Leveraging Soccer’s Model in Today’s Global Workplace
By Winsor Jenkins
Today’s highly competitive global business world – where technology is empowering organizations to be more
responsive to markets, and empowering employees on the front line to make decisions, to take risks and to
manage constant change – has become more and more like soccer. Indeed, soccer represents the best example
of a self-directed team charged with performing the work under changing conditions in the age of collaboration.
Played at its highest level, the best soccer teams in the world succeed by recognizing a mutual dependency (i.e..,
interdependency) between players on the field promoting genuine collaborative teamwork.
Develop Mindset before Skillset
Most people don’t function with a mindset that supports genuine collaborative teamwork. The typical mindset
supports “group work” that is more about cooperating and coordinating with others. In their best-selling book,
The Wisdom of Teams (HBR Press, 1992), Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith were two of the first thought leaders
to talk about this conflict. “At their core, most people have values that favor individual responsibility and
performance over any form of groups, whether it be a team or otherwise,” write Smith and Kazenbach. This
disconnect explains, in-part, why team development has been an ongoing challenge in organizations.
Developing an alternative mindset “must be learned and can’t be simply inserted as new software,” writes Danah
Zohar in her 2007 Abstract, An Alternative Sports Metaphor for Understanding Teamwork as Complex: Soccer. The
importance of mindset in shaping values and behavior cannot be underestimated. In his seminal book,
Organizational Culture and Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 1986), Edgar Schein describes three levels that comprise
organizational culture, with underlying assumptions (i.e., mindset) serving as the core component for
understanding and managing culture. In Schein’s highly credible model, underlying assumptions shape values
and, eventually, influence behaviors.
Developing Skillset
The idea of “teaching people a new range of competencies that focus on collaboration is a key step to developing
collaboration skills,” reports the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in their 2014 report, Future Trends in
Leadership Development.
In my book, The Collaborator: Discover Soccer as a Metaphor for Global Business Leadership (DW Publishing,
2008), 11 operating principles serve as “governing principles” to describe how organizations can cultivate an
alternative mindset for supporting collaborative teamwork. Combined with a series of competencies aligned to
these principles, when applied, they describe soccer’s model as an “operating platform” enabling the application
of the collaboration skillset in the workplace. For example, competencies aligned to one operating principle, “Rely
on Each Other” are: Relationship Building, Team Management and Team Player.
Collaborate to Innovate using Soccer’s Model
The Center for Creative Leadership mentioned in their Future Trends in Leadership Development report (2014)
that, “researchers (over the past 10 years) have shown that innovation is a result of large numbers of connection
points in a network that cause existing ideas to be combined in new ways.” The report goes on to say that
“innovation doesn’t emanate from individual people; it lives in the social network.”
With that said, soccer’s model provides the best description of a network for learning genuine collaborative
teamwork leading to improved team effectiveness – and innovation. For example, a large (if not infinite) number
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of connection points are created in a network consisting of 11 players on the field who operate in a dynamic
fashion under constantly changing conditions. Moving the ball on the field equates to causing existing plays (i.e.,
ideas) to be combined in new ways for the purpose of scoring goals (i.e.., innovating).
Silo Busting in the Age of Collaboration
Everyone knows that eliminating silos is key to both team (and organization) success. Or do they? Why do silos
continue to survive – and even thrive like a virus in some organizations? In the age of collaboration, operating
with silos is obviously not good. Yet, they continue to exist – and in some cases – dominate an organization’s
culture.
Teams (and organizations) who struggle with silos – and the silo mindset – are going to be limited in how much
real collaboration they experience. I view the silo mindset as a fixed mindset (and the collaboration mindset as a
growth mindset) based on the work of Stanford University Professor, Carol Dweck, in her book, Mindset: The New
Psychology of Success. Here, she makes the distinction between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset…showing
how mindset affects the way people live their lives. For example, people with a growth mindset possess the kind
of perseverance and resilience needed to be achieve creative solutions. This syncs-up well, I believe, to the
collaboration mindset and people on teams pursuing innovation.
By developing an alternative mindset, people and organizations will be positioned to tackle silo busting leading to
improved team (and organization) effectiveness.
The Beautiful Game
Soccer is described as the world’s most popular sport. Its attractiveness comes from the fact that it’s a very
simple game, relatively inexpensive to play and with a small number of rules. Further, both diversity and inclusion
are embedded in the game of soccer!
Diversity shows up in the game – by gender, race, ethnicity, age and sexual orientation, for example. Also, there
are no prerequisites for playing soccer – unlike many sports. Perhaps the best example of diversity comes from
looking at the growth of women’s soccer at the youth, college and professional levels not only in North America
but around the globe! Soccer’s governing body (FIFA) reported in 2014 that 12% of all youth players are now
female…29 million females playing worldwide – up from 22 million in 2000. In the U.S. alone, soccer is now
ranked as the third most popular sport played by females.
Indeed, soccer’s model serves as a platform for developing women leaders, recognizing an athlete’s opportunity
to learn and experience the interdependent nature of a self-directed team practicing genuine collaboration. This
all relates directly and vitally to the continued growth of women in business and rising leadership ranks. In a
survey of 400 women executives conducted by EY Women Athletes Business Network and espn-W, “the majority
of the women surveyed believe that playing sports can accelerate a women’s career and increase her leadership
potential,” writes Stephanie Castellano in her article, C-Suite Athletes (TD Magazine, January 2015).
Diversity will continue to be a necessary prerequisite to successfully compete and partner with others around the
world. The benefits of diversity are “real…and if we can leverage them, we’ll be far better off…we’ll find better
solutions to our problems,” writes Scott Page in his book, The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates
Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies (Princeton University Press, 2007).
Inclusion in soccer shows up on the playing field! Successful teams naturally function in a highly inclusive fashion,
operating as self-directed units charged with performing the work. Without inclusiveness, there is not an
opportunity to tap into the talent on the team for operating in a dynamic fashion under constantly changing
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conditions, causing exiting plays (i.e., ideas) to be combined in new ways for the purpose of scoring goals (i.e.,
innovating).
Inclusion in soccer also shows up on the sideline. A successful soccer coach provides the best description of a 21st
century leader. Seen as an inclusive leader who effectively delegates – they fundamentally believe in people on
teams to accept responsibility to get the work done. They also have the ability to be totally responsive to meeting
the team’s needs. To paraphrase leadership guru, Ken Blanchard, “the most effective coach or leader is one who
can provide for the individual (or team) what they cannot provide for themselves.” Anything short of that
description could be viewed as either under-supervision or over-supervision – or even micromanagement!
Again, this all relates to the how business can leverage soccer’s model to bridge changing demographics in the
United States – both in the workplace and marketplace – for building a competitive advantage in today’s global
business environment.
It’s All in the Game for Millennials in Business
Forbes recently reported that soccer, in North America, is now viewed as the “sport of choice” for millennials.
This conclusion was made in an article called, How Major League Soccer is Closing The Gap With The Big Four
(Darren Heitner, 12/22/15). The article mentioned that 65% of Major League Soccer’s (MLS) audience is 18 -34
(with approximately 17.3 million viewers out of a gross viewership of 30 million…representing an all-time high for
MLS). It goes on to say that, “compared to other sports, it’s either the highest or second highest and clearly the
growth segment that most marketers are looking for.”
Why do millennials find soccer to be their sport of choice? We know that millennials view teamwork as a key
work value. We also know they’re accustomed to collaborating online and they like to learn through
collaboration.
Not surprisingly, millennials are very interested in innovation…both in terms of how their current employers
innovate – and when evaluating job offers (see, Workforce magazine article: Millennial in Training, January 2015).
Because millennials typically bring a global perspective, coupled with a more inclusive nature (e.g., accepting
diversity) and comfort around flatter operational structures, for example, they are primed to learn, develop and
practice genuine collaborative teamwork on the job using soccer’s model. This also includes understanding what it
takes to lead teams.
What’s more, soccer players on the field are viewed as leaders…again, functioning in a self-directed way,
managing constant change. This sort of scenario is aligned with the argument made by management guru Gary
Hamel in a 2013 interview with McKinsey & Company, in which he explains the “need to syndicate the work of
leadership across organizations, calling for a new platform for managing change…with traditional structures
demanding too much from too few.”
Perhaps millennials recognize the aforementioned connections and view soccer not only for its entertainment
value, but see the sport as a means to an end in today’s global workplace.
Team Coaching Platform
Soccer’s model can be leveraged for coaching teams in today’s global business world. Again, the two key
developmental steps for people on teams are (1) learn a new mindset for practicing collaboration - followed by (2)
applying competencies focused on collaboration skills. When combined, they serve as an operating platform
enabling the application of genuine collaborative teamwork in the workplace.
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As mentioned, since most people on teams typically show up with underlying assumptions (i.e., mindset) that
support “group work” (i.e., cooperating and coordinating with others) – versus genuine collaboration – changing
underlying assumptions is the initial challenge for the team coach. Changing a team’s mindset starts with the
team understanding that “high performance” is needed “for the task at hand” and it can only be achieved when
the team functions in a way that recognizes the interdependent nature of the team’s relationship! Anything short
of that recognition would not result in high performance.
The second step for the team coach is to introduce a series of competencies aligned to the operating principles.
Most coaches are very familiar with competency models so the idea of “teaching people a new range of
competencies that focus on collaboration” should not be a challenging task. The process for developing
collaboration’s competencies is highly personalize once people have been introduced to all competencies in the
inventory. Action plans are created once strengths have been assessed across this inventory. Typically this can be
done using a 360 assessment. From there, it’s a case of targeting selected competencies for growth…followed up
with ongoing coaching to help reinforce learning and application.
Developing a Culture of Collaboration
The need to develop both the mindset and the infrastructure (i.e., operating platform) to support a collaborative
culture – even before developing actual collaboration skills – was pointed out in the IBM 2013 C-Suite Study by
many CEO’s. Indeed, soccer’s model serves as one key piece of a larger operating framework for coaches (and
organizations) to use for developing teams pursuing genuine collaboration. After that, the process of developing
additional infrastructure to create a culture of collaboration, most likely, falls on collaborating with other
consultants who specialized, for example, in organization development, change management, and the like.
Leveraging Soccer’s Model in the Age of Collaboration
Looking back, Nelson Mandela was a great leader who believed in – and leveraged – sport “to change the world,
to inspire, and to unite people.” More recently, I’ve heard other business leaders echo similar words –
“leveraging the power of sport to change lives…that it can be a game-changer,” for example.
Our highly competitive global business world has become more and more like soccer. Because all players on the
soccer field are described as skillful, adaptable and not position-driven (except for the goalkeeper), the game
demands flexibility to change quickly, assimilate new information on-the-run and apply multiple skills to achieve
results. All of these descriptors and expectations are equally applicable in today’s global business! When it’s all
said and done, soccer’s model can be leveraged to improve team effectiveness.
WINSOR JENKINS & Associates, LLC
Executive Coaching | Performance Consulting
www.winsorjenkins.com
503.201.0772
[email protected]
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