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Building a team?
It’s about rolling up your sleeves and leading by example

Thousands of athletes from all over the world converged on Beijing this August to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games.

Years of hard work, commitment and dedication culminated here in the Chinese capital. But only those with the right combination of mental and physical stamina make it through to the finals of their events.

Of course, it’s not just about individuals. Team events feature prominently in the games from the track relays and rowing, to field sports like hockey.

Great Britain has a good track record in the Olympic hockey tournament. And no-one knows more about preparing and leading a team in this toughest of contests than Jason Laslett.

Jason was capped 190 times during the eight years he played for the national team. He represented his country at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and again in Atlanta in 1996 as captain.

Although he’s now a director of a financial services company, he’s not ready to settle for the sedentary life just yet and is in training for a triathlon. I asked him if sporting success has helped him in business.

 

SA: Your Olympian days may be over but has your time as captain of the national hockey team prepared you for leadership in business?

JL: Definitely. Everyone has a different style of captaincy. Mine was to lead by example and that’s why I was selected. I would give absolutely everything I had: I was actually quite vocal on the pitch!

It’s a style I’ve carried with me into business. I’ve been with the company for 20 years and I know every single aspect of the job and how it should be done. I believe that, as a leader, you have to be prepared to roll your sleeves up from time to time. I don’t believe in telling people to do things I don’t do myself. If people see you doing things, they are more likely to follow.’

SA: It’s an approach that must have earned you a great deal of respect, particularly on the hockey pitch. However, do you think there are any similarities between a hockey team focussed on winning a tournament and a team of individuals in a corporate environment?

JL: As captain of the hockey team I was dealing with elite sports people all with different sized egos and different characters. Just because you have a bunch of good individual players it doesn’t mean you have a good team. The skill lies in making those individuals gel and work as a team. And it’s no different in business.

To build and manage a successful team you have to understand what motivates different people. Some people are self motivated but others need more encouragement. With the hockey team it was the really skilful players, the ones who could turn a game in the space of five seconds, who needed most reassurance and nurturing. Sound familiar?

Also, in a tournament situation you can be cooped up together for up to a month. It’s a big consideration when selecting the team; you just can’t have people who aren’t team players and who don’t get on with others. To have a strong team, either in sport or in business, you need people who gel and who pull together.

SA: I suppose the difference is that in a sports team everybody has the same mindset and they are all there for the same reason: to win an Olympic gold medal for example. But in a business you’re not going to have that are you?

JL: That’s right and we find it difficult because we expect everybody to think along the same lines as we do. We expect people to see the same goals and to strive for them. You’ve got to realise that some people are going to work because they just need to earn money.

Even in a top sports team some players are more motivated than others. The skill of management is to get everybody on board, buying into what you are aiming for and believing you can get there.

In the business we make presentations to our staff showing them where we want to be and how we want to get there. Not everyone will achieve what we ask but it’s about setting the motivation at the right level for everybody.

SA: How big a part do you feel money plays in motivation? I mean, it must have been harder to motivate hockey players who weren’t getting paid than your employees.

JL: In sport, money isn’t the motivator – not even for top footballers. You’ve got to feel you want to go out and play. If you wake up in the morning and think, I really want to play today; you’ll play. Of course people come to work to earn money but I’m interested in people who want to come to work.

SA: Has your sporting experience influenced how you recruit people? For instance has it made it easier to define the characteristics you look for in prospective candidates?

JL: We do like to recruit team sports people because they tend to have the kind of traits we want in the business.

They work well in groups and have the determination to achieve goals as a group. They generally know how to get on with people and can take a bit of stick. When you play in a team you learn how to handle that or you don’t survive.

Our MD managed Teddington hockey club’s first team and has dealt with elite characters in both sport and business. He’s built this business by creating the culture and setting the approach to client service. It all filters down from the top.

If people look at him, or at any leader in fact, and don’t have respect because they aren’t leading by example, they will take the attitude, ‘he doesn’t do it so why should I?’

SA: That’s interesting. I guess your experience makes recruiting easier for you than for a lot of other business people because you are looking for character over the job specification. Are there any other ways in which you run the business along the same lines as a sports team?

JL: The business is run very much on a team basis. For instance, although there is an element of reward for individuals, bonuses are based on team performance.

Our view is that if your bonus scheme is based on individual performance, people will start to make decisions with that in mind. They won’t think about the bigger picture.

We have two completely separate sides of the business. We want to encourage cross-over between the two so bonuses are based on the performance of the whole company.

SA: I always think that, in business, although we spend time analysing things that have gone wrong, we don’t spend enough time celebrating our successes. Sports teams seem to get the balance right.

JL: Yes, you have to. In the hockey team we would heavily analyse a defeat and work out why it happened. But we would also look at what went well and use it to build on.

The important thing for me was to make the next thing I did either good or simple. If I’d made a howler in a game I would make sure I did something right in the next match.

No-one wants to make mistakes but you have to deal with making them. It’s something I found quite difficult when I was growing up. I would dwell on errors, but as time goes by you realise they are going to happen; it’s how you deal with them that counts. We always used to say ‘a good international player never makes the same mistake twice.’

SA: Being tough on yourself is one thing, but how do you deal other people’s mistakes - on the pitch or in the office?

JL: I’m really intolerant of mistakes, personally, in sport, and in business. I don’t mind people making mistakes if they are trying the right things but they just don’t work out. So long as they are things that were agreed and discussed, it’s fine.

A crucial time in a sport like hockey is when you get to the final third of the pitch. Someone has the ball: what decision do they make? Do they make the right one or the wrong one?

What I find unacceptable is if somebody makes a really bad decision and I’m left wondering why on earth they made it.

SA: Do you think that striving to keep the same group of people together is integral to a strong team?

JL: Yes it is important. In sport, clubs sides tend to perform better together than national sides. The club team I played for struggled for ages but we managed to keep the core together with just a few new people. We went from eighth in our league to winning the title but it took eight years of working hard together to achieve that.

You’ve got to be able to trust your team mates when you are under pressure.
Over time, you build up understanding and get to know each other’s capabilities. However, the time pressures in business are different. For instance you don’t always have time to pull people together for the kind of debrief you would always have after a match.

SA: It’s obvious from talking to you how much your sporting experience informs your approach to business. To finish, what are the main lessons you have taken from sport and used in business?

JL: That anyone can achieve their goals with enough determination and drive. Even people without a great deal of ability can achieve a lot if they are motivated.

I would always select a motivated person above anyone else because they are prepared to work at the things they aren’t so good at. They want to improve to achieve their goals.

Another important lesson I’ve learned is about approaching goals in the right way. First define your ultimate goal and then set yourself mini goals on the way to achieving it.

For instance, let’s say your goal was running a mile in 30 seconds less than your normal time by a particular date. There’s no point in trying to do it on your first or second attempt. It will seem impossible so the likelihood is that you will fail and become disheartened.

Aim to take five seconds off by the end of the month and then another five seconds off by the next month and so on. Before you know it you are getting closer and closer to your ultimate goal.

In sport there’s a huge mental element to improving. Sports people can visualise themselves performing skills. They can watch a skilful player or athlete and visualise themselves doing the same thing with the same amount of skill. They can bring that through to their own game. The mental side of sport is a huge percentage of overall success.

There’s really no reason why the same attitude can’t work in business.

Tell us what you think

Do you think sports philosophy transfers to business or should it be left on the sports field? We’d love to hear your opinions.

Do you agree with Jason’s philosophy of rewarding teams rather than individuals? If so why and what incentives do you use? If you don’t, and you think it’s all about the individual, tell us why. We’d love to hear your opinions.
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