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Labyrinth News
'Effective communication - taking teams from good to great'
Issue 13
October 2008 In this issue
So what’s in this issue?
Regular readers of The Labyrinth News may remember back in March I told you about the trials and tribulations of the five-a-side team that I run, and how we had prevented further relegation and humiliation by putting some well known team development theory into practise. Well, 6 months on, and I am thrilled to tell you that Retro United have achieved the unexpected and actually won some silver-ware! Read on to find out what Liverpool, Arsenal, Man U and Sven-Goran Erikkson can learn from us. New Leadership Programmes
Read more about our ILM Endorsed awards. Recommended reading
Staying with the footy theme, this week I am recommending Sven's book on Leadership. Welcome
I would be exaggerating if I said my communication skills have always been a strength. But what I have learnt, both from my mistakes and observing some good managers/leaders, is that clarity is essential in what and when you communicate. Read on to discover how effective communication took Retro United from good to (almost) great! 
Gary Elton-Shewan
Co-founder, The Learning Labyrinth
Retro United - Revisited
After a rocky start (being relegated three seasons in a row and ending up in the bottom league), Retro United had finished mid-table for two seasons. We were starting to achieve some of our goals! By tightening up our defence, we had gone from conceding 30+ goals a season to less than 20 and were now scoring more goals than we were letting in. This improvement could be pinned down to our post-match team talks in the pub - honest conversations about individual/team strengths and shortcomings. We knew we couldn't change the fact that the average age of our team is 40+, hence ‘Retro United’. We also had to face the fact that we were now in the bottom league. However, we could focus on making the most of our strengths – experience, enthusiasm and commitment. Unfortunately, we started our 6th season back in May 2008 with a humiliating 5–2 defeat by a team that had finished below us in the previous two seasons. What was more frustrating was that we had only ever once conceded 5 goals in our previous 10 games. On the day of this defeat we had a few players turn up seconds before kick-off, missing the team talk and for the first time in a while we had some major disagreements during the game about substitutions, positioning and tactics. Moral was low and although it is supposed to be a bit of fun, no one likes to lose - it was time for change! The solution? Its all down to Team Briefings! The next day I got thinking about a recent project we had been involved in and how as a business we are passionate about the importance of communication. At The Learning Labyrinth, we have always believed that the essentials of daily communication to any team needs to be centred on the following three things: - Inform - to clarify goals
- Listen - to their views
- Motivate - to want to achieve goals
You can download our 'Tips for Essential Team Briefings' here.
So I decided to put this into practise with Retro United. - Inform - I sent a text message to the team to say that a) I wanted plenty of notice if they couldn't play and b) that we should meet 10 minutes before every game to discuss the opposition, tactics, communication and positions.
- Listen - at the team talk I encouraged everyone to give their thoughts on tactics and how we could focus on making the most of our strengths as a team.
- Motivate - I suggested a regular post-match drink (and debate) at The Hanover Pub. It was also agreed that we meet every month for a training session at one of the local parks.
The result? We started to get some consistency in the starting line-up and had a system for substitutions. I also gave the team some background prior to kick-off about the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses allowing us to agree best tactics and ensuring that we had 'aces in places'! We won our next game 8–2 and went 8 games undefeated (including another 8–1 win). For the first time we ended the season with a positive goal difference. That season we not only won the league, but in the final game we came back from losing 0-3 at half time to win 5–4. And I was in Edinburgh for the last game!!!! 
Retro United win their first ever silverware
Back row: Chris, Rob, Nigel, Paul, Jon
Front row: Niall, Gary, Graham Recommended Reading
You don't have to be a football fan to appreciate Sven-Goran Erikkson's perspective on leadership and management. How can we help?
At The Learning Labyrinth we are passionate about supporting people through their careers with leadership programmes, team events, behavioural profiling (for teams, individuals and recruitment) and coaching. ILM Endorsed Awards  In addition to being an ILM approved centre able to deliver ILM qualification programmes in management and leadership, we have also developed a series of shorter ILM Endorsed Awards:
These awards provide introductory knoweldge and skills in core areas and have already proved a big success with clients. We would be delighted to discuss these and more with you, so either give us a call on 01273 671488 or send an email to
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Everyone at The Learning Labyrinth
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