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Hearts & Minds: How to keep signing when you’re not winning
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Hearts & Minds: How to keep signing when you’re not winning

28 November 2024

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Winning is a habit, said Vince Lombardi. He might have added, so is losing. Manchester City have gone six matches without a victory. The streak includes five straight defeats and throwing away a seemingly unassailable lead against Feyenoord.

Comms is easy when you’re winning. Not so difficult, too, when you’re oscillating between triumphs and setbacks. Tough, when it’s consistently bleak. Equally challenging is when a long run of impenetrability comes to a juddering halt. How does a leader deal with a sudden, inexplicable (and they hope temporary) slump?

Stakeholders and followers will assume it’s a one-off. Like you, they are not used to being in this situation. At first, it won’t be big deal. The danger here is going along with that, saying it’s nothing to worry about, it’s not serious. That’s fine if the results soon improve and normality is restored – you’ve got away with not taking it seriously. But if the poor form continues, though, you’ve appeared complacent and worse, at a loss.

Don’t be seen to panic or to be overanxious. Your people are looking to you for a lead, for authority. Pep Guardiola ended this week’s game with a bloodied nose. The Manchester City manager’s explanation that he’d caught it with a fingernail, did not ring true – provoking speculation he’d been furiously scratching as the match progressed.

In public, remain calm. You may be burning up inside, but outwardly don’t show it. Sometimes a nervous smile kicks in. Try and suppress it. You know it’s nerves, but the camera thinks you’re grinning. Likewise, avoid the quip. It won’t seem smart to others. After he was asked about his wound, Guardiola said he did feel like self-harming. It was meant to be a joke but hit the wrong note and only fueled the belief that something is seriously amiss.

It's difficult for him because he must face the press before and after every match. Really, a corporate CEO ought to say as little as possible. Things will recover and you’re working hard to ensure that occurs. Going any further and saying, for example, you have faith in colleagues and the systems that have stood you in such good stead is an open invitation to critics to examine them. They will anyway, but you’ve gone and given them the lead.

If you can, keep it to a minimum and meanwhile push to identify the problem and find a solution. There really is no other way.

 

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard

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