Have you ever wondered what it is like to be the Manager of a professional football team, managing your squad and spurring them on to victory game after game in search of a winning season?
David Holdsworth is a former English professional football player, and professional League football manager. He has a twin brother Dean, who is also a professional football club manager – the first time twins managed respective teams at the same time in the League.
David played for Sheffield United, Walsall and Birmingham City before taking up a career as a manager.
I had the opportunity to ask him how he motivates his players, and his approach to leadership of a professional football team
I started by asking whether he prioritised managing the performance of individuals, or the team?
He immediately responded that it was individuals. He really focusses on getting to know each player really well, so he can respond to their personal needs, encourage their strengths and support their weaknesses. Equally important was his understanding of how they will respond to his feedback, so he could reach out to them in an appropriate way to engage best with them.
It’s important to know your team as individuals, all with different needs, and who will respond in different ways to different approaches. It is essential your leadership strengths enable you to adopt your style and approach to really engage with your team as independent people who all need you to be ‘there’ for them in many different ways!
.. and how did David engage with the team as a whole, encouraging a great team spirit and creating a shared focus?
David ensures that they had a belief in him as their manager, that they believe he can lead them to do great things, and that together as a team they can achieve success. He is also keen to create a strong self-belief within the team, encouraging them to feel ‘ten feet tall’ in order to go out on the pitch with confidence, play brilliantly and win!
What does David do to motivate the team?
David is a real believer in using imagery to paint a picture of success. He uses phrases such as ‘run as if there’s a bomb you need to get away from’; amazingly simple – but he finds them to be really effective.
Imagery is a really powerful tool to motivate others. Showing them what will be – if the work is done and the effort made, is a great way of creating a shared and co-owned view of success. When you paint a picture, it has to be one that everyone can see. They will all have a different and personal view of what success looks like and how it will feel for them, but the picture is shared by all.
How does David get his tactics across, and motivate both ‘mind and muscle’?
David concentrates upon ‘our strengths and their weaknesses’; reducing their team’s abilities to be less than their own ability to play, and emphasising the strengths, skills and abilities of his own players
… and how does David react to a team victory, to re-motivate players?
He insists they keep their belief in themselves, and each other. He accepts there is a great self-motivation when the team wins. He says ‘People love winning – the fans love winning and the players love winning’
Clearly confidence has a great deal to do with having a ‘winning’ mind-set, and this is where achieving small successes, celebrating them, and building confidence upon these successes really helps. It helps with personal and collective confidence, lifts team spirit, and maintains the momentum for further success. Set-backs seem to be of lesser consequence when there is a ‘buzz’ about the place, and the team are ‘on a roll’!
… and when the team suffer a loss?
For David this is the time to ensure morale remains good. He never criticises individuals in front of the team. David’s personal experience was to score two own goals in subsequent matches, to which his manager at the time responded by saying ‘it happens’!
A team of players with their heads down will not see the vision ahead of them. There has to be acceptance by all that the road to success is never smooth, mistakes will happen, and set-backs will occur. Keeping the team spirit high, and especially a belief in themselves is essential.
I asked David how he dealt with issues of poor individual performance
David made it clear that if a player did not perform as expected, or indeed in terms of what he was capable of, it was tackled immediately. ‘If a player was rubbish, I tell him he was rubbish’ he says.
This was always followed with him setting an expectation – ‘You need to improve!’. Then he offers support; ‘so we agree you realise you could play better, so let’s see what we can do to improve, and I’ll help show you how’
No-one will thank you for not being totally honest with them. It’s how long term relationships are built. People need to know where they stand with you – and often they already know but they want to hear it from you. Sharing how you feel is the reality check. Showing how you care is the next important step. Being there for them, and helping their improvement is your investment in them, which believe me is always respected and wanted. Coaching in a caring supportive way is all you can do – the rest is up to the individual.
We all see examples of extroverts and huge egos within sport. How do you manage an individual with an oversize ego, within the context of ensuring team unity?
David is clear how he responds ‘Don’t tolerate them’ he says. He explains you have to minimise any disruptive influence straight away. ‘Act at the right moment – act decisively’
There is a fine line between an over-confidence and an ego which sees an individual become bigger than his team mates, and possibly feeling bigger than the team as a whole. There are people with extraordinary talent, but the team is looking to achieve success, and individuals have to contribute to the greater good first and foremost. Personal gain, achievement and success is secondary.
So how does David deal with the pressure of the role?
‘A manager lives by his results, and it’s really hard having your skills judged by the way your team play in just 90 minutes.
You really want to tell the fans that the team you lost to spent three times as much on players as you could, that your lads played as well as they could, and they don’t deserve the criticism
David – in your view should a football manager be judged by their ability to manage, not their players ability to score on any given day?
Ha ha – you just accept it!
My thanks to David Holdsworth for sharing his thoughts and providing an insight into the high profile world of professional football management
I believe it is a real challenge to engage and motivate individuals to deliver high performance in each skill of ‘mind and muscle’. Sports coaches are faced with this challenge every day.
Bringing an employee who is familiar with work ‘on the tools’ into a management position is always a challenge for both parties – how comfortable they are in the role, and how your expectations are met! Some make the transition really well, and others aren’t quite suited to it. Often it is you as their leader who has to press for the opportunity to be taken, but if they are not happy in their new position, and you are not getting the results you require, it is often best if you allow them to return to ‘what they do best’.
I have seen countless examples of builders who have tried to set up their own companies and have failed – they may be excellent bricklayers, but find it harder to take on the thought processes relating to plan ahead and run a successful business.
Once more this is a point in case where knowing an individual enables you to play to their strengths, and support their weaknesses.
Finally, it is also a real challenge for a manager and leader to understand just how hard it can be to deliver outcomes when using your hands as well as your mind. If you arrived in management through University, and not through the ranks, it can be hard to appreciate the effort required to do some of the more physically complicated and demanding jobs. It is a key part of a leaders role to spend time alongside their employees as they work, to see life from their perspective. Often it is a simple improvement these people seek to enable them to carry out their work more efficiently – they have the ideas and you have the power to make it happen – and the gain is shared!
Individuals checklist for improved morale
I want to be treated fairly, and this starts with me treating others equally fairly, as my part of creating a warm family environment where we all belong, everyone matters and everyone cares.
I want to have a clearly defined role at work so I know what I can do to succeed, and also have the opportunity to develop and progress, whilst learning new skills and abilities
I believe I can make a difference, especially when supporting others in meeting the challenges we face. I shall celebrate with pride the success we achieve together.
