Tips on managing a winning team

But for any team, careful inspection only goes so far, and after a while it’s best to take a step back and become redundant, just like parents. “What we’re trying to do is ensure that our children, or our staff members, or our players begin to take on more and more responsibility, and are more and more accountable for their actions. A coach can stand back, to allow players to do that, to actually make decisions, have the courage to go beyond areas that they’re certain in, to make mistakes or to have success, but learn from those experiences. It is the way a player grows and learns more about themselves.” The coach or manager’s responsibility then becomes creating a supporting environment, where team members can feel the confidence to step out and give it their best.

This is not to say the redundant relationship always remains so. “There are a lot of times when you need to revisit; things are not going quite as well, they need more guidance, they need more boundaries placed around them, they need some increased discipline. It is about making sure those things are put in place if and when it’s required. The only way you know that is to make sure that your relationship is as good as possible, that it is as open as possible, it is as honest as possible, and that you’re providing the right feedback.”

While this knowledge may assist you in managing your own team, there is little point if the success achieved as a result can’t be maintained. Managing to sustain success is what John Buchanan is best known for. So how did he and the Australian cricket team do it? “It’s driven by everybody in the team,” he says. This includes players, coaching staff, and other support staff. Individuals were also rewarded for their achievements. This might have been an official award or just praise at the end of a game. Either way, it is significant to recognise achievement.

But what really made a difference was the attitude of those on the team. “I think every day we felt like we needed to improve, so it didn’t matter whether we won or lost games, or had close games, or had finished the season and had to embark on another,” says Buchanan. “We really wanted to, all the time, move into the next game, better than we were the last time.”

Buchanan’s Philosophy

Challenges can be daunting, in both sport and business but in his book, If Better Is Possible, John Buchanan forms the framework he needs to meet them head on, with these seven principles.

• * Vision. I firmly believe in attempting to control the future by having playing skills and support technologies that no other team has, plus having the all-round skills to effectively react to whatever the future may throw at us.

• *Create a learning environment. Motivation comes from each individual, but it must be nurtured by a team environment which is challenging and encouraging personal growth.

• *Never satisfied. No matter how well or poorly we perform, results are only an outcome of a process of continually wanting to be better. Today is a benchmark for tomorrow.

• *Coach to be redundant. If I do my job properly with each player, then I can retreat further and further from the individual. It is about them being totally responsible and accountable for their decisions and actions. Each player is to be a leader.

• *The whole person. All of us involved with the production of a product for public consumption operate in the people industry. We happen to conduct our business in the sport sector of that industry. Nevertheless, I see the players with whom I work as people first and cricketers second.

• *Planning. No business can operate successfully for any length of time without planning methodology. The planning process gives us a framework to work within–from the immediate needs of playing the Fifth Test, to the medium-term needs of World Cup in 2007, and three to five years beyond this event.

• *Culture and values. The glue which binds these principles together are the intangible elements often posted in the organisation’s orientation booklet, and includes words or phrases such as punctuality, discipline, honesty, hard work, trust, respect and tradition. Whatever the mantra, the words must actually be lived, not just be platitudes.

If Better is Possible is published by Hardie Grant Books (RRP: $35.00).