How to build a team that wins... and keeps winning.

Getting to the top is incredibly hard.

Staying there is harder.

I love football, and this weekend I had to swallow my pride and acknowledge the pure brilliance of Manchester City Football Club in picking up their fifth The Premier League title in six years.

It got me thinking - how have they managed to become so dominant in what is just about the most competitive sporting environment in the world, both on and off the pitch?

It comes down to myriad reasons, but in witnessing their undeniable ascension to greatness, I have learned a thing or two about how they've pulled it all together to create a faultless winning machine that is steamrolling all in front of it.

- The long-term vision; this didn't happen overnight and they didn't take shortcuts. They set out clear goals and a method to get there a decade ago, and they've diligently stuck to that plan without compromising their values for short-term gains.

- Don't expect people to just "fit in" when they join, let them add value by being themselves; give people time and resources to do their jobs. They haven't picked the easy option each time and made tough decisions to further the long-term potential. They brought in arguably the greatest manager of his generation in Pep Guardiola, but even to get him there initially they had to create the perfect environment for him, and they then ceded a lot of power to him to maximise his impact.

- Clear values, clear communication, and no allowance for exceptions; everyone must buy into the vision and the method. If you do not that is fine, but you will find your home elsewhere.

- Hire on personality to unlock potential, not just experience; they have built an incredible squad of talented players, but one thing that stands out with the team they've built is how driven and focused they are on their goals. They didn't just hire big-name players from big-name clubs, they painstakingly broke down the skills and personality requirements needed for success. They hired people from a range of clubs and focused on the personality of the individual, alongside the skills to measure capabilities. Experience gives a flavour of what someone has done, rather than focusing on what they can do in the future, and this is an extremely common pitfall I find when helping people hire talent.

There are so many other aspects I could go into but these really resonate with me. Yes, they have had resources most could only dream of and yes, they have allegations currently against them as to how they got those resources (that's another discussion altogether), but that doesn't affect what we can learn from how they've put it all together to create excellence.

Creating such a comprehensive strategy and delivering it is a lot easier said than done, but that's why I love doing the embedded work I do with clients. We take a big-picture view of recruitment and retention and own the process from end to end, with greater control of the processes and communication to ensure the best possible results. In partnership we set big, ambitious goals, and own the journey to get there, thinking long-term with every hire rather than fighting fires and just trying to get the first person who can do the job into the position every time.

Time will tell as to whether Manchester City can continue their dominance, but I have a horrible feeling they're not done yet. What can the rest do to try and reel them in? Learn from City, find their own visions and empower their teams to deliver on that potential through honesty, hard work and dedication; because in sports, much like most walks of life, there are rarely shortcuts to success.