 2020 it brought to the fore issues that had been much talked about, but precious little acted upon, during the preceding decades. The public outcry that followed Floyd’s death, largely under the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement, initiated deeper conversations around inequality, diversity and inclusion, and in some areas at least this has started to bear fruit.
Speaking in The Manager, Wendy Cartwright, Chair Advisory Board of the Global Diversity Practice and former HR Director for the Olympic Delivery Authority, said, “The events around that time resonated and reverberated in a way that made us think about our own backgrounds and privileges in a different way. The narrative has moved on and there’s now a greater understanding of the complexities of the issues involved, but organisations have found some parts easier to address than others and it needs to keep momentum if we are to continue to address barriers to people’s opportunities to progress, learn and develop.”
Cartwright is one of a number of people we’ve invited over the years to share their expertise and experience in this area. They have spoken about the importance, and challenges,
of workplaces becoming both diverse – i.e. employing people from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds – and inclusive, treating all of those employees with dignity and respect.
However, Sky’s Director of People Experience, Tracey Waters, spoke about the need also for equity. “Equity is often confused with equality, but whereas the latter is when everyone gets the same, equity is about recognising that actually everyone’s needs are different. It’s about giving people the right support so that everyone has the same opportunities to achieve the same goal.”
That’s important, because seeking to treat everyone fairly and avoid discrimination is not the same thing as wanting or encouraging everyone to be the same. There’s growing recognition that having a diverse team that celebrates the different backgrounds and perspectives within it brings considerable competitive advantages.
“Instead of hiring more brilliant, but similar, people, we need to look actively for differences,” said Stephen Frost, founder of Frost Included, a consultancy dedicated to helping people understand diversity and inclusion. “We need diversity now more than ever. We need
There’s growing recognition that having a diverse team that celebrates the different backgrounds and perspectives within it brings considerable competitive advantages.Tottenham Hotspur Academy Head of Coaching Chris Powell, pictured taking part in a training session with the England National Team in his other role.
// Action Images
Take something as simple as an HR professional sifting through CVs. In one study, researchers sent out multiple CVs that were identical apart from the names at the top - names that might give some indication of the gender or race of the candidates. The researchers found that recruiters were analysing the information in each CV differently according to the name at the top.
Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw takes the knee before the Women’s League Cup Semi Final between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur at the Manchester City Academy Stadium.
to enlarge the toolbox at an organisation’s disposal to help solve the ever-changing challenges the organisation faces.”
The best innovations and problem solving, he explained, often result from a crosspollination of ideas across an organisation’s diverse workforce, rather than from brainstorming within a heterogeneous group. But Sky Sports’ presenter and founder of the Racing Media Academy Josh Apiafi went further, saying it’s not just an advantage to have a varied demographic; it’s incredibly unhealthy not to. This is a particular problem, he pointed out, at board level where long tenures can mean inertia in an organisation for many years. “The world’s most successful organisations are those with the most diverse workforces,” he said. “When everyone is from similar backgrounds, you don’t get diverse thinking or a diverse range of perspectives and experiences.”
Diversity in your team can also be a real contributor to creativity, added Cirque du Soleil Vice President Bernard Petiot. “It enables us to show the full spectrum of human capability. Sometimes it can be a challenge to manage people from very different cultural backgrounds, but ultimately they work well together because
they are all pursuing the same objective.”
It would be easy to assume, then, that all an organisation needs to do to become an inclusive employer and reap the benefits is change its recruitment and retention practices, but it’s not so simple. Despite all our best intentions, when it comes to recruiting a diverse workforce and providing them with equal opportunities to shine, unconscious biases mean we often fall short.
Professor Binna Kandola, Partner and Co-founder of Pearn Kandola, is a highly respected business psychologist who has written a number of critically acclaimed books on diversity, gender imbalance and unconscious bias in organisations. He explained in the Manager that these subtle biases pervade work and society.
“Take something as simple as an HR professional sifting through CVs,” said Kandola. “In one study, researchers sent out multiple CVs that were identical apart from the names at the top - names that might give some indication of the gender or race of the candidates. The researchers found that recruiters were analysing the information in each CV differently according to the name at the top.”
Another similar study, this time using eye-tracking technology revealed that if the name of an applicant suggested they were from a minority group then HR managers would spend more time on the negative information in the CV than they would for a majority group candidate.
In his column, Russell Watters, Interactive Learning Solutions, talked about the importance of reviewing internal practices regularly to try to root out such biases and ensure that those staff you have recruited are managed fairly and consistently.
“Our bias, conscious or unconscious, can influence the decisions we make when looking to promote, develop and recognise people within the organisation,” he said. “If people feel undervalued, sidelined or discriminated against, they may decide to move on, reducing the diversity of the workforce. This can happen when senior staff favour people who share their own characteristics or views, people who ‘get it’, or who they consider ‘safe’ and easy to talk to or work with.”
He pointed also to research by Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion, which found that managers are anxious about ‘saying the wrong thing’ to team members who are different from them. “They talk less to those people as a result and so have
poorer working relationships with them, and are less likely to think of them when it comes to handing out assignments or promotions.”
Kandola says the first step to minimising our unconscious biases, thereby levelling the playing field, is to be more self-aware. “It’s important to recognise that we are all biased,” he says. “The world isn’t divided up into biased and non-biased people, it’s divided up into the people who recognise their biases and those who think they have none. One of the biggest obstacles to tackling bias and prejudice is a lack of selfreflection, a lack of willingness to accept that bias might be part of your decision making.”
Many FTSE 100 firms have already rolled out unconscious bias training in an attempt to raise awareness among employees of their hidden biases. This training will include ways to avoid giving preference to those who seem like us in terms of age, gender, race or academia, and developing a core value system based on fair treatment and respect.
Speaking in the Manager some months after the death of George Floyd, Chris Powell was cautiously positive about the mood and appetite for change, in sport and wider society.
“There’s now much greater awareness of unconscious biases and of the need to understand people’s cultural differences and what they may have been through, but it’s time to act on it,” he said, adding that transparency will be key. “Any changes need to be made public, because if it all goes on behind closed doors there’s a real risk that we’ll be discussing this issue again in five years’ time. If we’re to avoid another false dawn and see enduring change it will require ongoing education and, perhaps most of all, strong leadership.”
As part of its ongoing partnership with Santander Universities, the LMA is supporting Union Black, a free online course run by Santander Universities and the Open University, which focuses on Britain’s black cultures and steps to antiracism.
LMA Ambassadors Seema Jaswal, Hayley McQueen, Fabrice Muamba, Kate Richardson-Walsh and Alan Shearer have supported the campaign on behalf of the LMA.
Kate Richardson-Walsh and Fabrice Muamba took part in a panel webinar titled “Racism in Sport: A Discussion” and were joined by Prof. Marcia Wilson – Dean of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the Open University. Sports broadcaster and presenter Ayo Akinwolere hosted the session, discussing racism in UK sport and the possibilities of equity that allyship and antiracism can bring to university sports team and beyond.
Sky Sports’ presenter and founder of the Racing Media Academy Josh Apiafi.
01 Kate Richardson-Walsh
OBE and Fabrice Muamba
took part in a panel webinar for Santander Universities. The panel, Racism in Sport: A Discussion, was in support of Union Black, a free online course run by Santander Universities and the Open University, which focuses on Britain’s black cultures and steps to anti-racism.
02 LMA Ambassadors Nigel Adkins, Phil Brown, Alan Curbishley, Ian Holloway, Harry Kewell, Paul Lambert, Sammy Lee and Mick McCarthy supported the Euro Car Parts Football Tournament at St. George’s Park.
03 LMA Board Committee member Chris Hughton supported an EFL team leadership course at EFL House.
04 Harry Redknapp took part in a Q&A, hosted by Sky Sports Presenter Hayley McQueen, for Citygate.
05 Neil Warnock delivered an online Q&A interview for UCFB students and alumni.
06 LMA Member Alex Neil took part in a podcast interview with longstanding LMA Partner Elite Soccer.
07 LMA Ambassadors Harry Kewell and Jody Morris attended an event at Nike Town, Oxford Street, to preview the Carabao Cup Final.
01 LMA Diploma
So far in 2022, the LMA Diploma has hosted three sessions at St. George’s Park. The current cohort has taken part in masterclasses on Football Finance, High Performance Culture and Building Backroom Teams.
02 LMA Masterclass with Steve Martin
LMA facilitator and behavioural scientist Steve Martin delivered a session for LMA members titled ‘The First 10 Games: Making Your Mark and Leading with Influence’. The online masterclass explored
how you can influence those in your ‘Influence Universe’, including the board, players and fans.
LMA Performance Visits
03 In February, LMA members were invited to spend the day at the training facility of Rugby League team Hull Kingston Rovers, where they watched the squad training in preparation for their next fixture.
04 England Rugby Head Coach
Eddie Jones delivered an LMA Performance Experience visit for LMA members and coaches in March. Members were able to
watch England Rugby train ahead of their Six Nations match against Ireland, followed by a lunch and debrief with Jones.
05 LMA Webinar with Geoff Thomas
In February, the LMA hosted a webinar with former England footballer Geoff Thomas, who after being diagnosed with leukaemia was given three months to live. Thomas shared his inspiring story of resilience and determination and talked about how he is now raising money to beat blood cancers.
LMA Member and UEFA Technical Observer Aitor Karanka presented and answered questions during the recent UEFA European Championships 2020 Technical Report hosted by the LMA. // Action Images
The LMA hosted an online session in November covering the key findings of the UEFA European Championships 2020 Technical Report. The session included a keynote presentation and Q&A from Thomas Cooper, UEFA Match & Performance Analyst, and Aitor Karanka, LMA Member and UEFA Technical Observer.
Host Mark Clemmit was joined in this LMA Technical Panel by three experts, Tony Elliott, Owen Coyle Jr and Bobby Coltman, who discussed the technical nuances of coaching elite disabled players across multiple disciplines.
The key is to adopt the kind of High Performance Routine (HPR) adopted by our athletes, where stress is not something that happens to us, it’s something to be actively harnessed.
To do this, we need to divide the day into four stages, starting with Preparation. At the start of each day we need to mentally prepare to focus, identify priorities, and expose ourselves to daylight. These actions promote feelings of calm and alertness, and get us ready for stage two, Focus.
Here, we actively seek to harness stress, which for most of us means taking advantage of the morning spike in cortisol, when we’re most alert and levels of
Dr Rob Archer Cognacity’s UK Director, Chartered Psychologist
If you’ve abandoned your New Year’s resolution already, you’re far from alone. Despite our best intentions, many of us fall back into routines where we exercise less, and work harder and longer, often without any real structure or boundaries. We ignore our biological and psychological rhythms and our need for recovery, and ‘push on through’, and this has a huge impact on physical and mental health.
psychological resistance are low. Actions to enhance focus include minimising distractions, working to deadlines (short sprints rather than one long slog) and protecting time in the calendar, preferably at a time of day when you have most energy.
Stage three, the Warm Down, is key to optimal recovery. To get it right, set a cut off time to help with mental separation and look ahead - making a plan for the next day will allow some mental rehearsal, which will also lower anxiety overnight.
Establish a digital sunset and minimise your exposure to light from this point on, as this will promote further mental
separation and encourage the production of melatonin. All of this helps with stage 4, Recovery.
Recovery is not just ‘not working at my desk’. It generally involves three things: variety, physical movement and sleep. Sleep is fundamental to mental health and performance, and one extra hour of work is rarely worth an hour less of sleep.
An HPR such as this can be a real driver of performance, turning stress into something more positive, but it’s best not to try to tackle everything at once. Start small, be targeted and you’ll find even small tweaks can make a huge difference.
Words: Alice Hoey
Photography: Action Images
Dr Sally Harris reflects on some of the physical health topics we’ve covered over the years and the areas she believes to be more relevant than ever.
In any high-performance environment, physical health and wellbeing is a top priority. Sick, tired, unfit team members are never going to be able to give you the performance and output you want, so you give them the coaching, advice and support they need to stay in all-round peak condition.
It’s only relatively recently, however, that the mirror has been flipped and the same principles have been applied to the managers themselves. Diet, alcohol consumption, stress, work-life balance and sleep are key performance factors that affect the leadership skills of decision-making, focus,
empathy and resilience and can, ultimately, impact on the manager’s staying power.
More attention has also been paid over the past 10 years or so to the particular risks that managers at the top face – the all-consuming, high-pressure nature of the job, the long, sometimes irregular hours, the travel – all of which makes it difficult for them to follow the kind of health and lifestyle advice they give to their teams.
Over the years, supporting the physical health and wellbeing of its members has been a growing branch of the LMA’s work, and
this has been reflected in The Manager.
Heart disease was the first physical health topic to be covered and, over the past 50 issues, has been the most revisited. For good reason; it is responsible for a quarter of all deaths in the UK and, with clear links to stress, it has been perhaps the most publicised health topic in relation to managers at the top.
The LMA’s Fit to Manage programme was launched in 2002 to address this and other health concerns, and more recently it has been working with HCA Healthcare UK to offer
every member a comprehensive annual health screening. This includes physiological assessments, blood tests, a prostate examination and a full ECG and cardiac assessment. With the average age of managers decreasing, many of those coming to her clinic now fall into a lower risk bracket for heart disease, but that doesn’t mean they can be complacent.
“Given there are multiple risk factors for managers of all ages and at all levels, heart disease is still high on my agenda when screening,” says Dr Harris, who carries out the majority of screenings and acts as GP to many LMA members. “We know that the cortisol produced in times of stress can be very damaging, as can high cholesterol levels in the blood. Managers in elite sport often work long, irregular hours, so may not eat as well as they should nor afford themselves enough time to exercise. They may also use alcohol as a way of dealing with their stress, which then affects their sleep, which prevents them from coping as well the following day, and so on.”
What’s key, she adds, is that we become more aware of ourselves so we can recognise the signs that we’re struggling, whether that’s not sleeping well, missing exercise classes, or feeling frustrated and overwhelmed at
home or work. “It’s very easy to blame work when this happens, but it’s important to look also at what else is going on in your life,” says Dr Harris. “When you reach a tipping point, it’s rarely down to one cause, but rather an accumulation of them.”
In other words, while the LMA does a great job of reminding its members of the importance of things like not smoking, eating a balanced diet, and getting enough sleep and exercise, walking the talk can be a challenge for managers. In the grip of a tough season, work-life balance can all too easily tip the wrong way.
Finding the two hours it takes to be screened means managers remain aware both of their key health numbers and the risks, risks that may not immediately show themselves, but that can accumulate over a period of time. “It’s important not to be complacent, even as a young manager,” says Dr Harris.
“Sometimes people from sporting backgrounds feel they’ve been over-screened as athletes, albeit for different things, or may rebel a little after a very controlled youth. So we need, for example, to keep talking about the dangers of cigarettes,” she says. “Just because you haven’t smoked since you were 16 or you were phenomenally fit as a player
Members have benefited from an LMA physical health assessment since August 2019.
Remember, asking for help has never been a sign of weakness. On the contrary, it’s a sign of strength.
For some, health screening provides simple peace of mind, for others it is a catalyst to seek further help or make lifestyle changes. For a small number it is lifesaving.
Having not attended a screening for three years, Paul Simpson, Manager at Carlisle United, finally booked a pre-season appointment with Dr Sally Harris. When the blood tests showed up some worrying anomalies, Simpson was sent for a CT scan, which led to a diagnosis just two days later of a cancerous tumour on his kidney.
“Within hours I was talking it through with the doctor, but there was no negativity,” he says. “All the focus was on how they’d sort it and the timeframes involved.”
The surgery to remove his kidney was a success and, thanks to the early intervention, Simpson’s is one of cancer’s good news stories.
doesn’t protect you against the dangers of smoking, which is strongly linked to heart disease and every kind of cancer.”
Of these cancers, it is prostate cancer that is of greatest concern for male managers and, via the LMA’s partnership with Prostate Cancer UK, The Manager has helped to raise awareness in recent years. While it’s a subject that has risen up the agenda, outside and inside of sport, the conversation needs to be ongoing if we’re to keep preventing unnecessary deaths.
“Prostate cancer is treatable if caught early,” says Dr Harris. “It’s often seen as an older man’s disease, and it’s true that 75 per cent of men at 75 have prostate cancer, although actually it appears nowhere near that often on death certificates. However, it’s in young people where it’s most important that we spot the signs of cancers such as this, because the higher turnover of cells means it is likely to be more aggressive.”
As part of their LMA screening, members can have a blood test and a rectal examination, which has already helped to identify several cases of prostate cancer among members. “Some people still decline the examination,” says Dr Harris, “but until we get to a point where the blood test alone is 100 per cent reliable at
detecting prostate cancer, it is important that we do both.”
In terms of physical health more widely, she believes there’s now greater awareness of the value of screening in the UK. “Whereas once we only went to the doctor when we felt unwell, there’s growing recognition that screening, and screening at intervals so you can track changes, can identify issues before they become big problems,” she says.
“If you can spot the signs of prostate cancer early, for example, it is very treatable, while if you catch high cholesterol while it’s just on the tipping point of concern, dietary changes and exercise may mean you avoid needing a statin.”
Finally, the discussion you have with your doctor around your medical history, family history and lifestyle can be hugely valuable in itself, spurring you on to make small changes that can have a significant positive impact in the long term.
“Ultimately, if you can make even one small change after each screening then over the next 10 years you’ll have made a huge difference to your health and wellbeing,” says Dr Harris. “And remember, asking for help has never been a sign of weakness. On the contrary, it’s a sign of strength.”
Photography: Action Images
Even tips and advice in brief can be the catalyst for change. Here, we’ve condensed even further some of the most important topics we’ve covered.
Teams with strong cohesion believe they have something special that other teams don’t, so find common threads –shared passions, dreams or pastimes. Foster an emotional connection, create a story and draw on the club’s heritage. Engineer situations where you help each other out, and ask high-status or experienced individuals to go the extra mile and demonstrate some altruism for the team. Break up cliques and silos, share standards, and promote inclusion and mutual respect.
Good targets are solid, realistic, measurable and have set deadlines. Give them structure, breaking them down into achievable bitesize pieces, then lay out the stages towards achieving your end-point. For each step, who should be responsible and when should expect to see results? Give people individual targets to hit – even if ultimately they contribute to a wider organisational goal – to promote a sense of ownership and value.
Make use of the experienced professionals you’ve surrounded yourself with, and speak out when you need help, because people are not mind-readers. Find the right person for the job - someone with the right knowledge and experience to really be of help and with the time to do it justice. Give them ample instruction, so you don’t have to correct errors and to ensure the other person gains something from the experience. Always show gratitude.
Managers who set aside their egos and get stuck in gain the respect of their teams, build camaraderie and instil a hard-work ethic. Leaders should embody the culture and brand of the team, so remain polite and respectful, being careful how you speak about others. Leaders who shoulder the responsibility for failures rather than pointing the finger demonstrate the importance of putting the team above individual members and engender trust and unity.
Sticking to a tried and tested formula might feel safe, but it stops us from thinking creatively. To innovate, turn off autopilot and venture out of your comfort zone. Have your finger on the pulse, asking what your competitors are doing and why, and take time to analyse and trial. Foster an innovation mindset in your team, and a culture of psychological safety, where people feel free to express ideas and take risks.
The best mental exercises for building memory are those that test the brain in new ways and provide a genuine challenge. Physical exercise helps the brain stay alert and the memory sharp by increasing the supply of blood and oxygen, while sufficient quality sleep is important in the consolidation of memories. Chronic stress, meanwhile, interferes with each of the stages of memory processingencoding, consolidation and retrieval. A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, pulses, olive oil, nuts, oily fish and lean protein can help to boost brainpower and memory.
When alone at an event, try to identify someone else in the same situation, extend a hand and break the ice. Ask something that allows them to talk about themselves. Before an event, browse the headlines or gen up on topics that might be of particular interest to those present, enough to kick-start a conversation. Be prepared to answer ‘what do you do?’ and ‘what are you up to at the moment?’ with clear, positive and confident responses. Be passionate about any projects or endeavours you have underway.
Repeating a skill over and over is good for closed skills, but open skills require you to constantly change the parameters, ramp up the pressure and change the stimuli. Don’t just hone the skills you’re good at, target your areas of weakness with purposeful, systematic practice. This should be difficult, interesting and varied. Set personal goals and track your progress.
Words: Alice Hoey
Photography: Action Images
Poor mental health and wellbeing can impact heavily on our professional and personal lives, but with greater understanding and self-awareness we can help ourselves and others.
One in four of us will suffer from a mental health problem at some point in our lives, and the other three will experience at least one of a range of issues that affect mental wellbeing. Mental ill health is therefore not something that happens to other people, nor does it have anything to do with weakness. It can affect anyone.
There has, thankfully, been a growing awareness of these realities in recent years and the negative stigma and outdated perceptions once attached to mental health have largely been lifted. Understanding around how to manage mental wellbeing has also improved.
Writing in The Manager in 2018, Dr Libby Artingstall from Team Mental Health said that over the previous years she’d asked many people what they first think of when someone says the words ‘mental health’. “The most frequent answers tend to be ‘depression’, ‘anxiety’ and ‘suicide’,” she said, “but over time these have started to be replaced by statements such as ‘wellness’, ‘being mentally healthy’ and ‘achieving’.”
Sue Baker OBE, Director of Time to Change, also reported seeing things moving in the right direction, in particular in terms of public attitudes around mental illness and levels of discrimination towards those it
affects. “There is still, however, a gap between what we see for men and women,” she added, “with far higher rates of suicide, for example, among the former.”
Positive changes have been afoot in the workplace, too, although again there are gaps to fill. “While organisations have improved how they respond to mental health problems among their staff, work still needs to be done in terms of awareness of preventative measures,” said Steve Johnson, Wellbeing Science Institute.
Johnson shared his views on the need for a more holistic approach to wellbeing, but said that unlike athletes, who are surrounded by professionals ready to spot the signs of mental health issues and provide support, people in highpressure, high-stress roles such as management, tend to be on their own. The onus is, therefore, on them to be far more proactive about taking care of themselves, personally, psychologically, socially and physically.
“Physical fitness, diet, sleep, relationships – ideally you need all of this in place before you take the job, because once you’ve let these things lapse it’s much harder to get back to a positive place,” he says. “It’s important to recognise that the ill-effects, then, will not just be on you, but on the people you are leading, all of whom depend on you.
Physical fitness, diet, sleep, relationships – ideally you need all of this in place before you take the job.Dr Libby Artingstall Team Mental Health Sue Baker OBE Director of Time to Change
“Ultimately, your whole person wellbeing is essential for your resilience and performance and is critical to your effectiveness in the role.”
Among the mental health problems that people encounter, depression and anxiety are two of the most common and both are linked to the kind of prolonged stress that managers often feel. While managers can do little to change the nature of the job, efforts to improve their resilience, and better manage their time and mental energy can help to safeguard their mental wellbeing against some of its ill-effects.
Self-awareness, too, is essential, enabling managers to recognise the signs of increased stress before things begin to snowball. “Mood can spiral downwards and, if problems are not properly acknowledged and addressed, mental health issues such as low mood can become mental illnesses,” says LMA Medical Consultant Dr Allan Johnston. “It’s important, therefore, to be aware of how you’re feeling and note any changes in your behaviour or mood.”
Dr Artingstall agrees that early identification is key, as it enables those experiencing difficulties to seek the right support, at the right time and in the right setting. “We know that early
intervention can reduce the risk of a crisis developing. Unfortunately, misunderstanding and stigma associated with mental ill health can prevent people from seeking support when in need,” she adds. “The more that we are able to educate and encourage conversations, the more we can break down the barriers that misunderstanding and misconceptions create.
“Other factors that can serve to protect against mental health problems and limit the impact of a mental illness should it develop include good physical health, self-confidence and self-esteem, and good problem-solving and communication skills, says Artingstall. “Support from family and friends, a sense of belonging and equality have also been found to be important.”
But of course, looking after your mental health is not just about prevention and minimising risks. Mental wellbeing exists on a spectrum, starting at someone who is happy, self-confident, in great relationships, resilient, stress-free and productive and continuing all the way to the other extreme.
“It’s worth remembering that if we do the right things, our mental wellbeing can spiral in a positive direction, so even if you consider your mental health to be good, it could probably
be better,” says Dr Johnston. “We should always be looking for ways to maintain or improve our mental wellbeing, just as we might our physical health.”
Biological, psychological and social actions can all make a positive difference, he adds.
“You could try to develop a better sleep routine, eat more healthily and avoid maladaptive behaviours for stress, like drinking alcohol excessively, smoking or gambling. You could take more regular exercise, speak more to friends and family who you trust, and be proactive about your personal and professional development.”
In essence, looking after your whole person wellbeing is essential if you want to be mentally resilient in the face of setbacks, disappointments and crisis and help to minimise the risk of small setbacks becoming personal crises. But it’s too late to think of it once that crisis or setback has hit, points out Johnston. The groundwork - the stabilisers and growth tools that help you deal with situations - need to be in place already. You’re then in the best possible position to not just keep your mental wellbeing on track but keep moving it in an even more positive direction.
In his piece on depression and low mood in The Manager, Dr Allan Johnston spoke of the importance of being able to recognise the support that’s available to you, to access it when necessary and to feel grateful for it. Known as ‘perceived social support’, this has, he says, been found to be one of the main components of resilience.
Conducting a personal support audit, where you think about who you would turn to for support, what you would turn to them for, how you would contact them and what they are able to provide, can be particularly helpful here.
Remember that, through the LMA Wellness programme, LMA members and their families have access to world-leading healthcare professionals and specialist clinicians across all areas of wellbeing. Members are offered regular bespoke health assessments, personal lifestyle guidance, and 1-to-1 mental and emotional wellbeing support, 24/7.
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Since its launch in February 2021, progress has been made across all areas of the Action Plan, which outlines a series of commitments building on existing work to tackle discrimination and embed equality across all areas of the game.
Developments include new programmes to enhance coaching career opportunities, a focus on improving diversity of the workforce and the Premier League’s continued efforts to tackle discriminatory abuse online and at matches.
Tackling online abuse remains a priority for the League, its clubs and football partners.
The Premier League operates an online abuse reporting system, which launched in June 2020, and sees a specialist team investigate each incident reported with legal action taken where appropriate.
The central reporting system will now be made available to fans directly via a ‘click to report’ link on club websites. This will be introduced over the coming months so fans can easily report any discriminatory abuse they see directed at players, managers or match officials online.
Evidence filed will be sent directly to the Premier League’s central investigations team who
then liaise with the club, social media companies and relevant law enforcement authorities to take action.
“The No Room For Racism Action Plan provides a clear focus for our work as we continue our commitment to tackling discrimination and promoting equality,” says Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters. “While we are pleased with the progress we are making across football, we know that significant change takes time and there is still much more we need to do to ensure equality is fully embedded across all areas of the game.
“We will continue to work with our clubs and football partners as we collectively seek to make significant change and ensure football is a welcoming and inclusive environment for all. It’s hugely important we continue to move in the right direction and develop these pathways and visibility across all areas.”
Darren Moore, Chair of the Premier League Black Participants’ Advisory Group, added, “We have seen good progress over the past 12 months in tackling discrimination and creating more opportunities for players and coaches from currently underrepresented groups in the professional game.
“It’s hugely important that we continue to move in the right direction and develop these pathways and visibility across all areas. We need everyone to play their part in that too; whether that’s through education or reporting discrimination wherever they see it.”
The Action Plan is embedded across all Premier League activity, supporting the League’s ongoing No Room For Racism initiative. It has been closely coordinated with the principles of The FA’s Football Leadership Diversity Code, which is integrated into the Premier League Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Standard that clubs
have worked to achieve over the last seven years.
Since launching in March 2019, No Room For Racism has brought together the League’s work against racial discrimination.
Match rounds highlight the ongoing action undertaken by the League and clubs and are dedicated to messaging, which urges fans to take action, to challenge and report racism. Players have supported the development of a series of diversity and inclusion education resources, which are provided for fans and school children.
Taking place just 24 hours after International Women’s Day, the nationwide sessions raised awareness of the importance of unlocking equal opportunities for girls to participate in football in schools. A record 1,450 primary and secondary schools took part and, with the support of The FA’s delivery partner, Youth Sport Trust, were provided with resources from the England Football Physical Education team to deliver the bespoke sessions.
The Biggest Ever Football Session is part of the Let Girls Play campaign, which launched last year to support The FA’s strategic aim to have 75 per cent of schools providing equal access to football for girls in PE lessons by 2024 (currently 63 per cent) and 90 per cent of schools offering regular extracurricular
football (currently 40 per cent). The campaign is backed by Barclays as part of its record-breaking investment in women and girls’ football and commitment to the game. The majority of schools who hosted a session are part of the Barclays Girls’ Football School Partnerships, a programme run by Barclays and The FA, which aims to influence key decision makers within schools and support the training of teachers.
“We launched our strategic ambition and Let Girls Play campaign to raise awareness of the importance of providing girls with equal access to football and seeing so many schools unite on this across the country is fantastic,” says FA Head of Development Louise Gear.
“With it being such a huge year for women’s football in this
country, more girls than ever will feel inspired to play football and The FA and Barclays want to play an important part in that.”
Former England international and Barclays football ambassador Kelly Smith MBE adds, “The girls were so excited to be part of the session and knowing thousands of other girls were doing the same across the country made it even more special. We’ve seen first hand the benefits of children playing football from an early age, not just physically, but mentally, so it was important for us to be part of this momentous occasion.”
To find out more about the campaign and how you can help more girls have access to football in schools follow Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using #LetGirlsPlay
Over 90,000 girls from schools across England joined in with the FA and Barclays’ inaugural Biggest Ever Football Session as part of the Let Girls Play campaign.
As well as being home to all the England football teams, St. George’s Park is mission control for England Football Learning and it hosts the UEFA Pro Licence, which has already launched the careers of many elite managers.
Another of the many courses offered by England Football Learning and hosted at SGP is the IP2C course, which gives international players the chance to undergo the highest standard of coaching training, helping them transition from elite player to elite coach.
SGP hosted the England Women’s Deaf team training camp, with players making use of the pitches, gym, recovery and hydrotherapy facilities, and taking part in classroom-based tactical and technical briefings.
SGP is helping to create opportunities for disabled footballers in line with The FA’s Football Your Way strategy, for which SGP is providing a home for world-class coaching, elite facilities and support services.
The sun rises on another busy day at St. George’s Park - home of all the England National Football teams. // Action Images
Dean Calaz, Regional Managing Director for Kerry London, reflects, “The success of any partnership can, of course, be measured in years. That is one simple measure of how an adaptive working relationship has created a strong client and partner alignment. Building longevity in any partnership, however, goes far beyond ensuring any product or service meets the requirements of a client. For me, it lies in a unique combination of values and service – trust, quality, and capability – that align the insurance advice Kerry London offers to the needs of the membership of the LMA.”
At Kerry London, enabling connections is core to our business purpose. This is more
than just meeting people and providing expert insurance advice. It’s how we build trust, build relationships, look after our clients, insurers and colleagues. This is one of the reasons why the partnership with the LMA continues to thrive. Our shared purpose is as close to the needs of the LMA members today as when the partnership began.
According to the LMA, “Kerry London has provided its members with a trusted, comprehensive insurance offering. They understand the need for insurance advice that is both discreet and confidential, as well as one where there is an affinity with the unique requirements of our members. It is a balance they strike consistently, and we’re
proud to have continued our partnership.”
Kerry London is both an independent and a Lloyd’s of London accredited broker, it can arrange comprehensive cover for complex risks from the world’s most trusted market.
Calaz comments, “The Sport & Leisure team in Kerry London counts several ex-professional sports players within the team. They still spend their time immersed in the world of sport, but today it’s about building specialist insurance knowledge rather than sports training. Their deep market understanding, both of the sector and those who work within it, enable them to provide comprehensive solutions based on your unique risks.”
Kerry London specialises in providing travel cover for the Sporting industry. With over 35 years’ experience, and as a Lloyd’s of London accredited broker, Kerry London is wellpositioned to offer bespoke insurance advice for individuals and their families.
From one-off trips to multi-travel solutions, we provide insurance designed to cover medical expenses, trip cancellation or lost luggage.
Kerry London is proud to be the trusted insurance broker to the LMA. We take care getting to know your exact insurance needs; where you are going, how long you are going for and what you will be doing when you get there. Our service doesn’t stop there. Should you need to make a claim, our in-house specialist team will manage it for you quickly and efficiently.
Tel: 01923 211290
Email: lma@kerrylondon.co.uk
Web: www.kerrylondon.co.uk
Arbuthnot Latham’s Nick Gornall examines the rising trend in alternative investments, where you can get a return by indulging your passions.
Alternative investments are those that don’t fall into one of the more conventional investment categories, such as shares and bonds, and among those performing best over the past 10 years are rare whisky, classic cars, wine, handbags, watches and art. As with any investment, the value of these alternative investments can rise and fall, and tends in particular to be affected by changes in future consumer sentiment and the impact of technology.
At Arbuthnot Latham we have an asset finance subsidiary, Renaissance Asset Finance (RAF), which specialises in helping to finance a range of alternative assets, including classic cars and supercars. To take these cars as an example, we’ve seen a lack of new stock coming through, which has driven the price of used stock up and increased waiting times for new vehicles. While this will undoubtedly change, we don’t expect it to happen for at least the next few years.
Another consideration is the potential impact of electric cars on people’s buying behaviour. A recent US survey suggested that, by 2030, over half of all cars sold Stateside will be electric, and we can expect a similar trend here in the UK.
For some, buying an EV will be an investment based on passion, a passion for protecting the environment. For others,
however, issues such as the limited range and speed of EVs, their production and recycling of the battery remain sticking points. The level of technology needed to maintain these vehicles may also mean that older models become obsolete more quickly and lose their value as the technology improves.
It’s worth considering what all this might mean for traditional petrol-fuelled cars based on conventional engineering. If they remain easier to maintain, are less dependent on new technology and, moreover, become increasingly rare, might their value rise?
For many, an investment into a well built luxury car or supercar is not only a joy today, but proves to be a store of value. I take comfort from the sale at Bonhams of the 1932 Bugatti Type 55, which commanded a healthy auction price of over $7m – proof that many things improve with age despite the advance of technology.
LMA Members wanting a review of their current car collection or considering refinancing or purchasing a new car are entitled to a free consultation with one of our relationship managers at Renaissance Asset Finance.
Please contact Nick Gornall, Head of Business Development, at nickgornall@arbuthnot.co.uk or call on 07341 088163.
Arbuthnot Latham is the Private & Commercial Banking Partner of the LMA.
You should seek professional advice before making any investment decision. The value of investments and the income from them can fall and rise, and you could get back less than you invest. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Investment returns may increase or decrease as a result of currency fluctuations.
Arbuthnot Latham & Co., Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.
Renaissance Asset Finance Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arbuthnot Latham and Co., Limited and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Any lending provided will be unregulated.
Source: https://content.knightfrank.com/ research/83/documents/en/thewealth-report-2021-7865.pdf
25 years on from the tragic Hillsborough disaster, Anfield pauses to remember the 96 fans that didn’t return home before the Premier League fixture between Liverpool and Manchester City.
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Over the past 50 issues, The Manager has featured some iconic imagery from key moments in football and wider sport. These are a few of the highlights.
The first ever LMA AGM at Park Lane Hotel, London. This marked the beginning of the League Managers Association. Sunday 7th June, 1936.
Sir Alex Ferguson CBE acknowledges the travelling Manchester United supporters after his final game in charge before retiring from management, after a remarkable 5-5 draw at The Hawthorns.
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Against all the odds Claudio Ranieri and Leicester City celebrate winning the 2015/16 Premier League at the King Power Stadium, after a remarkable campaign.
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In a historic moment, Aston Villa and Sheffield United take the knee as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease.
England Manager Gareth Southgate OBE looks to the sky in celebration after England’s historic knockout victory against Germany in the UEFA EURO 2020 Round of 16 at Wembley Stadium.
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Wembley Way is deserted on FA Cup Final day, after the match was postponed following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease.
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In an emotional moment, NHS staff from Watford General Hospital receive a round of applause from fans at half time during the Premier League game at Vicarage Road between Watford and Aston Villa. // Action Images
Football Stands Together with Ukraine, with clubs up and down the country united in showing support for the country after the invasion from Russia.
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