When you look, what do you see?

Graham Hill

In the movie Invictus, Clint Eastwood paints a graphic picture of the leadership journey of Springboks captain Francois Pienaar toward victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup…interwoven with the leadership story of Nelson Mandela, first president of the new united RSA. At a crucial point in the movie when it seems no-one really believes the Boks have the goods to triumph in the World Cup, Mandela invites Pienaar for ‘tea’. In a gentle mentoring fashion, he inquires…

Tell me Francois, what is your philosophy of leadership?
How do you inspire your team to do their best?
How to get them to be better than they think they can be, that is very difficult I find…

Many leaders look at their team, and team members and see the gaps, the limitations, the past mistakes. With this in mind their leadership follows a minimization path – how do I get them to produce the best result while minimizing their scope for error?

Becoming a coaching leader involves working with w new currency…people’s potential rather than their past limitations. A coaching leader sees what they could be, how they could rise, how their strengths could be developed so their weaknesses are irrelevant.

When things looked particularly bleak for the new united RSA, Mandela realised what a World Cup win could do for the new nation. When no-one else believed they could win, his leadership began by infecting them with his self-belief...so that they could indeed be better than they thought they could be. His final statement to Pienaar, In order to build our nation, we must all exceed our own expectations.

When you look at your team, what do you see? What are your first steps to get them to be better than they think they can be?

Click here to view the Invictus clip on Youtube (2.59)

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