By John Portch

The Leicester Tigers’ turnaround under Head Coach Steve Borthwick has been remarkable.

The team claimed a record ninth Gallagher Premiership title, defeating Saracens 15-12 at Twickenham Stadium in last weekend’s final, just two seasons after finishing eleventh.

Borthwick, who took the Tigers’ reins in 2020, led them to sixth in his first campaign and is a champion at the end of his second. It is an outcome he would have dreamed of when he spoke at Virtual Leaders Meet: Coach Development in April 2020, just weeks after confirming his new post.

“This is a great club that has lost its way and this is a fantastic challenge – and I love a challenge,” he told an audience of Leaders Performance Institute members drawn from across the globe. “I need to go in with a real, clear plan, what are we going to do? How are we going to go about it? But I’m also really clear that whilst I have my ideas – I’m going to give a clear direction of what we’re going to try and do, then you’re going to harness the skills of every one of the coaches, every one of the players – to make sure we find the best way of doing it.”

Those sentiments ring true two summers later. Borthwick’s humility has been a mainstay at Leicester and was evident during his appearance on the virtual Leaders stage, where he spoke of developing his craft as a coach, as well as creating experiential environments to support the development of his players through feedback and communication.

Here, we outline some of his reflections from that session supplemented by some insights from Leaders Performance Advisor Edd Vahid, who serves as Assistant Academy Director at English Premier League club Southampton FC.

Find ways to challenge and support players

“The title of this session is ‘mastering the craft’ but I’m a million miles away from that.” Borthwick, who retired from playing in 2014 while already working as an assistant coach to Eddie Jones with the Japan men’s national team, learnt quickly that simply coaching from his experience as a player would leave him redundant. He said: “My coaching developed into one of trying to always understand the game; and the best coaches are the best players. I want to learn from them, observe them, see how they go about things; posing challenges to them and then observing how they deal with those challenges. How can I make some suggestions that help? How can I get players to learn from other players and what other coaches are around that I can learn from? The more you coach, the more you learn, the more you realise what you don’t know.”

Devise game-relevant practice sessions

A practice session has limited value if you haven’t made clear the principle that you’re working on or the context in which you’re trying to do it. “With England, in practice, we work off a checklist of things that ensure the context is clear,” said Borthwick, who coached England’s men’s forwards under Eddie Jones between 2015 and 2020. “Am I making that clear to the players? Am I putting them in situations that are game-relevant and am I asking them to adapt to situations that develop their skill and enables them to coach each other? Be very clear about the endpoint that you’re working towards.”

Be more interested in what you don’t know

A coach must be able to spot the gaps in their knowledge and skillsets and work to bridge those gaps. “I think there’s a big gap in my coaching background around teaching. When you’re a teacher trying to engage people who don’t want to be engaged, by comparison, I’ve got it easy, working with elite rugby players; I see that gap and I’m trying to educate myself,” said Borthwick.

How do you get the best out of your players in any given moment?

“How do you get a message to a player and get the best out of them? Everyone is different,” said Borthwick. “There is a time and place for absolutely everything; the skill of the coach is knowing when you recognise the right approach at any point in time. You’ve got to be absolutely clear what standards are expected, what your key objective is within any one session, and then understanding how you get the best out of each of the players.”

The power of self-reflection

Self-reflection is key. “How do you reflect at the end of each day or each session? Do you write it down? Do you have it on your computer? Do you have a journal or a diary?” asked Borthwick. “We all make mistakes but it’s how do we learn from them? You’ve got to continue to learn, understand the context of the day, that period in the season, that player and their life, and get the best out of them.”

The view from Leaders Performance Advisor Edd Vahid:

Steve offers a number of clues as to why he and his Leicester Tigers team have enjoyed their recent successes. He appears invested in developing strong processes that apply to both his personal development and the team’s progression. The term ‘clear’ features multiple times in the transcript and is perhaps evidence of a desire to provide coaching and playing staff with the clarity required to perform. Providing a clear direction and detailed expectations, whilst at the same time embracing uncertainty and responding to individual needs, requires significant skill.

The humility and curiosity that underpins a commitment to personal development is also evident. Phil Jackson famously championed the value of a ‘beginner’s mind’ and this appears evident in Steve’s approach. Jackson reportedly said ‘in the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few’. We often talk about learning representing a competitive advantage, and the article offers every indication that Steve role models this in an exemplary manner.

Whilst operating in a team environment, an emphasis on understanding and supporting individuals (players and staff) will remain a critical feature in the future of coaching. Reflecting on the opportunities to further understand individuals will likely present endless possibilities.

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By John Portch

“The first thing you need to ask is what does ‘resilience’ mean,” says Gareth Bloomfield.

The psychologist, who works with the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, explains that it comes from the Latin ‘resilio’, which means ‘to bounce back’.

“It’s the ability of individuals or a team to bounce back from adversity,” Bloomfield continues. “I guess in most sports, analogous scenarios would be about a team losing. How does the team bounce back from a loss or maybe a series of losses? That goes for an individual as well, so if we’re talking about a tennis player or a golfer, someone who plays their sport on their own, how do they bounce back from a series of performances where they do not feel that they best delivered?

“There are a number of things that go into baking the cake of psychological resilience and they’re not just psychological because there’s a huge overlap between physical and psychological. If, for example, I’m a tennis player carrying an injury, surely that’s going to have a psychological impact that affects what I’m capable of on the court.”

Bloomfield, who spoke to the Leaders Performance Institute in March about how leaders can overcome resistance to change, here lays out the ‘ingredients’ of the cake that make up psychological resilience and where coaches can have an impact.

The flour – sleep

Bloomfield has emphasised the importance of sleep on more than one occasion. For him, its impact on our physical and mental health cannot be overstated, and, in his analogy of the cake, sleep is the flour. “One of the things I would do from a mental health perspective, if somebody was suffering from mental health symptoms such as anxiety and depression, one of the things I would look into is how much sleep do you get?” he says.

“It also affects our accuracy on a number of things: your ability to put a ball in the basket, your ability to hit a ball with a bat, strike a ball in the back of the net. Those are related to the quantity of sleep and the quality of sleep. It’s not just about quantity – it’s quality as well. A lot of the time, we’re not fully aware of the quality of sleep we get. Smartwatches are helping. Sleep is the flour in these ingredients of resilience.”

Leaders can educate athletes in the importance of sleep and, from there, the idea is that athletes will be able to take that knowledge, see its value, and monitor their own sleep. Bloomfield adds: “What you’re doing is priming them to make a decision. If you’re educating people, you’re educating them to make another decision later that they might not be conscious of. Educate them.”

The eggs – social support

The eggs of Bloomfield’s cake represent social support and its role as a factor in psychological resilience. “Isolation can happen with people around you,” he says. “We know that has a big effect on people’s performance as well.” The key for coaches is to “make sure that the team is cohesive and keep a check on relationships within the team.” A coach can go for regular check-ins with athletes to find how they are doing or identify any issues they may have both inside and beyond the team. “Not just one or two people – talk to many and make sure you get a good impression of what’s going on within the whole team,” adds Bloomfield.

Unique ingredients #1 – your goal-setting behaviours

Sleep and social support are universal but Bloomfield’s next ingredient, goal-setting, will look different depending on your team’s context. When it comes to goal-setting, there are some key questions to be asked. “How we set our goals or how our goals are set for us? Do you feel some sort of purpose? Do you feel like you’re making a difference in the goal that you’re striving towards? Because that then links in with the social aspect of it. Do you feel motivated towards that goal? Do you feel like you’ve got some sort of control over the goals that are being set or how you get towards them?

“You’ve got to make sure that as a leader people feel that they have the desired autonomy in the way that they reach those goals, that they know what goals they’re seeking to achieve.”

Support from coaches and peers is essential but it can also go back to the physical. “If you have an injury, that’s going to have an effect on other things, but you may have physical restrictions in terms of what you might be able to do.”

Unique ingredients #2 – your cognition and ability to learn

Bloomfield reveals that he was once an accomplished rower, but understood that his stature (he stands six-foot tall or “under six-foot without my trainers on”) prevented him from reaching an elite level. He tells the story to place further emphasis on the physical component of psychological resilience. He says: “my ability to be as good a rower as some of the rowers that are six-foot-eight, well, I’ve got a physical disadvantage and maybe my resilience, my capability to actually spring back, is then related to my physical ability to deal with the adversity. Lose and lose and lose and lose and lose again, well, I have to actually realise that my ability to spring back from this is physically restricted in some way.”

An individual may also be restricted in their ability to learn by factors beyond their control that impact their ability to process information in a cognitively sound fashion. “That’s fundamentally important because if you’ve got somebody who has a learning disability, then their ability to bounce back may be severely affected by the fact that they have a learning disability because they don’t necessarily remember what it is they need to do to be able to actually help themselves bounce back from the situation that they’re in,” adds Bloomfield.

Positive psychology – the science of hope

Bloomfield stresses that cognition is not just about one’s ability to learn but also one’s ability to talk to themselves in a way that generates persistence.

“And now we’re getting into the science of hope,” he says, “and that science of hope is how I talk to myself about myself personally. How I talk to myself about how permanent something is, and also about how something is pervasive.” He discusses the work of American psychologist Martin Seligman, who is considered one of the fathers of the movement of positive psychology. “This is psychology where we look at how do we get the best out of people and this is what I’m looking at in my research around psychological resilience,” continues Bloomfield.

“How do we get that little bit of extra out of people? One thing is training them to think in a slightly different way, so that when something goes wrong they don’t beat themselves up and when something is not how they want it to be they don’t think it’s always going to be like that and it affects everything else. This is something that we learn fairly early on in life.

“That cognition is really important because you can’t have a sportsperson like that. When they lose a match they can’t go ‘I’m an idiot. That happens every time. No matter what I do it’s going to go wrong.’ If they are doing that then we need to get inside their heads and change the cognitions that they have.”

Leaders, he explains, have a role in being optimistic in their words, actions and demeanour. “This is a recurring pattern for me, which is, to be a good leader you have to communicate optimism, because optimism equals persistence, and persistence is about winning the game, winning the war, whatever it is your business is. It’s an important aspect of what it is that you’re trying to achieve and persistence is resilience.”

By Lorena Torres Ronda

At the top level of high performance, there is constant pressure to achieve success.

In the pursuit of success, there is likely to be more than one ‘good’ performance plan. Success can be viewed through a number of different prisms, can be defined in very different ways, and can be achieved through a range of approaches.

Leadership styles can be formal (bestowed through job title or position) or more informal (such as the role of influencers) but it is the leader who sets the values and principles of work that will fundamentally mark the direction of the project. The vision for a project – and the path to success – will be determined by the leader.

The identity of that leader, or leaders, is significant. There are, for example, world-renowned teams whose organizational values outweigh the aura of the individual. These include the New Zealand All Blacks, the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs or, more recently, English Premier League champions Manchester City. They are known for being winners and have what is widely regarded as a ‘great culture’. Yes, they have or have had charismatic leaders, whether it’s players, coaches or managers, but there is no single individual on these teams who is bigger than the team and their pursuit of success.

Of late, however, there are certain organizations where leadership appears to be driven by an individual (often a star player). Are there serious repercussions to this approach in the present and future of these organizations?

Organizational leadership

Who sets the overall vision of an organization? That person should know today’s vision and understand where is it going. That sounds good in theory but, as noted above, this is an era where players have a lot of power – in some cases even more than the coach or the manager. In fact, there are some organizations who deliver the present and the destiny of the organization to the star, or franchise player, of the current moment. This can involve enlisting them to shape the vision and it can also include eliciting the ideas and opinions of the superstar in the construction and direction of the team, which remains paramount. Any team adopting this approach must do so with caution since it may negatively impact the direction of the organization and the individuals that collectively form the team. These people (from managers to interns) will be the ones that, at the end of the day, should promote and act according to the values on which the organization is based.

The leaders who hold the vision, present and future, are the ones responsible for creating and communicating this vision, conveying direction and meaning. Moreover, they also have the responsibility for building the structure of the team, creating the roles, responsibilities or points of interdependence. And, finally, motivating individuals so that they follow the vision (with shared vision, goals and objectives) and support the development of its staff members with a view to retaining talent within the organization (especially in a moment where staff members are willing to leave when working under conditions that do not allow for personal development, professional growth; where there can be a frustrating environment, egos, unnecessary pressure, inadequate remuneration for responsibilities and role, and the like).

Individual leadership

Leadership can derive from formal leadership – the leader’s title or position in the organization – but also from a charismatic personality. As a leader, one has to ask: what kind of leader do you want and hope to be? In management or director positions, dedicating time to others, planning and guiding will be a fundamental part of those roles; a work oriented to the development of others is also part of the mission. Therefore, in thinking about what characteristics are going to define you as a leader, it will be essential to have a base of coherence, that your thoughts, words and actions are on the line.

However, when a leader is at the service of others, a facilitator to accompany, direct, guide, etc., there must be a safe environment. Knowing who is ‘the boss’, meaning who will make the final decision (leadership or players) will be important in the process of building the entity’s vision and mission, for the short or long run.

Charismatic leaders can present themselves as true towers of strength, but it is difficult to succeed alone. Create a work team that makes you a better leader, a work team that helps you, advises you, provides perspective and supports and celebrates the moments of success with you. It is also important to let others lead. Natural-informal (non-formal) leaders can have a lot of influence on certain projects, and on people, as they can be very powerful. Detecting natural leaders, guiding them and at the same time giving them autonomy can be a formidable tool for a high performance program.

Strategic leadership

The mission, the vision and the core values should be above those of the individual, although they emanate from a visionary leader, and the management must ensure that the behaviors are in line with these. Defining who in the organization manages and leads the vision of where you are and where you are going should not be dependent on individuals, even if these individuals are strong promoters of the vision.

Now: where does the balance need to sit between meeting long-term goals (such as player development, injury prevention or the future of the organization) and the need to win ‘today’?

There is a trend across pro sports that organizations with less competitive pressure are capable of building projects with medium and long-term visions, working in safer areas, building from collaboration, guidance and delegation, managing egos, innovation, creativity and job security. Stability, trust, protection or support seems to allow talent to develop their tasks in a safer environment, with innovation and creativity and at the same time with room for improvement when things are not going in the right direction or aren’t working well. However, the moment the team begins to have ‘winning’ goals and pressure, or when it builds around a certain core of players, does something then happen? Are those environments more pressured by the umbrella of fear? Does this happen specifically in big markets? Is there a different culture depending on the market (small vs big) in the long term goals? Who is responsible for ensuring the environment that protects the identity of the organization?

In conclusion, it is worth reflecting on the words of renowned American investor Ray Dalio, who said: “An organization is a machine consisting in two major parts: culture and people.” He explained that you need to get the right culture and the right people, and for any organization to function well, “its work principles must be aligned with its members’ life principles”, so that the vision is clear, and the mission is shared.

By John Portch

Ulster Rugby have enjoyed a memorable 2021-21 campaign that could yet end their wait for a first major title since 2006.

The Irish side are due to travel to Cape Town to face the Stormers in the semi-finals of the United Rugby Championship this Saturday [11 June].

Whether the match, or indeed the competition, ends in a victory or a defeat, the Ulster Head Coach is ready to meet those two impostors just the same. He does, however, issue one caveat.

“I get more upset when we’re not as good as I think we can be than if we lose,” he tells the Leaders Performance Institute.

How long does it take him to calm down when his team have lost a match they should have won?

“It takes however long it takes us to analyse, frame in my own head what the reasons and the adaptations are, and then being able to pull those together with the people that are doing the same process in whatever area of the organisation they’re in,” McFarland continues.

“Once I’ve done all of that and had those conversations I’m normally back on track. Sometimes it takes longer because the answers are not as easy, but once we’ve pulled everyone together and we’re all single-minded in what we’re going to do – ‘done’. Move on. That’s why ‘every inch’ is the foundation of what we do. You can’t start coaching until you’ve got that sorted. If someone doesn’t try then there’s no point in me doing any coaching because I don’t know how they normally do it or how they would do it in a game. It’s pointless. Give me full effort then I can coach. Until we’ve done that you can’t do that. We’ll deal with effort first.”

McFarland delves into the art behind his coaching and his approaches to cultural mapping in the first part of our interview. In the second, he explores his strengths as a leader and comes to some candid conclusions.

What do you regard as your biggest strength?

I think my determination to win. I’m going to say that. It’s not fancy but I hate losing. In terms of big picture stuff, that motivates me to do what I do. And I’m certainly not great at a few things as well. I think the competitive nature of who I am really helps in terms of being the best that we can be. As I said, I am more upset when we’re not as good as I think we can be than if we lose. That’s a big driver for me. When the processes or standards become more important to you than the result, you’re going to get good results. I want to be the best at everything we do. Maybe that sounds wishy-washy. Or maybe it doesn’t.

What I’m going to add to one of my biggest strengths is understanding context. I have a background in psychology so I think that goes along with relating to people, so I’m able to put myself in other people’s shoes. I think that’s a really big strength in terms of interpersonal skills, to be able to have empathy and understand what people are going through. But I also feel I’m pretty good at understanding the context of organisations and where they stand emotionally, in terms of outside influences, in terms of their history, in terms of where they want to go. I would think that’s critical in terms of decision making because if you don’t understand the context of where Ulster were when I arrived or where we are at the end of this season, how on earth are we going to make any decisions on what to do next? It’s the same in your interpersonal skills. If I’m sat in the office here and chatting with one of the players and I don’t understand the context of where they are, how can I give them any advice or help them to answer questions that they have personally? That would be a strength of mine: understanding context on an organisational level but also being able to take the perspective of other people.

What strength do you admire most in others?

I reckon relating to people. The people that have really good interpersonal skills. It’s very admirable. I’m not an impersonal person, but I wouldn’t necessarily say I would be in the top ranks of interpersonal skills. It’s certainly something that I place at the very top of what I’m trying to do, of what I’m doing on a day to day basis. The people that can relate, we know the ones, there are not many of them. There are not many people that are ready to do that.

What is the key to strong teamwork?

Communication and clarity. You’ve got to have the individuals within it who are competent but clarity on what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, what you’re trying to achieve, and then being able to communicate within those teams. Stanley McChrystal’s team of teams is a brilliant book. That dispersed leadership model opened my eyes to how really important jobs can be done without somebody having to pass down a message from Washington via so-and-so.

How will you look to get stronger in your role?

I reckon relying on the feedback of the people that I work with. I’ve got really good people that I work with here and relying on them to provide me with the feedback from what they need from me, I think that’s pretty important.

By Sarah Evans

• Treat people and groups fairly

• Personalise your approach for the individual

• Leverage the thoughts and experiences of diverse groups

Deloitte’s initial research into the character traits of inclusive leaders, which began in 2011 and concluded in 2016, was the key stimulus in our recent Leadership Skills Series Virtual Roundtable. The multi-professional service company’s research delves into an inclusive leadership model where the ‘inclusive leader’ is at the centre of a circle and their six signature traits are listed around the outside. This signifies that each trait is of equal value and the leader is placed in the middle, bringing people together.

Here, with the help of excerpts from Deloitte’s research, we illustrate each of those six signature traits and detail how leaders who want to manage diverse teams equitably can bring each trait to life.

1. Commitment

‘Highly inclusive leaders are committed to diversity and inclusion because these objectives align with their personal values and because they believe in the business case.’

If the leader has personal values which are aligned to inclusion, they will treat all of their team members with fairness and respect, they will take action to ensure each member feels like they belong in the team, and connected to the group, and they will proactively adapt their way of leading to the preferences of each individual. If they believe in the business case of inclusion, they will treat diversity and inclusion as a business priority, taking personal responsibility for inclusive goals, and allocate resources towards making sure the workplace is equitable.

2. Courage

‘Highly inclusive leaders speak up and challenge the status quo, and they are humble about their strengths and weaknesses.’

The leader will have high levels of self-awareness, acknowledging their own personal limitations and seek out understanding from others or look to those who have strengths in the areas of their own personal limitations. They will also need to be brave to challenge often entrenched ideas and opinions that uphold the status quo, and to hold others to account when they exhibit non-inclusive behaviours.

3. Cognisance of bias

‘Highly inclusive leaders are mindful of personal and organisational blind spots, and self-regulate to help ensure fair play.’

Again, the leader will be highly self-aware and be able to be aware and accept their own biases based on their life experiences. They will take time to understand the moments when they are most vulnerable to bias and have processes in place to ensure these do not influence decisions about others. They will also do the same for organisational bias and address the ones which are inconsistent to inclusive environments. They will utilise transparent, consistent and merit-based decisions around talent and provide clear feedback for the decisions made and process behind it.

4. Curiosity

‘Highly inclusive leaders have an open mindset, a desire to understand how others view and experience the world, and a tolerance for ambiguity.’

The leader will be constantly open to learning and actively look to understand the perspectives of others with different experiences to their own, withholding judgement from this person. They will actively listen when another person voices their point of view and they will engage in curious open questioning to help better understand their perspective. They have to be agile and adaptable, coping effectively with change.

5. Cultural Intelligence

‘Highly inclusive leaders are confident and effective in cross-cultural interactions.’

The leader understands the benefits of learning about different cultures and seeks out opportunities to experience culturally diverse environments. They have good knowledge of differences and similarities between cultures and can adapt to the different needs of the individual.

6. Collaboration

‘Highly inclusive leaders empower individuals as well as create and leverage the thinking of diverse groups.’

The leader will create a safe environment where the team members feel empowered and confident to contribute. They ensure that the teams they work with have a diversity of thought and experience, and manage the group so that there is respect amongst all, taking appropriate action when that respect is not there.

By Sarah Evans

Real Madrid Head Coach Carlo Ancelotti is the first coach to have won each of Europe’s five major leagues.

On Saturday, he will also attempt to win the Uefa Champions League for the fourth time as a coach (to go with the two he won as a player with AC Milan). His track record is all the more remarkable given his longevity. The La Liga title he won with Real earlier this month comes 18 years after his Serie A triumph with Milan.

Here, the Leaders Performance Institute explores five attributes that explain why Ancelotti is still at the top of his game.

1. Ever the democrat

Ancelotti states that his leadership style stems from his character. He is a democrat that doesn’t like to simply impose his way of being on others. “My style is not to impose,” he told the Leaders Performance Institute in 2015. It is a belief to which he holds firm. “I would like to convince the players of what they are doing”. He believes that this way of operating earns him the buy-in of the players, which means they are more likely to get behind him and give their all, rather than if things were simply forced upon them. This approach also makes the players accountable. Ancelotti will often ask the players tactical questions and opinions on the match strategy, knowing that they will understand the strategy more if they’ve been involved in the decision-making process. He wants the environment to be that of adult to adult, and allows players and staff to have opinions, feel valued, and help in designing both the vision and the strategy of the team.

2. Process over outcome

Win or lose on Saturday, Ancelotti always analyses his methods systematically, and if his team have lost but knows he couldn’t have done anything else to change it, then he is able to compartmentalise the defeat. It is this process, rather than outcome, focus which makes him so consistent. Perhaps his most notable loss was the 2005 Champions League Final against Liverpool in Istanbul. His team at the time, Milan, were leading 3-0 at half-time, but Liverpool pulled off one of the most historic comebacks in football history and eventually won the match on penalties. However, Ancelotti was seen chatting cheerily in the bar later that night. He believed his team had played well and so didn’t dwell on the defeat.

3. A cultural chameleon

Ancelotti – who has coached some of Europe’s most illustrious teams, including Milan, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid (across two spells) – stresses the importance of getting to know the characteristics of players, the culture and traditions of a club, and then integrates his leadership style within that. Even if something has made him very successful at one club, he won’t just come in and assert that style on another. Ancelotti understands that there are many cultural differences from club to club and within different countries, and he has to adapt his style to get the best out of the players and team he is currently at.

4. Humility and professionalism

He has won almost everything as player and coach, yet he still wants to listen to what you have to say. People enjoy talking to him, he values what they say and that helps him build relationships with the athletes. He is the ultimate professional and has an unquestionable desire to win, which makes him so well-respected. He protects the team from the stressors of elite football by not showing the pressure he’s under. He takes the situation – but not himself – seriously, and can often be found telling jokes in the changing rooms before a big game to help diffuse the pressure.

5. A refreshing sense of perspective

Ancelotti has a strong sense of the big picture. He has the ability to take daily updates of physical, mental and emotional energy levels of people and align them with the group’s daily needs, as well as the team’s overall season objectives. By ‘staying in the moment’ with individuals, he is able to prepare for and think about the bigger picture. As he said: “football is the most important of the less important things in the world.”

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The team behind the team

This year (2022) marks the 20th Anniversary of the English Institute of Sport (EIS). We were formed in 2002 and have grown significantly over those 20 years to become a world leader in sports science, medicine, innovation and technology.

Our primary objective is to provide the outstanding support that will enable sports and athletes to excel, both on and off the field of play. We achieve that by working in close partnership with sports and our other stakeholders. While this report will focus on the EIS’s work, we could not operate or deliver any of the services you will read about without the support and partnership of the sports we work with and multiple other organisations. We are grateful to all our partners for their collaboration and feedback which helps us to learn and improve the services we offer.

After our formation in 2002, the EIS has continued to grow and add new services to our portfolio, meeting the growing needs of the high performance system. After Rio 2016, where the EIS contributed towards 93% of medals won by GB athletes, we created a world-first Athlete Health team, as well as taking on responsibility for a dedicated Performance Innovation team. By the time the Tokyo Games came around, we were proud to be working with 40 different Olympic and Paralympic sports, as well as sending more than 100 of our people to the Games as part of the official support teams for Team GB and ParalympicsGB.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a recent example of how well the EIS adapts to handle challenging situations; our medical teams worked extensively with sports to produce Return to Training guidance, enabled athletes to continue heat training by installing individual heat tents at sites across the country and administered more than 500 Covid tests to athletes.

We are committed to putting people at the heart of extraordinary performance and none of our success as an organisation would be possible without our 350-strong expert team. Our people work tirelessly behind the scenes to problem solve and innovate, often working as part of, or as an extension to, a sport’s personnel. I am delighted that through the course of this Special Report, you will hear from a number of that team, some of whom have been with the EIS for over 15 years!

I am immensely proud to lead this great organisation as we look to another 20 years of outstanding support. I hope you enjoy reading about our teams, projects and successes, as well as hearing from some of our much-respected colleagues from the world of high performance sport.

Matt Archibald, CEO, English Institute of Sport

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By John Portch

One thing is clear: diversity is a competitive edge and EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion] is an area where all teams can be doing better.

Kevin Yusuf Coleman, the former Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Brentford FC [now the Diversity & Inclusion Lead at the BBC Studios], is speaking at November’s Leaders Sport Performance Summit in London. The English Premier League club have been noted for their work in delivering upon their EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion] goals.

At the top of the conversation, he highlights the findings of some research conducted by management consultancy firm McKinsey. “If you’re in the top quartile of gender and ethnicity you’re about 25-30 percent [more profitable],” says Yusuf Coleman. “Just in terms of pure cash, if you’re a more diverse and inclusive organisation you do better, as well as it being the right thing to do.”

In this chapter, through Yusuf Coleman’s words, we highlight four factors to consider when trying to promote equality, diversity and inclusion.

1. EDI must be intrinsic

Yusuf Coleman emphasises that EDI must be part of your cultural identity, not just some add-on, which is all too common. “I’ve spent most of my life in sport trying to justify why EDI was a good idea and it was really refreshing to come to an organisation where it was already front and centre,” he says of a club situated in one of London’s most diverse areas. “It was already one of our two biggest priorities and it was more how we do it than why.

“It makes logical sense for us to have an understanding of having an inclusive environment for staff to work in, an inclusive offer for our fans and players and wider communities. It makes perfect business sense as well as being the right thing to do.”

2. Accountability is key

As Yusuf Coleman says, every staff appraisal at Brentford includes a section on EDI accountability. “If everyone is accountable then they will make it relevant to them.” Equally, your staff and athletes can play a fundamental role in bringing EDI to life. “You never design a programme, or anything that’s supposed to help any particular community without them being part of it.”

EDI can also be tracked. “It has to be something physically practical that you can measure so it means something to everyone, otherwise it is a slogan and when the next CEO comes in there will be another slogan and another acronym.”

Yusuf Coleman recalls his time as Equality & Diversity Manager at the Football Association [FA]. “We had monthly poll surveys where you had lots of questions around inclusion and belonging and you looked at how much people strongly believed in them or slightly believed in them and how that changed every month. And actually, over a period of two years, you saw the change in how people feel about the organisation. You have to be clever about things you normally can’t measure and it can feel like fluffy clouds, but you have to find a way to try and measure them.”

3. Create experiential learning opportunities for staff

“EDI, to really get it, you have to understand it and feel it,” says Yusuf Coleman. “People from diverse communities, from under-represented communities who might have experienced discrimination, for example, will understand it more because of life experience. And if you’re from the majority, if you’re a white middle-aged man like me, you don’t have those experiences to inform you.”

Experiential learning is a crucial tool. “We all talk about the ‘70:20:10 rule’ where if you experience something it’s much more impactful, especially around EDI,” he continues.

During his time at the FA, Yusuf Coleman arranged for a staff visit to the Neasden Temple, which is about 2km from Wembley Stadium but not a place most staff had visited. “[It’s about] being creative and helping people to experience diversity and inclusion for themselves is going to be more impactful than paying for corporate trainer a lot of money to come in with a white board for a few hours.”

4. You never succeed at EDI

Yusuf Coleman clear on that point. “You never succeed at EDI – no one is ever successful,” he says, adding that organisations should revisit their EDI strategy every two to three years. “You might be more ambitious in three years’ time or you might revisit the same thing. Never think of it as something you’re going to achieve. It’s ‘are our indicators good? Are we ahead of society? Are we leading society? Can we be seen as good practice or are we flagging behind?’ That’s really your only two litmus tests. As businesses, you don’t have to be more diverse than society, you don’t have to hit every target, one thing that’s really key is being humble and knowing where you are.”

By John Portch

The Leaders Performance Institute approached Dan McFarland, the Head Coach of Ulster Rugby, to broach the topic of change and he is happy to oblige.

“I quite like talking about these kind of things because it helps me to formulate my thinking and, at the end, I’ll have a clearer picture of how I think about things,” he says.

“What is ‘change’ in and of itself?” he continues. “Firstly, ‘change’ is someone who says ‘this isn’t working, things are terrible, and we need to change’. But change is also growth. If you’re an organisation that wants to grow, develop and learn – by definition that is ‘change’.

“How you conceptualise change and how you use it is interesting, because if you include the idea that ‘growth is change’ then there’s always a need for change, isn’t there? At least in anything that’s competitive. It is important not to box change as merely something that happens to a failing organisation or somebody who’s in trouble. Then it’s just a degree in change and, I suppose, recognising the degree of change is interesting.”

McFarland has been a coach since his retirement from playing in 2006. He took an assistant coaching role with his club, Connacht Rugby, upon hanging up his boots at the west of Ireland club. His first stint in Ireland came to a close when he joined Gregor Townsend’s coaching staff at the Glasgow Warriors in 2015 and he later joined Townsend’s coaching ticket when he took the reins of the Scotland men’s national team in 2017. Ulster came calling and McFarland took his first senior head coaching position with Ulster in April 2018.

He is a firm believer in the need to identify a “lodestone” – a foundation – when effecting change. In explanation he retells the story of his initial trek back across the Irish Sea from Connacht to Glasgow. “I was looking for change, but I needed something I was already strong in, something that was relevant to me, something that was going to hold the continuity from one place to the next; bridging that gap of change. For me, it was personal development and that needed to bridge the change of place, environment, and people I was working with. I needed that continuity and that was also part of the change.”

Continuity, as McFarland argues, is essential for players and staff. “The idea of flipping everything on its head, to me, is not great, unless you want something totally new, in which case it doesn’t come under the term ‘change’. When I arrived in Ulster, they were looking for change but I also recognised the things that were going well at the time. ‘What are the things that work here? What things are important? They might not be visible at the time, but that lodestone is generally always there; and if you can attach yourself to that and use that as a foundation, then it’s much easier to gain buy-in from the people who supply the continuity.

“People are trying hard; they’re working hard and doing good things. They just might not be going in the right direction, processes might not be efficient – but there is good stuff going on in places.”

Repurposing, systems, culture and people

McFarland explains that lodestones, as he describes them, at a rugby club can take numerous forms. He says: “It could be purpose, it could be systems, it could be individual people within that organisation. It could be lots of different things.”

He distils the focus when embarking upon change into four categories: repurposing, systems, culture and people. “Repurposing is a huge thing. People have got to have a purpose and, as I say, it may already be there,” he adds. “Creating clarity around that purpose can help. After you’ve done that, you can then look at the kinds of people that are there and how they fit within that purpose. You can look at the kinds of systems and whether they’re efficient and fit for purpose. Then, obviously, the big byword is the cultural stuff. Does that row in behind the people and fit with the systems and the purpose? That’s how I would look at it.”

At Ulster, how did he know where to look first and how does he know where to continue looking? “When I’m making assessments of things like that, I’ll do a stage of cultural mapping. That’s a huge part in the change. It’s understanding where people are. What do they understand about the organisation? From within but also without. Cultural mapping consists of conversations between people within the organisation, but it also consists of media sweeps. That was one of the big things coming into Ulster: doing a big media sweep and understanding what the perceptions of the organisation were at the time – because they weren’t good. People say ‘I don’t want to look at the outside, it doesn’t matter what they think’. You could pretend that the people within your organisation aren’t influenced by what people are saying on the outside, but that’s so naïve. They are influenced by external factors, they make a big impression. Our individual identities are built on not only what we think of ourselves but what other people project onto us. It’s just fact and how you deal with those things is really important.

“That’s why systems analysis and the functionality of the departments within the organisation, communication lines and the performance is important. You’ve got to look at the performance of the systems and what they’re actually putting out, in our case, on the pitch. And then, as I say, with the repurposing, you’ve got to look at organisational aims.”

In his case, is there an actual map? “In a sense it does look like a map,” says McFarland. “My cultural map consists of maybe three or four slides of feedback, mainly from players and sports staff who have answered certain questions. Things like ‘stop’, ‘start’, ‘keep going’; those kind of questions. How you want to be perceived, how you think you’re perceived. It takes quite a lot of time to get that data in and it was quite a lot of effort for people.” Casting his mind back to 2018, he recalls that people did, however, put in that effort, even before he’d started as Ulster Head Coach.

“I spend a lot of time analysing that and taking themes from those answers. You have to look at the language and break out the important parts or the thematic pieces that go across a number of people and then I build those into little maps. I have those on my PowerPoint sheet; you start to get clusters of themes. Some things bridge the gap between those and I’m looking for the kinds of things that are important to the people within the organisation; what they think they’re doing well now and what they really want to do.

“That’s the big thing: what do they want to do? What do they want to be like? That basically built our cultural values. Once I’d put that together I was able to feed that back to them and say, ‘look guys’. A lot of it is bridging gaps, now that I’m thinking about it.”

Fighting for every inch

The process of environment evaluation is continual and McFarland describes an important lodestone from his early days at the Kingspan Stadium. “The first thing that we did here three years ago was culturally to implement the idea of ‘fighting for every inch’. What did it look like? What is important? How are we going to train that? How are we going to measure that? If we could have that as a foundation, we knew we could look at lots of other things and try and work on those over a period of time. But that needed to be in place because I didn’t want to be worrying about that in a year and a half’s time. I didn’t want to be coming back to that and saying ‘we need to concentrate on this, concentrate on that’. Not in any big detail – we’re always looking at it – but we didn’t want it to be the main thing, we didn’t want to have to adjust that; it is what it is. That helps, that ability to have something within your structure that you can rely on so there are other areas you can look at.”

Over the past three years or so, McFarland and Ulster have also placed an emphasis on learning and growth, given the increasingly youthful profile of the playing group, as well as promotion the collective sense of belonging and togetherness.

The men’s Six Nations international rugby tournament, which takes place annually between February and March, often represents an ideal time to think about making the longer-term changes that complement the need to win today, as McFarland explains. “It’s about this time of the year, maybe later, that I’ll start to think about next year,” he says. “Where do we need to go? Where do we need to evolve? Where do we need to change? Then it will start with little conversations with the guys that are interested in that kind of thing. We’ll start putting together ideas of where we want to go next year. There’s quite a lot of planning and preparation that will go into that big shift and changes.”

McFarland also warns against being distracted by superfluous detail. “There is a lot of fluff around the edge of the feedback that we receive and it is just noise,” he says. “Once you’ve got your key things in place, your decision-making has to be based around bridging those gaps. It might be a gap in the competitive nature of training or the competitive nature of selection. If that was a cultural gap, you’ll need to focus on that. So you can’t focus around ideas such as lunch should be half an hour earlier – that’s just noise. Focus on the things that are really going to make a difference and find ways to mechanise them.”

The head coach as salesperson

“Once you’ve got your cultural map, you’ve got to be able to sell the changes you are bringing in,” says McFarland. “I’m certainly not the author of that change – the author is the process. That’s part of my job: selling the idea of the repurposing, or at least giving clarity around the purpose. Understanding the cultural things that they’ve brought to the surface and making them clear; and helping people to mechanise those things is very important. Often spotting the kinds of behaviours that are important to that change, that are going to bridge that gap, and then highlighting them. Those are all parts of selling it and mechanising it.”

He also has become more adept at creating thinking space and allowing people to do their jobs. “Growth is much richer if we’re all part of it and it’s a networking process. The interactions of people across departments, between coaches and players, between players and players, is much richer. I could stand in front of the room and say: ‘this is exactly what we’re going to do in this area, you’re going to do this, you’re going to do that’. That’s probably more efficient, but your growth over time is not as rich, you don’t get the benefits from guys who are on the ground and their information and their ability to adapt in the moment. There are times when you need to stand in front of people and say ‘this is what it’s about, guys. This is where we’re going, this is what we’re doing.’ But there’s also the necessity to create the space where people can grow into that. Potentially my job is to just pull all of that together and to give clarity so that we’re all on the same page.”

As the facilitator, McFarland also feels he must role model change. “Let’s say you want to create a learning environment,” he says. “You’ve got to model that. If that’s me, I’ve got to be seen to be willing to be wrong and adapt, I’ve also got to be seen to be doing things that are helping my own individual growth, I’ve got to be seen to be celebrating things where people are developing. Then once you’ve modelled those you’ve got to be able to mechanise those. There’s got to be room in the actual programme for doing that kind of stuff. It could be individual development programmes that are up and running and actually have things that you do, there’s got to be time in the schedule for development of certain things or skills, but there’s also got to be time in the programme for sports staff to be able to have personal development. Then finally, you’ve got to be able to measure that; you’ve got to be able to look at your programme and say ‘have we actually created development? Have we developed as a staff, as a group? Have we developed as players? Have we developed as individuals?’ Modelling, mechanising and measurement are pretty key to that.

Some of his colleagues and players naturally fall into the role of cultural architects. “Not everybody is interested in innovation, the idea, certainly on a cultural level, of really getting invested, but some people are. A lot of people are. They want to and they’re motivated to do that. That’s a huge thing. Finding the people within your organisation who are interested in that side of things. I’ve got a chunk of people here who are really interested in that kind of thing, developing us as a group and who we are. The organisation leans on them heavily; and the conversations that happen between myself and them and within themselves as a group are instrumental in what we do and how we grow ourselves. Ultimately, an organisation is effectively a group of people. There are buildings here but the buildings are pretty static, the thing that evolves is us as a group of people and the network of our brains and our thoughts.”

By Sarah Evans

• Ensure everyone has a voice.

• Assign ownership and responsibility.

• Enable people to have uncomfortable conversations.

• Include EDI targets in all staff appraisals.

Encourage innovation in a safe and inclusive environment

Selfridges is the UK’s premier high-end department store chain and must continuously asks itself “how can we make a point of difference?” EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion] is at the heart of their response to that question, as Melissa Clottey, the founding Chair of Selfridges’ Diversity Board, told an audience at the 2021 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in London. She explained that if you prioritise EDI, you are encouraging difference, which breeds innovation, which ultimately increases growth and impacts the companies bottom line. Innovation is critical, and having the thought process of “nothing is off the table, there are no right or wrong answers, all ideas are in, how do we collaborate together?”

Diversity of thought brings added impact and credibility

Clottey highlighted that Selfridges’ EDI strategy has given the organisation the framework by which to truly embed EDI into the DNA of the company. Twelve people from different parts of the company, ranging from retail to the head office, to whom ‘EDI’ meant something very different, came together to build their EDI strategy. It was this diversity of thought and experience from within the group that enabled their strategy to be so impactful. They came up with three pillars which cover ‘people, customer and product’ and, as Clottey admitted, “We wouldn’t have come up with such a wide-reaching strategy without that diversity of thought in the group.”

EDI is a collective responsibility

Clottey and the EDI group at Selfridges recognised that in order to truly embed EDI they would need buy-in from both the executive level and people ‘on the ground’. However, they believed that step one on their journey should be a bottom-up approach; to listen to their employees, understand what they need and want, and build their strategy from there. This being said, having support from the executive level has also been crucial, and every month they invite one executive member to sit in on their meeting and ask for a task from them. “We listen to the director, take on their advice, and build it into the strategy,” said Clottey. They introduced a ‘diversity squad’ to help drive engagement, and make sure it was always being pushed on the agenda, and fully embedded into the DNA of the company.

Cultural identities – how do you tell the story of yourself?

Clottey explained that a cultural identity is when you tell a story of yourself to others so “you can find similarities and celebrate your differences.” This was something that, though their links with Management Futures, a management consultancy specialising in business and leadership skills, Selfridges were able to roll out across the whole organisation. They allowed people the space to speak and be open, so they could share their lived experiences, “the things you wouldn’t necessarily think about someone based on their visual representation.” This allowed them to find connections with one another and improve that sense of inclusion and belonging.