Promises...

This is prompted by a discussion and posts by Just Call Me Coach, and is another example of Business Lessons from the Rugby Pitch (the title of one of my upcoming books).

There are two related issues that I want to discuss; the recruitment of players from a competitor, and making promises of advancement to players.

The recruitment of players in itself is not an issue. It’s a natural part of the game. Colleges recruit players from high schools, club teams recruit players from colleges, and higher level teams recruit players from lower level teams. The issues arise when the recruitment methods are questionable, or clearly cross ethical lines, and this is when the term Poaching comes into play. Generally, poaching is claimed when the team losing the player doesn’t want them to leave or the recruiting team uses aggressive, or questionable, tactics in their recruiting.

Of course, in some areas there’s no real issue of poaching, because there’s only one team to play for. This is especially true in the Western U.S., where towns that can support rugby teams are often hundreds of miles apart. That makes if difficult, at best, to recruit someone who doesn’t want to move to where you are just so they can play for you. But in many areas, there are several teams close enough so that you have a choice of which team to play for. Because these teams are usually competitors on the field, that competition flows over into the recruitment of players.

The questions that we want to answer here are when does recruitment become poaching, and what allows players to be lured away from their current team? For the most part, players are free to choose the team they want to play for, and will play for the team that fits their needs. There are many variables that a player weighs, including the win/loss record of the team, their views of the coaching staff and other players, the organization of the team and the way practices are run, the selection process for choosing starting players, and the amount of playing time they can expect based on their abilities. And let’s face it, to play rugby you have to be somewhat competitive, so you want to play for a winning team and you want the most playing time you can get. If you’re currently a starting player for the top team in the area, you probably aren’t going to be recruited away. You may be poached, however, if the poaching team gives you something or compensates you in some way that overcomes your natural tendency to stay where you are. It’s that compensation, in whatever form, where the problems lie. That’s when ethical or legal lines tend to get crossed and when people cry foul.

But because players want to reach the top level of the game, they always have an eye open for new opportunities. They’re naturally open to recruitment. To keep players that might have opportunities elsewhere, you have to look at the intangibles that keep players happy and want to stay with you. Those intangibles include things like giving the players a voice in the team. As a coach or team manager, you’re in charge and you have goals for the team, but instead of declaring the rules from on-high, allow your players to provide input and feedback. Listen to what they have to say, and incorporate their good ideas into your operations. Also, winning games is a great reward, but an even greater reward is the acknowledgement of your contribution. There are 15 players on the field at a time, 7 reserves, and any number of team members that slog through practice week after week. No one person wins the game. The person who scores is supported by a minimum of 14 other players. Recognize everyone’s contribution. Cheer the players who supported the score, and recognize those players who show up to practice week after week, year after year, even though they don’t have the ability to ever make the starting lineup. Without them pushing themselves and providing support, your starters would soon begin to slack off and become complacent. Make all your players feel like they belong and are a valuable part of the team, and they’ll continue to come back, day after day, year after year, in all kinds of miserable weather and with all the aches and pains that come from playing rugby. Players stay because they want to, not because they have to. Make them want to stay and you won’t have to worry about poaching.

The other issue is with making promises to players that you might not be able to keep, or have no intention of keeping. These promises usually involve advancement, and play into that desire of players to move up towards the starting lineup, gain more playing time, or moving into a more desirable position. I could go on about this, but the bottom line is do not make promises that you can’t, or won’t, keep. You’ll lose all credibility and respect, and may lose some great players. You should have well defined standards and criteria for advancement. Stick with them, and of course, let everyone know what they are and how they can meet them. The movement of players to other positions works the same way. Let everyone know the criteria and standards for each position and what they need to do and how they need to perform to be considered for each position. And if players express an interest in trying out for another position, encourage them. Conduct tryouts for the position, and use your objective performance criteria. If the players know what is expected, and they are objectively evaluated, they will know at the same time as you whether they are capable of playing in that new position and whether they have a shot at making it in that position. As long as you’re objective and fair, there will be no hard feelings if they don’t make it. If they don’t make it, but are still interested, help them gain the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in that position. They’ll benefit, and your whole team will benefit.

Now, simply substitute employee for player and company for team, and this discussion is about business instead of rugby. It’s amazing the business lessons you can learn from the rugby pitch…

Now hiring...

I want to hire someone who has no experience, no training, and who has said they’re not interested in the job. I want to hire this person because our organization is currently not perfect. Our results have been good, but not perfect, so we need a change. We need someone who is not qualified for the job to take us to perfection. No one else in our industry is perfect either, but that doesn’t stop us from expecting perfect results. We’ll replace non-perfect performers the moment they make the smallest mistake.

Now, when we hire someone we don’t expect them to be perfect. We don’t tell them that they will be fired if they’re not perfect. As soon as they are working for us, however, the rules change. From that point, they must look perfect at all times, and only perfect results in every possible aspect of performance will be tolerated. You will be replaced with someone who has proven, at another imperfect organization, that they are not perfect either. But we think they will be perfect once they work for us, even though you are not and weren’t when we hired you.

Oh, although we expect perfection, we will restrict your ability to achieve perfect results by not allowing you to choose your own assistants, not providing you with support, and only allowing you limited access to your employees.

Anyone interested in this position, do not contact us directly. Tell someone else that you’re interested and hopefully we’ll believe that you are, in fact, serious. But no foreigners. Even if you are interested in us, we’re probably not interested in you, because we really, really, want to hire someone who is totally unqualified, has no experience, and has said they are not interested in the job.

We are: a) A multi-national corporation, b) A government agency, or c) The England Rugby Team. (hint: the answer is The England Rugby Team)

If anyone can explain to me why England want to hire Martin Johnson, please do. I understand he was a great player, but even he has said that being a national team player doesn't qualify you to coach or manage a team. Am I missing something here?

Where have I been?

Been busy. Missed two weeks of rugby matches. What would cause me to miss all that rugby?

First was an APICS meeting. We had our quarterly District meeting here in Honolulu. The chapter presidents from the Pacific Western District meet quarterly to learn from each other, find out what's going on with the Association, and to get to know each other better. The benefits of these meetings are great. Instead of all the individual chapters operating in a vacuum, we learn from each other; what's working, what's not going so well, what new things are you doing. As an organization, we're much stronger by working closely with each other rather than trying to compete with each other or go it alone.

That's all well and good, but why would I give up a day of rugby to sit in a cold room in a hotel basement, when I've done this many time before? That's easy... it's the people, the friends I've made. At this point in my career, APICS doesn't offer me a whole lot. I've got my certifications, I've already published one book, another will be out soon, and more are on the way, and most of my work is at a higher level than where APICS is at right now. But APICS has been good to me throughout my career, so I like to give back when I can, and I've made some wonderful friends that I like to visit with. I can visit them without APICS, but it's a good venue to get together as a group, and I get to meet new people and get to know others better.

So that's one weekend. The next weekend (last week) I attended a rugby coaching clinic. Missed watching rugby at the park, but got to participate in activities at the clinic. My old, out of shape, body wasn't expecting tackling activities, but except for a little soreness, I held up pretty well.

The course was outstanding, as was the instructor, Peter Baggetta. The course was the Introducing Rugby course, from USA Rugby. There was a rather involved online component before the class, and that was my only complaint. Not that we had to do it, but the quality of it. I understand why they have the online portion, for prep and to reduce the in-class time, but if you're going to do something, do it right. The online portion needs to be revamped.

The Introducing Rugby course is geared towards coaching players who are new to the game (hence the name), and the course was primarily a "how to coach" course. The philosophy of coaching is vastly different than what those of us in the class were used to. We grew up in the model of teaching a skill and performing endless drills until we got it right. With lot's of talking by the coach. This is the "how" to do something and the execution of it.

The new philosophy makes lots of sense when you think about it, and when you see it and put it into practice. The idea is to first focus on the "why" and "when" to do something, or the recognition of a situation, to then assess the situation, learn how to make a decision regarding the situation, and then executing some action. On the rugby field the player needs to first recognize what's happening, how play is unfolding. Then they need to assess the situation; what are the options available, who is in a position to exploit those options? They have to then make a decision on what action to take. The last step is to actually execute the action.

In traditional coaching, the last step, the execution, is the focus. A player can play the game for years, learning to execute flawlessly, but still not be able to recognize the situation and make a valuable assessment of it. With the new philosophy, new players are introduced to the game by participating in semi-structured activities, and being allowed to play and have fun, rather than being drilled into a bored stupor.

I also have to commend USA Rugby for sending us instructors, both Josh for refereeing and Peter for coaching, who are really in touch with the island culture and the obstacles we face out here. They both really spoke to our needs and our situation. Thank you.

And, since USA Rugby always needs money, don't forget to buy your Adopt-A-Rugger and Hug-A-Rugger merchandise, where all proceeds are donated to USA Rugby.