Jose Mourinho as the anti-lean agile leader?
JM is not a happy man
Imagine the scene…
the terraces erupt to chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning, sacked in the morning”. The 65th minute. Manchester United are at home. Playing against a Derby County team that despite having an A-list manager and a number of highly regarded young loanees currently sit 6th in the Championship (and only a few weeks ago were beaten 4-1 by Leeds United at home). The score was 1-1 at the time following the type of free kick not seen at Old Trafford since the departure of a certain CR7 many years previously. Another Derby goal was scored and despite a late equaliser the home side are knocked out on penalties.
You don’t have to imagine though. This happened - and if you didn’t watch it just a quick look at the sports pages this morning shows the inquest has begun with headlines such as “Jose Mourinho at war with his players”, “Mourinho reveals details of failed half-time team talk” and “In the power battle between Paul Pogba and Jose Mourinho Man Utd will soon be forced to choose a side”
So I suppose the question is – what has happened to a previously impervious manager? And could his approach to leadership be to blame?
Largely I think it is down to a change of culture within football clubs. In the not so recent past, players were happy for managers to be strict disciplinarians. However, more recently – and you could almost trace this back to the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson players have expected a different type of manager. Some of this is no doubt down to increased player and agent power, but I can’t help thinking it is perhaps a part of a wider trend in the workplace tied to younger people and their attitudes.
So lets have a think about José’s management style. It would be easy to assess him as an “Expert” leader. However I don’t think this is the best fit as his background is not typical for a football manager. Managers tend to have all been players (I know there are exceptions to this such as Sarri at Chelsea – former banker, Mourinho is also one of those coming from a background as a translator). By my thinking he falls more into the “Conductor” model, the central decision maker and nerve centre of the football club.
More specifically we should focus on the challenges this can present:
Tendency to narrow the focus - if we remember the famous (and quite bizarre) “He had a good performance but it was his body with my brain, because he was in front of me and I was making every decision for him.” comments about Luke Shaw made after a draw against Everton.
Conflicts tend to push upwards looking for “the boss” to fix – think about his disappointment and comments about Woodward for seemingly not backing him in the transfer market this summer when in pursuit of a new centre back (to a point understandable he didn’t get his wish given the fact he spent a combined £60m on Lindelof and Bailly).
Use of systems and procedures to control work. This is possibly the most interesting point to me, however the one I have the most limited understanding of given I am not a football coach. But it is clear that the players at Manchester United do not seem to be given the same freedom as they appear to be at Liverpool or Manchester City – to state just two examples.
Works harder and harder, without realising full potential. No one is denying he has an incredible capacity for hard work and attention to detail. But I think this is taking a toll on him both professionally and privately. It is jarring to compare the grizzled, grey haired JM we see today to the slick, tanned confident manager who arrived on these shores in June 2004 declaring himself “the special one”.
I am sure we can recognise some of those characteristics either within ourselves or colleagues or line managers we are either working with or have worked with in the past.
So what would a “new model” football manager look like in terms of leadership. Thankfully we don’t have to look far in this instance, just a quick glance from Old Trafford to East Manchester – and the Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola would seem the most interesting comparison. It is clear to see from his past at Barcelona and Bayern that Pep is well set up to creating teams jointly responsible for their successes. I think a huge part of this is the fact he views management as developing his teams abilities – just think of all the players he has improved, not always the obvious ones such as Aguero, Sterling and Otamendi– consider the season Delph had last year while playing out of position – in this case it is easy to imagine Pep asking himself “how can the problem (Mendys injury), be solved in a way that further develops my teams commitment and capabilities?”.
So onto the benefits this evidently can help to create, again in my best view these are:
There is a really powerful talk that’s featured in the “All or Nothing” documentary where he tells his players "Of course I'm going to defend you until the last day of our lives in the press conferences, but here I am going to tell you the truth. Today I didn't see the desire to win, today I didn't see it. Some of you play better when you're angry with me so if you hate me, hate me, guys, no problem at all." I think it is through this type of “servant leadership” you can see that he is able to increase the ownership and responsibility of his team.
Sergio Aguero has recently not only signed a new contract but scored his 205th goal for Manchester City. With this in mind it is easy to forget that after the signing of Gabriel Jesus and a demand for more from his manager from him there were rumours he may look to find another team to play for. Instead he stayed, fought for his place and took on his managers advice. It is my opinion that the lean leadership exhibited by Guardiola certainly has increased engagement and motivation within his team.
No limit to the power of getting things done. This more or less speaks for itself: Most points (100); Most wins (32); Most goals (106); highest goal difference (+79); largest winning margin (19 points); and longest winning run (18 games). This really is in my mind testament to Peps lean leadership.
Now I am not suggesting that either mimicking what is happening at the Etihad or some coaching in lean-agile leadership is the answer in this case (although if anyone has a contact for Jose I would be more than happy to talk to him).
In conclusion what does all this tell us? That leadership is a task rather than an identity? Perhaps. That there is a myth around what a good leader may look like? Certainly. That leadership is something that is evolving over time and we should not rest on our laurels? Absolutely. Perhaps this best demonstrates a responsibility “trap” many of us can fall into where as a leader it is easy to feel over-responsible – however the knock on effect is that direct reports can feel a lower sense of responsibility and commitment – potentially producing narrow and self interested direct reports (not mentioning any names Paul Pogba!).
Maybe this has gotten you to think of a specific example from within your organisation? Question your own approach to leadership? Consider any benefits that may be found in an environment of learning, growth and mutual influence? If this has sparked a question in your mind, or any other comments please leave them below, I’d love to find out more about what you think.