Old School Leadership can deliver performance, but at what cost?

I used to play a decent level of rugby, and Lord knows I’ve been shouted at and abused by coaches over the years. Rugby is an intensely physical, gladiatorial sport, and winning is usually based on winning the ‘collisions’, so it’s not surprising that the old-school way was seriously hard-ass, almost military boot camp-style man management. If you couldn’t handle it, you didn’t play.

Nowadays, whilst I’m sure there are plenty of nasty, gnarled coaches out there ruling with an iron fist, it’s fair to say that no rugby player – at whatever level – is willing to be treated that badly. Thankfully, we live in an age where self-respect has overcome the ruthlessly results-driven culture of the past.

As we get ready for another exciting six nations weekend, I’ve been reading about the French head coach - Fabien Galthie – and his coaching style. Johnnie Beattie, the Scottish lock who played under Galthie at Montpellier, had this to say.

"He's the best technical coach I worked with. He was absolutely fantastic, ahead of the curve, but he struggled with player management. He struggled with being a decent human you want to buy into and work for. People bought into the fantastic rugby we played, not the culture or environment he would provide.”

The bottom line is that if performance comes at a human cost – people coming to work with a knot of fear in their stomach, or being regularly reduced to tears by brutal leaders – then it simply isn’t worth it. We’ve all been in those environments where ‘performance’ speaks louder than anything else, and I hope many of us have seen that there are other ways.

Be kind. Have empathy. Inspire. Encourage. Empower. Performance can emerge from happiness, and usually does