Jack Nayler on leading in complex environments

Football may be “only a game”, but it is also one of the most unpredictable and multi-faceted sports ever conceived. Every member of a club’s staff, from the eleven players on the pitch to coaches, science and medical practitioners, and even the chefs and groundsmen, can influence a team’s fortunes. In this Expert Knowledge session, Jack Nayler explains why football is a complex system, and considers what practitioners can do to make that system work as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Part 1: The five different types of environment
The British academic Dave Snowden has proposed that there are five different types of environments: simple (or clear), complicated, complex, chaotic, and disordered (or confused). According to this classification, a complex system is one in which cause and effect are not immediately obvious, because all the component parts of the system are interdependent. For example, a Formula 1 car is complicated; if it fails, the engineers can find and fix the problem. However, when that car is in traffic, it moves into a complex environment in which its performance is limited by external factors the engineers cannot control.

Part 2: Key principles of complex environments
Complex environments are governed by a number of constraints. Most obviously, the performance of a complex system is determined by the system as a whole, not its individual components. Moreover, although the person at the centre of the system has most influence over it, even they do not have total control. This lack of control means that complex systems can never be completely optimised: trying too hard to perfect them can produce rigid systems that cannot be adapted when circumstances change.

Part 3: Football as a complex system
Football is a complex system in its own right, with performance determined by the whole team as well as external factors like weather conditions. The player on the ball has most immediate influence during a game, but they have the narrowest view of how the system works. Practitioners, including coaches, are further removed from the action, but can see more of it. Making good decisions on and off the pitch relies on developing procedures that bring these different perspectives together effectively, and managing the risks that inevitably come with those decisions.

Part 4: Foxes and hedgehogs
As anyone who has been involved in managing a player’s recovery from injury will testify, decisions always involve an element of guesswork. That said, practitioners should aim to ensure their decisions are as sound as they can be. To achieve this, their procedures need to be subjected to constant review. Of course, this review process only works if your team are open to its results and ready to change their behaviours when it is right to do so: they need to be flexible “foxes”, rather than prickly, defensive, “hedgehogs”.

Part 5: Leading in a complex environment
To round off the session, Nayler summarises some of the key insights from his research on leadership in complex environments. They cover considerations including how to set a clear direction of travel, how to improve your decision-making processes, the importance of protecting your staff from risks and pressure, and how to foster a culture of curiosity and learning. If you can build a system to meet all of these requirements, your club will be well positioned to navigate the challenges of what is arguably the world’s most complex team sport.