Ben Chiganze Bassfisherman’s Approach
If fear is used effectively it can make success a value system within a team. It appears the teams under Sir Alex Ferguson were more afraid of their manager than their opponents which in the long run energised the team to win against all odds.
Last Wednesday I went to a sports club at Strathaven Shopping Centre to watch the match between Manchester United and Arsenal.
During and after the match, some sections of Manchester United supporters were hurling insults at their coach David Moyes (affectionately known as Moyo or Mayazi by local supporters), despite the fact that he could not hear them as he was thousands of miles away in the United Kingdom.
Some disgruntled supporters even went to the extent of insulting him using unprintable words.
No doubt about it, Manchester United supporters are not happy with current team performance. Accepting the fact that their team, which won their 13th Premier League title and 20th English title after being crowned league champions during the 2012-2013 season under former coach Sir Alex Ferguson, has been so dismal this season that they are lying in an unfamiliar seventh position, has been hard for the team’s supporters to stomach as they are used to their team being among the top four throughout successive seasons.
Some could not understand why the same players who did well under Sir Alex Ferguson, winning several league titles are failing to perform under Moyes.
At the corner of the bar, I overheard some relatively sober Manchester United supporters discussing the reasons for lukewarm performance from the English champions.
One supporter said Moyes needs to fire half of the squad and replace it with new players. Another said the players were driven by fear of Sir Alex Ferguson to succeed.
He said Ferguson instilled so much fear in the players that his average players were willing to fight to the bitter end to win matches.
“In the absence of this factor, the players have not been applying themselves as they should.
“Unfortunately Moyes has failed to adopt the same tactics,’’ he said.
In most motivational speeches, fear is always associated with negative results. Some call it false evidence appearing real. I agree that fear can make us fail to attain what we want because it prevents us from attempting to do that which we aspire to do. However, Ferguson’s type of leadership is bringing in a new dimension to the effect of fear on human beings. The impact of stress and fear appear to be similar.
A person needs a certain amount of stress to be effective; beyond that level the stress becomes counterproductive. Similarly, a person needs a certain degree of fear to apply maximum effort to bring about positive results.
Manchester United players demonstrated that if a leader instils fear in subordinates they can perform well. During his 26-year tenure at Manchester United, he won 38 trophies including 13 English Premier League titles and two European Champions League trophies.
He is regarded as the most successful coach to date in England and was accordingly knighted in 1999. If cleverly executed, fear factor produces positive results and if it is badly done, it creates resentment.
The worst case scenario being, the excessive fear instillation can be counterproductive. The fear instilled in the Manchester United team resulted in an increased sense of urgency, sense of creativity, sense of never giving up by the players.
The 1999 European Champions League is clear testimony to this. In this particular cup final Manchester United scored two goals in injury time and clinched the title.
If fear is used effectively it can make success a value system within a team. It appears the teams under Sir Alex Ferguson were more afraid of their manager than their opponents which in the long run energised the team to win against all odds. However, instilling fear in
subordinates is not adequate if it is not accompanied by charismatic leadership.
According to recent Press reports, Sir Alex Ferguson was so charismatic to the extent that it is believed that he was feared by some referees as well. Is instilling fear an art that is inborn or it can learnt?
To other leaders this trait comes naturally but it can also be acquired through practice. What is of critical importance is the ability to instil fear in subordinates to the extent that they must interpret failure as a serious risk to their careers.
It must appear better to toil to the bitter end than to risk meeting a disappointed leader. The Manchester United players were so psyched up to the extent of willing to die for Sir Alex Ferguson in the field of play than to risk facing an angry Ferguson at half time or after the match.
It is said Ferguson once kicked a boot and it hit David Beckham in full view of other players after Manchester united had lost to Arsenal.
This type of leadership requires one to demonstrate power by sacrificing subordinates who are not towing the line or who appear to be “bigger than the team”.
Sir Alex was prepared to let go talented players such as David Beckham and Phil Neville in order to maintain order in his dressing room.
Fear factor alone is not enough if not matched by technical ability and can be counterproductive. Goals and objectives should be clearly articulated for the fear factor to be productive. It might be interesting to note that most successful people fear failure.
- The writer is a managing consultant at CLC Training International. E-mail chiganze@iwayafrica.co.zw.