A friend of mine, a smart bloke, has coached local soccer teams for ages, and seems to be able to take a bunch of ordinary 15 year olds, and mould them into a winning team.
He has done it time and time again.
The formula he uses is as deceptively simple, as it is unusual. He simply motivates the youngsters to do their best, to be able to look in the mirror in the change rooms, and know that they played their best, individually and as a team. The result is almost irrelevant, no more than a means of keeping track of their progress.
He tells the kids they should not worry about the things over which they have little control, just worry about the things they can control, their own performance, and he encourages, cajoles, and drives for each individual to do their best. He focuses on improving the individual skills and teamwork the processes that lead to winning, rather than just on winning.
It may be a local soccer club, but the parallels to business, and life, are strong. Improving the processes will lead to better performance, and ultimately to winning.
Being better is the objective, winning is just the outcome.
