Time Well Spent

First, a confession: I love football (soccer). Some of those closest to me say I watch too much. I counter by pointing out that football – the beautiful game – has much to teach legal and business leaders about tactics, organization and people management (among other things).

As the leader of a team (in my case a team of lawyers) you are the coach. You may not have selected the team members but your responsibility is to shape the group you have inherited and turn it into a cohesive, collaborative and winning team.

The first step is to know your team. This is easy to do superficially – the welcome, meet and greet, chats over coffee – but gaining the necessary understanding of the personalities, strengths and weaknesses of your team requires an investment of time and effort and listening more than speaking.

Building on that solid foundation, thoughtful leaders consider positioning. Each team member probably has a best or preferred position – what is it that they are particularly skilled at handling? What do they like to work on? Where have they been most/least successful? How can they be stretched? Corporate legal challenges are complex and require multiple skill sets which can be difficult to find in a single person. By combining a deep understanding of the skills of the team and a clear line of sight on pending projects, priorities and work flow, leaders can move to team selection, to allocate positions in a way which optimizes resources, skill sets and career development.

Once positions are allocated, it is key that team members play in position. How chaotic would it be if every time the full back got the ball they tried to run the length of the pitch to score? When a professional team starts a match each and every player knows exactly his or her position and the coach’s expectations regarding deliverables. Those that stray out of position too often or don’t make the tackles or passes the coach is expecting from them face a blunt assessment of their abilities at half time!

Successful teams are characterized by mutual confidence. Hand offs are crucial – a team that lacks the confidence to pass the ball or hand work off to others better placed to complete or contribute to the task will not achieve sustainable success. Conversely, teams that actively collaborate, reflecting confidence in their fellow team members, are winning teams: compare for example the team play stats for the top and bottom clubs in the English Premier league for the 2020/2021 season: Manchester City (champions) completed more than twice as many passes as West Bromwich Albion (relegated, bottom) with an accuracy level of 89% compared to WBA’s 72%. Of course, stats don’t tell the whole story by any means but they are an important indicator. (Source: www.premierleague.com).

Leaders must look horizontally – how are the hand offs working? Are people holding on to the ball too long or is the team working like a well-oiled machine? People holding onto the ball too long (or worse taking it from others) is a red flag for leaders: “turf” is rearing its ugly head and people may be operating beyond their competencies in search of glory. Leaders must make their expectations known at the outset and performance assessments should be tailored accordingly. Valuing team success over individual achievement, or as Leeds United Captain Billy Bremner put it so well many years ago: “Side before self, every time”, is vital.

I think you will agree that time spent watching and studying football is time well spent!