The danger of acceptance

I watched my football team play over the weekend. It wasn't pretty! They lost heavily and were perhaps fortunate that it wasn't even worse. They surrendered meekly, with no real fight or passion. There was a resigned look of acceptance on the faces of the players as they conceded goals. Actually that's a continuation of a recent trend as results have been poor and confidence amongst the players seems to have evaporated. Interestingly, there seems to have been an opposite reaction amongst supporters. With each passing defeat levels of frustration and anger grow and and that was certainly evident over the weekend as the unrest amongst fans grew with each tackle missed, run not made, pass misplaced and goal conceded. Losing has become a habit.

Strange as it might seem I don't think the results are the 'be all and end all' for supporters, we all seem to recognise that we're a small club battling against other clubs with far greater resources. But an attitude of belligerence, working hard and upsetting the odds, has created a togetherness with supporters and relative success for 'our' club. But right now it's gone, the players seem to have lost touch with the values on which previous success has been built and there's almost a tacit acceptance of defeat on the pitch. And so the mood in the stands worsens, and unfortunately I think the frustration amongst spectators is now being transmitted to the players and affecting their performances still further. There's a worrying downward spiral.

I think part of the problem on the pitch is a lack of leadership, there's no-one who refuses to accept what's happening, refuses to accept failure, demands more of others, demands change and drives improvement.

This isn't a football blog so I'll leave my frustrations there, but I think there are some reminders about business success or failure and lessons for leaders. :

• Success, failure or indeed mediocrity become a habit
• The performance of people involved in the task is affected by a lack of confidence amongst those on the periphery of it
• When teams forget what's made them successful in the past and operate in a different way, difficulties often follow
• One of the key roles of a leader is to refuse to accept the current situation and instead to constantly seek progress and improvement
• Leadership is even more important when things aren't going well - as the saying goes "when the going gets tough, the tough get going"

I just hope a leader emerges at my club!

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Twitter: @accordengage
Telephone: 0044 07906650019