Morning! Hope you had a good weekend. Today we draw inspiration from Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO. Under his leadership, @Microsoft is now considered the best managed company in the world in Drucker Institute’s 2020 Management Top 250 ranking.
Profile: Leadership Lessons From Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool FC's Beloved Coach
Key Takeaways from the Management Style of Jürgen Klopp
Image via Liverpool FC
Widely regarded as one of the best managers in the world, Jürgen Norbert Klopp is a German professional football manager and former player who is the present manager of the Premier League club Liverpool in Liverpool, England.
In 2015, when 48-year-old Jürgen Klopp accepted the role of Manager for Liverpool Football Club, one of the most well known professional football clubs in England that competes in the top tier of English football (soccer in the United States), he immediately distanced himself from the prior macho rhetoric of other managers of his generation. Instead of emphasizing his own unique prowess like José Mourinho said in his now famous 'The Special One' statement in 2004, Jürgen said, “I’m the normal one.” Over the course of the next five years, Jürgen has transformed this team into a consistent, high performing team. Former coaches are astounded by his results. There are many lessons that you can learn from Jürgen’s management stye and approach to team building and performance.
There was a lot of pressure and attention placed on Jürgen immediately upon his arrival at Anfield. He emphasized that he was an ordinary guy from humble means but that he was determined to do a great job and how important playing “emotional football” was and that he wanted to restore that at Anfield.
“When I left Dortmund, my last sentence was it is not so important what people think when you come in, it is more important what they think when you leave. Please give us time to work on it. If you want, this could be a really special day.”
Image via Liverpool FC
Lesson 1: Recognizing We’re Emotional Beings First
Jürgen recognizes how his athletes are emotional beings first and players subsequently. He knows this first hand as former player himself. He connects with players emotionally by being himself and encouraging them to be so. This gives his players a sense of security and also a place to call home. It is both a sense of safety as much as it is a sense of being wanted and belonging. This feeling of family enables players to connect with each other and overcomes individual competition, as the players focus on working together to win together. It’s also an acceptance of different personalities, strengths and weaknesses. By creating an environment where the players feel comfortable being themselves and are accepted, Jürgen has created an environment of trust. This in turn, has unleashed high performance and positive energy from his team consistently. Trust is key to high performance.
“Jürgen creates a family. We always say 30 percent tactics, 70 percent team-building.”
What does it mean to have an environment of trust? When you have trust in an organization, people feel at ease being themselves, sharing their vulnerabilities, discussing their values and concerns, and sharing their strengths and weaknesses. Acceptance enables vulnerability, which in turn, builds deep trust. A team with trust is unstoppable.
Image via Liverpool FC
Lesson 2: Set Clear Expectations
Counterbalancing the emotional “heart,” Jürgen also has set a clear process and expectations for each player through the tactical side of playing the game applied through both “mind” and “body,” using his now famous system of Gegenpressing, where the team, after losing possession, immediately attempts to win back possession, rather than falling back to regroup. Jürgen has helped each individual player in the team perform at his best by recognizing and harnessing that player’s specific strengths and setting clear expectations for that player in different situations. Jürgen sets clear goals with his team so they are crystal clear about what they are pursuing and what they need to do to achieve these goals.
Image via Liverpool FC
Lesson 3: Maintain Positivity
Success comes with setbacks. Jürgen recognizes this. He does not blame any individual when things do not work out as hoped for or intended. He takes the pressure away and helps the players focus on becoming better for the next game. Jürgen understands well that people always do better when they are in a positive mental and emotional state and also do not feel attacked, blamed, guilty, judged or ashamed. By avoiding such negative behavior common in high performance sports and business that typically antagonizes players and lowers morale, Jürgen has prevented problems from festering and freed up players to jump right back into playing. This release of positive energy and full acceptance of players has been tremendous for morale.
Image via Liverpool FC
Lesson 4: Consistency and Control
To perform well again and again takes practice, control, focus and discipline. Jürgen has put consistency as a top priority for the team. Adding the goalkeeper Alisson and defensive player Virgil Van Dijk have helped take Liverpool FC into one win after the next this season. Part of Jürgen’s consistent approach is emphasizing the team over the individual and choosing players who will play well together and eagerly embrace their roles as part of a cohesive, caring and committed team. Having built a strong environment of trust and acceptance, Jürgen’s players are eager to collaborate together. Using a collaborative player evaluation framework adopted from the US, Jürgen has brought in players like Andy Robertson who are now performing brilliantly and helping Liverpool FC win again and again.
Image via Liverpool FC
Lesson 5: Tell the Story
Jürgen understands intuitively how important story is to both the players and their fans. He connected the team’s present victories to the club’s former legends, Steven Gerrard and Sir Kenny Dalglish. This past summer, in an interview on Sky TV, Jürgen said to Kenny, “It was built on your soul Kenny and on the legs of Stevie,” with incredible humility and emotion.
When Jürgen signed on as manager in 2015, he shared his goal of winning a trophy within four years and helping the football team to advance to the next level.
Photo by Christopher Thomond for The Guardian
“I am a football romantic. I love the stories, the histories. It was my first time at Anfield and I thought about how it would be. I am a really lucky guy. I am looking forward to the first training with the players. I am relaxed. I had four months’ holiday and am in my best shape.
It is the intensity of the football, of how the people live football in Liverpool, all the Liverpool fans around the world. It is not a normal club, it is a special club. I had two very special clubs with Mainz and Dortmund. It is the perfect next step for me to be here and try and help.”
In a fascinating interview with Western Union, Jürgen lays out the five essentials of his leadership style — confidence, simplicity, energy, relationships and leading by example.
With just five years under his belt at Liverpool, Jürgen has led his team to consistent win after win over an entire season that few football teams have ever done before in England. Despite such tremendous success, when it comes to Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool FC, you are left with this strong positive feeling that the best is yet to come.
Talent Management: 9 Ways To Bring in Top Talent Through Excellent Experiences For Applicants
Having great talent working cohesively and productively at your company, big or small, is essential to growing your business, being profitable and making an impact. The people you hire can have a tremendous impact upon your business right from day one.
Depending upon your specific industry, top tier talent can be quite competitive to recruit and retain. Today almost every profession requires specific technical expertise.
An excellent experience during an interview can dramatically affect the decisions any candidate makes about working for your company. When you offer an excellent experience to viable candidates during interviews, you can create a lasting positive effect that compels a top tier candidate to accept your offer.
Here are some steps you can take to ensure this:
1. Provide training for your whole staff
Everyone in your company must be aware of the importance of interviews and creating a positive experience for new candidates. There are many impressions that a candidate will have about your company, from interactions starting with applications or outreach to final offers as well as personal interactions with receptionists, employees and hiring managers.
You can provide training to your team so that you are united in providing a consistent positive experience for your new candidates. This includes personalizing communications with individual candidates and ensuring that everyone conducting interviews is prepared, arrives on time and conducts interviews professionally and courteously.
Also pay attention to any feedback from candidates. For example, if a candidate has difficulty locating your office, make sure you provide clear directions before the next interview that you conduct. Even if you do not end up hiring your potential candidates, aim to create a positive experience that they would want to work for you if they could.
2. Have an organized process internally
In addition to human resources software you may use (link to BEPMS), you will also want to organize your own process for hiring. This means that you have clear goals for hiring and a team in place to help you with this. Even if you have a small startup with under 10 employees, you will still want to have a process in place so that you know how to respond to applicants.
3. Hold your hiring managers accountable
Hiring is very important for your company but a lot of the hard work in sourcing and hiring as well as real decision-making happens with your hiring managers. When you hold your hiring managers accountable and you place trust in them to help you find the right talent for your company, they are more inclined to do their jobs effectively with consideration. Motivating your hiring managers is also important. You can do this by telling them the positive impact of having a great candidate with real data and give them real-life examples of success.
4. Plan for enough time
Your hiring managers need time to review resumes, take notes and source candidates. The people you have designated to interview your candidates, must also have at least 30 minutes to meet with them individually.
5. Communicate frequently with your candidates
Communicate in a personalized way with your top level candidates. Insufficient communication is one of the primary reasons candidates can withdraw applications or move on to other companies. You can avoid this confusion and frustration by offering a clear process to your candidates and following through on it. Follow up does not have to be tedious - just a phone call or short email can be enough.
It is important that you do this with candidates also that you are not considering and follow up to explain that he or she has not been hired. Communicating in a timely manner is essential to create a good experience.
6. Provide an exceptional closing
When you have decided to hire a candidate, be sure to congratulate the individual, thank him or her for applying and personalize the job offer. Explain why this job and company are a great fit. You can invite the candidate to meet with your team in a relaxed setting (dinner or other) where the candidate can enjoy a social event without pressure.
Follow up with the right talent in a few days if you do not hear back instantly. Your top talent will be enthused to see how eager you are to have them.
7. Learn from your mistakes
Pay attention to any problems during the sourcing, interviewing and hiring process. What feedback did you receive from candidates and employees? How can you improve the hiring process?
8. Provide a positive on-boarding experience
Once you have decided to hire and your candidate has accepted your offer, be sure to provide a positive on-boarding experience that maintains a high level of enthusiasm and optimism. This will drive participation and motivate your new talent to prove themselves at your company.
9. Have an employee retention plan
When you have hired great talent and you are seeing positive results, you will want to also have a plan in place to retain them. Employee retention is critical. Retaining top talent is also a priority at most companies as turnover rates can be high and finding the right candidates also time-consuming, difficult and expensive. Employees want to stay and work for a company that offers them opportunities to grow, professionally and in their own lives.