Succession For Business Group | Business Development | Small Business | Succession Planning | Melbourne | Warrnambool

I’ve found the comments from the peanut gallery (aka media experts) intriguing as they seem to search for reasons why the super coach, Mark Thompson, could possibly be ‘burnt out’ and ‘exhausted.’ But it is not hard to see why as he, in fact all professional coaches, are under scrutiny 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

I am sure 11 years at the top job at the Geelong Cats would be exhausting in itself but the demands that footy clubs place upon the coach to coach, front the media, handle recalcitrant players, contract negotiations and more. Not to mention that fans are baying for success and if not they bay for blood – someone’s blood and it is usually the coach’s!

So then do we expect too much as fans?

Are we asking the coach to be accountable for too many things?

And are we taking the coach away from what he does best, coach footy sides?

I am not sure of the answer but I do know that what Bomber Thompson is going through so publicly, many people go through every day in the work place. He has no work-life balance, so there is no surprise he is burnt out.

But there lies the quandary that the fans of the footy club find themselves in and also employers: do we lower our expectations and have them reached for 20 years or do we raise them, so that they are reached but only for say 4 or 5 years?

I see an enormous cost for Geelong to replace Thompson. They will not get results immediately with a new coach coming in and establishing his culture. He may even see some players leave and it may take 2 or 3 years before he is happy with his roster and the performance returns to the level that fans are happy with.

I also see enormous costs for any employer replacing an employee – from advertising to interviewing to training to down time in productivity.

The question still remains: do we push hard for performance at the risk of losing them or do we not care so long as we win a premiership in sport or the equivalent in business?

I think there must be a compromise and the coach or the manager must lead this.

In the work place, as an employer I believe you need to lead from the front. Your example must be that of balance in your life. It is not a medal of honour to working 80 hours a week, never taking holidays, eating at your work station and doing no exercise. If the culture is about high performance then do it with balance. It is way less expensive to keep your staff than find new ones.

So consider the picture I initially painted for Thompson’s role. If his role was narrowed to what he does best, coach teams and the peripherals were handled by someone else, enabling him a more balanced life would he still be there? Would he have the energy for another year?

If you have your staff do what they do best every day and have balance, is there a chance that they can perform at a consistently high level for many years for you?