Aussie Vet Rugby Coach Re-Energising Tricks
The biggest club in English rugby union is Leicester. Their star lately waning.
Until Michael Cheika, former international coach from Australia and plenty besides, agreed to lead a one-year turnaround.
Halfway through, sitting third in the league, upward trajectory feels firmly re-established.
Their England scrum-half Ben Youngs tells [sub'n req'd] all.
We can readily wrap these into our Sales arena.
No Big-I-Am Grandstanding Entrance
I shudder at how many times I've witnessed the reverse of this. The new broom strides in. I am God's Gift. Here's where I've been. All I've done. Do it my way. Then you might just get some of my magic rub off on you. A crumb of wonder fall your way.
Even when delivered without overt arrogance, the tone above still underpins.
Yet Cheika rocks up first time in with this;
"Boys, I’m not going to put on the kit yet. I won’t put it on until I feel like I’m ready, I’m part of the team and I deserve to wear your strip. I want to understand Leicester; the culture of the club, the city, the surrounding villages and the county. And I want to know you boys. Then, when I’ve earned the right, I’ll wear the shirt."
There's a fine line here. As there's nothing more galling than someone who refers to their new team as 'you' instead of 'we'. Yet this highlights the winning nuance.
Imagine you're the new person at a helm. There's likely some sort of at the very least, team golf shirt or the like. An item akin to a sports jersey. Even if an accessory like scarf, beanie or hat. Or a valued piece of 'luggage' for your company wares. A proud signifier of being in and of the team.
This 'kit trick' won't apply everywhere. Yet imagine it did, and you could hang said item near where you sit. Imagine what under your guidance would need to improve for people to start whispering, 'they can wear that now,hey...'.
Weekly Routine Re-Balance
It seems the previous culture was for intense post-match training. Not any more. An extra day's grace helped relax the squad. What Cheika grasped is taking the proportion of what should be done each week, resetting allocations where necessary from a less-is-more viewpoint, and re-spreading them for the optimum reward. Many a salesteam could heed that.
Focus Flip
This one is huge. I've seen more salesteams than not get obsessively fixated on their competition. Yes, there's been the rare, odd outlier. But in the main, it's a distracting recipe for massive underachievement. One Cheika totally gets;
"I love his mindset that we should focus on what we can do, rather than other coaches who are obsessed by stopping the opposition. Give me Cheika’s mentality any day. He sees it as, “This is what we’re going to do and they have to stop us”."
As I always bang on. When it's driving your prospect crazy that you never ask of or mention competition you know you're there. The only 'competition' is your prospect's needs and how you uniquely meet them.
Personal Milestones
I've seen the full spectrum. The largest of whales never broadcast. The smallest of tiddlers bringing the entire floor to a halt.
Cheika's perhaps a touch unorthodox here;
"His meetings are good. He brought in a huge amount of birthday cake the other week and said that if someone has a kid, he’ll bring in champagne and everyone’s got to have a glass before we go out and train. He’s huge on the fact that we’ve got to enjoy it as well."
Clearly not directly transferrable in such form. Yet the underlying theme certainly is.
How "good" do your team members think your meetings are? What outside-work events are acceptable to 'celebrate' among colleagues? Are all 'enjoying' worktime as well?
This last one perhaps the most tangential. Yet there's no excuse for not considering these issues. For the goal of a sports team to improve their place in the table and a sales one to improve whatever their overall marker is are often one and the same.