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NZ Rugby World column, February 2008
I'm glad the NZRU reappointed Graham Henry. To lose the continuity, experience and learning would have been a mistake. The critical thing though now is for Graham and his team to study their programme to learn from their mistakes, and to improve incrementally and transformationally. And review South Africa's in as much detail as possible. They timed their run perfectly. What can we learn from them? The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over again and expect a different result. I spend my life in the business world and on the periphery of the sports world. There have been countless books written by sports coaches about the lessons business can learn from sport. But now professional sport is so big, I believe there are some lessons sport (and New Zealand Rugby in particular) can learn from business. If the All Blacks were a company and Graham Henry was the CEO then I would hope that the 2008-2011 plan would be built around FREDA. Who's FREDA? 1. F for Focus. The focus of the last programme was to win the Rugby World Cup. It failed. Our focus should change and should revert back to "Winning every test match we play in". It should be about picking the best team to win that particular game against that particular opponent. Vince Lombardi, the coach of the Green Bay Packers, said that winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. We need to get our players refocused on winning one game at a time, every time. In the end, that's how World Cups are won. That's what sudden death is all about. The only way we'll be ready for sudden death situations is if we practice that sudden death mentality every time we run onto the pitch. That's how it used to be. That's how the All Blacks built their reputation. That's why everyone feared us. We need to get back to that. 2. R for Reinvention. We must re-imagine and reinvent in two areas. We need to focus on the last detail and on the big idea. Nothing should be left unscrutinised. For instance, is it time to change our view on the Haka? Have we spent too much time investing in its cultural implications, the reaction of the opposition, the choice of Haka, etc., etc.? Traditionally, the Haka was only performed on tour. Then when the All Blacks lost ground publicly over the South African issue, it was decided to try to win back the New Zealand public by performing the Haka at home games. Going forward should we change the focus again and either a) perform it for ourselves in the changing shed as we did successfully in Cardiff against Wales, b) perform it after the game in celebration of victory as Titch and the Sevens teams do, or c) put it under wraps until we win the World Cup in 2011. We've also spent a lot of time integrating Samoans, Tongans, Maoris culturally into the All Blacks. That was a good thing. Is it time now to refocus on the fact that we are all New Zealanders first. Tana Umanga was a great example of a man who was dignity personified in his own culture but reminded everyone that he was a New Zealander first and foremost. The game is moving quickly to a horizontal version of Rugby League. The sudden death stages of the World Cup degenerated into aimless kicking for position tactics. Tactical innovation was hard to find. What can we do in coaching terms to change the face of the game; to reinvent the three P's in today's context. We seem to have been dragged back into parity in this area and need a breakthrough. To get this breakthrough, we probably need to look outside New Zealand and outside rugby. Is it time for Graham to look at learning from wrestling coaches, basketball tacticians, and other innovators? |
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A reduced management team focused on execution on and off the field and every day will be vital for the next four years. 4. D for Delivery. We delivered a fantastic 3-1/2 years and a lousy World Cup. The responsibility for improved delivery lies with management and the players. Key to delivery is the making of tough calls early and the desire of everyone to succeed. The rotation policy and the longer term nature of the campaign approach argues against immediate delivery because people convince themselves too readily that they are on track, it was a learning process, yada, yada, yada. I'm a big believer in constant delivery, immediate gratification and that long-term results are gained by constant short-term victories. 5. A for Accountability. The best accountability system is RASCI. R for responsible, A for approver, S for support, C for consult, I for inform. On every project there is one person responsible and only one approver. Everyone else is designated to either be supportive and do the work, to be consulted or to be informed after the event. With this clarity in place there is total accountability for every project, for every decision. In most businesses politics, confusion and complexity reign. This was definitely the case in the All Blacks World Cup campaign. To get accountability, Graham should implement RASCI throughout the All Blacks. I'm starting the New Year with a burst of optimism and will soon be ready to sit down for the first time and watch the video of the Quarter Final (maybe!). I go into the year positive following the NZRU decision to reappoint Graham and his team. I also believe that Graham has the wisdom and foresight to change and that his experience as a head teacher and head coach will stand him in good stead for what will be the crowning four years of his career. So - once more into the breach, dear friends. |
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