The 2023/24 Premier League kicked-off at the weekend, and as you know, I love football. I also love observing the different playing styles, the variation of club ethos and culture, the strategies and tactics, mind games, stats, and the leadership.

And talking of leadership, I was astounded to read on BBC Sport that in all, a total of 41 Managers were in place at some point, and some held positions at more than one club in the Premier League last season alone. 41!

You could argue that stability and consistency is key, with Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal having success over recent years with the longest serving managers.

And not making rash decisions plays a part, with a struggling Nottingham Forest keeping faith with their manager Steve Cooper, a stark contrast to all three of the relegated teams – Leicester, Leeds, and Southampton – who all made changes to their Managers (Leicester and Leeds still making changes as late as April and May!).

After reading the article on whether sacking a manager was the right answer, it boiled down to one thing:

You never can predict what’s going to happen when you recruit someone!

Staff issues are one of the biggest headaches for business owners, and whilst you don’t have a magic globe to look into the future, you can minimise risk by:

• Finding someone better than you to do the job.
• Recruiting on your Values.
• Making sure they know what their 100% is.
• Introducing a Scorecard to measure inputs and outputs and to help make rational decisions.
• Holding 15-minute team huddles every morning that ask two simple questions: What happened yesterday? What are we going to do today?
• Leading by example.
• Accepting that you cannot actually manage people! But you CAN create the right environment, give them the right tools to do their job, and get out their way!

Finally, (you know me I cannot resist a nod to my beloved LFC!), your philosophy should remain the foundation of your business. One of the most successful managers of all time, Bill Shankly, placed a plaque above the players’ tunnel which simply says:

‘This is Anfield’

Of this plaque, he said,

“It’s there to remind our lads who they’re playing for, and to remind the opposition who they’re playing against.”

BW,

Martin

Martin Norbury

Investor | Business Mentor at Advocate | Author of I don’t work Fridays