{"id":961,"date":"2020-01-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/when-youve-won-whats-next\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:23","slug":"sustaining-success","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/sustaining-success\/","title":{"rendered":"When You\u2019ve Won What\u2019s Next?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Jan 22, 2020 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

When You\u2019ve Won What\u2019s Next?<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/sustaining-success\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
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How to motivate winners and better understand what it takes to win in the first place.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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When Sir Alex Ferguson held aloft the Premier League trophy in May 2009 the smile was genuine but his mind was elsewhere.<\/h4>\n
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By John Portch<\/h6>\n

The Manchester United Manager had just seen his side draw with Arsenal to claim the point they needed to win the 11th<\/sup> top-flight title of his 26-year tenure.<\/p>\n

The feat drew United level with Liverpool on 18 English championships \u2013 much to the delight of the supporters who filled Old Trafford that afternoon.<\/p>\n

“[Liverpool] were the target because they were the greatest side in the land,” said Ferguson. “But I never thought we could get 11 titles – never in a million years. When I came down Liverpool were the top guns at the time and my job was to try and change that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some might say it was mission accomplished but that was not Ferguson\u2019s mindset. \u201cThe great challenge is to win it next year \u2013 that would be something special,\u201d he declared, unsatisfied with mere parity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would give us 19 leagues and would set a special precedent in the club\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson would lead United to two further Premier League titles prior to his retirement, taking the club\u2019s overall tally of top division championships to 20.<\/p>\n

Ferguson\u2019s reign at United came to be characterised by a relentless drive to renew and ensure that United were challenging for honours each season. He would regularly shuffle his playing group and coaching staff; the consensus is that the Scot built four great teams at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n

At the Leaders Performance Institute, the question of sustaining success is a perennial, with serial winners often driven to distraction in their pursuit of the next thing.<\/p>\n

For their part, Liverpool \u2013 the current world and European club champions \u2013 have reclaimed the pinnacle and look set to claim their 19th<\/sup> domestic title this season.<\/p>\n

Beyond the super clubs, the vagaries of elite sport ensure a steady supply of underdog stories and one-off winners. Sometimes athletes need help, as Iain Dyer<\/a> the Head Coach of British Cycling, told us. \u201cIf we\u2019ve got a very young athlete who has achieved success in a very short period of time, they might not know how they actually got there,\u201d he admitted, putting part of the responsibility back on his coaches and support staff.<\/p>\n

What practical steps can coaches and support staff take? We bring you three examples of sustained success in sport – Leinster Rugby, the Australia senior netball team, and Team Ineos [formerly Team Sky] – and explore how they used their resources at hand to stay at the top.<\/p>\n

Attack the title \u2013 don\u2019t defend the title<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the conclusion of Stuart Lancaster\u2019s<\/a> first season as Senior Coach at Leinster in 2018, the club won a double of the Pro14 championship and European Rugby Champions Cup.<\/p>\n

Months later, the Leaders Performance Institute caught up with Lancaster at the 2018 P8 Summit in London, where he spoke with cautious optimism of the team\u2019s start to the new campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going OK, we\u2019re nine games into the season, we\u2019ve been successful in the league,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe\u2019ve lost one game and Europe\u2019s just got going again, so we\u2019ve still got some way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He went on to speak of the team\u2019s hunger, desire and mentality when we posed the question: what is it like to be the hunted instead of the hunter?<\/p>\n

\u201cA few things,\u201d he begins in response. \u201cWe very quickly put to bed last season and drew a line under that. We\u2019ve talked about ‘attacking’ the competition and ‘attacking’ the title rather than ‘defending’ the title; there\u2019s more of a front-foot mentality; we\u2019ve reinforced what our goal is to achieve both in Europe and the Pro14.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve also talked about our higher purpose, which is to inspire the province of Leinster and really create a connection with our fans and families.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the event, the Pro14 was retained and it was only in the Champions Cup final itself that Saracens ended their European run. The sides renew acquaintances the quarter-finals of this season\u2019s competition in April with the real prospect of Leinster returning to their European pinnacle.<\/p>\n

The Sisters in Arms trademark<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lancaster raised the idea of the higher purpose and such notions have governed the makeup of the Australia senior netball team from the get-go.<\/p>\n

Since 1963, the Diamonds, as they are known, have won 11 of the 15 contested World Cups and have never finished as less than runners-up. You can also add a further three Commonwealth Games gold medals, where the Diamonds compete with the cream of the netball crop.<\/p>\n

Sure, the team finished runners-up to New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup but there is little doubt that the Diamonds, led by Head Coach Lisa Alexander<\/a>, remain the team of whom all other nations are most wary.<\/p>\n

It is down to the team\u2019s infrastructure, the strength of the domestic competition and the depth of talent throughout Australia, but these factors have all been harnessed by Alexander to achieve what the marketing people would call \u2018brand immersion\u2019.<\/p>\n

To start with, the players who make it with the Diamonds are joining one of the most exclusive teams in sport. As Alexander says: \u201cWe\u2019ve had to ask three players to be on standby and just to hear their reactions to me ringing them even to be on standby shows me how highly valued and prized being in the Diamonds environment already is amongst our athletes at national level.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe current Diamonds want to ensure they are building on the success of the past. We\u2019re very aware of our history and the culture that has been developed over those years. The players are very humble and grateful for the opportunity to represent their country.\u201d<\/p>\n

When a new player comes into the national setup it is everyone\u2019s responsibility to provide a smooth induction. \u201cIt\u2019s not just down to our coaches, myself or our support staff but also the current leaders of our team, who spend time with them beforehand and who spend time with them in camps or tours to ensure that they\u2019re able to be as successful as they possibly can and to show them the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander and the Diamonds take their status as role models for Australia and as custodians of the team seriously. This is rooted in their \u2018Sisters in Arms\u2019 trademark, which was devised in 2011 with the help of performance and leadership consultant Ray McLean, who has worked with a series of elite teams across Australian sport. \u201cHe was a fantastic facilitator,\u201d recalls Alexander, \u201cand this idea of \u2018Sisters in Arms\u2019 was the one that broke through the initial meetings because it evoked the emotions of the players. The greatest thing they all described was when they\u2019re on the side of the court arm in arm with their fellow sisters \u2013 their Diamonds \u2013 singing the national anthem. It meant so much to them and the great thing is that it\u2019s also a connection to the past. So it was a nod to them; that you\u2019re part of this trademark now and we want to acknowledge how successful we\u2019ve been in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sisters in Arms is rooted in the behaviours and actions, which the Diamonds themselves set and review in training camps. \u201cFor every single camp we will also have a players\u2019 meeting at the start where the players set their expectations and behaviours that they want to see and they want to achieve for every single camp and tour that we go on. We\u2019ll then always review that at the end of the camp or tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a continuous cycle of learning, development and improvement. If people that think they can come into that environment and they haven\u2019t got that humble attitude, they\u2019re probably not going to make it past step one and won\u2019t get selected initially, because we\u2019re so discerning about who we select to come into the Diamonds.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n

\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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