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PRACTICE

VISION MODERN MANAGEMENT: REALITIES & OPPORTUNITIES

ERSHIP

SUCCESS

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE PREMIER LEAGUE

THE BAD NEWS IS TIME FLIES. THE GOOD NEWS IS YOU’RE THE PILOT” MICHAEL ALTSHULER

Modern Management Guide

CONTENTS

06 WELCOME

10 YOU AND YOUR CAREER 12 MENTORING 18

DISAPPOINTMENTS AND SETBACKS GETTING BACK INTO THE PROFESSION

22 28 34

TAKING TIME OUT TIME MANAGEMENT

40 MANAGING YOUR TEAM 42 MANAGING UP 48 MANAGING MILLENNIALS 54

MENTAL HEALTH AND YOUR TEAM MANAGING UNDER PRESSURE

60 64 70

SOCIAL MEDIA AWARENESS

UNDERSTANDING AND ENGAGING WITH THE MEDIA

78 WORKING IN THE MODERN GAME 80 LEADING A TEAM OF EXPERTS 86 YOU AND THE ACADEMY 92 DATA ANALYTICS 98 RECRUITMENT AND DATA 104 AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO PSYCHOLOGY 110 ON-PITCH PERFORMANCE PSYCHOLOGY 116 PERIODISATION 122 MATCHDAY

The League Managers Association, National Football Centre,

Editor Alice Hoey alicehoey1@gmail.com

St. George’s Park, Newborough Road, Needwood, Burton upon Trent, DE13 9PD

Editorial Contributors from the LMA Wayne Allison, Mark Farthing, Sue McKellar, Gabriella Ward Publisher Jim Souter jim.souter@leaguemanagers.com Art Editor Sarah Ryan sarah.ryan@leaguemanagers.com

www.leaguemanagers.com

126 THE CONTRIBUTORS

The views and opinions expressed by contributors are their own and not necessarily those of the League Managers Association, its members, officers or employees. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

Illustrations © iStock & flaticon.com

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LMA Chief Executive INTRODUCTION RICHARD BEVAN

and your team; and the Game itself. The guide is just that, a guide to these subjects. It is practical and easy-to-use, and aims to encourage awareness and understanding of some complex subjects, with recommended proactive actions and strategies. Our guides are the starting point and act as supporting resources for much of the activity we deliver across the Institute. I would like to thank Alice Hoey, our editor, for her continued commitment to the LMA, and all of the contributors and LMA members who have shared their insights for this guide. We hope that it proves to be a valuable resource throughout your career.

W elcome to the LMA’s 7th Leadership and Personal Development Guide: Modern Management, Realities and Opportunities. Our guides are produced by the LMA’s Institute of Leadership and High Performance, supported by the Premier League, and are part of our comprehensive investment in the ongoing support and development of managers and coaches in our game. Across all of its activity, from our Diploma in Football Management in partnership with Liverpool University, through our ever-expanding programme of CPD- accredited leadership, wellbeing and technical masterclasses and our vibrant and successful one-to-one personal development programme, the LMA Institute has a singular focus. This is to deliver insight, education and support from leading experts and senior LMA members that is relevant vocationally to anyone looking to build a career in the professional game. Every element of our delivery must engage, challenge and develop the individual, not just in a theoretical sense, but with the realities and challenges of modern football management at the forefront of our thinking. Our aim is to ensure that every manager and coach can develop themselves technically and professionally while continuing to build a rewarding and successful career in the challenging employment environment that is professional football. Our guides are informed by the needs of our members. Through constant communication and discussion with them, we have a deep understanding of the real-life professional challenges and issues they face. This guide looks to address a number of the most frequently highlighted challenges and provides insight and guidance on how to embrace them. It covers a diverse range of topics within the three main areas of the Institute’s delivery: You and your career; Leadership

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LMA MEMBER INSIGHTS This guide, like much of the learning provided through the LMA Institute of Leadership and High Performance, would be nothing without the unique insight of the LMA’s members.

We would like to thank each of the managers here sincerely for their time and honesty in sharing their experiences.

DEAN SMITH

DARREN MOORE

NIGEL ADKINS

PAUL HURST

SAM ALLARDYCE

TANYA OXTOBY

MARK WARBURTON

SAMMY LEE

ALAN PARDEW

JON WHITNEY

MICK MCCARTHY

MICHAEL APPLETON

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YOU AND YOUR CAREER

EVERY DAY THE CLOCK RESETS. YOUR WINS DON’T MATTER. YOUR FAILURES DON’T MATTER. DON’T STRESS ON WHAT WAS, FIGHT FOR WHAT COULD BE.” SEAN HIGGINS, BASKETBALL COACH

12 18

MENTORING

DISAPPOINTMENTS AND SETBACKS GETTING BACK INTO THE PROFESSION

22 28 34

TAKING TIME OUT TIME MANAGEMENT

You and Your Career

MENTORING

Mentoring can have considerable benefits for both parties involved, but how can you get the most from a mentoring relationship? Words: Dr Wayne Allison

W hen you’re dealing with something for the first time, or face a you, help you work through ideas and arrive at decisions with confidence and, crucially, they will be guided by your needs rather than dictating the way forward. Mentors tend to be inquisitive and empathetic and enjoy helping others work through their challenges. They are confident in their own experience but free of ego, so they’ll resist the urge to simply tell you how it should be done. Instead, they’ll ask targeted questions that get you to see things from all sides. They will encourage you to talk and share your thoughts, feelings and emotions, without pushing too hard, and when you do open up they will listen challenge or dilemma, little compares to having the ear of someone who has experienced something similar, and from whose mistakes and experience you can learn. A good mentor will support and challenge

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without judgement. They will open up, too, because great mentors are adept storytellers, recounting the times when they experienced something similar to you, how they responded and what they learned. They’ll help you to find relevance in these stories and then convert that into something practical that you can act upon. They will also use their experiences to help you question and analyse your current issues. THE RIGHT CHEMISTRY Unsurprisingly given all of this, the success of any mentoring relationship rests ultimately on the chemistry between the two parties involved. While a mentor needs to be someone you feel at ease with and would be comfortable confiding in, they don’t have to be a friend or someone you know well. What’s more important is that they are someone you respect for their experience, knowledge and willingness to challenge your approaches and ideas. Think carefully about what you want to get from the mentoring arrangement. Mentoring is not, after all, about being taught facts or coached in a skill, but rather about having the opportunity to bounce your ideas and problems off someone who has more experience or a different perspective. Current best practice advocates the concept of multiple mentors, where you receive support and guidance from a range of people with different skill sets. If you’re looking to develop in a particular area of the game, such as strategy or training methods, try to find someone you know to be world-class or highly seasoned in that field. If your needs, however, are more generic, like developing your leadership skills or coping better with the pressures of the job, you might consider a mentor from another field altogether. An experienced member of the business community, the charitable sector or the military, for example, may be able to provide a valuable alternative angle on what you are experiencing in your role. Mentors also don’t always have to be older than the people they are guiding, although that is often the case. In reverse mentoring the mentor may be a younger person who brings a different skill set and provides support and advice to someone higher up the career ladder. While the former may have less experience overall, they will have different knowledge or skills that the manager can learn from. This may be in the use of certain technologies and social media, or in understanding how best to manage the younger generation.

MAKING IT WORK How you decide to structure your mentoring will depend both on your needs and on what is practical and convenient for both parties. Depending on how much time you can each commit and how much guidance you feel you would benefit from, it might range from a chat over a coffee once every three months to a more formal face-to-face meeting every few weeks. It’s worth starting small, focusing initially on a few core issues, and then building in more time and complexity if things are going well. Set out and agree how you want the mentoring arrangement to work right from the start so both parties know what to expect and what is required of them. Building trust and reliability early on is key, so make sure the arrangement is realistic to lessen the risk of one party letting the other down. Prior to each session, agree on what you hope to discuss and what outcomes you would like to get from it. This gives you both time to consider your points of view, what experience you might draw on and how else you might be able to contribute to the discussion. Meet somewhere private, where you both feel comfortable sharing information and feelings, and keep notes or a summary of the main points so you have something to reflect on. Most importantly, ensure that specific action points are noted with key accountabilities for each of you.

Having the guidance of older coaches in the early stages of my career really helped me to develop. When I was at Blackpool, Bobby Saxton would help me to stay calm, talk things through with me and tell me about how he dealt with similar experiences as a manager. He also shared his experience of board meetings, which was very valuable. SAM ALLARDYCE

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WHY BE A MENTOR?

Develops communication, listening and empathy skills.

Helps you to plan how to bridge an individual’s skills or knowledge gap (Individual Development Plan).

If the mentee is from a club or large organisation, mentoring will help develop talent internally and may contribute to succession planning.

Provides a confidence boost and re-energises you.

SAMMY LEE

Helps bring to the fore important periods in your career. Refreshes your memory on key lessons.

I was guided by Ronnie Moran as a player and then through my formative years as a coach. He gave me a work ethic, an appreciation of good times and bad times and led me into a career in coaching. I’m now passing on my experience via the LMA Mentoring Programme. I want to help other managers, because it can be a lonely job, even if you’ve got 50,000 people chanting your name. It’s important managers know they are not alone, that people like myself have experienced what they’re going through and are there to help. Much of the time, it’s just about being there, being a sounding board and a way for them to vent their feelings. We can also signpost managers to the services and facilities that the LMA can offer them, which they may not be aware of. First and foremost, though, it’s about communication. Without that, you can’t tailor the relationship to the mentee’s needs. Then it’s about developing trust and a bond. Once you have that trust you can develop the relationship.

MENTORING – 5 KEY POINTS

A mentor is not there to teach or coach you, but to guide you to help yourself. A mentor should never tell you what to do. They should challenge your ideas and encourage you to consider all angles. A mentor will normally have more experience than you, but not always. Different experience is also very valuable. If you’re looking to work on specific game-related skills, consider a mentor from within football. Otherwise, look outside of the sport and consider multiple mentors from different environments. Good chemistry between you and your mentor is important, but keep the relationship professional rather than social.

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DISAPPOINTMENTS AND SETBACKS

A ll leaders face setbacks and disappointments, but in football management they come thick and fast. As a manager you can expect to lose your job a number of times over the course of your career, and how well you handle each event and move on will have a major impact on both your performance and your health and wellbeing. Thankfully, like any skill, personal resilience can be developed with time and experience. It’s important to remember that just because you failed to achieve something, or believe yourself to have done so, it doesn’t mean that you as a person are a failure. What’s more, everyone has different expectations of what you and your team should achieve and their own parameters for what constitutes success and failure. With expectations in the English football leagues now so high and average tenures so low, managers face constant pressure and many career hurdles. Being able to maintain perspective and bounce back stronger is imperative. Words: Alice Hoey

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When dealing with feelings of failure and disappointment, therefore, it’s helpful to think about what it is that you’re basing them on. Whose goals have you failed to meet, what were their expectations founded on and were they realistic? Ultimately, only you know the full background to the situation, so try to block out all the noise around you and rationalise things based on your own judgement. REGAIN CONFIDENCE When you’re going through a difficult period, there can be real comfort in remembering when you have faced similar situations in the past and how you came through the other side. Recall the pain you felt at the time, the lessons you learned and the strength you gained; who supported you most and what coping strategies worked well? Reminding yourself that the fallout from such a failure or setback is both temporary and surmountable will give you more courage to move on and try again. A key step in bouncing back from a perceived failure is turning negatives into positives. Drilling down to find lessons isn’t just important in terms of mindset, it’s also essential if you’re to improve your performance as a manager over time. After all, the road to success will always be potholed with failures, but you’ll only reach your destination if you learn along the way. Try not to take a negative situation personally or to view it as symptomatic of some kind of personal weakness. Instead, stand back and look at things from a rational and subjective point of view, examining what factors contributed to the situation, what you could have done differently and what, if any, gaps in your knowledge or skillset might have been exposed. Talking things through with those around you who you trust and who understand the situation is very valuable here, both in enabling you to see things from different perspectives and in helping to keep you grounded in reality. ACCEPTANCE Finally, remember that it is totally natural to feel disappointed, frustrated and even angry following a major setback or disappointment in your career. Stewing in these emotions for too long, however, can send your mental wellbeing on a downward spiral and prevent you from trying again or seeing the opportunities that are open to you.

Instead, allow yourself a period of time to brood before putting some distance between you and the event. Once you’ve worked through things and extracted as many practical lessons as you can it’s time to look forward and start planning the next step in your career.

DEALING WITH FAILURE

Don’t take it personally – take a step back and look at the situation subjectively.

Talk about it – get alternative perspectives on things from trusted advisers.

Find the lessons – ask what actions or behaviours might have brought about a different outcome.

Don’t dwell on it – set a deadline, say 48 hours, after which you must look ahead and move on.

Be your own judge – everyone will have an opinion on the situation. Don’t get bogged down by it all.

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GETTING BACK INTO THE PROFESSION

A s we learned in the previous article, allowing yourself some time to mull over a career setback can be productive. Once that period of reflection is over, however, it’s important to be as proactive as possible about furthering your career and personal development. Give yourself a confidence boost by identifying what your core strengths are and where you’ve been most successful, then look to build on those areas. Take advantage of the extra time you have to attend LMA masterclasses, Leadership Series events and workshops, and other industry events that might provide opportunities to expand your horizons and your contacts list. You could take a course, learn a language or do more presenting and public speaking to build your communication skills and confidence. You might also When you find yourself in between jobs it’s important to resist the temptation to shrink away from those around you. Your ability to stay connected to your network in the game and to maintain a strong, positive public profile will be key to getting back into the profession. Words: Dr Wayne Allison

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STAYING UP TO DATE In football, you never know what’s around the corner, so it’s important to keep your eyes wide open and have one ear to the ground. Those managers who are able to soak up as much as possible of what’s going on around them will have the greatest chance of success in this fast-paced environment. While organisations such as the LMA, The FA and the English leagues will keep you informed of any urgent matters relating to the game, it’s up to you to be proactive about staying abreast with wider issues, trends and opinions. When you have a good level of knowledge and awareness it won’t go unnoticed. It will come across in all conversations that you have, with your players, the board, staff and peers and, perhaps most importantly, during media and career interviews. Information is now so widely and constantly available, via the internet and sports news channels, and so easily shared that there is no longer any excuse for not knowing what’s going on. Targeted use of the internet and signing up for news feeds from reliable industry news sites can be very useful in keeping up to date. However, it’s worth looking not only within the football world but also at other sports, as there may be issues and trends that are relevant and that you can learn from. Formal and informal networking opportunities can be valuable in enabling you to debate and discuss current issues in a closed environment, while phone, WhatsApp groups, email and other secure communication channels are a great way to exchange opinions and ideas with your peers. Keep your LinkedIn profile up to date, offer your help and advice where appropriate and join in with discussions and debate. STAYING IN TOUCH Making the most of these networking opportunities is vital, not only in staying connected to what’s going on in the industry, but in maintaining your profile. This is absolutely key if you want to progress your career, as it ensures your name and face are front of mind when job openings arise and means you’re seen as being active and relevant. Attending industry events and engaging in media activities helps you to remain in the public eye while demonstrating your knowledge and authority in football.

consider working with a PR firm to help strengthen your personal brand and change people’s perceptions of you. Getting involved in charitable or voluntary work is another great way to keep active and develop new skills and contacts, while enabling you to give something back to the local community. WATCH AND LEARN When you’re working full time there’s often precious little time to learn from what managers in other clubs or sports are doing, so use time in between jobs to gain inspiration and ideas from many different sources. Watch as much football as possible, both from a scouting perspective and to understand how other managers are working. Taking sabbaticals and study visits abroad can be hugely valuable in growing this knowledge further and can improve your ability to compete for jobs, both here and in other countries. The influx of foreign managers to the UK in recent years has made competition for jobs all the greater, but it has also exposed managers and coaches here to a wider range of leadership, management and coaching styles and approaches. This in turn has increased the desire among UK managers for knowledge of what’s going on abroad and has raised the bar in terms of what is expected of them. Study visits can open your eyes to other ways of doing things, validate your own methods and expand your contacts book. Having a network that extends beyond the UK can also mean you have greater insight into what’s going on in clubs around the world and more exposure to potential learning and career opportunities. Consider mentoring, too, whether that means you offering your services to a younger coach just starting out in the profession or entering into a mentoring programme yourself. The latter, in particular, can be especially helpful in identifying what your super-strengths are, what you are most passionate about pursuing in the profession and what might help you get there. With the support of a mentor you may find the courage to take your career in a new direction, or follow a long-held dream. Having an experienced ear may also help you to work through any self-confidence issues you have.

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Finally, make the most of the contacts you’ve built up in the industry over the course of your career. How well you’ve maintained these relationships over the years will have a considerable bearing on how fruitful they prove to be when you need them most. Don’t be too proud to pick up the phone or send messages to enquire about potential job opportunities or other chances to gain experience, and make sure your CV and portfolio are fully up to date and ready to impress.

MICHAEL APPLETON

You never stop learning. There are so many different facets to management now and it’s important to have as many strings to your bow as possible. The more conversations you can have with your fellow coaches, the more questions you can ask, the more people you can meet and exchange contact details with the better. You never know when you might be speaking to a future boss or colleague.

GET NOTICED Show that you’re being proactive and that you’re a relevant and authoritative figure in the industry: Attend LMA masterclasses, Leadership Series events and workshops, and other industry events to further your CPD and show you’re being proactive.

Do more presenting and public speaking.

Get involved in charitable or voluntary work.

Be open to media work.

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L earning to draw a line between work and other areas of life is becoming an ever more important skill. But it isn’t easy. The emergence of technologies such as email and instant messaging has enabled us to work smarter and more efficiently, but in doing so it has blurred the lines between our working and personal lives. Try as we might to ‘clock off’ after a day’s work and turn our thoughts to other matters, calls, emails and other messages can reconnect us with work-related challenges in an instant. The result is we often work longer hours but tend to be less focused when do, because we are bombarded by constant distractions. Research has shown than the mere presence of a mobile phone, even one that’s turned off, is enough to cause a drop in concentration and cognitive performance. TAKING TIME OUT Work-life balance is an absolute must if you’re to maintain your performance and safeguard your physical and mental wellbeing. Words: Alice Hoey

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The first step to addressing this is to think about how you use technology during the day and how it impacts both positively and negatively on your performance and wellbeing. There may be times, for example, when having a mobile phone allows you to feel closer to friends and family, perhaps by enabling some facetime while you’re in transit. At other times, however, you might find simple tasks take longer than they should because of the constant pings and beeps of incoming messages. Undoubtedly, most of us would benefit from being more proactive about taking time away from connected devices (see overleaf for tips on how to do this). While this may cause you to feel anxious initially, allowing yourself to go completely off the radar can be cathartic. What’s more, it rarely harms productivity to be disconnected for a while; quite the contrary, without constant distractions you may find you focus better, work harder and make fewer mistakes. DON’T FEEL GUILTY It isn’t, of course, only technology that can prevent you from having a healthy work-life balance. The manager’s role now comprises so many different elements that it can feel like you’re on a treadmill – working hard just to stay still. If things aren’t going to plan it may be especially difficult to drag yourself away from the training ground or club at the end of the day. Even when you do physically leave the building you may find that your mind is still there. While it’s natural to want to do everything in your power to maintain momentum or get the team back on track, you will only succeed in doing so if you’re on top form, physically and mentally. Taking time out to engage in the things that you enjoy most away from football, whether that be a long walk with your dog, spending time with your family or playing a round of golf, is as important as good nutrition and exercise. As such, you shouldn’t feel guilty about taking time away from work to recharge your batteries and keep stress and anxiety in check. Focusing on number one for a change may pay dividends in the long run.

QUESTION EVERYTHING Time away from the management treadmill is also essential for your professional development. After all, while we’re all aware that self- reflection and re-assessment is best practice, finding time to do it justice can be a challenge. The close season is a great opportunity to take stock of what’s just happened and what might lie ahead. It’s time, too, to cogitate over any new ideas that have been brewing over the past year, perhaps bouncing them off trusted advisers, thinking about how they might work in practice and planning a strategy for August. You might choose to go further than this and question everything – why did you choose this career, this club and this approach, and have things matched your hopes and expectations? Do the behaviours you’ve been seeing in your team align with the club’s culture and ethos or have things slid out of sync? How might you look to correct this next season? What means have you been using to communicate your messages and have they proved effective? What approaches have you seen other leaders try that you might be able to replicate or transfer to your situation? LET IT ALL OUT This self-reflection might also unearth feelings you’ve been keeping hidden for some time, as during the season it’s important to shield your team members from any doubts or concerns you might have. Once the dust has settled, though, and away from the team, it’s healthy to air these emotions, work through them in private and get to the bottom of any concerns that have been bubbling beneath the surface. Talk to family, friends and trusted advisers if need be in order to return to work with a clear head. Just as the players’ bodies need time over the close season to rest and recuperate from any injuries, your brain and body need to recover from the stresses of the season. Not everyone finds relaxation in the same places – for some it’s doing nothing on a sunny beach, for others it’s found in more active pursuits – but what’s key is that you put your mind to something different. A change, as they say, is as good as a holiday.

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SIX WAYS TO DISCONNECT

CREATE A TECH SPACE It’s hard to resist the ping or flashing light of a mobile device, even when you’re supposed to be taking time out. Dedicate just one room in the house or workspace to the use and charging of technology, so devices aren’t everywhere in sight. BAN THE BLUE The blue light emitted from smartphones, tablets and computer screens has been found to disturb sleep, so keep your bedroom free of such devices. Try also to resist the temptation to check the time, news or incoming messages at bedtime, as doing so brings all the stresses and problems of the day to bed with you. CLOCK OFF Unless you’re expecting an important call or there’s something you need to access on the go, it can be liberating to be without your mobile device for a while. Clock off for short periods each week by going somewhere or doing something without any mobile devices or computers available, e.g. a round of golf, 50 lengths in the pool or a long country walk. MINIMISE DISTRACTIONS If notifications are becoming distracting, you could choose to receive them less frequently, exit annoying WhatsApp groups or even delete certain apps altogether. Your email inbox can be paused for a period or you could put your device into ‘airplane’ mode. Alternatively, simply turn off Wi-Fi for a while. CHANGE YOUR SETTINGS There’s no obligation to respond to emails, texts and phone calls immediately. Wait until it’s convenient and you can respond effectively. If an issue is urgent it will make itself known. GIVE YOURSELF A LIMIT Surfing the net and using social media sites can sap valuable time. Try using a timer to alert you when you’ve been online for a set period.

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H ow you decide to use your time will be driven largely by two factors, urgency and importance, and they are very different things. If something is urgent then it has a time deadline, whereas something is important when it adds value. These two factors come together less frequently than you might imagine. Looking at the matrix (overleaf), estimate how much of your time you currently spend doing the types of things in each of the four boxes. Then look at whether this is as effective as it could be. The tasks in the urgent and important boxes need to be done, but if they are dominating your time you might feel like you’re constantly in crisis mode. What bottlenecks might be causing you to be so busy and what business improvements might alleviate them? TIME MANAGEMENT When it comes to time management, the key is not how much time you have but how you use it. The following five keys may help you to unlock your personal effectiveness. Words: Mark Procter

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THE URGENT VS. IMPORTANT MATRIX

IMPLEMENT A TIME MANAGEMENT SYSTEM The Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule, when applied to time management, indicates that 80 per cent of the benefit comes from doing 20 per cent of your tasks. What’s most important here is making sure that these 20 per cent of tasks, often in the ‘not urgent but important’ box, actually get done. Think of these activities as your foundation stones, so plan them in at the beginning of the week, just as you would important meetings. Defend this sacred time from intrusion and once you’ve started don’t allow yourself to be disturbed or distracted. Once these bedrock activities have been scheduled into your diary other tasks can be fitted in around them and assigned a priority value, such as high, medium or low. If you don’t do this, your day may end up filled with a jumble of important and unimportant tasks, leading to a sense of frustration by the end of the week. GET STUFF DONE Multitasking tends to be seen as a valuable skill, but in reality doing more than one thing concurrently inhibits your effectiveness. One alternative way to deal with a lot of tasks coming at you at once is to use the Zap technique. Here, you zap each task by doing one of five things: bin it, file it, pass it on, do it now or diarise it. In this way, nothing hangs around to clutter your mind and impact on your effectiveness. What you mustn’t do is simply put off dealing with things, as procrastination is the enemy of progress. Think of any task you delay tackling as a frog; the longer you sit there looking at it, the bigger and uglier it will get. The key is to eat the frog early. A useful tool to get things done is the Pomodoro Technique, where you get rid of all disturbances and sources of distraction. You might, for example, turn off your telephone and email notifications and close your office door. Set a timer for 25 minutes and concentrate fully on the task in hand. Then, when the timer goes off, take a five-minute break before returning to the task. Repeat this until you have finished and then give yourself a reward, such as a coffee break or some time to chat with a colleague.

URGENT

NOT URGENT

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crisis pressing problems projects with close deadlines

preparation and planning new opportunities relationship building

IMPORTANT NOT IMPORTANT

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interruptions some calls and emails some meetings

busy work some calls and emails time wasters

If you spend too much time doing tasks that are urgent but not important you might need to renegotiate with whoever is driving your agenda. For example, are you attending numerous meetings that aren’t moving you closer to achieving your goals? Are you writing reports that you don’t really understand the value of? The key and often neglected box is ‘important but not urgent’, because in here lie all the purposeful, longer-term tasks that tend to get put on the back burner. To be truly effective you will need to focus time and energy on these more strategic tasks so that the number of things in your ‘urgent and important’ box diminishes. For example, take the time to plan better or improve a business process or train someone up so you can delegate more tasks to them. The easiest way to free up time is, of course, to cease doing the things in the ‘not urgent, not important’ box. Activities such as engaging with social media and procrastinating can eat away at your time, without adding any real value.

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CLEAR THE CLUTTER Doing something as simple as ensuring your office and desk are tidy can greatly improve your effectiveness. As well as improving your psychological wellbeing, it’s much easier to find any information or tools that you need when they’re filed in an orderly way, whether that be in a box or on your computer. While tidiness and organisation might seem relatively trivial, the cumulative effect of things like this can really impact on your time management and effectiveness. FORM HABITS To be truly effective, time management must become a habit and you can start to do this by implementing routines. Make a plan for the next day and week, being sure to block in time for important tasks while prioritising others. Zap everything that comes your way and stay on top of things. Research shows that a habit will stick best if there is a routine followed by some kind of reward. That might mean you allow yourself to head home after you’ve written your plan or take a break for your first coffee of the morning. Habits are also more likely to stick if they align with your current lifestyle and personal preferences. Think, therefore, about when in the day you tend to have the most energy and focus and use those times to tackle the most important stuff, the tasks that really move you forward. Finally, be sure to review your effectiveness from time to time, looking at what is working and what is not. Only by taking this helicopter perspective on yourself will your effectiveness improve.

THE ZAP TECHNIQUE When faced with a whole loads of tasks, zap each one:

Bin it File it

n n n n n

Pass it on Do it now Diarise it

THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE – 4 STEPS

Get rid of all disturbances and sources of distraction For 25 minutes concentrate fully on the task in hand Take a five-minute break, then return to the task Repeat until you’ve finished

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MANAGING YOUR TEAM

WHEN WE LONG FOR LIFE WITHOUT DIFFICULTIES, REMIND US THAT OAKS GROW STRONG IN CONTRARY WINDS AND DIAMONDS ARE MADE

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MANAGING UP

MANAGING MILLENNIALS

MENTAL HEALTH AND YOUR TEAM MANAGING UNDER PRESSURE

UNDER PRESSURE.” PETER MARSHALL

SOCIAL MEDIA AWARENESS

UNDERSTANDING AND ENGAGING WITH THE MEDIA

Managing Your Team

J ust as with any relationship, personal or professional, managing up the chain of command requires time and effort. However, in return you’re likely to be rewarded with greater understanding and respect for your methods, more freedom and resources to see your plans through, and greater influence over how the club is run and developed. GROUND WORK Good relationships with the key stakeholders in the club are founded on proper due diligence before you even accept the job. You will already have researched the club’s philosophy and vision and it’s unlikely that MANAGING UP Club chairmen, CEOs and boards hold the power to hire and fire and to influence decisions made by and affecting you. Maintaining good relationships with these key stakeholders is vital. Words: Prof Sue Bridgewater

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you’d have been offered the manager’s position if your own weren’t closely aligned. However, it’s important to delve deeper than that, looking at how the club is structured, who has the power and who makes the decisions. Find out how many full-time executives there are on the board and try to form a picture of who they are and whether you could work well with them. Effective relationships involve creating win-win outcomes in which both parties get what they want, so seek first to understand and then to be understood. Are the owners and directors motivated by business or by a passion? What roles do the various directors hold on the board and what do you think that each would see as a successful outcome? For example, the finance director might want good value for money and for the books to balance, while the marketing director might want players and a manager who are willing to help showcase the club and engage with fans. Gaining this level of understanding will help you to give them what they need. MAKE IT PERSONAL It’s worth also remembering that, their professional roles aside, these are individuals with their own unique personalities, needs, preferences and lives. Try to show an interest in them as people, their families, hobbies and backgrounds, and find out what you have in common. In the increasingly global and diverse world of football, awareness and sensitivity of any cultural differences is also very important. If owners or members of the board are from different countries or backgrounds, see what you can learn about them and show that you’re taking an interest in their backgrounds. There may be cultural differences in what is deemed appropriate

behaviour in social and professional situations and business etiquette that you should be aware of.

SOCIAL CONTACT Regular face-to-face contact, whether chatting over lunch, catching up over a coffee, speaking after each match or going into the boardroom when the opportunity arises, is essential in helping to create strong bonds and trust. This trust creates ‘stickiness’, which tends to make relationships endure longer than those conducted solely by phone or email. Put differently, even if results are going against you, people with whom you have developed good personal relationships are more likely to stick with you. Not all owners and directors, however, will be easy to get to know and form bonds with and, given the increase in involvement from overseas, some may be out of the country for much of the time. Geographic distance works against the creation of social and trust bonds, so it’s important to take any opportunity to meet in person, whether that means getting on a plane to visit them abroad or ensuring you schedule in a proper catch up when they are back in the UK. While nothing beats face-to-face contact, arranging video conference calls is a good alternative, and even a normal voice call is preferable to an email or text. Speaking to one another directly enables you to get answers and explanations instantly and helps to avoid the misunderstandings that can easily result from written messages. TAILOR IT How you communicate with the other party will, of course, depend to some extent on their personal preferences. The better you get to know someone the better you’ll understand what kind of information they want, what level of detail they need and how and when they like to receive it. Everyone has a different style of leadership and different ways of working, so it’s important to be able to adapt to the people you’re working under as you move from club to club. Does the other party want daily, detailed updates on your plans and progress or a weekly overview? Do they like those around them to be frank and open and to throw strong opinions into the mix, or would a milder-mannered and more diplomatic approach be better received?

Understanding the infrastructure, organisation and process of the club is critical, because they will be different each time. Often you have less opportunity to influence football matters than used to be the case; there are many other people involved, and there’s a process you have to go through. SAM ALLARDYCE

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TACT AND DIPLOMACY There’s an art, too, to putting forward your ideas in a way that is persuasive without being pushy or seen to undermine the credibility of the other person. You will want to tread carefully, for example, when pitching an idea that contradicts or criticises something put in place previously by your boss. Diplomacy is key and while it’s good to speak with honesty and openness, you’ll need to have enough tact to know when is the right time to speak, when you might be able to influence people, and when to keep quiet. While it is helpful in any working relationship if two people like each other, what’s more important is that there is trust and respect, and that each values the other’s contribution and commitment to the club’s success.

DEAN SMITH

It’s a good idea to phone the owner or chief executive after each game to explain the reasoning behind your decisions. Doing this straight away reduces the risk of the facts getting distorted by other people’s views. Communicating with owners who are abroad can be a challenge, though. You have to ensure your messages are even clearer as they may reach the owner through a third party.

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T he world has changed immeasurably over the past 20 years, with technology transforming how we work, live and interact with one another. We have all had to adapt to being connected 24/7, to instant access and boundless information, and to a highly globalised and diverse society. We have seen flexibility and work-life balance grow in importance in the workplace, along with corporate responsibility, and we have felt the ripple effect of all of these changes in every aspect of our lives. When we speak of the need to understand or manage millennials (born in the last few decades of the 20th century) and post-millennials (born in the 21st century), it is not because they are so very different to us; they’re not. But, whereas older generations have had to adapt to our changing society, the younger ones were born into it, so the associated behaviours and attitudes are innate and stronger. MANAGING MILLENNIALS In many ways, today’s players are just like those of 20 or 30 years ago, but there may also be subtle differences in their thinking and preferences. Words: Alice Hoey

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Managing Your Team

THINK QUICK AND SHORT Millennials have grown up in a culture of immediacy, fuelled by technology that enables constant communication, quick results, and regular reviews and feedback. Used to this instant gratification, they may thrive on short- term goals and become impatient when working towards something in the distance. Breaking a big objective up into small steps will therefore be particularly important for millennials, as will enabling them to see what progress they’re making along the way. Regular feedback will also be crucial in retaining their talent in your team. That may mean planning more performance reviews throughout the year, and having an open door policy so they can come to you for reassurance and validation when they need to. KEEP THEM KEEN This tendency to think in the short term may also have implications for millennials’ career planning. Unlike past generations, they tend not to expect or even desire a ‘job for life’. Generally speaking, they thrive off the challenge of taking on new or different roles, so finding ways to feed this need will be key in keeping them from moving on. Providing your team members with plenty of opportunities to develop new skills and gain responsibilities is important, as it helps to keep them engaged and motivated and demonstrates that you value them enough to invest in their futures. LEADERSHIP STYLE While it’s a generalisation to say millennials have been raised with a softer touch, parenting and teaching styles have changed over the years. Questioning and debate are now actively encouraged, and as a result millennials and post-millennials may respond more positively to leaders who are approachable and who allow them to voice their views. Let them know that you value their opinions and are willing to listen, and be prepared to talk them through your reasoning if they disagree with your decisions.

PAUL HURST

Players today are more curious and want to know more detail, probably because of all the information they get coming through the academies. They want to understand your reasoning. They may have certain expectations of you, and that includes more regular communications. You have to try to understand young people’s personalities and attitudes and where they’re coming from, because society has changed. It’s important to remain aware of what the players might be going through, because with each year that passes you get further away from understanding the issues first hand. We grew up in a different era to our players, so we’ve got to try to understand what makes them tick and how their lives are in general.

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PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Finally, culture is of huge importance to millennials and post-millennials, and they tend to take great pride in who they work for, perhaps even more so than previous generations. This is possibly because it is now so easy to discover what someone does for a living and then root out all sorts of information on their organisation. With a few clicks, you can learn about an organisation’s charitable work, culture and vision, media coverage and what it’s like to work there. Whereas in the past the priority for a young person would have been to find an organisation that was solid and secure, a millennial is more likely to want to work for a brand they can wear as a badge of honour. Broadly speaking, millennials are attracted by organisations that have higher purposes beyond profit and whose ideals and purposes tally with their own. These qualities, incidentally, also make millennials great brand ambassadors and they may relish the chance to step into the public eye in aid of a charitable cause or community initiative. As a manager, it’s important when trying to attract and retain young players that your club culture is strong, clear and consistent, and that you provide ample opportunities for them to engage and be part of the club’s ongoing story.

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MENTAL HEALTH AND YOUR TEAM

As well as looking after your mental health, you will need to take steps to foster good mental wellbeing among your team members. Words: Alice Hoey

W hile there’s still some way to go before mental and physical wellbeing are viewed on equal terms, awareness and understanding of common mental health issues, such as depression, stress and anxiety, have grown considerably in recent years. We now know that one quarter of adults and one tenth of young people experience mental health problems and they can affect anyone. It’s therefore imperative that, as leaders, we work with our teams to break down the stigmas associated with mental ill health and create cultures where team members look after one another’s mental wellbeing as well as their own. This isn’t simply a question of duty of care; mental wellbeing is as much a performance factor as physical fitness. In fact, the WHO defines mental health as “a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively

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