LESSONS FROM RUGBY

When a team suffers a major setback, does its recovery hinge on leaders seizing control? Or does it make more sense to let the entire team itself take the wheel?

For South Africa’s Rugby World Cup winners, the pivotal moment turned out to be the immediate aftermath of their match in Yokohama against New Zealand on 21 September 2019. The scoreboard spoke volumes: All Blacks 23, Springboks 13. It seemed the final whistle had called time on their hopes of winning the tournament. Yet just 42 days later in the same stadium, those same players stood tall on the winners’ podium, as victorious captain Siya Kolisi held the coveted William Webb Ellis trophy high in the air. Written off by commentators and rivals alike after defeat to the All Blacks, the Springboks had defied expectations.

But was this dramatic turnaround the result of a squad obediently carrying out orders? Or was it in fact an example of brilliant leadership allowing a talented cohort to achieve its goal?

In the 1999 Oliver Stone film Any Given Sunday, Al Pacino plays Tony D’Amato, head coach of beleaguered American football team the Miami Sharks. Addressing them at their lowest ebb, his words are all the more powerful for their honesty and vulnerability: “In either game – life or football – the margin for error is so small. The inches we need [to win] are everywhere around us. They are in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team, we fight for that inch. You’ve got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think you’re gonna see a guy who will go that inch with you. You’re gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows, when it comes down to it, you’re gonna do the same for him.”

D’Amato accepts his own shortcomings. “Now I can’t do it for you. I’m too old. I look around and I see these young faces and I think I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make.” Then he concludes: “Either we heal now as a team, or we will die as individuals.”

If you’re running a business, this kind of honesty is not weakness; it can bind a team together. Too many managers who focus on being ‘the boss’ end up failing to understand what makes each individual team member tick. The team stagnates as a result. The atmosphere around it quickly becomes what people call ‘toxic’. Everybody loses.

In her recent article Toxic Work Cultures Make Best People Quit!’, author Brigette Hyacinth warned against autocracy in the workplace: “Whenever a boss acts like a dictator – shutting down, embarrassing, or firing anyone who dares to challenge the status quo – you’ve got a toxic workplace problem. And that’s not just because of the boss’ bad behaviour, but because that behaviour creates an environment in which everyone is scared, intimidated and often willing to throw their colleagues under the bus, just to stay on the good side of the such bosses.” Instead, she said, leaders must show “respect, integrity, authenticity, appreciation, empathy and trust”.

Back in September, Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus showed he understood there was no room for dictatorship. He knew that only a respectful environment would enable the team to embrace its loss, then understand and commit to its common purpose. Individual players had to be willing to sacrifice themselves for that team. They had to be ready to fight for those inches. In the six weeks that followed defeat to the All Blacks, Hyacinth’s six essential leadership qualities helped Erasmus forge a team of champions, one filled with players prepared to throw themselves under an English bus.

In a sense, the Springboks went through a classic process of strategic planning. What is the dream that we want to achieve? Where are we right now? What are the external factors that affect us? How do we get to where we want to be? The coach encouraged them to be completely open, to talk in clear language with honesty and integrity about who they were as a team. No borrowed jargon. No clichés. Just purpose and focus.

As time ticked by, Rassie and his team talked about pressure. They came to realise that failure to beat the All Blacks was partly the result of playing with pressure in their heads, and without fire in their hearts. At first, the discussion centred on the pressure they felt during the game: pressure to win the lineout; pressure to regain possession; pressure to get points on the board. All understandable concerns, but these did not define them as a team.

It was only when they began talking about what pressure means to people in South Africa that the team’s common purpose emerged. For those living in the kind of poor rural areas where Kolisi himself grew up, pressure meant ensuring the next family meal was on the table. In other parts of the country, pressure could mean worrying about the family of a relative who had been murdered. Back home, pressure often meant hardship and survival. But instead of focusing on daily struggles, during the tournament South Africans from all walks of life were wearing green and gold jerseys and rooting for the Boks in their millions.

Slowly but surely, Rassie guided his boys’ thinking away from pressure to purpose and privilege. They spoke about hope, about what their participation in the World Cup meant to the people of South Africa. The moment they realised their purpose as a team, rather than ‘head pressure’, was the thing that should drive them onward, they laid the foundation for that ultimate, astounding victory over England in the final. As champions of hope for 54 million South Africans, a fire had been ignited inside them. At last, they understood that this shared burning desire was also an enormous privilege.

Arguably the strongest statement Erasmus himself made in the days after the final was when he suggested hope was not a feeling you simply talk about, but one that you should embody. “Hope is when you play well… and people watch the game…and feel good afterwards,” he said. “This was not a burden, it’s our privilege.” It’s a lesson that every business should – no, must – learn if it seriously wants to excel. Forget hoping, focus on playing well. Establish a spirit of openness and honesty. Start working with a purity of purpose at the heart of your team.

Of course, there were other factors at play in securing the success of this amazing team of sportsmen. Firstly, Siya Kolisi and Rassie Erasmus are humble leaders who led from the front, but not by fear. They listened and learnt from the players, deploying them in the positions most suited to their individual talents. Secondly, the team members had deeply ingrained respect for their leader and for one another. The entire team understood that respect must be earned. It is not a right.

Thirdly, there were 23 strong personalities on the field, but not a single individual ego. It was all about getting the job done together, and collectively sharing the glory. Last, and definitely not least, they had a coach who was prepared to afford his team ample room to find their own paths, to grow as individuals and to flourish as a team. No screaming or shouting, no petulant boss behavior that incidentally is observed on the sports television networks on a weekly basis. Instead, he nurtured and supported his players in a respectful manner. He was a shoulder to lean on, not a fist to be feared.

All of this is what empowered centre Damian de Allende to keep tackling fearlessly, sparked the amazing speed and dexterity in winger Cheslin Kolbe’s feet, inspired centre Lukhanyo Am to pass the ball selflessly to winger Makazole Mapimpi who scored the try, and brought tears to the eyes of giant Duane ‘Thor’ Vermeulen. As a whole, this team performance was the very embodiment of purpose.

Sport is always a fertile hunting ground for those seeking out life lessons and commercially sound principles. To all business owners who are truly passionate about their enterprises, I say this: bring back respect, integrity, authenticity, appreciation, empathy and trust, then work with your people to define and embrace your company’s purpose.

That way, everybody wins.

Nic Jooste, Nootdorp, Netherlands - 13 November 2019