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8 Leadership Lessons From Liverpool FC

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Liverpool FC (Football Club) is one of the passions of my life – I still recall receiving that wonderful red kit for my 5th birthday, and have been hooked ever since!

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, they were the dominant team in England – and arguably in Europe – with wonderful leaders both on and off the field. Yet since then they have endured over a generation of decline, masked by occasional cup wins that have never turned into sustained success or rebirth.

But will the glory days ever return?

Two years ago a young, relatively untested manager was appointed, who famously brought to his job interview a 180 page dossier detailing his vision for regenerating the club. Clearly Liverpool’s owners (Fenway Sports Group, who also own the Boston Red Sox) were impressed – and Brendan Rodgers has brought root and branch reform. You can read this article from The Daily Telegraph to glimpse how he did it.

Leading A Turn-Around

You may not lead a football club but, whether now or in the future, you may well be assigned to turn around a once great organization. All sorts of questions will flood your mind…

• Is it possible to reboot an organization that has faded away over the years?
• How do you bring everyone on board – including the old-timers who love to tell you about successes under previous leaders?
• Is there a key to focusing on the future without becoming bogged down in the battles of the past?

Mixed results from previous attempts at reform may mean that new ideas are met at best with polite bemusement, often with cynicism, and at worst with open hostility. “Of course we want to be great again!” is the claim, yet somehow this is to be done without upsetting anyone or changing unhealthy parts of the culture.

Yet to bring about change, and to rescue and redeem a once great organization, can be a hugely significant task to undertake. There is a deep emotional bond with such places, particularly those that tangibly add value to the wider community – whether a business, school, hospital, church, or a soccer club.

As I write, Liverpool FC lie top of the English Premier League and, with just 6 out of 38 matches left in the season, are in pole position to be crowned English champions this year. Even if they don’t make it over that line, they are playing such a captivating, energizing brand of football – full of goals, passion, fun and creativity – that they have been dubbed “everyone’s second favorite team”! In any sport, a team that is joyous to watch (and clearly taking so much pleasure in the playing) is beguiling to view. And great leadership has been the key to their turn around.

8 Lessons

Looking at Rodger’s transformation of Liverpool FC, there are a number of broader leadership lessons that can be gleaned and applied leaders. I’m going to give specific challenges for church leaders, but you can apply these lessons into any area where you have leadership.

1.  Have A Plan

Rodgers knew the style and direction he wanted to take Liverpool FC in, and set out that vision succinctly. “I presented the owners with a document on the culture, philosophy and game plan going forward. It’s a model, a short cut to how I work, the kind of players I want tactically and the personality traits of players.”

It is amazing how many leaders simply limp along, merely responding to events rather than setting clear vision. Whether you are a coach with a clear playing philosophy, a politician with a defining agenda, or a church leader with a direction you want to take the church, having a crisp vision is critical. Just what sort of church are you called to lead? What will be its defining characteristics? How will it look in 10 years time? Tell me the dream!

2.  Stay Flexible

However strong our vision, we need to remain open to it developing and evolving. For Liverpool FC, this has meant that the new strategies have morphed over the past season, partly in response to the strengths (and weaknesses) of the players that Rodgers has at his disposal. They are not a team of superstars, but he utilizes them extremely well.

As we observe what works and what doesn’t in our context, we must remain open to adapting the vision to fit the context. For instance, in church leadership we need to be aware of the wider environment, so that we can help the church be positioned to reach new people in effective ways. This may mean laying down a program or idea that we really like, in order to try a different approach that is more honed to the context.

3.  Define Success

Part of Rodgers’ plan has been to define how he wants to be evaluated. “The aim is to win the most trophies we can. That’s the bigger picture. The second (aim) is to play attractive, attacking football to win games. The third is to bring through as many of the young players as we possibly can.”

As you look at the church you lead, some of metrics will be raw data (substitute weekend attendance for trophies won – often worryingly closely allied in some places!), while others will be more intangible.

When Rodgers speaks about playing attractive, attacking football, he is expressing something that is more reflective of a value than an absolute (attractiveness is, by definition, subjective). What are some of those more intangible values that you want to see expressed and lived out in the church community that you lead? (By the way, this works best with a few core values that you most adhere to – don’t write out a laundry list of every Christian value, since that won’t clarify anything for anyone.)

Wise church leaders will still measure attendance, baptisms and collections, but they ensure that their board holds them accountable for other metrics as well.

4.  Allow Time

Very wisely, Rodgers gave the owners a realistic timetable for change, which in turn meant they stuck with him during the first year. As he sought to transition the players to new tactics, there needed be room for them to make mistakes, learn and grow, without them fearing retribution for messing up on trying to do the ‘right’ thing.

As church leaders, we must not promise overnight transformation. It takes time to turn things around, so be realistic. When I first starting working with RiverTree Church, I told the leadership it would be 3 to 5 years before we saw significant fruit from the move to a more intentional disciple making culture. That created room for our teams to learn, experiment, synthesize and work out how to live this stuff out. Put another way: under-promise and over-deliver.

5.  Honor The History

In a club with plenty of history and past success, a new leader can see that as either a burden to run from or a resource to mine from. Wisely, Rodgers chose the latter. Some steps seem so simple – the color of the goal nets being restored to red – but they spoke volumes to those watching.

Leaders of churches need to identify the best elements of the history they inherit, and build upon them. After all, if Jesus has been at work in their past, it makes sense to imagine that He’d like to carry some of that good work into the church.

15 years ago Hannah and I found ourselves leading a church in a huge turn-around situation. As I called the battered community to a better future, one older member said to me in exasperation, “Please say what you like about us!”

I had been so focused on the new, and sorting out the mess we’d been handed, that I was failing to recognize and value the good that was already present – good that Jesus wanted to build upon further. This helped me enormously, as we went back to the pioneers who’d helped plant that congregation, and re-orientated the church back to her original calling to a specific geographical area, a call from which she had drifted. Not only was that a God thing, it also greatly pleased the longer-standing members of the church family. Win-win!

6.  Coaching Should Be Encouraging

Yes, there are times for confrontation and challenge (in England, when losing a game at half-time, this is known as teacup throwing!), but the best coaches invest far more into encouragement, strengthening and building up those under their care. Whenever Liverpool players have been interviewed over the past year or two, it is striking just how warmly they speak of Rodgers, in particular articulating that they have felt personally coached, cared for and challenged.

As leaders we are to create cultures where standards are high, but also where there is a fun, interesting and invitational leadership style. Those you directly lead and disciple will imitate that, and it will spread throughout the church.

We will be far more effective by calling out people’s strengths and gifts, investing in those areas, and encouraging them to flower into the fullest expression of who they can be. Focus on being a coach who encourages, encourages and encourages.

7.  Team Comes First

Under Rodger’s coaching, Liverpool’s Luis Suarez has emerged as one of the top 3 or 4 players in the world, and is by far and away the best player in the English league this season. He is utterly mesmirizing to watch, and is set to smash the league record for goals scored, while also being a thoroughly committed team player.

But last summer things were not so rosy. Having made a number of personal mis-steps, and disillusioned with the team’s lack of success, Suarez very publicly engineering for a move away from Liverpool, in spite of being on a long-term contract. Rodgers’ response was to play hardball: he was not going to sell his star player, but neither would he let him become a source of rebellion or opposition. He sent Suarez to train with the reserves, and demanded an apology for slighting the club.

To everyone’s amazement, Suarez humbly recognized his errors (allegedly his wife gave him a very firm talking to!) and since then has been the ultimate team man, on and off the field.

Here’s the lesson: every organization has “star players”, but the individual is never more important than the whole. The whole reason we have gifts is for the benefit of others, and we must never allow competency to trump character or chemistry. The team comes first!

8.  Stay Humble

Whenever Rodgers is interviewed about the progress of Liverpool FC, he responds with a gentle humility. “We are a work in progress” is his mantra, and he keeps reminding journalists that this is a long-distance journey for the club. These are not just words – he knows that the project is far from finished, and there is plenty of room to develop further.

As we see our churches flourish under our leadership, we need to keep humble. Pride and complacency are ship-wreckers, as they quickly squeeze out room for the Holy Spirit to do the unexpected. It is not about you – our role is honor God by enabling people to meet Jesus, learning how to hear His voice and obey Him in the everyday. As we do that person by person, house by house, street by street, school by school and workplace by workplace, so cumulatively we will see whole towns and cities transformed. But this requires a leadership philosophy that is humble and isn’t worried about who receives the credit.

The Final Whistle

The slogan of Liverpool FC is “You’ll Never Walk Alone” – those letters YNWA are inscribed everywhere! They point to an awareness that the club exists to serve and benefit their supporters and city, bringing entertainment and joy through sport.

And as much as I love supporting them, think how much more YNWA means when we are partnering with God to change lives for eternity. His is with you in this – and your leadership can be used to enfold so many others into a new type of community, where we will truly never walk alone.

 

 

Respond

Which of these leadership lessons do you most need to take and apply at this time?

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Posted on April 1, 2014 by alexabsalom

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