Lessons in Leadership from Jürgen Klopp

The night Liverpool FC produced their remarkable come back this month over FC Barcelona to qualify in the UEFA Champions League final by winning 4 - 0 (4 - 3 on aggregate) was an amazing accomplishment.

Some called it the sequel to the miracle of Istanbul.

Whatever your sporting allegiances or preferences, the casual observer would probably find it difficult to argue against the fact that this was something quite special as a sporting spectacle.

Whilst the football on the pitch was exciting to watch, for me, the most amazing spectacle was the team and coaching staff standing in front of the Spion Kop singing the club anthem 'You'll Never Walk Alone' together with their fans. I would hope that only the hardest of hearts or the genuinely indifferent would not be moved by such scenes.

As I witnessed the post match scenes unfold, I wondered what it took, in terms of leadership, to achieve the result, the unity among the teams and the synchronicity of players, staff and fans in that moment of connection and celebration.

Who in business would not want that level of engagement from their management, staff and stakeholders? Actually, if you could achieve 50 percent of that level of engagement compared to where you are now, my guess is that you'd take it.

But the truth is wherever you look in the world, current statistics show that business still has a long way to go.

Predictably, the focus on Klopp has intensified as he and his team round out a record breaking season preparing for a back to back appearance in the European Cup Final. What's the secret to his leadership? What's his morning routine? How does he do it? Everyone, wants to know how he has led this club to its best performance in the last 20 years.

In a recent video interview, Klopp talked about his approach. What I particularly picked up on were the following elements:

• Allowing people to play their game with freedom by letting them do what comes naturally and amplifying that before stepping in with remedial coaching
• Genuinely help each other to do the right thing in the right moment together. The more you do this, the better it is for you as a person and as a team
• Learn new things by going outside of your comfort zone
• Take your share of responsibility for setting the mood and atmosphere in the room. Everyone is responsible, no exceptions
• Set the example and be confident enough to say 'I don't know'. Be confident enough to let people grow around you to become stronger than you.

The full interview is here (5 mins).

I'd suggest that you can sum the philosophy up all of that in one phrase and this is that it's simply his way of being. Leadership is all about being before doing.

All of this should not be news. Success leaves clues. The trick is spotting the pattern and then unpacking what the common factors are to be able to apply them in your own situation.

Here's an example that offers almost exact parallels to Klopp's approach.

Wind back 16 months ago to when I took up the martial art of Aikido. The aim was to get fit and achieve something that, at the time, was out of reach; to earn a black belt. It was (and is) an excellent challenge to achieve my own personal growth with many opportunities to step beyond my own comfort zone as I learn new skills and gain greater mastery over my mind and body [note: this is a work in progress!].

Travel schedule permitting, I train at least twice a week for 90 minutes at a time at the Shudokan Black Belt Academy dojo in Nottingham here in the UK. Aikido is a technically complex martial art requiring physical strength, mental focus and spirit. It is counter intuitive to other martial arts in that no fighting is involved and, when practised to a high standard is a demanding, precise and graceful as ballet as this black belt test shows.

As I reflect back on my training to date, I notice a similarity between the way in which Jürgen Klopp talks about his approach to leadership and bringing the best out of the people around him and the approach taken by the team of Sensei, led by Chief Instructor Sensei Ken Robson. Specifically:

• Aikido is about helping people move their whole selves - mind and body - with freedom without thought and in flow. Like most sports and athletics this appears to be a fundamental principle that consistently underpins high performance. Counter intuitively, it's not a state you can pump yourself up into but comes from a natural letting go of thought and coming to focused presence in the moment. Our team of Sensei encourage you through the initial grades to see what you are capable of and what you do naturally before encouraging modifications in movement and focus as the repertoire of techniques continually increases in number and complexity.
• In each lesson, the team of Sensei genuinely help each of the students to do the right thing in the right moment together whether that's observing the etiquette of the dojo correctly to group practice. There is an specific emphasis on achieving marginal gains and improvements in technique through greater focus, greater levels of relaxation and more precise control of body movement through the angles. The more you do this, the better the quality of your Aikido becomes over time.
• From day one, your comfort zone is stretched as you learn that falling to and getting up from the mat is a natural state of affairs in Aikido. For those like me who arrive at the mat with a 'couch potato' level of fitness there is a rude awakening as the process of normalising discomfort is all part of developing spirit through the training. As progression through the grades progresses, learning to flip and perform high falls on both the left and right side of the body are the essence of moving out of your comfort zone with the mat providing instant feedback on whether your fall was effective or not.
• There is a tremendous amount of focus on spirit, focus and attitude in the dojo and as with Liverpool FC, there is an expectation that each student takes their share of responsibility for setting the mood and atmosphere in the dojo and on the mat. There is great humour combined with a seriousness and purpose about what happens in the dojo. There is an unswerving commitment to raising the bar every session for everyone as an individual and doing whatever is necessary to help every student over it. Everyone is responsible for contributing to this atmosphere, no exceptions.
• The Sensei team set the example and are confident enough to let people grow around them. There is comfort in pointing out their own mistakes and previous missteps to help students learn and grow. There is a recognition that the colour of the belt simply signifies how far down the road to mastery each student has come whether your a new white belt (beginner) or 7th Dan Black Belt. The senior grades always without exception spend time with the new students helping them to find their feet and connect with their innate confidence to learn new skills. Respect travels down the line before it is given back and I find that runs counter to most corporate cultures I have worked in.

So what?

Well, I'd suggest that two things are important from this comparison. First, success leaves clues and secondly, success can be modelled. Modelling is a method of stripping down the work of an exemplar to the fundamental components of how they do what they do and codifying it so you can then rehearse the resultant model for yourself to get the same result. My own experiences of learning to fire walk and perform a stunt called a suicide jump - which involves jumping off a 3 storey building on to an inflated crash bag - used this approach to great effect.

So why not pick one thing from either the Liverpool FC or Aikido example and commit to learn it and apply it in your work environment for the next 60 days and see what happens.

Make sure you baseline where things are at today to enable a realistic and helpful comparison between the beginning and end of the period to understand the differences that made the difference.

Whilst it's clearly not a representative sample that would necessarily produce reliable and valid data, I would be happy to place a sizeable wager that where you applied one or more elements of the Klopp / Shudokan leadership approach, your findings would point to a significant movement of the needle for engagement, atmosphere and outcomes.

So, which one(s) will you choose? Let me know in the comments.

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If you want to learn about the process of modelling excellence so you can move the needle for yourself, then get in touch today for a FREE, 45 minute Discovery Session. Drop me an email at [email protected] and let's get it booked in your diary.