Why the West Coast Eagles made the leap, and others didn’t.

Over the past two years I have taken a keen interest in the West Coast Eagles sensational rise up the AFL ladder. In doing so I have formed a view on how the management and coaching team have led their organization to this success given the significant change in leadership. I wanted to share some thoughts that I believe relate well to an emerging or proven business leader when it comes to self-development along with building and running a successful team.

First and foremost I am under the strong view that the West Coast Eagles management group and coaching panel are great people - down to earth, strong values based around family, friends, honesty and an unbelievable work ethic. Through conversations with those involved at the club, I’ve been led to understand the culture is built with like-minded individuals who have a ‘club first’ mentality and a sense of unity.

The club decided to move into a new direction at the end of the 2013 season. Former coach and Eagles legend John Worsfold moved on after 12 years in the top job and the subsequent appointment of Adam Simpson took many by surprise. Simpson was an untried rookie coach who had never officially coached his own team at any level. As a wonderful lesson for emerging leaders, he had proactively taken on added responsibility dating back to when he was a player and adjusted his thinking to that of a Senior Coach well before he was in the role. During his last season as a player in 2009, I noticed Simpson confirm an example of this to a journalist “Dave Wheadon is my mentor and I meet him every week for an hour and a half. We go through philosophies, teaching techniques and all the stuff I think is really important in coaching”. He was proactive in his career development sourcing mentors and education well ahead of his peers. 

Simpson impressed during the interview, he was not high profile, but was his own man and I’ve read that the board felt he was the perfect cultural fit. When Simpson was appointed, West Coast Chairman Alan Cransberg was quoted as saying that it was “Adam Simpson's drive and ability to take the club in a new direction at that stage of the development of the club” which won him the coaching job. What got them to where they had been, wasn’t going to take them to the next level.

Simpson then quickly built a team around him. To me it is clear that he recruited and retained coaching staff who he trusted and he recruited skills & ability over experience, just as the board did with his own appointment given that there were many more experienced and proven candidates in the market.

I’ve formed the view that Simpson put his people in the right seats and went to work on educating his fellow leaders whilst treating them as equals. Earlier this year Simpson said "I probably feel like I'm on the same journey as the players, it really does feel like we're in it together". “We've got a really young coaching group, Don Pyke is there (now Adelaide Crows Senior Coach), but Brady Rawlings is 33, Adrian Hickmott is 43, Justin Longmuir is 34, Daniel Pratt 32, Adam Selwood and Dean Cox are just out of playing”. He clearly displayed a mindset that he alone wouldn’t be able to generate sustained success in a role where responsibility includes, but is not limited to - over 40 young men, plus assistant coaches, development coaches, opposition coaches, statisticians, IT and then deal with the board, management, the media and maintain any level work/life balance with his family including four young children.

Through analysing media interviews from his peer group, I can see that the team of assistant coaches have been provided with clear responsibilities and are empowered to take ownership for their areas. I gather Simpson ‘inspects what we he expects’ out of the coaching group and given the consistent messages heard via the media, I’m of the belief that they drive the standards that he expects through his clear and quality communication skills.

I have little doubt that the coaching group created a vision and values that were meaningful led by Simpson and owned by the players and coaching staff where all peers could be held accountable. Through observing the team’s rapid on-field improvement, Simpson seems to have set about creating a game plan that would hold up against the best. I listened with interest that via education he developed flexibility in his players so that they could move positions where needed, be predictable internally but unpredictable externally and less reliant on two or three individuals in the event of injuries. 

I noted that Coleman medallist Josh Kennedy was one of several players who reiterated the above message. “He is on the same page as us and we are on the same page as him,” Kennedy said. “We back his game plan in and he has believed in us. It has been a combination of a lot of things but a lot of it has been united with the game plan and believing in it”.

The coaching group didn’t noticeably set unrealistic goals – but there was a consistent theme in both 2014 and 2015 for improvement on the year prior which seems to have been broken down into smaller blocks which were talked about by coaches and players every 4-5 weeks during the course of the seasons. I believe the playing group developed confidence and momentum which was quickly recognized and the coaching staff built upon it. There were no boundaries placed on what levels they might be able to reach. It was obvious to me that once improvement on the year prior was reached, shorter term goals were revised and set.

It wasn’t just the board, the management group and coaches driving standards at the club. The group of players including the Captain were empowered to not just set standards but importantly – drive standards within the playing group. Captain, Shannon Hurn told the AFL web-site "When you get older it is about the older blokes setting that standard and getting young kids to learn, but within a set of guidelines,” he said. “I think as senior players it is so important that we dictate what we think is successful and what's not”

I believe the Eagles success was based on Simpson selecting the right areas to focus on and then developing achievable goals. That the team focused on doing the small things better than any other team in the competition. When you look at any one of these small areas in isolation they seem inconsequential, however when they all combine the result becomes powerful. Getting the small things right is often the difference between a good team and a great team.

Here are my top 7 business takeaways from the West Coast Eagles:

• Skills over Experience – Look to bring people with the very best skills available into your business. A ‘like for like’ replacement or someone who has done the same job previously might not be the best option, a great operator in the past might not have the skills that you will need in the future.

• Cultural Fit – Ensure every individual you introduce into your business is a good person and fits the culture of your organisation. This includes alignment with what you stand for as a leader or leadership as well as a ‘company first’ mentality.

• Empowerment – Putting the right people in the right seats, then trusting and empowering your Managers/Team Leaders to build a team around them. Remember all successful leaders are only as good as their team.

• Vision & Values - Create a vision and values that provide ownership, clarity and behavioural standards that can be measured and driven with team discipline.

• Flexibility - All organisations and teams are hit with unexpected surprises whether that be personnel, business conditions or changes in the operating environment – therefore creating flexibility in your team allows you to revert to a plan B or C and will help you move faster than your competition.

• Momentum - Difficult to build, but once you get it you have to milk it via encouragement and reiterating the message. Momentum builds confidence, when controlled - confidence is powerful and spreads.

• Setting standards Vs driving standards - This key point shows that if you can move your top performers and emerging leaders from simply setting the example themselves to supporting others reach and achieve greater performance levels.

There are no doubt many more lessons and aspects on how the Eagles are arguably on the verge of moving from good to consistently great again after the rise from finishing 13th in 2013 to a Grand Final in 2015.