Coach and Manager, assonances on the pitch

The word Manager has been widely used in the sports field for years to also refer to the figure of the coach.

The SPORTS MANAGER has a strategic and managerial focus, mainly dealing with the planning of the various processes of the organization. His skills also extend to economic, administrative and often legal aspects. The role presupposes organizational skills through the implementation of carefully structured plans taking into consideration resources, possibilities and limits. When talking about organizational resources, especially from a sporting point of view, human resources cannot be ignored. Seen from this perspective, the manager has the task of channeling the skills available into an environment of interconnected forces. The description of this figure strongly recalls that of the coach, who primarily has the task of managing his athletes, without forgetting the possibility of “using” all the figures that the company or club makes available. This immediate comparison of functions opens the doors to the training needs that a sports coach should have to be effective and engaging. On many occasions we have heard that the coach must be a good psychologist, a good communicator, possess specific sports technical skills, problem solving skills and therefore know how to manage human resources.

“Human resources management is fundamental, this is true in football as in all companies” Cit. Massimiliano Allegri

Having recognized the importance linked to the complexity of dynamic systems, we can increasingly realize how necessary it is to have a wide range of skills to manage a sports team. In 2021, thanks also to scientific research related to pedagogy, psychology and neuroscience, we can recognize the need to have a holistic approach towards the trained team group. This means considering every dynamic essential to the management and development of the team. The coach must therefore work to manage the complex environment and before doing so, structure his strategy with the club in which he operates. This is fundamental not only for directly dealing with the athletes but also for the surrounding area. In a youth sector, for example, it will be increasingly essential to have a strategy for managing athletes and their parents, while for a first team it will be essential to know the culture and ideas not only of the players but also of their families.

The first step will therefore be the strategic one of values with the club. Necessary step to structure the Vision (future), the Mission (here and now to achieve the objectives), the organisation’s values, the style and finally the characterizing possibilities. This is precisely because an alignment between the parts will give the technician’s work a path forward. In fact, Vision puts us in a position to see in the same direction without ignoring the physiological differences in perspective. In a team, as in a club, each member has a different history, needs, expectations, culture and characters. The differences, however, must not be interpreted as divergences, understood as differences in views, but as riches which, if managed, lead to a physiological evolution. The objective for a coach, just like for a manager, is the self-organizing strength of the team system. Self-organization is not self-management but rather something higher, more complex and strategically influenceable.

The great qualities of the manager cannot be planned and in fact depend on the character of the person. When we talk about Mission and method we must necessarily refer to the empathic-relational qualities and emotional intelligence of the person who covers such a delicate role. There are aspects that cannot be learned through knowledge or reading of manuals but rather can be acquired in the field and concern the sixth sense which develops through “human” qualities and lived experience. This explains why some athletes perform significantly differently from team to team. The reason evidently does not lie only in the group dynamics which in any case have the ability to strongly influence the expression of the individual talent and the various interrelationships.

It is clear that the coach must have an impact individually and collectively, without forgetting that the context in which he operates must always be considered, which has a decisive impact on therelational friendships. When we talk about context we mean the ideals of the club, the territorial, economic and social aspects. Coaching in Palermo, Naples, Bari, Rome, Ancona, Perugia, Bologna, Genoa, Milan, Turin, Udine is extremely different; let alone in international or non-EU realities. The manager must understand this and in doing so, try not to overlook the details that can be decisive in the development of the various collective dynamics.

“The coach must have the moral quality  to know that the masters are the players, not the other way around.” Cit. Silvano Prandi

Managing a team means being able to understand the forces that are part of it. In fact, if we talk about interconnected forces we are referring exactly to the individual character and skills present within the team system. The basis of self-organization is the relationship that lives according to values and objectives, which must be constantly shared and explained. This task remains with the manager-coach, who with sensitivity and emotional intelligence has the task of modulating his own intervention, understanding when to leave room for generative chaos or when to intervene instead to bring everything back towards a necessary order and not to lose sight of the road ahead. run across. The coach’s leadership is necessary to give space to emerging personalities. Without the help of the coach, the more charismatic members will tend to self-organize the social-relational dynamics to obscure the personalities of the members who expose themselves less. To prevent any team member from hiding and being affected by team dynamics, the manager-coach will have to have empathic-relational skills and choose how, if and when to intervene to direct group dynamics without influencing them to the point of distorting personalities. individual.

From a performance perspective, the Manager-Coach therefore remains a human resources manager, with fundamental tasks, which go well beyond the technical aspect and are enriched with psychological, social, statistical, pedagogical and philosophical frameworks and perspectives .