The Development team have recently gone on a run of six games unbeaten and it is no coincidence that similar individuals have similar tasks in the team, allowing for more consistency. However, there have still been changes with players moving in and out of first team squads and the absences I talked about in my previous article. This week, we face our toughest challenge of the season as we host league favourites Louth Town. For regular readers, you will remember me talking about winning and what that looks like in development football. Reminding ourselves and the players of that has been important however it is not as easy as “we’ve produced X number of players for the first team this year.” It is far more complex as we try to ensure that we have a competitive environment that good people want to be a part of.
The Action Centred Leadership™ (John Adair, 1973) approach is a model that I heard about at work and have been using for some time now. ACL, or the "Three Circles Model" highlights the core actions that you must take to lead your team effectively, rather than the leadership style that you choose. These actions are grouped into three areas: Individual, Task and Team. Adair’s model was about trying to balance them. It has often helped the management team to decide actions during conflicted moments. A recent example of this is in last week’s victory over Immingham. Here we found ourselves debating a half time substitute. To simplify the model, here are the questions we worked through:
1. What was best for the individual?
2. How successful was he being with his task of competing 1v1 with that opponent?
3. What impact was there on the whole team if we did/didn’t make the change?
Factors that helped us get to an answer included a yellow card, a player returning from a holiday, the experience of the substitute coming on and the fitness level of the one we left out. We came to the conclusion that it was not in the best interests of the individual to leave him on the pitch. We were not confident that he could perform his particular task without a negative impact on the team. We worried that the young man might get a second yellow card. I was being mindful of his enjoyment, and I attempted to protect him. He had received enough exposure to the task in the 45 minutes of the first half to enable him to learn and leaving him on any longer was unnecessary when other options were available. Was he at his capacity for learning? Probably not but I was keen to balance his individual needs with that of the substitute that came on. This player had a point to prove and showed elevated levels of motivation to do that. His presence had an impact on others around him too. The team ‘circle’ had become more of a priority, perhaps that was influenced by the 0-1 score at the time.
The task of competing with Louth is not an easy one. It will require every individual to perform to their very best and we must do our bit to enable that. We will again juggle our management between what is best for the individuals, what successes are they likely to have in the tasks that we require and what will be the impact of the plan on the whole team? We will limit any change in our focus to the short term and will return to a more balanced focus as soon as we can. Ultimately, the performance will be the measure of our success. Can we get them to be the best version on the day?
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