Long Read: a Winning Team

Contributing Editor Allan Foad writes: As in professional football, so in business, the strongest teams will deliver the best results and the weakest will be relegated.

Many successful teams will have star players (or out-performers in business parlance) but the likes of Mo Salah or Erling Haaland would not be able to perform without strong support from their fellow team members.

I have always enjoyed team sport and played hockey until I was fifty. I was an aggressive fullback. I enjoyed battling with others to overpower the opposition during the game and I enjoyed the camaraderie in the bar afterwards even more. I did not see much of our centre forward during the match but I saw plenty of him in the bar. He would abuse me for not passing to him and I would mock him for missing open goals. Suffice it to say we are still friends today and bonding is a key part of team building.

I retired twenty years ago but still meet up with my old colleagues once a year to catch up and share memories. It is a retrospective measure, but only successful teams have reunions. 

During my business career I received a lot of training, on how to lend or to assess businesses, on the Environmental Protection Act or corporate governance, but I was never trained in team building which I think is a key skill. I learned by intuition, my experience on the sports field, and by watching and learning from others.

In my experience, the foundation for a high-performing team is leadership. In business there are typically two levels of leadership – the business manager and team leader. In football it is the manager/coach and the team captain. It is important that both are watching the same movie. If these two have a dysfunctional relationship there will be confusion and that undermines team effectiveness.

The manager should set the business goals and state them clearly. The team leader should work collaboratively with his team to achieve those goals. The manager is responsible for the culture of the business and the team leader should follow his lead. It is argued that culture is the oil that allows the engine of a business to run smoothly, and I have written previously that Arsene Wenger thought that the culture he created at Arsenal was a key component in the club’s long-term success.

Trust is a fundamental requirement for a successful team and leaders must operate to the same standards as they expect of their team. If leaders persistently arrive late, why should others be on time. If leaders inflate their own expenses claims and ruthlessly scrutinise those of others, there will inevitably be distrust. If leaders put their own careers first at the expense of their teams, there will not be trust.

And there needs to be trust when inevitably hard decisions need to be made. Each week the football manager needs to tell players that they will not be in the side for the next match. Egos will be bruised and it is important for the decision to be explained clearly to avert a transfer request. Equally in business, unpleasant news will have to be delivered from time to time. Cost cutting measures, business restructuring, redundancies all come to mind. Without trust the task of delivering bad news will be doubly difficult.

There must also be implicit trust between team members. Mistakes will inevitably happen and are best resolved when the offender feels comfortable in owning up and taking responsibility. Attempting to pass the buck will undermine team spirit. A football team cannot function when players blame one another for a bad result and nor can a team in an office when members level accusations at each other. 

Selection is crucial in football teams and the same applies in the office. In both walks of life managers are responsible for making selections. In football and in the workplace getting the balance in the team right is vital. Much has been written about the virtues of diversity, and I agree with them up to a point. I firmly believe that a mix of backgrounds adds breadth to the decision-making process. Equally, layers of experience are a strength. Senior members can guide and train, and junior members can bring fresh thinking. Teams must constantly evolve to meet changing circumstances.

We had 160 people working for us and I made it a point of knowing everyone by name. And I would make sure that I welcomed every newcomer and spent time getting to know them and explaining how we worked. Team leaders should do likewise and, in an ideal world, take the team out to welcome the newbie. In my world that would be a visit to a pub or a wine bar, but I think that might be frowned on today. At the very least, new team members should be mentored until they have settled in. 

Which takes me back to bonding. I think off-site social events are very important and, again I used pubs and wine bars, but there are alternatives like meals out or going to events. These outings bring people together in a relaxed setting and they get to know one another far better than they would by only seeing each other in the office. I know there is a range of team building programmes on the market but I have not experienced any of them.

As you might have gathered, I find team-building fascinating and wish I had known more about it as I progressed through my career. I have worked in some very good teams and some that were not so good, but I know for certain that it is far more enjoyable working in a good team than a bad one!

*This is a shortened and edited version of the article which first appeared in Leasing World issue 213*

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