Setting a theme can define your mission

Your ’Kaupapa’

Without a stated objective, you don’t know if you are getting anywhere. The theme helps define what is called your ’Why?’ - or, in Māori culture, your ’Kaupapa’.

Applying this to our 2017 Super Rugby campaign, we used Muhammad Ali first. He provided timeframes between fights. 

Then in 2018, since we had won in 2017, we were looking for back-to-back themes. We partnered with Melbourne Storm, an Australian Rugby League side, who had the same conceptual relevance of trying to win a title the following year.

We also took on the theme of a storm. We talked about how it builds. 

Each day we nominated a player for ’effort of the day’. Their prize was a weather station, because we said their performance had that ability to understand the weather.

At the end of the year, we got it mounted and it turned into this grandiose trophy. It all backed up, matched and mirrored on itself.

The goal is never the end

Crucially, the goal is not the end of the story.

With Everest, the goal is not necessarily just about getting to the summit - it is about the performance along the way.

You have to understand the intricacies of the climb, the challenges, the moments. We should ask ourselves: "Did what we did today help us climb this mountain?".

Factors out of our control can prevent success. Some of the best-prepared missions to climb a mountain are thwarted by the weather or injury. It is the same in rugby.

The themes are about your effort and your intent. It is not about your outcome. It might provide the outcome but, realistically, it’s the inspirational aspects of that climb.

We know where we need to concentrate our energy the most. In the case of Everest, it’s the last ascent where the air is thinnest. At base camp, we’re preparing for that climb. 

Each stage is where we have a mission. 

For example, we used the Muhammad Ali and boxing analogy when we played the Chiefs, the Super Rugby franchise in Hamilton.

Their crowd is very noisy and loves to ring cowbells. We said we wanted to silence the bells. 

"Without a stated objective, you don’t know if you are getting anywhere..."

If you apply enough pressure, eventually, they either shut up, or you are so intent on applying that pressure you don’t hear the bells.

A legacy theme changed our thinking

There was an exciting outcome from our 2021 season. We were facing the challenge of trying to win five consecutive titles. 

We started talking about our legacy. We talked about a trademark being attached to a company and wanted a meaningful trademark for our management and coaching group.

With 25 people in the exercise, we defined our trademark as ’a highly collaborative group of experts who care deeply for the team’. We presented this in our next management meeting, and, while it was agreed on, we had a moment of clarity.

How can we say we care deeply for the team when all of us care in different ways? How can we say we are highly collaborative when we haven’t even checked if we are? How can we call ourselves a group of experts when in the room we said: "We’re not all experts, though we might provide expertise"?

We split off into subgroups and, after five weeks, presented exactly the same trademark, saying: This is what we will hear, this is what we will see and this is what we will feel, if we care. And, if we collaborate, this is what we will see, hear and feel.

That was then our trademark because, in all our actions and behaviours, we can think, "Is that about care?". If it wasn’t, we need to amend that action or behaviour.

For example, if you tell your players they must work harder, have you, to that point, inspired the players to put in more effort? 

Using language is not about ticking a box. If it isn’t authentic, there is no point in having the word on a sign or in a trademark.

Shane is a tutor on Crusaders’ Leadership Programme. The intense three-week course gives you a crucial insight into how the world’s most successful club team functions, with interviews and live sessions with their top coaching staff. To find out more, and enjoy an exclusive RCW subscriber discount, CLICK HERE