In Pursuit of Excellence: Learning from Elite Sport on Developing Talent Effectively Dr Bill Gerrard Professor of Sport Management and Finance Leeds University Business School

Session plan

1. “Let’s Go” 2. Ideas session 3. Group discussions 4. Report back 5. “Where are we?”

Who am I?

• Professor of Sport Management and Finance, Leeds University Business School • Research focus: performance and value management in the pro team sports industry • Recent teaching portfolio:  Corporate finance (MBA)  Value and performance management (MBA)  The football business (2 nd Year U/g) • Qualified football coach (UEFA B License) • FA psychology for coaching (Level 3) • Assistant coach, University of Leeds Men’s Football

You can’t be serious!

What can we learn from elite sport on developing talent effectively?

Ideas session: in pursuit of excellence

Re-creating the Street

Alternative World Views

Holistic Approach

EXCELLENCE

Winning

Goal Setting

Coaching

What’s your coaching/ teaching paradigm?

Transactional Paradigm Knowledge Transfer Detachment Coach-Led Command Style Instrumentalist Efficiency Transformational Paradigm Capability Building Involvement Player-Centred Guided Discovery

Expressive Excellence

Performance: outcome or process?

Performance as outcome Short-term perspective Quick-fix solutions Summative assessment Having mode Performance as process Long-term perspective

Get the fundamentals right Formative assessment Being mode

Total football or 4-4-2?

Tactical systems: top-down command Total football: player empowerment

Four corners model of talent development

ELITE PERFORMANCE

Mental skills training: concentration

Close your eyes. Focus on your breathing.

Count each breath until you are distracted.

How far can you get?

Mental skills training: Motivation Confidence Self talk Goal setting Relaxation Professional attitude Imagery

Focus and concentration

Coaching

• • • •

Individual-focused Coach as teacher, mentor, motivator, facilitator … Holistic approach to understanding the individual Emphasis on positive and forward-looking approach – “who do you want to be”

The GROW model of coaching

Preparation: • Session plan • Objectives “Fail to prepare. Prepare to fail” Typical structure: – Warm up – Drills – Conditioned games – Free play – Cool down

The coaching process

Guided discovery: - Create problem situation - Give players freedom to explore options Coaching formula: STOP-DEMO-REHEARSAL-LIVE

“Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember.

Involve me and I understand.”

Effective coaching

ASPIRE INVOLVE DEVOLVE INSPIRE

SMARTER targets

S pecific M easurable A ttainable R elevant T ime-bound E xciting R ecorded

Choose your goals carefully

CONTROL THE

CONTROLLABLE OUTCOMES ARE UNCERTAIN TASK-ORIENTED INTRINSIC MOTIVATION EGO-ORIENTED EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION PROCESS GOALS PERFORMANCE GOALS

OUTCOME GOALS

Target specification

COULD SHOULD MUST

But be aware of the language of targets

“You MUST

– – –

Transactional Extrinsic Compliance achieve this performance level” “You CAN

– – –

Transformational Intrinsic achieve this performance level” Collaboration

It’s not about winning and losing. Don’t judge yourself or the team by something you can’t control. What matters is that you and the team strive to give of your best and to improve.

Dealing with failure

Pro team sports has high failure rates •Average teams lose 50% of their games •Football managers get sacked every 2 years on average •85% of full-time football trainees exit professional game within 5 years But few support mechanisms

Excessive focus on winning even in

youth development.

But winning is not a controllable

Re-creating the street environment

10,000 hours required

to develop expertise Structured coaching can stifle creativity

“The street taught us. Messi grew up like this. Messi taught himself instead of a coach saying ‘run from cone to cone with the ball, do this, do that’.” Johan Cruyff

The street – real-life, uncertain challenges Streetwise

– shrewd; practical; experienced

Group discussions

Question 1: Is there a role for the coaching approach in university degree programmes? Question 2: Should we be concerned with all four corners of talent development? Question 3: Could small-group teaching be structured as a coaching session? Question 4: How could we do more to ensure that graduates are streetwise?

Wrap up

Group discussion – report back Where has the journey taken us?

Thank you