Continuing from my post last week about the Healthy rules, I thought I would expand on what they look like in real life.
I am hesitant to use sporting analogies when talking about business. After all, sports teams spend 90% of their time practicing and less than 10% performing. What would your business be like if you had the luxury of that much time and space to perfect your craft without the pressure of clients, suppliers and cashflow?
As an NSW Blues fan, I am, however, intrigued by the stories talking about the new coach Brad Fittler’s very different approach to building a winning team. A team full of newcomers that won the first State of Origin series for 3 years and shown the power of aligning your entire team to work towards the same goal.
With that in mind, let’s examine the new approach and see how it is applicable in a business context.
Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
Somewhat surprisingly, much has been made of the team training in bare feet. By removing their boots, the players were forced into thinking differently about their environment. Feeling the grass between their toes, increasing their tactile awareness of the field. Ultimately, getting the players comfortable with what would have initially been an uncomfortable situation.
No Electronics
In contrast to previous seasons, the Blues had a complete ban on devices in camp. This contrasted with previous years where several players seemed to be more interested in maximising the number of selfies rather than the amount of time spent focussing on the team and the job at hand. Whilst not quite so narcissistic, the practice of tapping away on a laptop “just taking care of a couple of emails, messages etc” shouts to the rest of the room you are not paying attention to what is going on nor are you giving your team mates the respect they deserve.
No Politics
In a business sense, Politics is defined as continuing to push your point beyond clarity. Politics on the sporting field can manifest in many ways, most of which result in individual players caring more about themselves and their interpretation of the plays than what the coach wants to happen.
Be Open And Honest
One of the flow on effects of a team (whether its Business or sporting) being placed into situations where there are no outside distractions, and everyone is getting uncomfortable together, is that it tends to break down barriers between teammates, bringing about open and honest conversation. This isn’t people sharing their inner most secrets (though it does happen), it is rather about being open to hearing other people’s perspective and being honest when expressing what’s on your mind.
No Sidebars
Having a casual conversation with the person standing next to you while the coaching staff is explaining a drill or tactic results in poor execution and typically disappointment on your teammates behalf. Similarly, when in a meeting, having a sidebar with a colleague can be equally disastrous. Whether its forcing the meeting to stop whilst you finish your private chat or worse, having to go back over what was covered, sidebars are disruptive and invariably slow down the flow of the broader discussion.
Participate, It’s A Privilege To Be Here
Selecting 11 debutants for the 1st game ensured that most of the squad were 1st timers. As such they were acutely aware of the privilege that has been afforded to them. They had earned the opportunity to be a member of the team, that was all. Now they had to prove that they were worthy of trust that had been put in them.
Having won the series after Game 2, it wasn’t surprising to see that the Blues didn’t maintain the intensity or execution excellence from the previous 2 games. This does not, however, indicate that the work that Freddy and the coaching staff put in around instilling the healthy rules has gone to waste. Rather, they have laid the foundation for future years and the growth of the team. It will be interesting to watch how those players who experienced Freddy’s way play when they return to their teams for the weekly competition. Hopefully, they are able to germinate the use of healthy rules in their clubs, enhancing Brad Fittler’s impact on the broader Rugby League competition.
Want to know the best way to implement the healthy rules in your business?
References:
NSW Blues Showing Blind Faith in Coach Freddy Fittler (Source: wwos.nine.com.au)