BBC Radio – How to Build Effective Teams

Corinne Mills joins Lorna Bailey live on BBC CWR Breakfast to discuss The Sky Blues, Coventry’s football team, returning to the Premier League. Listen again or read the transcript below:

Lorna: Frank Lampard is building a team. Sky Blue’s transfer window continues to gather momentum. Three new contracts signed with Frank Konyeka completing that move that we had part of the loan deal. Aralemenda, the defender, and Lune Chalmer, winger, all joining the club on a permanent deal in the last few weeks, with even more expected through the door and some more than likely on their way out as well.

How does Frank Lampard and co keep that winning feeling and positive momentum as they go into a landmark season for the club? Well, team building expert and the Managing Director of Personal Career Management, Corinne Mills, is with me now to offer a bit of insight into how that can be achieved.

Corinne: What an exciting time it is going to be in Coventry with the football going forward.

Lorna: There is a skill to playing football, especially at Premier League, but there is also a skill in getting a team to bond, to connect, to function together, to flow with one another. How do you do it? Where do you start?

Corinne: Well, I think you start by getting the right people in the first place. What skills do you need? What’s the talent that you need? But it’s also about looking at the context and the culture. What are they coming into? How are you going to help people be at their best and work well with each other? So there’s a collaborative piece that’s important as part of this rather than just having single superstars. They’ve really got to bond together.

Lorna: Yeah, because we’ve all seen teams over the years and football teams are particularly high profile, but also rugby teams and ice hockey teams – teams where they work well, otherwise where it doesn’t quite click. Is that down to the individuals? Is it down to the leader? Is it down to the culture of the team? What is the what is the thing, the secret recipe to get it right?

Corinne: Well, it’s all of those things, actually. So sometimes you can have a really fantastic individual who can make a contribution, but they do need to be managed, right? There needs to be boundaries. People need to know how to deal with them. There’s a kind of etiquette and a kind of way of doing things that shows respect, shows that people are valued, that enables people to be at their best. You don’t want is resentment building. I think we have all worked with difficult people before at work. We know how disruptive an individual can be in the workplace. And if that’s happening, it’s really down to the management to have a word with them and kind of set the tone and set the feel and the vibe of the place. So it’s not always just about the individual. The management has a huge responsibility for setting the conditions for people to be at their best. 

Lorna: I’m wondering about the shift of mentality that might be needed. The best way I can describe this in non-footballing terms, because it’s the start of the school holidays. You’ve got a lot of year six who have just finished year six. They’re top of the school. They’re the big dogs. They are the ones that are the biggest in the school etc and now they’re going up to secondary school in year seven. Then all of a sudden, there is a huge shock, where they’re the little kids again. It’s a massive change and a massive mentality switch for all of those year sixes that are going up. And I feel like Coventry is a bit like that. They’ve just been winning the championship. They’ve been top of the shop. They’re the big dogs in the championship. And now they’re going into the Premier League, where they’ve got to get used to not being that! They may not win – they probably won’t win every single week. How do you manage an adjustment like that when there is a major change for a team? 

Corinne: It’s a lovely analogy with the year six kids or, maybe it’s a business that’s been kind of in the small league and it’s going international needs to scale up. I think what you have to remember is the things that really worked for you in the past are probably still going to work going forward. You’ve got to remember who you are. You’ve got to remember that self-belief. You’ve got to remember your communication skills with people, or the tactics that you use. A lot of those are still going to work, but there are going to be adjustments that are needed. Sometimes it’s about that adaptability. It’s about looking at who is doing well? Who seems to have got it sorted? And what are they doing? Looking for some role modelling, taking and experimenting with some of those ideas as you’re evolving. That’s kind of what makes life interesting, doesn’t it really? It’s like nothing stays still all the time. You’re constantly growing and evolving and Coventry City will do the same. They’ve got this fantastic opportunity to raise the game, to learn and operate at a different level. It will be challenging but what a fantastic growth and learning opportunity that is going to be. Celebrate your successes, bank them, learn from the things that go wrong. Their resilience that they’ve showed in the past, that’s going to work well for them too. 

Lorna: There are a lot of players who will be squad players. They won’t necessarily get on the pitch. So also bringing those people who are key to what’s happening on the pitch, but aren’t on there themselves. Making sure everybody feels part of it, whether or not they are out there with the spotlight on them. 

Corinne: Absolutely right, and it’s the same in organisations, isn’t it? Not everyone can be a leader, but actually the leader can operate without all of the other individuals, the support players and the whole team to make that happen. So it is absolutely about everyone understanding what the vision is. What are we trying to do here? And what is your part that you play? What’s the contribution that you can make? And that might not be on the field all the time. Maybe your function is support, to be clear that you are a part of that, and this is how you can contribute and make the overall success of the team work.

Lorna: Thank you. What do you bring to a team? 

Corinne: I think as a Career Coach, I’m really good at helping people play to their strengths,  but also when things get tricky, navigate their way through the challenges.

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