As much as I hate to admit it, Sir Alex Ferguson is indeed one of the greatest, if not "the" greatest football manager in the modern game. With his recent decision to retire, it somehow struck me that football does indeed offers us many management lessons which we can adopt in our organization:
1. A team full of star players would be useless unless they can function as a team. Look at Manchester City. With all the money which they have spent, one would have expected them to perform better. As such, it is important to get players (or workers) who wanted to play (or work) for the team (or organization).
2. In any organization, it is important to have players (or workers) of different skills and personalities. You certainly cannot have a team with strikers only. As such, it is important to place equal emphasis on workers of different skills, e.g. the manager (i.e. workers who is good at managing teams and getting things done who is like the hard working midfielder such as Roy Keane, Michael Carrick, etc. - not spectacular, but get things done) and the technician (i.e. workers who provides the spark in the organization or someone with in-depth technical knowledge who is like Robin Van Persie, Eric Cantona, etc.).
3. Every now and then, an imported player (or personnel from outside the organization) would be good for the team (or organization) if the imported player (or personnel) adds value to the team (or organization) and does not jeopardize the team's (or company's) harmony. Look at what Eric Cantona and Robin Van Persie contributes to Manchester United. Similarly, player who disrupts the team's harmony should be kicked out as soon as possible.
4. It is important to develop the right culture in any organization. With the right mentality, challenges can be overcome together rather than resort to negative in-fighting. One of the traits which makes Manchester United so successful is their belief, determination and never say die attitude. I don't think it is a coincidence that they can grind out results when they have an off-day or perform last minute heroics which are features of champions from the Liverpool team of the 80's to the Manchester United team of the 90's.
5. It is important to develop the organization to the extent that it is able to attract junior talents. This is the same for a company as well as for a football team. Manchester United would not be so successful if it did not manage to attract young talents such as Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, etc. and develop them into world class talent.
Finally, I also find it amazing that Sir Alex Ferguson is "only" a manager for 26 years. If we were to compare with other organization in the private sector, it would be considered a failure if someone is "only" a manager for 26 years and not promoted to Director or something like that. This struck me because I have encountered challenges where one of the reasons given by a colleague for leaving a company is because of not promoted to Director even though remuneration, working environment, etc. is not an issue. What he wanted is only the title and recognition. So, if we were to use football manager as an example, can we give job satisfaction irregardless of the title as long as the person feels he is in control and given due recognition of his role/contributions? The Directors should also be happy to be out of the limelight and let the manager handle the spotlights. Or maybe it is just because Directors are paid less in a football club compared to a Manager (I really don't know)?
Happy inspiring and looking forward to Brendan Rogers vs David Moyes.
