Can you believe it? England’s men’s football team came agonisingly close to glory in Euro 2020! Whilst they may not have been crowned champions, they did reach their first final in a major tournament since 1966, making them the most successful England squad in 55 years. Congratulations to the whole team, and to manager Gareth Southgate.
The role of a football manager is not an easy one. Everyone wants, expects results immediately, and there often is not much time to build anything before the calls for your resignation start coming in.
As a student of leadership, I observed the attitude and behaviour of the England manager with interest. Football team manager may seem far removed from the workplaces many of us ply our trade in but, there are many valuable lessons all current and aspiring leaders can learn from the England manager.
Here are my top 6 leadership lessons from Gareth Southgate.
He makes the tough decisions
Whether it’s to leave a star player out, or substitute a sub as he has need to do, Gareth Southgate makes the decisions that are right for the team, not the easy choices. Most importantly, he backs himself, knowing that people won’t always like it or agree, but he is comfortable in doing so because it’s driven by the right reasons.
He keeps his emotions in check
Whether he’s achieving success or is in a difficult, challenging situation, Gareth Southgate is a master at keeping cool. He doesn’t let his emotions get the better of him, instead, he remains calm and composed, and takes appropriate, rational action.
Inspires and motivates his team
One of the most important things Gareth does for the players is give them self-belief. He allows them to believe that they can. For me, this is one of the greatest responsibilities of a leader in any industry. To take a group of individuals and make them believe they can achieve as a team, is a superpower.
People often say things like they’ll “believe it when they see it”, for example, “we’ll believe England can win the tournament when we see it”.
A great leader says “you’ll see it, when you believe it”. You have to believe you can. Gareth allowed the players to believe they could win the tournament, and OK, not this time round but the future prospects are looking positive.
I guarantee you, someone on your team lacks confidence and self-belief. If you can help them believe in themselves, you’ll see a huge turnaround and they’ll become one of your most loyal, hardworking team members.
Keeps the team focused on the task in hand
When good things are happening, it’s easy for a team to get carried away, to become complacent or take their eye off the ball (pun intended). What Gareth and great leaders do is help keep the team focused on the end goal. Along the way, you have to celebrate the small wins and the milestones, this will help with motivation but keeping focused on the big prize is where the real leaders stand out.
Individuals know their role in the team
In most teams, it can sometimes get congested with egos, large personalities, quiet personalities, differences of opinion. Sometimes, it’s easy to think that the person next to you is not performing just because they’re not behaving or doing things the same as someone else. Understanding roles and responsibilities is a little more obvious on a football pitch, we know Pickford is there to stop goals whilst Harry Kane is there to score them but in your team, it’s important to ensure everyone understands that they all have roles to play, and these roles are essential in any team. Belbin’s ‘nine team roles’ is a great way of understanding the roles required in a team, and understanding who fulfils those roles amongst your team members. I’m not going to go through them now but I’d recommend researching Belbin’s nine team roles.
Ultimately, all the team members know, regardless of the role they play, the success of the team is what it’s all about.
Takes all the responsibility and gives away all the credit
This is the one that really sets apart the great leaders. When things are going well, they give all the credit away. If you listen to the Gareth, he’ll give credit to the players, the coaching staff, the fans in the stadium, the fans watching at home! What he doesn’t do, is soak up the glory for himself.
Conversely, when things have gone awry, when times have been tough, when disappointment has been experienced, he owns it. He won’t place blame on the team or anywhere else, it’s on him. He knows that on this occasion, he didn’t get it quite right but, what he will also do, is learn from it and find ways to prevent the same mistake happening again.
Whether you’re an aspiring leader or responsible for people now, I hope these tips will help you in your leadership journey.
What other lessons can we learn from Gareth Southgate? Let us know in the comments.
Think Can Will 