Crouch, Touch, Pause & Engage – the Leadership Scrum

In this time of physical isolation and immense change, I find myself in a collision of discovery and grieving. So much amazing renewal, opportunity and potential, but also the loss of some parts of my life that I really love and miss. In my world, the opportunity to engage, lead and be led differently has been massively stimulating. However, the loss of watching and engaging with sport, particularly rugby has left a gap in my life. In a moment of reflection, I found some inspiration from this incredible game that will help me navigate my leadership in this context and beyond. 

For those unfamiliar with the game of rugby union it will be challenging to bring the beauty and purpose of this amazing game alive in this short post. Over and above being filled with drama, phenomenal skill and raw physicality, the beauty of the game for me sits very much beyond the game itself: the friendships, emotion and ability to honour the opposition with respect and authenticity that leads to so much more than the final score.

If I was to choose a component of the game that epitomises this for me it would be the scrum, where eight women or men bind together and compete in the most physical and intensely skilful way for the ball to set up the play or planned move for the team. I need to declare a clear and very conscious bias here, as somebody who spent their rugby playing time in the “front row” or “engine room” the scrum is my favourite part of the game!

While the wording has changed in the most recent rules the referee would instruct both teams’ forwards preparing to scrum with the words “crouch, touch, pause and engage” I can’t help but find resonance in what we as leaders need to embrace as we guide our teams towards the next phase of play.

Crouch

As leaders in this context we need to adjust our position, find the right angles to see things from and at times change our perspective so we can see the challenges differently. Be empathetic to the differences you see and curious to the learning opportunities hidden inside the challenges and battles we will face as a result. Equally as individuals we need to be in a position of relative strength to take on the great mental and physical load that we must bear.

Touch

We must reach out and connect, we need to appreciate and respect that some will not reach out to us naturally, it is our duty to initiate the contact.  From the crouched position, we are able to see who to reach out to. When reaching out we need look others in the eye and connect with them on a level that says, without words that I care and value you, and whatever happens I am with you. 

Pause

The importance of reflection is paramount, without this we will battle to learn and adjust on past action, proposed plans and we will not be ready to respond in a way that is true to who we espouse to be as a leader.  The greater the intensity and stress the greater the need to pause, we need to gather ourselves and breathe so we can be ready to execute and lead. 

The chaos is about to emerge again, and we will make mistakes and our plans will be disrupted, so be ok with that, in fact if you can embrace it as a gift to learn something new about yourself and others you will emerge stronger and more prepared. Without reflecting on actions, we will battle to learn, so pause to reflect and leverage the learning.

Engage

This is so exhilarating for the modern leader, the adrenalin flows and the responses of the reality of the situation leads to the play being executed and successful outcomes. 

Unfortunately, sometimes the plan does not work, and the responses are different or completely opposite to what you prepared for. This for me is what separates the great leaders (and front row forwards) from the rest, how do we engage the next time, what have we learnt, how have we adjusted and what have we done to keep the spirit of ourselves and others alive for our next battle. 

So, what will happen if I crouch, touch, pause and engage?

I don’t know what will happen every time, scrums collapse, your opposition outsmarts you or the ground under your feet gives way.  What I can say with some conviction is that you will be a better leader over the long term and be in a solid position to create the environment for sustainable performance for you and others.

So, while I wait to watch the next game of rugby, I will be setting up for my next leadership scrum!

Please feel free to build on, add and make the metaphor better in the comments, I would love to learn from you!