Tips from the All Blacks: How their quest to remain No.1 can help your team

While contracted to New Zealand Rugby I compiled official content for Rugby Coaching Toolbox, one of rugby's largest SaaS websites.

Here is an altered coaching module which could be applied to any team, corporate or sporting, around the world.

New Zealand Rugby has a proud tradition of sustained success.

Their flagship team - the All Blacks - boast an astonishing record that is further remarkable considering their income and country size.

New Zealand, now with over 4.7 million people, supports a sport's team/organisation that in 2016 generated $133.7M (NZD) annual income.

The average worth for NFL (half of the world's richest 'clubs' participate in the National Football League) and NBA teams now exceeds $1B (USD) with their annual incomes averaging from $300M through to over $600M (Dallas Cowboys).

The Cowboys and Read Madrid (2015-16 annual revenue: 620.1M Euro) are the biggest kids on the sporting block.

"New Zealand Rugby (and by consequence the All Blacks) are still to enter the world's top 100 sport's sides by overall worth or revenue.

They do however hover outside the Top 40 for Digital and Social Media in global sports. That is a shameless reflection plug of some of the results I achieved over eight years with New Zealand Rugby (after all this is a Linkedin article)."

But winning consistency remains something that many sporting teams struggle to maintain, even when they rake in hundreds of millions of dollars revenue.

The Cowboys, worth a world ranked number one $4B (USD), boast a 527-393 W-L (regular/post) all-time record from 1960 to 2016.

The All Blacks wield a 426-107 W-L (Test matches) all-time record that has been registered for 113 years.

Keeping such standards consistent over so many years is a challenge for many sporting dynasties.

There is no single ingredient, no fail-safe coaching method to achieve this beyond hard work.

However a lot of this excellence will come from one's mindset. Sometimes the most important thing is to ensure that expectations increase with every outing. That itch in the top of your head that compels you to go the extra mile than your opponent (business rival).

This is why high performing companies set nominal increases on performance each financial year.

Every All Blacks coach has had a handy tool in this regard, the legacy of the jersey and a demand that each man does every player to have won the famous silver proud.

Already some companies have such reputation.

Working at a Google can define your career.

I knew a friend of a friend who was worked in sales for Rolls Royce.

Sometimes such powerful brands can be a potent mental motivator.

Once when interviewing former captain Richie McCaw he gave me an almost chilling insight (considering he was on the other end of a mobile phone) as to how their very uniform inspired them to be the best.

"The jersey will ultimately expose and pretenders and those unwilling to do whatever it takes while representing their country."

Sometimes the humble uniform that your club players wear may not carry the same historical encouragement or the same emblem that can drive mortals to achieve immortal feats.

A smaller company may still think they are unable to eventually become a bigger company.

This is the wrong mindset.

Gates, Branson, Zuckerburg and Buffett never set limits and neither should you.

A well-worn mantra is that a team learns far more from a loss than they do with victory or success.

In business a loss can often lead to closure or worse so never forget that harshest of all mantras.

"If you are losing, you are doing something wrong. There is no shame. Quickly acknowledge your faults and put together plans to eradicate those faults."

However if your charges are winning, champions or even unbeatable, you need to keep pushing the envelope.

Otherwise one day you will find yourself on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

Teams that find things easy will eventually – it is quite simply human nature – become set in a comfortable rhythm.

Always keep your players, and your business, just outside their comfort zones.

A fine example is a Rugby World Cup.

Often top teams that waltz through the pool stages unchallenged find the sudden jump in intensity come a knockout final’s match too dramatic a shift.

In business maintaining that constant hum is a challenge. A marketing calendar is full of troughs so keeping sales funnels filled means that each and every day team-members must turn up ready to play their own 'World Cup'.

Let us start assuming your team has just played the perfect game or has broken budget for the month/year.

-        Remember as a coach/business leader there is no such thing! Too much recognition of excellence can lead to complacency. But don’t forget the golden coaching rule of giving credit when it is due, a core component of winning teams is that their success is celebrated.

"Where the team is now is not where they want to be tomorrow. Always strive for that elusive improvement. Hard work in the now makes for a better you in the future."

-        There will always be a work on no matter how flawless the performance, if it is a score blow out for example, often even the best teams eventually lose their shape.

-        On such occasions where even the most critical coach cannot find a flaw, then the benchmarks and match-to-match goals should increase.

-        Often it is simple targets, a demand of a 5% increase in performance with every game will keep everyone on their toes.

-        If opponents are not providing the challenge you feel your team needs to keep their edge, make sure you set internal goals.

-        HOWEVER DON’T FORGET THE TIMELESS ADVICE, IF IT AIN’T BROKE DON’T FIX IT. Do not be afraid to leave systems alone if they are consistently producing the results.

The art of internal goal setting and individual performance is something all great team’s mentors have had to deal with - from the John Buchanan era in Australian Cricket, to the golden age of Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, through to the challenge of All Blacks coaches like Sir Graham Henry and Steve Hansen.

"Take your team on a journey. The promise of greater things and wonderful achievements ahead is a powerful tonic."

In the case of the two most recent New Zealand coaches, ensuring that a team that boasts an incredible collective record winning rate of over 75% - no sport's side in global history boasts such a record - cannot be achieved by simple demands that you must be the best.

However areas like basic skills and tactics, while always an important element, will also not be the core areas of high performing teams.

So as a coach remember these rules:

-        Leave your ego at the door. Sometimes it is the desire of a coach to leave their own mark on the game, but often in these situations change is made just for the sake of change.

-        Challenge players mentally, whether it be the increase of personal bests, to the repeated yet subtle psychology of saying to some individuals “I think you could be the best player in the world…”

-        While good performances must be rewarded (everyone needs gratification and incentives in life), remember that champions will never rest on their laurels.

-        Where possible field internal matches/trials whenever possible, the best teams in the world (or your club competition) often get the most challenges from their own team-mates.

Working with the team here is crucial.

-        Get your captain and leadership group on board to the point where they are all pseudo-coaches – the power of having your big name players backing you up on and off the field is immense.

-        Ensure all individuals are setting their own targets that you can help them with, if you have a high performing group, you might not need as many pure training sessions, and one-on-one development programs can be valuable.

-        Make sure your players have some lofty goals outside of rugby, but equally aligned with the sport – even if it is simple like “do you want to earn a lot of money doing this one day?”

As a coach you will need to make sure:

-        You trust yourself and your processes. Doubt filters down.

-        Allow yourself to be challenged, and in turn your team will challenge themselves.

-        It isn’t always about the score, it is more about your process. A kind market might earn your company money, but a difficult market needs to be navigated with sound processes.

-        Everyone needs to be a leader, everyone has their strength and everyone needs someone to look up to.

Always think you can be the best, making sure the mind agrees is the first step to success. If you don't believe you can be the best, you never will become the best.