Techniques and Technicians

Now the dust has partly settled on the utterly pathetic performance of the England football team at the World Cup – I say partly as it seems the FA, those masters of indecision, seem hell bent on stringing it out for another couple of weeks – I find myself in reflective mood.

What have we learned from the experience and what can we, as business owners, take from it all? Well, I suppose some people will consider the role of the manager and the lessons in leadership; some will look at the state of the national game and draw comparisons with the state of the country – an elite group of overpaid people having an undue influence on the mood and motivation of thousands; some will look at the players and wonder how such an apparently talented group of professionals can perform so poorly; some will question the tactics employed and argue endlessly about the virtues of 4-4-2 versus 5-3-2, 4-3-3, 4-5-1 or my favourite 10-0-0 and let them sort themselves out!

All good lessons; all no doubt relevant.

There’s one lesson for me that stood out head and shoulders above all the rest.

I have no idea what went on in the training camp; I have no idea what it was like to operate under the scrutiny and guiding hand of Mr Capello; all I can comment on is what I saw.

And what I saw, in every match I watched – and I watched the lot and suffered along with everyone else – was dramatic evidence of lack of belief, confidence and engagement. And what was my evidence?

My evidence was everywhere on the pitch in the demeanour of every player. I hope I had no influence on the results in South Africa but every time I watched them line up I said to myself, ‘They’re going to lose.’

So if you ask me, ‘Where were the games lost?’ I will reply ‘In their minds.’

And as I reflected on this, a phrase came winging its way back into my mind; a phrase I haven’t used for a long time; a phrase coined by the great Wyatt Woodsmall, ‘It’s never the technique, it’s the technician.’

You know, you can give someone all the skills available; you can train them till they can do it in their sleep; you can give them every effective technique and system under the sun. But at the end of it all, whether they succeed or not; whether they do the right thing or not; whether they relish the challenge or not; it all depends on what’s going on inside.

‘It’s never the technique, it’s the technician.’

And that’s as true for you and me in our businesses and in our lives as it is for Frank, Wayne, John and Stevie.