Managers can’t stick to strict guidelines

In his column in this week’s Gaelic Life, John Morrison highlights an oxymoron of successful management in that those who succeed are both consistent but also flexible.

He highlights five men Mickey Harte, Jim Gavin, Brian Cody, Joe Schmidt, Alex Ferguson, as examples of men who possess these attributes.

What Morrison says is that there is a danger that new managers can focus on being  consistent, and forget about flexibility.

“Be warned that if as a manger, you are merely consistent and without flexibility you’ll first become uninspired and unreliable before ultimately becoming rigid.

“In a changing environment like sport, managers struggle to adapt and may cling to old habits until their methods become counter productive, distracting them from the most important new work that needs to be done.

“Managers need to be flexible. They freshen things up as Alex Ferguson would say,  as he used seven different assistants during his Manchester career.

“Sport demands that teams and managers must adapt and change constantly in changing environments. If managers/teams don’t evolve they die.”

Read the full column in the current issue of Gaelic Life. Click here to buy the online edition.