In your view, what are the key elements of Ferguson’s Formula for managing his team?
In my opinion, Sir Alex Ferguson deserves his title as one of the greatest coach of all time. He revealed this through is successful management style that evoke effectiveness in his team. One of the key elements in the Ferguson’s Formula in managing his team is the never-ending involvement of research and innovation.
In his approach, he knows the important of starting early and building strong foundations. He invested in teaching kids as young as nine the basics of football and from their honed talents. Because of this approach he is able to maintain the standard of his team. Some may look at this approach as risky, but he willingly took the risk of investing in children. When he built the foundation of his team, he not only built a team, but he was able to build both a brand and an identity. As seen in his approaches, Ferguson is also willing to rebuild, he is not afraid to do talent development because he believed in the importance of succession planning.
In addition to this, Ferguson also took time in profiling players. From the results of his data analysis, he is able to profile people. He is able to create a prototype player, he was able to recruit and develop the right people because of the effort. He set high standards and he translated these high standards to everyone in his people. He wanted people to understand in order to achieve greatness; everyone must be in the same page. Everyone, even the people who work off the field are taught the value of maintaining high standards.
How has Manchester United chosen to compete in the world of European football, on and off the field? When it comes to the club’s approach to recruiting and managing talent, do you think Man United has found the right balance?
Because of their successful program, Manchester United was able to break into the world of European football. They are one of the most successful clubs only in talent management and development but also financially. Manchester was able to make money while winning games. This feat is hard because in order to get good players, a club must be willing to lose tons of money. But in the case of Manchester United they are able to find the right balance between doing business and football. This is due to the fact that the.players that play for Manchester were once trainee of the football program established by Ferguson. For instance, he was able to sign David Beckham.
During the 2012 season, the team suffered a mishap after Ferguson, relied on younger players. As much as this is a good strategy to give the younger players more field exposure, there must always be a right mix of veterans and young players. You cannot trade experience on the court. Although there are a lot of potentials in the younger players, they still require management and guidance from more seasoned players
It is good that after the mishap, they talked to the players and once again realigned their goals and standards. They practiced harder to increase skills but they also focused in boosting the morale of the squad.
What can those who lead teams in other industries learn from Ferguson’s approach?
One of the greatest takeaway other industries can learn from Ferguson is the importance of building a good foundation. Foundations must be built not only in terms of capital but also in terms of talent. There must be continuous efforts in terms of ensuring that there is talent infusion and at the same time retention on the part of tenured people.
The business is risky, but good leaders must understand that there is nothing great that ever came out of dwelling in their comfort zones. They must find a right mix between risk and stability to ensure that the business survives over time.
Lastly, there must be a great effort in building strong sense of ownership within everyone in the organization. They should know that they are valuable and all their efforts are important in achieving the company goals.
Are there concepts which do not transfer well outside of managing a sport team? If so, which ones?
I believe that every concepts discuss in the article is applicable in the any business. Because people management is the life blood of any business. It is difficult to strive in the market between good foundation and people. Therefore, the formula introduced by Sir Ferguson is a good way for people to understand the significance of always looking ahead when it comes to going business. There is a progressive attempt to solve problems and at the same ensure that the entire organization is involved in problem. Even after years, Manchester United still stand firm in their traditional practices.
