RESPONDING TO POOR PERFORMANCE

RESPONDING TO POOR PERFORMANCE

Sport provides so many opportunities to discuss organisational performance. Last night’s match between Arsenal and Newcastle is a case in point. Arsenal needed two wins from their last two matches of the season to beat their rival Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) into fourth place in the premier league and secure a champion’s league spot worth in excess of ￡30 million. This would allow investment in better players and bring greater success. The stakes were high. However, the team never turned up. They delivered their worst performance of the season. Barring a miracle on Sunday, that would see Arsenal beat Everton and Spurs lose to relegated Norwich, Arsenal will come fifth and Spurs fourth.??What went wrong?

Cool Light of Day

Passion is great but it can hurt when things go wrong. There are so many Arsenal Fans waking up today depressed. They invest so much energy in their support of their team it causes them real pain when a night like last night happens. They will face a torrent of ribbing from ‘friends'.??The team and the management are not immune, they too will feel hurt and massive disappointment. There will be a compulsion to find a scape goat, someone to blame, to explain where it all went wrong. They will need to let the passion, disappointment, anger, and frustration dissipate. They will need to take the emotion out of the situation and let time pass before they analyse what went wrong so they can draw the correct conclusions and most importantly learn and move forward.

Fit and Healthy

At 'Healthy Place to Work' we constantly argue that the most important aspect of your organisational performance is the health of your people. Arsenal sent out a team last night that had at least five players who were not fit and should not have played. Just a few days earlier Gabriel had to be substituted with an injury, White, Tomiyasu, Saka, and Smith Rowe were all carrying injuries. Arsenal didn’t have the strength in depth to turn out a fit 11 players of the quality needed to win this match. What didn’t help was the fact that Arsenal received no protection from the referee whatsoever. Is your team fully healthy and fit for purpose? Have you assessed their present state of mental, physical, emotional fitness??

Talent Acquisition

The January transfer win saw Arsenal sell players and buy none. Kolasinac, Mari, Chambers left along with Arsenal top striker Aubameyany with no replacement acquired. At the same time Spurs made two signings Bentancur and Kulusevski both have been crucial to their current success especially in their demolition of Arsenal last Thursday night. The psychological damage of that defeat contributed to last night’s performance. How is your talent pipeline? Are you leaving yourself exposed? Have you built in contingency to deal with the unexpected? Are you working to create a resilient workforce who are psychologically strong?

Changing Culture

The culture at the club in the latter days of Arsene Wenger’s stewardship had become toxic with the new manager Arteta required to rebuild more than just a team but the relationship with the supporters. Arteta has managed to reinvigorate the stands and the stadium and has probably done a good job with the resources at hand. You change culture by your actions and Arteta’s decisions to sell Ozil and Aubameyany were tough but critical to send a message about what is required to wear the Arsenal shirt moving forward. How is your culture? Is your culture built around high performance? Are you built for resilience and success???

The Power of Reframing

Raw disappointment often leads us to focus purely on the negative however when Arsenal sat bottom of the league after 3 games of this season and many commentators talking about possible relegation fans would have bitten your hands off to secure 5th?place, eight points above Manchester United and be back playing European Football. Context is everything many people will focus on the performance of individual’s last night without looking at the big picture.??Real leadership help to put things in context and contextualise setbacks. They also create hope with a plan and vision.

Physically Energising Environment

Organisations often wonder what we (healthy place to work) mean when we talk about the importance of creating a physically energising environment. St James Park was rocking last night. The tifo’s on display were impressive, the noise intense, it was a cauldron. It was fantastic for Newcastle and lifted their first half performance and it completely overwhelmed Arsenal from the ‘get go’. Soon every stadium will have tifo’s as they look to every opportunity to create an edge to drive better performance. Is your workplace a physically energising environment? Does it create a compelling reason for employees to get dressed up and go through a painful commute or do they prefer to sit at home in glorious isolation?

Individual Mistakes

We all make mistakes. However, when looking at performance we need to go deeper. Last night the Arenal goalkeeper was uncharacteristically nervous. Normally confident and enjoying the atmosphere it was clear he was shaken and unsure. Newcastle’s intensity put Arsenal under pressure. They did not handle the pressure well. So, what does it take to handle pressure? Everybody needs to show up. At the very point that Ramsdale (Arsenal’s goalkeeper) needed support he got little. For him to distribute the ball successfully mid-field players need to show, but unfortunately on too many occasions they went missing and provided not options for Ramsdale meaning he couldn’t pass the ball and allowed more pressure. Football is a team game. Everybody has a role to play. When analysing performance, we need to go deeper and understand how one person’s performance can be dependent on others. The analysis has started, the video content is being scrutinised to find the clues to the under-performance. It will make uncomfortable viewing for many.??What data points does your organisation have to assess performance? Are you making evidence-based decisions? If you care about your teams’ performance, you will measure and manage the most important aspects that contribute to your organisation’s performance.

Leadership

In critical moments leadership skills are tested. Last night was one of those moments. Arsenal lacked real leadership on the pitch. When the pressure builds and a game is slipping away, leaders step forward and steady the ship. It starts with their own performance and being calm under pressure. They spot the fear and nervousness in others and nudge them. Player like Roy Keane and Patrick Viera would have provided a sense of control, focus, and well-directed, sensible effort and not panic. The performances a couple of weeks ago from Modric and Benzema would be a case in point when playing for Real Madrid.?Last night Arsenal’s young players didn’t have the experience to adopt the right game management approach. In organisations, experienced team leaders can make the difference to the employee performance and to the team’s ability to deal with adversity.?

Longer Term Perspective

For many people Arsenal just wasn’t good enough last night. However, that is superficial. The future success of Arsenal starts today and how they react to this moment will define them. These are the speed bumps any team will face when you compete at the top of your game. But when success comes, as it has for Liverpool and Manchester City, you need to remember that they had these days too, but it is how your recover and respond that will determine your future success.??There will be better days ahead.