Discipline is a must

Increasing talk of empowerment and a movement from autocratic to participative leadership in sport as well as in the working world is very apparent in modern times. Supposedly gone are the days of the ‘Hitleresque’ sports coach or MD, and in have come the relationship-former, the caring-communicator and the facilitator. I use the word supposedly though as I know that some coaches and MD’s still lead by fear or in fact feel that personal issues have no place on the sports field or in the office, and that respect is not an option but rather an obligation. I would stop short of describing a particular style that works for everyone as I’d be way off the mark. With each team having its own characteristics and each leader of a team also possessing his/her own strengths and weaknesses, it is important to create a particular style of environment that suits each team. This comes with one caveat however, without discipline nothing will work.

It has been intriguing to observe sporting teams of late and to see who is succeeding and who isn’t. I believe it is hard to judge a sports team or organisation on a few weeks, so I would hesitate to make definite judgements based on a bad run of form or a purple patch, however there are certain trends that do show up. It has been a breath of fresh air watching the Lions rugby side of late, which seem to be playing with enthusiasm, flair and instinct – all the things Dick Muir has sought from his troops. What is interesting is that it seems John Mitchell has been the one who has extracted this from his group players. This he has done without big-name players. Corrie Van Zyl for many years led the Free State cricket side to trophies and finals also without big-name players and massive budgets. So why has this been the case? Without doubt, these two guys have implemented an immense amount of discipline and structure to their set-ups. One could look at many other teams who have a disciplined set up, and have also shown success in both amateur and professional sport.

Discipline does not necessarily mean fear or autocracy but rather a set way of doing things that is mutually decided upon and stuck to at all costs. Discipline, like excellence, is an all-round thing, it applies to everything that a team does from the way they treat each other, to the way they practice to the way they dress and to the way they stick to their game-plans. You cannot have a team that sticks superbly to their game-plan but has no discipline when it comes to practice attendance or sticking to the team’s values. It is also difficult to have well-disciplined side with a number or ill-disciplined individuals within it. Some people will say, that sweating the small stuff is waste of time, and that what is important is whether the team win or not, and they may have a point. But there is no doubt that a happy, disciplined environment is more than likely going to be a winning one. This may be something that is difficult for players and coaches to accept, as hard-discipline and ‘sweating the small stuff’ may be unnatural for them, but there is no doubt the results will begin to speak for themselves.

The implementation of this discipline is probably best left for another article, but I would be interested to hear of people who have perhaps not focused on this area and failed as a result, or of people who indeed subscribe to a disciplined set-up and it has worked for them. Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great spoke about the need to find what your unique strength is as a team, what you are absolutely passionate about, and what you use to measure success. Once this is found you will know where to focus your energies. He then goes on to mention, that this is all well and good knowing, but if you do not have the discipline to stick 100% to these focus areas, you will not succeed. This discipline may be more on a broader scale, but also shows the necessity for a holistically disciplined approach. Sportsmen thrive in environments where unknowns are kept to a minimum where fairness is a core value. The only way to ensure this is to keep strong discipline.

With this in mind, it is interesting to observe the Boks’ recent plight, the Protea’s inability to win the big trophies, and also the likes of Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson who lead their football sides without compromise in disciplineand values.
All the best and I welcome comment!