Can Leadership Turnaround A Disaster

We’ve seen a lot of publicly failing organisations recently. The media reports failures of leadership, HR and management journals look at failing values frameworks and a lack of compliance, managers blame factors beyond their control, and the public looks on, baffled.
Mostly it’s been banks, but one remarkable story of a catalytic intervention turning around performance is in football. Until the last couple of weeks Tottenham Hotspur have been the laughing stock of the English Premier League, struggling to get more points than a toothpick. The team’s confidence on the field was obviously lacking, respect for each other was not evident, and the mutual belief between players and manager seemed to be that neither was any good.
Harry Redknapp’s arrival from Portsmouth seems to have had a dramatic, immediate, visible difference, with the team winning and seeming to enjoy it. Confidence is surging and players are reporting a major change in atmosphere.

Comments from players about the previous manger, Juande Ramos, are revealing “He's a good manager, there is no debating that, but some things work and some things don't”. Redknapp has the same players, the same resources and the same restrictions, but according to a player "The one thing Harry has done in contrast with Juande to spark the revival is use people skills." By understanding that football players are human too, using his empathy skills, showing belief and taking the spotlight away from individual players, Redknapp has shown that inspiring leadership, rather than solely efficient management can turnaround performance fast.

If you’d like to learn how you can move From Management To Leadership contact:

Claudine McClean
T: 01789 734300
E: claudinem@structuredtraining.com