Success on the football pitch and success in business may not require the same set of skills. But there are plenty of similarities between the beautiful game and the boardroom. When it comes to team building and leadership, business owners can take some valuable lessons from Europe’s leading football clubs.

Working well as a group is a crucial element of a successful football team, and business owners can take valuable lessons from professional clubs’ approach to team spirit.

Building a shared identity and mindset can motivate teams to perform better in sport. And according to some experts, it’s a key part of creating high-performing teams in business, too.¹

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To create a shared mindset among your team, it’s important to make sure everyone clearly understands the principles and identity you are collectively working towards.

You could even consider taking it a step further and create those mindset principles with your team, so that everyone is invested in – and responsible for – living those principles through their work.²

And remember to be specific about those principles. A specific behaviour such as “Always be on time for meetings” is easily understood by everyone in the team, whereas vague attributes like “respect” could be left open to interpretation and result in conflict.³

Top football teams each have distinct ways of playing the game, so when it comes to finding new players, it’s not simply a question of their skills. Managers must look at whether they will thrive in the specific role they will be asked to play, as well as in the wider team. In other words, do their skills fit with the way that team plays the game?⁴

According to McKinsey, it’s the same in business. What is your vision for the company? What capabilities and attributes do you need within your team in order to execute that vision?⁴ If you spot a gap, can you upskill or develop younger team members to meet those requirements? Or do you need to need to recruit externally?⁴

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If you’re recruiting, think about the functional skills and capabilities but also the personal attributes a candidate might need to execute your vision for the company.⁴ For example, is it important to you that senior employees are proactive about developing the skills of junior staff? Or perhaps you want an innovative thinker who can help you create a culture of experimenting with new ideas?

With money and livelihoods at stake, it’s easy to become so focused on performance and results that you overlook the bigger picture. But the very best managers understand that their players need to be both mentally and physically healthy to perform at their best. The likes of Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola – both UEFA Champions League-winning managers – are vocal about the importance of player welfare.⁵

Demonstrating that you care about and want what is best for your employees could also help you keep staff turnover to a minimum. Even better, it could earn your company a reputation as being a great place to work and let you have your pick of the talent.⁵

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There are plenty of ways to demonstrate to your team that you care about their welfare, but a good starting point could be to review how you communicate with everyone. Do you express interest in their lives outside of work? Do you talk to them about their career goals beyond their current role?⁵ Establishing open communication could help you foster strong connections with individual team members.

Analytics have transformed the way that professional football is played, offering managers in-depth insights to influence their game strategy. For business owners, it could be beneficial to do the same and look deep into your performance data to understand what happens in the run up to your successes. Or in other words, which conditions are most likely to lead to a goal?

According one study, more than half of businesses are already using data analytics to improve financial performance, boost processes and drive the wider business strategy. And with 71% predicting that their investments in this area will increase, overlooking analytics could leave you falling behind your competitors.⁶

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As business analytics is increasingly important to so many companies, it could be worth upskilling yourself or a member of your team in this area. Otherwise, aim to collect data from a variety of different sources. Keeping track of various metrics in one place can help you to spot patterns and trends emerging in the data quickly and accurately. And remember to use the most up-to-date information to influence your decision-making.⁷

As an official sponsor of the UEFA Champions League, our player and team performance analysis shows that even when the best teams lose, it’s how they learn and respond to those failures that can help determine how well they perform in the long-term. Even the winner of the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid, lost games in the early stages of the competition.

Taking a ‘learning mindset’ to losses can help business owners (and football managers) bounce back quickly.⁸ If you are able to understand which elements of the performance could be worked on and improved, it can help you tweak your strategy and ensure better results next time.

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Understanding that failure is inevitable can help you to view it objectively, which is an important first step in order to learn from it. Analyse your performance and take the lessons available – and then don’t be afraid to take steps to avoid a similar failure, such as by changing the strategy or approach.⁹

FedEx is an official sponsor of the UEFA Champions League. Find out more about our sponsorship and the FedEx Performance Zone here.