The Keys To Premiership Performance - Maintain, Adapt And Confidence
Whilst watching a recent television program, enjoying highlights of Football's Premier League, I was fascinated to listen to a discussion between the pundits about how a top flight team can win, and keep winning in the toughest league in the world. And it appeared to boil down to three things; maintain, adapt and confidence.
The ability to maintain performance on an ongoing basis, to maintain team work, to maintain health, and to maintain winning, no matter what, is clearly a key to Premier Performance. We have all witnessed the 'underdog' winning in sport, life and business situations and anybody can win once. A look at the Premier League two years ago saw Wigan at the top for a very brief spell at the start of the season, this year (as with last year) they are struggling at the bottom end, yet Manchester United are always in the top few and at one point Arsenal were unbeaten for 49 successive league games.
Their unbeaten streak began with a 6-1 against Saints 7th May 2003, and ended with a 0-2 defeat at the hands of none other than Manc10D3hester United, 24th October 2004. Champions maintain winning ways, often in most difficult, challenging or unlikely situations. Consider Ed Moses and his 122 consecutive 400m hurdle Races wins in top flight athletics or Ben Ainslie who always wins the big sailing regattas like the Worlds and Olympics - where ever you look in life, champions have the ability to maintain their performance more of the time.
Secondly, I noticed the ability to adapt seemed paramount in the Premier League. The ability to adapt to new players coming in, to adapt to players being injured, to adapt to weather, travel and even a change of manager. The degree to which a Premier team can adapt to changes is clearly a very strong indicator in the degree to which they will be successful. One very interesting point raised, was how players mature within a team, and how the individuals and the team cope with the change in social dynamics and responsibility. Players change status within a team by becoming the older team members and therefore taking on different social roles in the team.
Young players are only 'young' for so long, and then expectations change and it is their ability to adapt to changing pressure that often dictates their level of performance. Our Premier League buys in players from all over the world now, and Chelsea bought in Shevchenko from AC Milan for a record 30m, and yet he is now adapting to his new Club and new environment as well as his price tag might have suggested, despite the Club claiming 'it was a dream come true' when the player arrived in London. It seems to take the foreign players a year or so to settle in and adapt - the quicker they adapt, the sooner the player and the Club can be successful.
Perhaps the deciding factor or the foundation of the three keys to Premier Performance is the ability to maintain confidence, to believe in your self-confidence no matter what. To develop unswerving confidence, so that you can remain positive about your performance and outcome as an individual and team even if a key player is injured or sold, is vital in the world's toughest football arena. When teams from the bottom of the league meet the giants, you can often witness the body language, spirit or energy drain from players when they face the tougher opposition with a better track record or more expensive players.
Imagine facing Chelsea who can field a squad of 11 men, valued at well over 200 million for a game of football, when you are struggling after four or five defeats on the bounce? Equally how might a top team feel, if their first choice goal keeper is injured and the substitute keeper is called in during a vital Cup Match? It does not matter how talented or valuable a player is, if confidence is low, so is the outcome. Those individuals' and teams' who maintain high self belief, confidence and the will to prepare and win, are more successful, more of the time.
Whether you are a Premiership football team, a small, medium or multinational business, these three key elements of Premier Performance are true. Test yourself and your team against them and see if you are delivering Premiership Teamwork and Performance.
P Stevens, is a motivational speaker, presenter and facilitator working across the UK, Europe and Middle East, specialising in performance development, soft skills, teambuilding and management development. His clients include Dior, GSK, European Central Bank, Olympic Sailors, Footballers, Lloyds TSB, Estee Lauder and Shire Pharmaceutical.
pj@leapplc.com
http://www.leapplc.com
