Teaching managers (and leaders) with the rules of sport

A good coaching, therefore, must aim at guiding and motivating people to give their best, fully experiencing team dynamics and aiming at expressing the best performance all along the way. Bertoli's recipe for achieving the goal is simple on paper and finds expression in the principles of the RMA method: 'Involve people and prioritise their energy and presence of mind. It is not always true that the more you know, the better you are. Skills are not the end point because it is motivation and courage that often make the difference and any challenge should be approached with these characteristics'. Obviously there is no magic formula good for all occasions and instead predisposition is needed on both sides, manager and staff, coach and players. 'They are the same energy,' Bertoli adds, 'and they are an absolute unit. The leader has something extra, but he is one with his team.

There are certainly no shortage of assonances with the world of sport when discussing these topics with Bertoli. And so it turns out that the theme of change management can be likened to a football match, and that change management is the expression of being the best you can be at all times of the game, because in a context of continuous upheavals (as a football challenge can be) you must always be lucid and know how to find the most appropriate solutions. Improving oneself in order to improve with others, this is another foundation told in the book, is a rule that applies to everyone because every person in an organisation (or sports team) is a link in the chain. 'Everyone can be pushed and motivated to bring out the best,' Bertoli explains in this regard, 'valuing virtues over faults: you win by exalting and training virtues and talents, looking at faults to make up for them but avoiding being too self-critical, focusing on the quality of the individual in a virtuous way to exalt his or her gifts, from the leader to the last of the collaborators.

And speaking of leaders, these figures today lack something, according to Bertoli, namely presence of mind, a lack that makes it difficult to understand the mood of employees and the signals that their attitudes give away. There is also, according to him, an excessive tendency to exalt the flaws and not to enhance the merits, with the result of reducing employee involvement and motivation. "People want to be with leaders who know how to value them, who know how to encourage them to overcome fear and challenges, setting an example for young people. Everyone can become a leader and confidence is the engine that keeps you moving forward, giving you the conviction that you can reach the limit of your talent. It is a path of discovering one's own virtues, because we are not machines but unique beings, who manage moments and states of mind, sometimes exceptionally well".

Clear principles and concepts, those that must drive the work of a mental coach in an era in which teaching how to be a leader and training is more complex than in the past because it requires much more attention. "The digital factor," Bertoli emphasises, "increases the ability to define priorities and must be managed appropriately, focusing attention and concentration in a targeted manner, reducing the risk of distraction. And then there is the time factor, which is just as fundamental, because you have to consciously choose where to devote your attention'. Without forgetting that, just around the corner, failure can loom, which sometimes is not of our own making and should be seen as a turning point, a possible adjustment and an opportunity to find and discover new motivation and strength. "Defeat and failure are part of the journey', concludes Bertoli, who, when asked whether he considers it more difficult to be a manager of a multinational company or a coach of a sports team of a certain level, replies as an 'old captain' (and it couldn't be otherwise): 'the second one, but being a leader in a large company is an exciting challenge'.