The Power of Clarity: Crafting Your Leadership Vision

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This team is the most successful team in sports history. Pike performance is about human performance. 20 years with the All Blacks, five years with the Crusaders in Canterbury and it's been a pretty awesome journey. We punch above our weight like Kiwis do. Sounds like a bit of a crazy idea. Rugby's not really my passion. I used to really get really anxious. Our role was really to remove all the distractions. What are we aiming for if the All Blacks don't have a home? I very quickly learned that the power of many was far more valuable than one. I was really scared of him. If you're not ahead of the game, you very quickly get caught. If you can make the complex simple, then you're successful.

Top secret.

Welcome to Lead On Purpose.

I'm James Laughlin, former seven time world.

Champion musician and now executive coach to.

Global leaders and high performers.

In every episode I I bring you an inspiring leader or expert to help you lead your life and business on purpose. Thanks for taking the time to connect today and investing in yourself.

Enjoy the show.

You are in for a treat. You're about to sit in on an intimate conversation with Darren Shand. Darren is an All Blacks manager and has been for 20 years. He is a wealth of wisdom and knowledge and we had so much to.

Talk about that I actually split this.

Over three different episodes. This is the first of three and in today's episode we're going to look at inclusive team culture, simplification and guiding principles. Please sit back and enjoy the show.

Darren, I just want to say a huge welcome to the Lead On Purpose podcast.

You're welcome. Great to be here.

So good. And I know that you've got so.

Much on your plate.

You're so focused on some incredible things right now. So I'm honored to have a bit of space and time to sit and chat. Now I want to rewind the clock a little bit. It's 2005. I'm sitting in Northern Ireland on the bottom step in my house and the phone Rings, and it says, James, we're ringing from Christchurch, New Zealand. We've got an organization here who want to become the first world champions in pipe band drumming. And we'd love you to come and help us set up a program. And first things first, I thought, dad. Dad works New Zealand.

Yeah.

He's like, oh. All I could think of was the All Blacks, John Olumu, and the fern, the silver fern. Those three things came to mind. And right away it was a. I'm curious, I'm interested. I thought, you know, epitome of high performance and excellence. I'm going to learn something there. So at 18, 19, it was a get me on a plane and let's travel 12,000 miles. And now for me to sit here with you, who's been part of the all blacks now for 20 years.

Years.

What an honor.

So thank you.

I'd love to know about what got.

You in there and got you started. Yeah, 205. I was into my second year, and we were playing the British and Irish Lions, actually. And that year, that was. That was one of the special, special memories. But, yeah, my start. You know, the funny thing, James, like, rugby, not really my passion. And, you know, I hope fans don't take that the wrong way, because it doesn't mean you can't be the best, you know, and my role is not the game. It's everything outside the game. And so while I know the game and I love the game, it's not something I'd do in my spare time. But I love being part of success. I love being part of team. I think my whole ethos is around what can I do to help the team, be a better team or a great team. So, yeah, I guess university. Ended up working in adventure tourism for quite a while in the outdoors, whitewater rafting, skiing, those types of things. Met a guy in Queenstown at that time called A.J. hacket, who was the sort of founder of Bungee. And he bungee jumping. He said to me, do you want to come and work for me? And I was like, oh, no. It sounds like a bit of a crazy idea.

Literally. But, yeah, about a year later, I decided to go and work there, and the only job he had available was driving the bus to the bridge.

I love it.

So I jumped and had my bus license. So did that then end up working on the bridge and then eventually ended up in a management role in sort of the marketing and sales area. And yeah, I kind of got to a point where I was like, well, what next? You know, like, I Sort of broken out from being a worker. And I was now having a little bit of a feel for what leadership was like and managing people and things. But I just wanted more. And I thought quite hard about going to uni and doing a master's in business. Actually went through the process of applying to get into an MBA program, got accepted at the same time I got accepted, applied for a job in rugby.

With the Canterbury Rugby Union in Christchurch and in a sponsorship role. And I got that. So I rang the Prof. And said, what do you think? He said, take the job. So, yeah, thanks. Thanks, Prof. For good advice. As much I would have loved to have, you know, gone through that process of an MBA. You know, I've had, you know, 25 years in rugby. Rich, rough experience. Rich with. Every day is a professional development opportunity. You live in a fishbowl world, particularly with the All Blacks. You know, every little thing you do is examined and scrutinized and there's high degree of expectation, there's high degree of scrutiny, there's high pressure. And you learn a lot about yourself. Firstly, you learn a lot about others and how they behave and act under those sort of conditions. So. And you do it on the world stage. So it's an awesome. Yeah, I'm very, very grateful for the time I've had here. It would never have been anything I imagined or dreamed of or, you know, would have chosen as a, As a path I would have gone down. You know, I probably could have seen myself probably sort of, you know, being a grey ski instructor at Coronet Peak still, you know, because I loved it. It was a passion for me. But, you know, here I am, 20 years, 20 years with the All Blacks, five years with the Crusaders in Canterbury, and yeah, it's been a pretty awesome journey.

It's phenomenal. And when you started in with the All Blacks, what was your role then and what has it evolved to become?

Yeah, so in 2004, Graham Henry was appointed the coach. Sir Graham, as he is now. And on the back of the 2003 World cup in New Zealand, I think got knocked out in the semifinals. The. The board and the chair decided that they really wanted to because the game had but got more and more professional. I really felt beside the coach, they needed some other leadership that led a whole lot of the off field stuff. And so I technically started as a general manager and with the coach reporting to me, I sat down with Graham. I wasn't really comfortable with that. He was old enough to be my father. He's a former school Headmaster, I was really scared of him, but we just sat down and we just agreed. He said, look, I just want to coach rugby and I want you to sort out everything else. I said, that's fine, I'll do that. And that's kind of how we operated. And very quickly, I was fortunate. Graham brought on some people better than him. He brought some other coaches in that were less as equal and you could technically say maybe even better coaches. I thought that was pretty brave, you know, courageous. Very courageous for a leader to do that. And so we had Wayne Smith, Steve Hanson, Graham Henry, Gilbert Enoka joined us at that point. So we had this team of people, and I very quickly learned that the power of many was far more.

Valuable than one. Yes, Graham had to make decisions about performance. That's his role. But we shared it. There was a sort of shared responsibility shared with the team in mind, shared with the legacy in mind, shared with performance in mind.

And it just carried on. That's always been the way I've known it there. It's always been about a group of people working together, bringing the players with us, lining them up with our vision, getting them to buy into that vision, and then in the end, they deliver it. So that's kind of been the path here. It was. I felt a little bit of an imposter at the start. You know, I was very green. And to go really from a sort of club level to an international level was quite a big step. The All Blacks don't have a home, so we live on the road, so that comes with a huge operational requirement.

So, like the Rugby park, for example, that's Canterbury's home. And you've got this base and you can put up things that make you feel like you belong there.

That's right, yeah. That must be such a challenge. We have to do that everywhere we go. And we're a team that likes to do that every week. For every place we go, we want to do that because we get energy from going to new places. We don't want to be in one place all the time. We like different. We like to be able to just get out of the hotel, go for a coffee, but then not have to travel two hours to a training field. So just the complexity of putting that together has been a big part of it all. But I think we use the narrative, how do we build home on the road? And that's what we. That's what we aim to do. That's incredible. So, yeah, it's certainly different. And, you know, you've got a management group of 20 plus, living all over New Zealand, trying to work as a team for six months of the year, together on the road for six months of the year. So it's, it's not like just pop down the office and talk to the coach, you know, it's like a zoom call or it's a meeting in Auckland for everybody or whatever it is. So quite a different method of being together.

Significant challenges, I imagine.

And having systems and processes that allow you to do that in a really cohesive way. So in the initial stages, say 20.

Years ago or 18 years ago compared to now, what systems and processes have you implemented that allow you to smoothly operate?

I think trust probably sits at the base of it all and there has to be a high degree of trust. I love the analogy in sport that we all have a jersey to wear, every team has a number and every player has a number. And so it's the same for us as staff. We've all got a number, we've all got a role for first thing, just know the role, do your role, everyone else knows your role and so they let you do your role. And we hold each other to account for that. So that becomes a really important aspect of when it's like that. I think technology's helped us a lot. You think of zoom and meetings and all those sorts of things. Cloud based, I think in the operational space now, where we have a checklist that sits in the cloud and every operator that works with us has access to it, so we don't have to chase people, they just go to the central hub, give us everything the information we need to be able to stay in a hotel, book a bus, whatever it might be. And so that's been phenomenal. Apps now, the way they work and how they can be very. We use an app that was created by an American footballer who played college football, said it was the most disorganized team. So he went away and built an app to help sports teams.

Amazing.

And we found it quite early on and we've kind of stuck with them. It was very American, but they've been very great in allowing us to build something that works for us. And so now we have a one stop shop, you know, and as operators and leading the operational side, we see our role as not the doers, but the enablers, you know, so we just, we just provide the tools and, you know, if a coach ring, can you give me his phone number? I say just go to the app, swipe once into search and there it is and you can ring the person from there, you know, it's just like teaching, teaching people to be able to have it. And we've got all those tools and I guess and our role is really to remove all the distractions and allow performance to be the pinnacle and have all the support necessary to allow all those things to happen. And interestingly, I remember we had a chat after the 2007 World cup when we failed and we felt we had too many staff. We had 12. We got this one with 22. And I'm actually really. Everyone has a role and we felt 12 was too many because people were trying too hard to and put more of themselves into that, you know, when they didn't need to. Whereas now we've got it so refined around role, you know, and if you're number six, just be number six. I don't need to be number seven and number eight, just do that and. And then as leaders, our role is to grow that person. You're like, where are you at right now? I think, I still think there's room here, you know, and if we do some more of this, I think we can see some more growth here. And that's what the team needs. You know, we always guiding principle. What's going to make the biggest difference on Saturday? Keep coming back to it.

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Welcome back to Lead On Purpose. Today we're going to look at how to craft your vision. Look, I've worked with leaders of all backgrounds, people who are running for Formula one teams, people who are running countries, people who are running small companies, or people who are just trying to be better parents and run their family. The one thing that they all have in common when they're not operating well is uncertainty. They are uncertain about where they're headed, they're uncertain about what the next move might look like. And on the flip side, the leaders who I look, look at and work with that are achieving incredible things. They're very clear, they're decisive about where they're headed. So over the next five weeks in these solo casts, I'm going to be sharing with you the proven success planning method. Spm. I call it the Success Planning method. It's something I use with all of my clients to help them get an incredible vision and then bring it to life day to day. Because sometimes a grand vision is so hard to actually break into bite sized chunks. So in this first session, we're going to look at visioning. Right, and what is visioning? Visioning is you taking a moment to get clear on your vision. You know, I've had different times in my life where I've had to stop and get clear. As a youngster, when I was a drummer, you know, I was 9 or 10 years old, I thought, why am I doing this? Where's it all headed? Well, one, I enjoy it. It's good, it's good fun. I'm sure some of you feel the same way about your work and your career. It's fun, you enjoy it, but where's it all headed? So at 9 or 10, I decided I want to be the World Solo Drumming Juvenile Champion. That's what I wanted so bad, but I was super clear on that. And that vision allowed me to then reverse engineer a very simple plan every single day to step towards that. And so it took me a few years, but in the end I was really fortunate to be crowned World Solo Drumming Champion. Now, I've looked at different parts of my life where I've had clear vision and where I've lacked it. And where I've lacked it, I've had the results that reflect that. But where I've been so radically clear, I've had results that really reflect that as well. So today, right now, in this moment, you've made the space to do this. I'm going to ask you the same questions I ask my clients. This is the most Crucial1. It's five years from now, you and I, we're sitting here chatting together and I say, how have the last five years been? I want you to get a pen and paper and I want you to write down the last five years have been.

And I want you to describe how they've been in the most incredible terms. And I don't want you to think of any obstacles, any potential hazards. I only want you to think of in the ideal world my last five years have been, and describe them. Right? Take a moment to do that. Hit pause if you need to. I want you to take a moment just to do this right now and think about your physical self, your financial self, your spiritual self, your relational self, the relationships you have with people, with your work, your career, your adventure. What does the next five years is it going to look like? But I want you to do it retrospectively so you're sitting five years out from now. Looking back, going, the last five years were phenomenal because describe what made it incredible. Okay, that is your starting point. Most people will just fast forward, go to the next video scroll, and just do what the rest of the world does. If you're a high performer, if you care about your future, you'll take the time to get clear on what the future looks like, plain and simple. I'm yet to work with a team or a high performer who lacks vision. If they're not getting the results they want, generally they have a vague vision at the start. But vague visions create vague results time and time again. So when I work with people, the first thing I want to get clear on is, where are we going? I don't want to work with you unless I know where we're going, because then we can partner and work together and move towards that outcome. What is your five year vision? I call it visioning. What you see in your mind, you can hold in your hand. That's right. Whatever you can see upstairs, you can hold downstairs, right? Think of the device that you're watching this on right now, whether it's a phone, laptop, computer, whatever that was. Once in someone's mind, they thought of that phone or that device. Then they brought it to life in the real world. Your vision for your life is no different. I had a friend recently, about three years ago, who wanted to really level up their life. So I challenged them to create a vision of their life for five years and bring it back right back to this year. And they did it. And they created a visual imagery of it, like a vision board. And they went through the year. They kept looking at their vision board, they kept thinking about where they were headed. A year later, we touched base. I said, well, how are you going? And they were beaming. They had somehow, in their mind, magically, miraculously achieved everything on their vision board. There was no luck about it, it was intentional. What you place in your mind, you move towards. And some people will say where your focus goes, your energy flows, your vision is no different. Do you have a vision? If you don't, then you're going to be going from pillar to post. You're going to be looking for every opportunity that comes your way. You're probably easily distracted. People who don't have a clear vision spend a lot more time scrolling, a lot more time netflixing. Not to say that those things are bad, but when they're done, over and over, to me that says you're a mediocre performer. But when you're a high performer and you're clear on your vision, you don't waste time wasting time. You get busy being focused on what life is all about. And that's your vision and bringing it to life. So this first session I want you to think about what is my vision? Why is it important? That's the next question. Now you know what you want. Your five year vision, you got clear on that. Second question here is how badly do you want it? Why do you want it? Take a moment to think about that. How badly do I want that? It's a nice to have. If it's a nice to have. Cool. You're not getting it. I'm telling you that now. You're not getting it. But if it's, I will do anything to get that. I will work hard, I will do anything it takes to get there, then you know that you're going to move towards it. Why is it so important? Why are those financial, those social, those spiritual, those relational goals that you've set in your vision, why are they important? Do they make you feel a certain way? Do they mean that it will impact the people around you in an amazing way? Take the time to build that emotional juice. You'll need emotional juice when you get tired, when things start to maybe go in different directions and life throws ambushes at you, you'll need that emotional juice. Last question for you to answer. This is what most people don't like answering. This is the crucial one. This is the difference that makes the difference. If you can answer this, you're well on your way. How much are you willing to suffer to bring your vision to life? So if you're writing that down, that's how much am I willing to suffer to bring my vision to life? If you don't like the word suffer, change it to sacrifice. But they're both the same. Suffering and sacrificing, one and the same. What are you going to do? What are you not going to do? What are you going to miss out on to bring your vision to life? If you're clear on that, what you want, how badly you want it and how much you're willing to suffer to get there. You're well on your way to bringing a world class life right into your realm and your life is probably already great. That's why you're watching stuff like this to develop yourself. And people are into personal growth, generally have great momentum already, but keep it up because you can atrophy and slip up real quick. What are you willing to do? Are you willing to miss out on maybe some extra coffees in the morning? Are you willing to miss out on a social gathering on a Friday beersy night? What are you willing to do to do that? Next session we're going to go into the next step of success planning method book. Don't show up for it unless you've done this. This is the crucial piece. Get excited about what life's going to look like in five years time. Look, I just want to say well done for sitting down, committing to this, doing the work. If you haven't hit pause, do it. Bring that vision to life. And I look forward to seeing you in next week's session. But for now, please get out there and lead your life on purpose.

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For you in the coming weeks and leaders. It's that time to get out there.

And lead your life on purpose.