Reflective blog post - Wayne Bennett's influence

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"The Newcastle Knights have not played off in a premiership decider in more than 10 years, their victory over the Melbourne Storm on Saturday have given the club a massive boost of confidence.  What role do you believe Wayne Bennet has played in turning the club around and what are two key factors that make a Coach a successful High Performance Manager?"

   
The role Wayne Bennett has played in the resurgence of the Newcastle Knights is obvious. Anything the man touches is gold. Forgetting about his first season with them which can be considered finding your feet with a new club, the man has taken a team which has had its ups and downs over the last few years to a barnstorming chance of a third grand final win.

No doubt a man the calibre of Wayne Bennett with his pedigree and experience played a profound role in the Knights ladder climb especially at the last leg of the season. The most premiership winning coach in NRL history has something that not a lot if any others have. That big game experience is essential. Experience in; tactics and molding the game he wants it to play, rallying players to produce last ditch efforts and simply being at the big stage more than anyone else instils a confidence in his players that he knows what he’s doing!

From stories that I have read and heard about Wayne Bennett, he has many traits needed to be both a successful coach and high performance manager. His ability to manage people and use his resources is incredible. This would have to be one key factor. He respects those around him who in turn respect him. This has people wanting to work with him, work for him. His ability to engage and successfully manage people is an essential trait for a successful coach and high performance manager.

Another key factor would have to be the ability to read a game or be confronted with a season schedule and successfully plan how you attack it. Long term and short term planning and the ability to adapt to ever changing circumstances is one of the most essential roles of both a coach and high performance manager. A quote from Gordon Tallis sums it up quite well,

“But what I know about Wayne is that at this time of year he does his best work because he not only backs himself but he trusts his players to watch his back too. 

The week leading into the game he doesn’t overload the players, the players will have no pressure on them.

He would tell the players their whole week in advance, plan everything exactly the way he is going to do it and tells the players: "If I do this or I do that, just pull me into check please." 

“If I over-coach tell me."” (Tallis, G 2013)

The week leading up to the Knights game against the Roosters would have been planned well in advance. Even before their win against the Storm Bennett would have had all of this planned out and that comes from experiences, from making mistakes and learning from your successes and failures. The ability to plan an entire season and adapt this plan as the season progresses is another key factor of a successful coach and high performance manager and one that Wayne Bennett has used very astutely throughout his coaching career.

References

1.    Tallis, G 2013, Knights win, Wayne Bennett will go down as the best coach of any code: Gordon Tallis, Daily Telegraph, 25 September, viewed 26 September 2013, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/knights-win-wayne-bennett-will-go-down-as-the-best-coach-of-any-code-gorden-tallis/story-fni3fh9n-1226726449814

Week 2 - Summary of the important aspects of the role of a performance director

·         They are essentially the CEO of the high performance side of sports

·         It is a very high profile position

·         They need to be able to develop and foster a high performing and challenging environment within their sport

o   Doing this requires excellent planning skills and the ability to develop in depth strategic plans for high performance programs and athletes

·         They need to be ruthless! – this position requires tough decisions to be made on many different aspects within the sport and structure and the performance director needs to be steadfast in doing what’s best for the sport and the programs

·         Thus, their ability to lead and be a leader is paramount

o   This also entails being able to surround themselves with and select the right people who they will be leading

o   These key staff members and managers tend to be difficult, but highly valuable to the; sport, director and team

o   They need to be able to develop solidarity with those who are answering to them the create a cohesive environment to make things work

·         More commonly the position of national performance director entails managing a team of high performance managers who in turn manage and are responsible for different high performance areas; i.e.

o   Science and medicine

o   Coaching

o   Athlete development and talent identification etc

·         The national performance director will generally report upwards to the sports executive director and the board of the sport

o   In some countries the overarching funding body of the sports play a major role in the selection and management of the sport and of the national performance director too

·         Important requirements of the high performance director include;

o   establishing the vision, mission and culture of the organisation

o   strategic planning

o   effective management and governance of the sport

o   development and implementation of the national programs and establishing KPI’s

o   performance monitoring

§  Both of staff and athlete (how are the programs going?)

o   liaising with and management of partnerships and stakeholders

§  government, media, international and national regulators of the sport etc

o   the professional development of the staff they oversee

o   competition and training camp programming

o   and the management of facilities and resources

·         The high performance director needs to possess excellent personnel management skills

o   they need the ability to recruit highly skilled, high performing staff who are committed to the sport and the organisation – it is essential

§  with this they need to be able to recognise the “soft skills” of the person they are interviewing for a particular position

·         soft skills = interpersonal skills – these are critical in staff selection

o   being able to attract the best athletes and staff to your organisation is key, but then also being able to encourage and develop them

o   ensuring group dynamics and cohesion is essential, along with the ability of dispute resolution

o   ensuring staff don’t burn out is also critical to making sure the sport and programs run optimally as well as looking out for the welfare of the staff you manage 

·         the high performance management role is very labour intensive

o   tend to work a lot of extra days (overtime) and take very few days time off in lieu

o   very few days are spent supporting the athletes at training camps and competitions

o   they need to also keep track of how long/often/much their staff are working

§  due to potential legal issues and to prevent burnout

·         LTAD pathway

o   National performance director is primarily focussed on the podium level athletes

o   But, they also will oversee and have responsibility for a talent development pathway and to also ensure there is a program in place for it

o   Utilisation of the long term athlete development model

·         Athlete development team

o   Key staff in high performance senior management group which leads the performance strategy of the sport

o   Their operational responsibilities include;

§  Athlete selection – termination, conditional reprieve, based on criteria matrix

§  Agreeing on the athletes personal development plan

§  Monitoring and implementation of the athletes professional development plan which will be based on

·         Case conferencing of athletes

·         Coaches reports of athletes progress and potential for further development

o   Objectives of the ADT include;

§  Bringing together key support staff to share expertise and support athletes in their pursuits of performance and medals

§  Ensure excellent communication between the members of the team so everyone is aware of each other’s activities

·         Provides clarity and transparency concerning what each team member is saying/doing with each athlete. This ensures

o   Best practice

o   Team unity

o   Openness in working practices

o   Not sending mixed messages

o   No unsanctioned actions or opinions

o   And that responsibility s appropriately delegated

·         Allows athletes to voice concerns/ requests

o   The members of the ADT are decided by the performance director and will be formed by key professionals in the following roles;

§  Performance director

§  Head coach

§  Sport doctor

§  Team manager

§  Science staff

§  Performance directors admin

§  Any other professionals might attend meeting when additional expertise is needed; e.g. sports scientists, strength and conditioning coaches etc

§  Strict confidentiality MUST be observed by those in these groups/gatherings

§  Athletes can attend for the duration of the meeting concerning their own development, they may also request a mentor attend as well

·         Competition planning

o   Performance directors have to maintain an strategic overview of major competitions for their sports

o   A primary KPI that must be met is all the medals targeted as being a possibility of winning must be won

o   Performance directors need to work closely with sporting organisations and associations to ensure athletes, coaches and support staff have the best possible

§  Travel plans

§  Acclimatisation strategies

§  Training facilities, medical support

§  Accommodation

These dot points are just a brief summary of some of the aspects faced by a person in the role of a high performance sports director/national performance director. The level of commitment and planning required for the position is phenomenal and respect must be shown to those people who successfully occupy these positions. I was not previously aware how deep and multifaceted this position actually was and these weeks lectures have engrained on me the level of sophistication, specialisation and professionalism required to perform a job of this calibre.

Having enrolled in this unit and been shown some of the greater depths of the sporting industry, it makes me very excited to see where my career can potentially head in my current sport.
 

Reflective blog post - Ricky's Raiders: What needs to happen to turn it all around?

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“Stuart has walked away from his contrat with Paramatta Eels to coach the Canberra Raiders. What type of high performance structure would you recommend to him to improve onfield results and cuture within the club”.

   
Ricky Stuart should adopt a similar culture to the one imposed by Jake White when he came to the Brumbies. A no ‘rock star’ policy. It has to happen if he wants improved on field performances and a better culture within the squad.

Jake White came in and completely turned the club around in terms of on field performance and a big part at the heart of the success and changes was this mentality of no one is a superstar. Whether it was intended or not, this policy has paid dividends. Cellar dwellers in 2011, falling at the last hurdle for a finals spot in 2012, and just missing out on the title but bringing a team of relative nobodies to the Super Rugby grand final in 2013.

From all reports I have heard and from personal experiences having been in very close proximity to Brumbies training sessions, Jake employs a very authoritarian style of coaching which is done in such a way that he dictates what he wants done, explains why and how it falls into his planning and how those being informed are essential to the plan and its success. This way of coaching appears to have been employed in all the different facets of the high performance structure at the Brumbies and it has brought about great success, both in Super 15 which directly increased the amount of Brumbies who now line up to play for the Wallabies.

Ricky Stuart needs to take a page from his cross code rival and be more authoritarian with his group. Lay down the law and his expectations to his players and staff and not put up with those who will be a detriment to the team, a path which lead to his predecessor Furner’s axing from the job. Hard work, strong work ethic and the hunger to prove they are better than what they were branded launched the Brumbies into the upper echelons of Super Rugby over the past two seasons, proving that turn arounds can come quickly.

Ricky needs to reach out to Jake White and learn a few tricks from a man who is arguably one of the best in the business, and develop a similar high performance structure to the one employed at the Brumbies. Once that is put into place he needs to make sure that the players the club is spending precious resources on want to be there and be a part of a team, no more rock stars or media whoring show ponies. Instill an attitude of playing for the love of it and for the man beside you, the success rate will improve with this change in culture.