Even those of you who have no interest at all in football will have noticed that something quite exceptional has happened recently.
Leicester City have won the Premiership and have officially been crowned the best football team in England.
This is a far cry from where they found themselves last season and was certainly not expected in a million years even by their own fans. But it did happen and a modern day fairy tale has occurred.
But how did they do it? What was their secret and how can you generate the same results from your employees in your business?
Believe it or not the formula is simple but the effort and dedication to apply it is where the difference lies.
The Power of Team
Firstly it all begins in recognising that working in a team that is productive, motivated and where all individuals share a common goal is the foundation of all great achievements.
Just one person who is not moving in the same direction can be all it takes to rock the boat and not achieve the desired results.
It was clear from hearing the Leicester City players being interviewed following their monumental achievement that all of them had complete unity and confidence in each other. Not one of them showed signs of not working together or in unison.
There must be a blueprint that all team members are following and a values system that everyone believes in for it to be a team who consistently perform at a high level. This has been evident all season in how Leicester City have performed.
Understanding Each Individual
We are all unique and all have different triggers that get the best from us. For some it is family or money. For others it is status or perhaps setting and achieving goals. Whatever it is we all have something that makes us tick.
Taking the time to work out what this is and to then feed that trigger is a great way to get your employees’ bought into your organisations goals and ambitions.
This is something that the coaching and back room staff at Leicester City have worked hard on this season. They took the time to speak with individuals and only brought players into the club who shared in their vision and beliefs.
Use AMO – Ability / Motivation / Opportunity
There are 3 key elements that must always be present for anyone to achieve success:
- Ability
- Motivation
- Opportunity
For example you can have all of the ability in the world but if you never have the opportunity to demonstrate this ability you will not succeed.
The same applies if you are highly motivated but fail to possess the required ability to achieve. It is about making sure all 3 areas are present.
There may well be some players at Leicester City who have differing levels of ability but as a whole unit they made up for any shortfalls by being there for each other. One thing none of them were lacking in was a desire and motivation to play the best they could.
Leadership
Leadership is so vital. A great leader will motivate and inspire people and share a vision of what is possible. They will get everyone working together and develop a strong culture of positivity. This is something Claudio Ranieri has done this season with Leicester City.
The engagement and camaraderie he has brought out of the players has been remarkable and shows how important his leadership has been in their success. All of the players at Leicester City have a deep rooted respect for him and this makes for a powerful leadership model.
Remove Negative Thoughts
Negativity is highly contagious amongst people and seriously damages any chance of high performance.
If it exists you can guarantee that nothing productive will be achieved or come of it. It must be eradicated wherever possible. It limits people’s beliefs system and sucks the energy out of individuals.
Leicester City have shown no signs all season of any negativity. They have kept a positive mind set and nothing has deterred them from focussing on the job in hand and playing the best football that they can.
Anybody is capable of removing negativity and having focus on improving themselves. Your business must engender such a culture and encourage people to be positive about what they do and are seeking to achieve.
Focus and Intent
Finally I believe one of the key ingredients of why Leicester City have been the power house force they have been this season is because they have had absolute focus and intent on what they have been seeking to achieve.
At the start of the season they won’t have set themselves a goal of winning the Premiership but they will have put incremental milestones in place for them to work towards. As each one was achieved the next would have been set and so the process will have gone on like this all season.
They had clarity, focus and intent and nothing distracted them from this. Eventually this resulted in them winning the Premiership and being crowned Champions.
Setting, incremental and achievable goals over short periods of time is a powerful way to achieve amazing results in any business.
Conclusion
It might well be another 50 years before we see anything like what Leicester City have achieved but it shows the power of team work. Having an absolute belief in each other is the winning formula for any great team and it will deliver success.
I hope you have found this article of interest and if you have any feedback or comments about it I would be delighted to hear from you.
I wish you and your business every success in achieving your own Leicester City utopia.
Donna Fairbrother
Director
The Online HR People
01509 833126
