LEADERSHIP ON THE FIELD AND OFF
Mike Brearley—England's Cricket Captain—draws lessons from the noblest game which may have wider importance.
When England tour Australia the occasion and the setting help promote team spirit. We are in a campaign for a limited but intense period and the aims are clear. Local Jingoism feeds the sense of combat. In 1933, towards the end of the `bodyline tour', Harold Larwood asked his captain, Douglas Jardine, if he could miss the last Test at Sydney: he was exhausted, the series was won and he had never watched a Test match. Jardine refused the request saying We've got them down, Harold; now we will tread on them". One source of this attitude, which we shared when we, like Jardine's team, went to Sydney for the last Test with the series won, is I think patriotic. Part of our motivational effort consisted in reminding ourselves of the pleasure and the lift that another win would give to our frozen, strike-bound compatriots. And before he bats for England, Derek Randall thumps his chest or fists the air with the words "Come on Rags, come on England". There are not many areas where manmanagement has these built-in advantages, nor do most activities allow agression in the same unabashed way that sport does. There must, however, be parallels in every walk of life with the problems that arise in the Process of becoming a team. The problems Pivot around universal contrasts: freedom Versus discipline, self-interest versus group interest.
Group communication
On a cricket tour it is vital to pay attention to social details, especially in a western-style country like Australia. In India, hotels in the smaller centres would be isolated and old-fashioned and as there was no TV or outside entertainments we depended, like a Victorian family, on each other for company and amusement. There we enjoyed Willis' aptitude for charades, Geoff Millers' for impersonations of a Derby coal-miner, and Randall's carol (and Other) singing. In Australia the hotels were usually stereotyped and well-appointed. There are always opposing tendencies both of which count against the team's friendliness: one is to stay in the room, watch TV i and have meals by room service; the other s to leave the hotel every evening for individual arrangements in the town. The arrangement of the rooms can affect the 'feel' of a stay. Brisbane's hotel had us on two neighbouring floors, each floor being square-shaped. We would drift in and out of each other's rooms; it was like living in a neighbourly terrace where backdoors were always open rather than in tower blocks where the lifts did not work.
Such easy contact helps avoid one common touring schism between the 'party goers' and the `stayers-in'. To the former the latter are no fun and do not do their fair share of going to the functions that are not compulsory. 'Stayers-in' see the others as frivolous and excluding. One of Tony Greig's strengths as captain of the 1976-7 tour to India was being able to stand up for either side. If people respect each other, and give invitations even if they are by some rarely accepted, then different social tastes do no damage. Communication is of course vital. A touring party is so small that most exchanges are face-to-face. The problems are immediate, practical and personal. There is no separation between management and workforce. In industry, management is concerned more with long-term plans and with outside organisations; they can easily be cut off from their fellowemployees, both physically and from the nature of their jobs. On the field a captain must be constantly in touch with the rest of the side. I did not realise until it was pointed out to me by business-studies teachers in Perth the extent to which I literally keep in touch with people, especially bowlers, with a hand on theirarm or round their shoulder. I also have constant eye-contact with the fielders who know Lam in charge on the field and am aware of their efforts and feelings; and I need to be able to catch their attention in order to move them without fuss. The group is small enough to enable everyone to have a say on tactics and on the running of the tour. A captain cannot have six or seven players homing in on him on the field with advice at critical moments; autocracy is at times essential. But we have tried to encourage everyone to express his opinion off the field, both informally and at team meetings. On the whole I veer towards the side of not laying down the law enough. I prefer to assume that England cricketers are not only expert at their job but also grown up. We have never had rules about drink, or food or late nights, though we do stress, sometimes sharply, the need for commonsense in these areas. It will, I think, already be clear that I believe one crucial aspect of leadership lies in sharing the authority role. In Australia Willis helped me by being prepared to take a tough line with players on occasion, to share the responsibility of saying 'No' you can't do that, you must practise. The 'Jack Sprat' principle is damaging in families and cricket teams; it is wrong if one authority figure always says 'Yes', the other 'No'.
More widely, the secret of motivation is getting everyone to motivate each other and themselves. On the field, in intense heat, bowlers need enormous and realistic encouragement. Batsmen who have worked hard for four, six or eight hours must be made to feel that we all value their efforts. As Rousseau advocated, individuals can identify not only with their personal good but with the common good. But true team spirit does not diminish the individual's uniqueness. The ideals of co-operation are paid for at a high price if achieved at the expense of the individual's flair and originality. Horses must have their heads. Plants need space to flourish in. Toddlers need room in which to take their tentative steps. They need too the bridle, water and hands that will hold them not too far away.
One important asset in mutual motivation is humour. In the dressing-room humour brings someone into the group, even if as the butt. Through jokes, conflicts can be tactfully aired and often defused. The enemy is rendered less dangerous by nicknames; Rodney Hogg quickly became known as "Quintin", "Road" or "Hedge", after other well known hogs. Pomposity is deflated; humour often softens the edge of authority. I have said that the creation of a wellfunctioning team depends on a balance of freedom and control, both within and between individuals. It requires the sacrifice from time to time of personal ambitions in favour of the team's needs. It requires that people take pleasure in each other's success and identify themselves with the team. None of this is likely to happen if respect is lacking. Without respect humour becomes nasty and criticism carping. The side may well split in various ways. lam told that the least happy England tours have been those in which the manager and the captain have not seen eye to eye, for their differences always become reflected among the players. Perhaps this is an exportable lesson.
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