Sir Clive Woodward BlogLearning from sport is a particular passion of mine and this resulted in me interviewing a number of leaders involved in sport as part of a lockdown project in 2020. You can see these interviews on my website. I also have read 100s of books & articles combined and have listened to many podcasts which explore the theme of leadership in sport. I wanted to pull together and share ideas. I wanted to write a blog, or possibly a series of blogs, which outline some of the ideas which have inspired me. My first blog was about the work of the Norwich City Sporting Director, Stuart Webber, which you can read here https://leadershiprelay.weebly.com/stuart-webber-blog.html My second blog is about Sir Clive Woodward. Sir Clive was an international rugby union head coach, perhaps best known for his time leading the Elite England team. Sir Clive also spent time in professional football at Southampton FC and was Director of Sport for the British Olympic Association in the lead up to London 2012. As ever, please do let me know if there are any issues or if you would like any more information regarding anything you read. My email address can be found on the contact section of my website. |
The blog
Now, before I start, I want to make it clear that I'm not a big rugby fan. I watch the six nations and world cups, but little else. I'm a proud Welshman, but can recognise Clive as a very successful and innovative coach.
It was actually reading Clive's first book ‘Winning’ which inspired me and demonstrated that there are ideas we can take from sport, and other sectors, which can be applied to leading in another sector, including education.
I know that's not a view that everyone shares, but it's something that I enjoy doing and find that it helps me. I know that others feel the same, which is why I decided to publish my interviews and blogs.
The irony about me reading Clive’s first book is that it would never have been high on any of my reading lists. I was coming back from holiday and it was the only sport related text in the airport shop! The book outlines Clive's journey from being a frustrated football player as a youngster, to a business owner to winning the rugby world cup with England in 2003 (I can't quite remember who they played in the quarter finals!)
In his book, Clive writes about how he introduced what became known as a Black Book. This became a book which outlined all the expectations for all members of the elite team and how they should act and behave. A very important point is that all of the items within the Black Book were discussed and agreed as a team before being signed off by Clive as the leader.
The Black Book was also known as the ‘teamship rules’. The book would enable new members of the team to settle in quicker and would crucially ensure consistency throughout the team and coaching staff. Clive would proactively seek new ideas in order to continually innovate and grow. For example, he would invite different leaders from business and education into the organisation and they could spend a day observing etc. He would then ask for feedback about how they might be able to improve their processes.
A key mantra of Clive's is T-Cup. This stands for ‘Thinking Correctly Under Pressure’. Along with his coaching team, Clive would regularly pose various scenarios that the team would discuss in detail. For example he might say, in the meeting room, ‘the score is 12- 3 to the opposition, there are 15 mins left, how are we going to turn this around?’ The idea was if the team has had a chance to think about this and were clear and consistent about what they would do in this situation, they would be able to apply this on the field of play in a high pressure game.
Another incident that Clive writes about is about a meeting where he was asked 'what are the basics the players must master in order to a win a rugby game?' Clive struggled to answer the question when he was first asked. When he returned to the training ground he asked his staff the same question and they all had different answers. This was an important in realisation for Clive and his team and from that moment, the whole coaching team made sure they had clear and consistent answers to the question. This gave them areas of clear focus.
Clive’s England team were one of the very first sports teams to spend time with the Royal Marines. The rationale behind this trip was to see what a ‘world class’ team looked like. Clive writes about how he knew there was a long way to go when he saw all manner of England kit thrown on the floor whilst the marines looked exemplary. The rugby team spent time completing various activities in groups whilst being observed by Marines.
The visit also helped Clive come up with the important descriptions ‘energizers and energy sappers’ The term energy sappers was used to describe players who might have had a moan or complained to others about the conditions, pressure or workload. The Marines said ‘it’s not about skills. It’s about attitude and the effect on the team. One wrong team player can sap all of the energy from the group.’ The standards around the team lifted immeasurably as a result of spending time with the marines.
I recently read a very interesting article about Clive’s time in football with Southampton FC. Many of his ideas were ahead of their time. For example he wanted to introduce a throw-in coach. This was back in 2005, before many teams would think to do this.
Another interesting point from the article was that he also wanted to introduce more individual coaching programs. For example, players would take part in the whole team session and they would take part in another session based on their individual needs; fitness training, technical training for example.
If you are interested in finding out more about the England team under Sir Clive’s leadership, you might be interested in reading my interview with Humphrey Walters, a leadership consultant, who spent time advising the team in the build up to their successful World Cup Campaign in 2003. You can read this interview here -https://leadershiprelay.weebly.com/humphrey-walters---part-one.html
I hope that you have enjoyed reading some of these thoughts. Below are a few considerations for our work in schools. I’m sure many of you already use the ideas below in your work in order to help all learners improve. If just one of these points sparks an idea for you to help improve an aspect of your leadership, then this article has been worth writing!
Please let me know your thoughts about this article through twitter. Thank you for reading!
References
Winning by Sir Clive Woodward
https://theathletic.com/2725048/2021/07/31/i-wanted-us-to-lift-peter-crouch-up-at-a-corner-like-a-second-row-in-rugby-clive-woodward-at-southampton/
Don’t Tell Me The Score - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07xb7lm
It was actually reading Clive's first book ‘Winning’ which inspired me and demonstrated that there are ideas we can take from sport, and other sectors, which can be applied to leading in another sector, including education.
I know that's not a view that everyone shares, but it's something that I enjoy doing and find that it helps me. I know that others feel the same, which is why I decided to publish my interviews and blogs.
The irony about me reading Clive’s first book is that it would never have been high on any of my reading lists. I was coming back from holiday and it was the only sport related text in the airport shop! The book outlines Clive's journey from being a frustrated football player as a youngster, to a business owner to winning the rugby world cup with England in 2003 (I can't quite remember who they played in the quarter finals!)
In his book, Clive writes about how he introduced what became known as a Black Book. This became a book which outlined all the expectations for all members of the elite team and how they should act and behave. A very important point is that all of the items within the Black Book were discussed and agreed as a team before being signed off by Clive as the leader.
The Black Book was also known as the ‘teamship rules’. The book would enable new members of the team to settle in quicker and would crucially ensure consistency throughout the team and coaching staff. Clive would proactively seek new ideas in order to continually innovate and grow. For example, he would invite different leaders from business and education into the organisation and they could spend a day observing etc. He would then ask for feedback about how they might be able to improve their processes.
A key mantra of Clive's is T-Cup. This stands for ‘Thinking Correctly Under Pressure’. Along with his coaching team, Clive would regularly pose various scenarios that the team would discuss in detail. For example he might say, in the meeting room, ‘the score is 12- 3 to the opposition, there are 15 mins left, how are we going to turn this around?’ The idea was if the team has had a chance to think about this and were clear and consistent about what they would do in this situation, they would be able to apply this on the field of play in a high pressure game.
Another incident that Clive writes about is about a meeting where he was asked 'what are the basics the players must master in order to a win a rugby game?' Clive struggled to answer the question when he was first asked. When he returned to the training ground he asked his staff the same question and they all had different answers. This was an important in realisation for Clive and his team and from that moment, the whole coaching team made sure they had clear and consistent answers to the question. This gave them areas of clear focus.
Clive’s England team were one of the very first sports teams to spend time with the Royal Marines. The rationale behind this trip was to see what a ‘world class’ team looked like. Clive writes about how he knew there was a long way to go when he saw all manner of England kit thrown on the floor whilst the marines looked exemplary. The rugby team spent time completing various activities in groups whilst being observed by Marines.
The visit also helped Clive come up with the important descriptions ‘energizers and energy sappers’ The term energy sappers was used to describe players who might have had a moan or complained to others about the conditions, pressure or workload. The Marines said ‘it’s not about skills. It’s about attitude and the effect on the team. One wrong team player can sap all of the energy from the group.’ The standards around the team lifted immeasurably as a result of spending time with the marines.
I recently read a very interesting article about Clive’s time in football with Southampton FC. Many of his ideas were ahead of their time. For example he wanted to introduce a throw-in coach. This was back in 2005, before many teams would think to do this.
Another interesting point from the article was that he also wanted to introduce more individual coaching programs. For example, players would take part in the whole team session and they would take part in another session based on their individual needs; fitness training, technical training for example.
If you are interested in finding out more about the England team under Sir Clive’s leadership, you might be interested in reading my interview with Humphrey Walters, a leadership consultant, who spent time advising the team in the build up to their successful World Cup Campaign in 2003. You can read this interview here -https://leadershiprelay.weebly.com/humphrey-walters---part-one.html
I hope that you have enjoyed reading some of these thoughts. Below are a few considerations for our work in schools. I’m sure many of you already use the ideas below in your work in order to help all learners improve. If just one of these points sparks an idea for you to help improve an aspect of your leadership, then this article has been worth writing!
- Could you invite a professional from another sector into school if it’s safe and appropriate to do so? I wouldn’t expect them to comment on teaching and learning, but could they comment on various aspects of the school such as the effectiveness of meetings, welcoming of visitors and other relevant talking points.I am aware that Governors in many schools will already do activities like this, but I guess it’s about about having the confidence to let visitors make suggestions and then deciding if the suggestions are appropriate. Clive will often joke that he will say to his team ‘I’ve had this great idea’ when implementing something that a visitor has suggested!!
- Do you have something like a ‘Black Book’? If not, would it work in your environment? Something that could help outline expectations and make it clear exactly what is expected.This would be especially useful for supply teachers or new members of staff. All members of staff could contribute ideas and would be encouraged to suggest items to discuss if they see something in the school that they feel can be improved.
- Thinking Correctly Under Pressure - this could be a section in the Black Book. As a staff you could think about different challenging scenarios which could come up. An example being ‘a parent comes to the door and says that another parent is coming to pick up their child and is under the influence of alcohol. The headteacher and deputy aren’t available. What do you do?’ If you’ve had a chance to think and discuss various scenarios it would mean you would be more likely to give the correct response if it happens.
- Do staff have a clear and consistent response to a key question in your school? Something like ‘what are the key features of effective learning at School X?’
- Do staff have a chance to spend time and observe in successful environments other than their own work place??
- How do you make sure that staff have professional development opportunities that meet their own individual needs? I have recently seen an example of a school creating their own bespoke website with links to various high quality on-line resources that staff can access to meet their own development needs. I thought this was brilliant!
Please let me know your thoughts about this article through twitter. Thank you for reading!
References
Winning by Sir Clive Woodward
https://theathletic.com/2725048/2021/07/31/i-wanted-us-to-lift-peter-crouch-up-at-a-corner-like-a-second-row-in-rugby-clive-woodward-at-southampton/
Don’t Tell Me The Score - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07xb7lm