Group factor in leadership (3)

Leadership lessons from African Cup of Nations

OVER the last two weeks we have been looking at the group factor in leadership based on the fact that ultimately the performance of the group is the ultimate validation of the effectiveness of the leader. One of the advantages of sports as I have always pointed out is that it gives us the opportunity to watch in a frame the effect of life principles including leadership on performance. Which is why the recently ended African Cup of Nations provides us with one such unique opportunity especially when On Sunday the 10th of February 2008, the competition ended with victory for the one team in the tournament which encapsulated ultimate team work and thereby effectiveness of leadership on a group, that is Egypt. So, today in continuation of our group factor series, we look at lessons from the African cup of Nations.

Lesson1: The philosophy of a group is an essential tool for performance. Anyone watching the performance of the teams will have recognised that eventual champions, Egypt, were one team that played with a clear cut philosophy throughout the tournament. This philosophy was reflected in several characteristics that were to be found in the team. The first of these was the fact that the Egyptian team played the same way regardless of who was fielded at any given time. Most commentators ascribed it to the fact that most of their players played in Egypt. That alone did not account for it all. Coach Shehatar set out to build a team in which team work and group performance was the key to their overall effectiveness and this was obvious in the way players came to each other’s help and were totally selfless in their contributions. Cote d’Ivoire on the other hand came into the tournament as favourites and kept that tag until they ran into the Egyptians. Anyone watching the team play was bound to recognise the fact that although full of talented players and having players who had played together before, there was no clear cut philosophy of Ivorian play leading them to win difficult matches such as against Nigeria by moments of individual brilliance. Perhaps the unexpected loss of the Ivorian Coach on the eve of the tournament played a major role in this situation. It is also interesting that the two teams that had the most obvious philosophies ended up as the finalists in the competition

One observation is that the Egyptian philosophy was far more than an offshoot of coaching it was reinforced by the decision making of the coach in many areas such as the non invitation of Egypt’s golden boy, Hassan Mido, whose tendency to self adulation did not sit well with the philosophy. In addition the second golden boy of Egyptian soccer, Mohammed Zidan, was always used as a substitute in spite of his consistent match winning performance. Therefore, a philosophy must be reinforced before it can take.

Lesson 2: A group’s performance is often based on its flexibility and ability to respond to different situations. Egypt entered the competition without its inspirational captain who was voted man of the match at the end of the final match but was able to make adjustments which were in sharp contrast to teams which collapsed s a result of the loss of specific personnel such as Nigeria with the loss of our captain Kanu. In the same vein the Egyptian played a flexible format through the competition. When they played teams that were tight at the back they were willing to take good quality long range shots and provide fast counter attacking when the opportunity presented itself.

Lesson 3: The group performance is affected by a number of individual factors which the Egyptians showed to good effect. Some of these are

1. Individuals – Often people think that team operations mean that the individuals lose their individuality. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Egypt for example had players such Abou Traika nicknamed “the magician” or their goalkeeper popularly called “the wall” a name he lived up to. The existence of these nicknames is an indication of these persons’ individual celebrated abilities. The best groups are those which are able to attain group. The Egyptians exemplified it.

2. Team work – The most cohesive and coherent team throughout the tournament was Egypt. They played for each other and were single minded about their responses even at after match press conferences where the players went out of their way to be inclusive. There are groups such as organisational departments which have had the heart torn out of them by the actions of glory-seeking individuals or a boss who wanted to take all the credit

3. Distributed leadership – One characteristic of the Egyptians was the spread of leadership across the team. While the coach provided it off the field, Egypt was endowed with leaders on the field from their captain whose worth became obvious once he started playing to the goal keeper who was the hero in many dangerous situations. The leadership characteristic that shone clearly was the desire and willingness by many of the players to take responsibility while fostering the team’s philosophy. It resulted in coherence and effective leadership.

There are many more lessons but perhaps the most important is that we can learn so much from a football competition. Those who aspire to become leaders must therefore develop the ability to keep their lesson antennae alert to learn from the many opportunities life’s events present us with.