Ben my son has progressed through the round robin stages of the RWC and has now been favoured with refereeing the quarter final, South Africa v France. And it made me think,
What do top Rugby Referees and top Business Leaders do Differently from the rest of us?
When it comes to leadership, uncertainty is a permanent part of the process. Furthermore it isn’t an indication of poor leadership, it just underscores the need for it; it is the environment in which good leadership is most often discovered. Since you’ll be constantly called to make decisions with limited info, your goal should not be to eliminate it, but develop the ability to be courageous and clear in spite of it.
Firstly – They look at improving themselves by that 1% extra. They know that small improvements lead to large gains over time. Organisations, and referee assessors want people (and referees) with the best ideas to be in leadership; consequently, promotions generally go to the self-starters – men and women who exhibit initiative and growth.
Effective leadership is about lifting people. To lift people you need to get close to them and have these 3 characteristics..
- Credibility – comes from paying the price to achieve personal success.
- Respect – You must acknowledge that you didn’t get to the top by yourself. (Ed Hillary needed a team to help him conquer Everest)
- Fulfilment – You must take others to the top with you. We are labourers together. (Ben tells me that all the referees at the RWC, work together to ensure whoever has the game, the others ensure he has the best tools, mental strength and touch judges to have a great game.
They believe in President Harry Truman’s quote. “It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you do not care who gets the credit.”
Leadership is always characterised by four benchmarks:
- Calling. When people are around an anointed leader or great referee, they sense a truly gifted person to fulfil a certain purpose.
- Character. People see in the persons nature, an anointed leader, and as a result they trust them.
- Competence. An anointed leader (and referee) has the ability to get the job done right. The results validate his or her calling. Referees get 99% of their initial calls (gut feeling right) and are validated by the TMO.
- Conviction. Anointed leaders aren’t wishy-washy; they have moral and spiritual backbone and they stand up for what’s right. This is especially so for any referee in any sport.
The keys to success are priorities and concentration. A well-known pastor and business leader offers the following guidelines: 
- Focus 70 per cent of your energy on developing your strengths. Effective leaders who reach their potential spend more time on what they do well than on what they do badly.
- Focus 25 per cent on new things. If you want to get better you have to keep changing and improving. That means stepping out into new areas. If you dedicate time to new things related to your strong areas, you’ll grow as a leader.
- Focus five per cent on areas of weakness. Nobody can entirely avoid working in their areas of weakness. (Note: we’re not talking here about sin or character weaknesses that must be dealt with.) The key is to delegate to gifted people the things that you’re not particularly good at. That way you’re free to concentrate in the areas of your God-given strengths.
People are naturally attracted to leaders who convey poise and self-assurance; they won’t follow one who lacks self-confidence.
An excellent illustration of this is an incident that took place in Russia during an attempted coup. Army tanks encircled the government building that held President Boris Yeltsin and his pro-democracy supporters. As the army moved into position, Yeltsin strode from the building, climbed up on a tank, stared the commander in the eye, and thanked him for turning to the side of democracy.
Later the commander admitted that although he hadn’t intended to go over to Yeltsin’s side, the Russian leader appeared so confident that the soldiers decided to join him.
Great Leaders exhibit confidence regardless of circumstances. Referees exhibit this confidence in the cauldron of a test match atmosphere.
If this resonates with you and you’d like to be an even better Leader, (or Rugby Referee) and maybe with a High Performing Team, then let’s have a conversation.
pete@peakbusinesscoaching.co.uk
or check out my website
