The Successful Coaching Transition of Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp
One of the new leaders I’ve stumbled across in recent weeks is Premier League Champion Liverpool’s manager Jürgen Klopp.
A recent article detailing Klopp's transition into coaching outlined some of the key leadership characteristics that have led to the success he is experiencing as a manager.
Learning to Manage His Emotions
Klopp had more charisma than talent on the field and behaved like a coach away from it. “He understood tactics. He was intelligent,” said ex-Mainz striker Sven Demandt. “But when the game started, he was full of adrenaline…He was sometimes not so intelligent.”
Klopp had to learn that the emotions that helped him become a professional soccer player on the field were actually a detriment to his effectiveness in a coaching role.
Once leaders can learn to stay in the moment and not get too high or low given how the game is unfolding, it allows for observation and level-headed thinking to process effective critical decision making that is required in pressure situations.
Authenticity in Dealing with Players
“You feel comfortable around him,” said Helgi Kolvidsson, a former teammate now managing the national team of Liechtenstein. “If you see kids, they walk up to him and they feel comfortable, even though he’s a big guy. You could see it back then.”
The Germans have a word for it. Michael Zorc, who hired Klopp to manage Borussia Dortmund in 2008, called him a Menschenfänger—someone who captures people by his pure presence, a man that others feel compelled to follow.
The ability to make people feel comfortable around him helped allow Klopp to relate to players in a very genuine way that allowed him to transition from player directly to coach in a way few have done successfully before him.
Players are looking for leaders that are real and authentic, and it causes the team to get behind a leader they know has their best interests in mind.
High Standards for His Team
He was now Coach Kloppo. Strict, but not tyrannical. Explosive, but not unfair. And always dangling the carrot of a little more freedom for his players if they could just dig a little deeper…[Mainsz] was sitting near the bottom of the league when he took over. Half-professor, half-drill sergeant, he did it by urging his players to challenge everything they’d been taught about how to organize 11 men on a soccer field. Then he ran them into the ground.
Klopp couldn’t believe how quickly Mainz’s fortunes improved. The same group with the same skills that had stunk out the league was suddenly winning games. Tactics and training—nothing else—had made the difference.
A leader that holds their team to high standards must also hold themselves to high standards.
This can allow the current make up of any team to unleash the full potential that is possible with an alignment of the daily behaviors and actions of the team member with the standards set forth by the leader of the organization.
