What others can learn from football (and why Zidane is good for HR)

I have never been much of a football fan but this week Zidane made the news for coming back to coach the Real Madrid football team and it got me thinking about the parallels with my chosen profession, HR.

(Quick catch up for readers from across the pond. By football I mean soccer. Real Madrid is one of the most prestigious football clubs in the league. Zidane was widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Zidane took a role as Manager at Real Madrid. He left the club last year but is back in role after 10 months to try and get the club back on track with their performance)

Far too often I still hear people questioning the value of HR in companies across the globe. In fact I would hazard a guess that many HR teams are embroiled in writing business case after business case to prove their worth to business leaders. I still hear talk of functions looking for a seat at the table (yes this is still a thing - hello 2019 with its same tired expressions....). Thankfully at our organisation we feel we have that.

I am all for better data to inform decision making. It’s been the lynchpin of much of the work I have been driving in my current role. But why is it that HR seems to struggle for its place alongside other business functions?

Back to Zidane and Real Madrid. It strikes me that the football industry understand the value of focusing on people and their performance. It seems that the role of the person in charge of the team, is deemed so critical to a team’s success that it's as important as the players themselves. And this is because football has learned what every HR professional already knows - ultimately we are all in the people business. And if we can put in place the right structures, processes, environment, focus and of course development, then ultimately we can improve people's performance - which drives business success.

And who better to help with this than HR who have made this their core focus always?