Legacy

by James Kerr

For rugby, like business and like much of life, is played primarily in the mind.

The haka reminds us of the inherent fragility of all life. How little time is given to each of us. And how much we still have to do. It reminds us: This is our time.

Never be too big to do the small things that need to be done

He’s a man who knows men, how they think, how they work, how to get the best from them; the guts of this team.

The challenge is to always improve, to always get better, even when you are the best. Especially when you are the best.

It’s an ‘example of personal discipline’

‘It’s not expecting somebody else to do your job for you. It teaches you not to expect things to be handed to you.’ ‘If you have personal discipline in your life,’ he says, ‘then you are going to be more disciplined on the field.

A collection of talented individuals without personal discipline will ultimately and inevitably fail. Character triumphs over talent.

‘What is my job on the planet? What is it that needs doing, that I know something about, that probably won’t happen unless I take responsibility for it?’

Create the highest possible operating standards, develop the character of your players, develop the culture of your team and, as the title of Walsh’s book proclaims, The Score Takes Care of Itself.

rather than obsessing about the results, you focus on the team.’

the question is usually not how well each person performs, but how well they work together.’

Collective character is vital to success. Focus on getting the culture right; the results will follow.

Performance = Capability + Behaviour The way you behave, he argues, will either bring out the best or worst of your capability, and this applies to businesses and teams as well as to individuals. ‘Leaders create the right environment for the right behaviours to occur,’ says Eastwood. ‘That’s their primary role.’

‘whether it’s a business environment or sporting environment, are about developing people. So, if you develop your people, your business is going to be more successful. It’s just a matter of creating an environment where that becomes a happening every day.’

‘What is the All Blacks’ competitive advantage?’, key is the ability to manage their culture and central narrative by attaching the players’ personal meaning to a higher purpose. It is the identity of the team that matters – not so much what the All Blacks do, but who they are, what they stand for, and why they exist.

This questioning is as applicable to business as it is to rugby. No one person has all the answers, but asking questions challenges the status quo, helps connect with core values and beliefs, and is a catalyst for individual improvement. After all, the better the questions we ask, the better the answers we get.

Never be too big to do the small things that need to be done.

GO FOR THE GAP When you’re on top of your game, change your game

transformational culture change, its lessons applicable well beyond the rugby field.

Will Hogg believes that effective organizational change requires four key stages. The absence of any one factor, the management consultant says, will inhibit culture change and often make it impossible: Four Stages for Organizational Change: ° A Case for Change; ° A Compelling Picture of the Future; ° A Sustained Capability to Change; ° A Credible Plan to Execute.

They had lost, to use Gilbert Enoka’s phrase, ‘the being of team’. There was a strong case for change. Next, the team required a Compelling Picture of the Future. In the next chapter we look at the role of purpose and personal meaning, and how a three-day crisis meeting set the framework that would culminate in Rugby World Cup victory. First, though, there needed to be a clear strategy for change. This was articulated by Graham Henry (as reported in Final Word and repeated in interviews) as the creation of ‘an environment . . . that would stimulate the players and make them want to take part in it’. Henry realized that the world was changing and the All Blacks, like any other business – ‘and it is a business’ – were competing on the open market for the best human resources. He reasoned that an active focus on personal development and leadership would create capacity, capability and loyalty. Third, the team required the right Sustained Capability to Change. This meant eliminating players who were seen as hindering the chance for change and, more importantly, building the capability of those who remained and those who joined. This centred on a ‘dual-management’ model in which responsibility was ‘handed over’ to the players so that they had, in Henry’s phrase, ‘more skin in the game’.

A winning organization is an environment of personal and professional development, in which each individual takes responsibility and shares ownership.

the creation of a learning environment, which acted as a stepladder of personal and professional development. The creation of a ‘Leadership Group’ as well as ‘Individual Operating Units’ in which players took increasing responsibility for team protocols, principles and culture, gave structure to this strategy.

Leaders create leaders. Fourth, the team required a Credible Plan to Execute.

Though it is tempting to see life, business, society and success as part of a linear progression of constant and never-ending refinement and growth, the opposite is true. Like most things in nature, cultures are subject to a more cyclical process, of ebb and flow, growth and decline. According to Charles Handy (in The Empty Raincoat), this cycle has three distinct phases: Learning, Growth and Decline.

In the Learning Phase, we often experience dips in actual performance as we feel our way through the unfamiliar. Think of Tiger Woods relearning his golf swing or the teething period in which a new CEO gets to grips with the issues of an organization. Then once the learning has become embedded and momentum builds, so growth accelerates. This is the Growth Phase. Rewards follow. Praise and blandishments too. Soon we’re on top of the game and on top of the world. We’re invincible, our success assured. And so begins the Fall. The Decline Phase hits us much like the early twinges of arthritis in a middle-aged person. At first an anomaly, it eventually becomes the painful norm. Soon we’re staring at the hollowed-out cheeks of an old person in the mirror, wondering whatever happened to our gilded youth.

As a leader this is one of our primary responsibilities, and the skill comes in timing these leaps: when to axe your star performer; when to blood new talent; when to change your game-plan altogether. As the Encyclopedia of Leadership asks: —— What steps do you need to consider taking so you can prepare for the second curve, without prematurely leaving your current success (on the first curve) behind?

Organizational decline is inevitable unless leaders prepare for change – even when standing at the pinnacle of success.

‘To maintain an accurate or effective grasp of reality,’ he argued, ‘one must undergo a continuous cycle of interaction with the environment to assess its constant changes.’ He asked himself, ‘how do we create the mental concepts to support decision making activity?’ His answer was the Decision Cycle or OODA Loop. OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide and Act. It is quick to apply, and useful for everyday decision-making.

Observe This is data collection through the senses; visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, taste – as well as more modern metrics. Like an animal sniffing the wind, we gather the raw material for response.

Orient This is analysis, synthesizing all available data into a single, coherent ‘map of the territory’ – a working theory of our options. Decide This is the point of choice; where we determine the best course of...

Act We execute; acting swiftly and decisively to take advantage of the moment. We then go back to the beginning and observe the effect of ...

‘It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.’ Charles Darwin

move rapidly into a commanding position, assess your unfolding options quickly and clearly, attack with absolute and ruthless commitment – assess, adjust and repeat. Or

adaptation is not a reaction, but a systematic series of actions. It isn’t just reacting to what’s happening in the moment, it is being the agent of change. This is achieved through a structured feedback loop – by building the adaptive process into the very way we lead.

How does this work in practice? Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, talks about 100-day plans: —— Getting started is deceptively simple. First list around 10 things you need to achieve over the next 100 days. Start each plan with an Action Verb and use no more than 3 words each. Make sure each action is measurable and that each one is a stretch. You’ll know when something is a real stretch and when you’re just creating a list with things you can tick off. Review your list every Friday morning. When the 100 Days comes round, the goal is to have each item checked off. All you need to do then is get a sheet of A4 paper and get started.

Getting started is deceptively simple. First list around 10 things you need to achieve over the next 100 days. Start each plan with an Action Verb and use no more than 3 words each. Make sure each action is measurable and that each one is a stretch. You’ll know when something is a real stretch and when you’re just creating a list with things you can tick off. Review your list every Friday morning. When the 100 Days comes round...

Whereas once 50 per cent of his time was spent on assessment, he explains, and 20 per cent on execution, today all information is instantaneous. Consequently 70 per cent of his time – and that of the company’s other leaders – is now spent on execution.

When asked what he’s learned from the All Blacks and how they inspire him, he answers: ‘It’s about going for the gap.’ It’s about adapting quickly to change by creating an adaptive culture.

Graham Henry identified his key areas of focus: ° Sufficient leadership, knowledge and confidence to implement the game plan ° The transference of leadership and therefore responsibility from the coaches to the players

The development of leadership ability and composure ° The necessity for the group to understand their identity – who they are, what they stand for, and their collective and individual responsibilities as All Blacks

the actions the leadership took to turn their vision into action – and the 15 key lessons we can learn and apply to our own particular field of play.

Go for the Gap Momentum swings faster than we think. One moment we’re on top of the world, the next falling off the other side. The role of the leader is to know when to reinvent, and how to do it.

The key is not losing momentum. As the military have discovered, the best form of attack is a continuous feedback loop and, as we know from kaizan, this process is best when it involves your people. The teams that will thrive in this VUCA world are those who act quickly and decisively to seize competitive advantage; adjusting and readjusting along the way. You either adapt, or you lose; and sustainable competitive advantage is achieved by the development of a continuously self-adjusting culture. Adaption is not a reaction, but continual action, so plan to respond.

Go for the Gap When you’re on top of your game, change your game.

This ‘Kiwi kaizan’ was a focus on personal development, both as human beings and as professional sportsmen, so that they had the character, composure, and people skills to be leaders, both on and off the field.

‘The emotional glue of any culture – religion, nation or team – is its sense of identity and purpose,’

What we identify with are the ‘things we recognize as important to ourselves – to our deepest values . . . this kind of meaning has the emotional power to shape behaviour’.

Leaders connect personal meaning to a higher purpose to create belief and a sense of direction. This connection of personal meaning to public purpose is something...