Building up business the Saracens way

One of the most demanding, frustrating, eye-opening and joyous relationships of my life has been with Nigel Wray and my second family at Saracens Rugby Club, where I have been a director for some 25 years. I have learnt, and continue to learn, so much about how a dysfunctional group can, given time and genuine care, pivot to operating at the highest levels of this wonderful sport of rugby – some now acclaiming Saracens as the most successful rugby club of all time. Spotting parallels  Sport can often be so very similar to business. At our home ground you will see the words “Honesty, Discipline, Work Rate and Humility” painted large on the walls – a concept not dreamt up by some highly-paid motivational psychologist, but by the players themselves. One of our mantras is: “Treat players really well and in return they will do their very best for you,” and it really seems to work. We help players develop their talents way beyond rugby, preparing them for their futures when they no longer play. For many this support begins when they join us as youngsters at our academy. Academy graduates represent more than 50% of our professional playing squad, who in turn provide one third of the England national team. Investing in people It’s a crucial part of what we do. We achieve this through education, career development, genuine co-investment and putting huge amounts of time and effort into not just the welfare of players, but their partners and families, too.  Compare this to your workplace. Does your employer care about anything except your output? Do you think you have more to give to your business if your employer invests more care in your welfare? Our players have real longevity with the club and rarely move because they care about each other. These guys will bust a gut not for money, but for each other and their Saracens family.  Saracens have won eight out of the last 11 available Premiership and European Champions titles, competing against teams sometimes paying double their salaries. Observing the transition over 25 years from the awful to the sublime, I have learnt that when a group of like-minded, humble, decent people come together and are looked after, respected and genuinely cared for, that group is capable of extraordinary things. We have always profoundly believed that paying someone fairly is but one element of getting the best out of people, but alone it will never guarantee success. So can the workplace be similar to what we constantly strive to create at Saracens? Different attitude For some it may sound like wishy-washy rubbish, but there is ample evidence that it seems to work, even on battle hardened, macho rugby players. The day we started hearing our players – big, burly gladiators – talking about their love for each other, it was incredible because we knew something special was taking shape.   When Saracens came back in the dramatic last periods of the recent European and Premiership Cup finals, it wasn’t money that made them dig to the bottom of their souls to find the strength to win. It was their love for one another, and their collective ambition not to let anyone down. Our critics say our success is because we pay the most – a claim we have consistently refuted. As we have seen in multiple other sports, money alone can never buy the levels of sustained success enjoyed by this club.  Team building requires focus not just on the collective output, but the individuals generating that output. Countless times I have heard coaches say that winning is a by-product of getting all the other bits right. Is that not the same in business? Happy people generally make for better, more sustainable long-term businesses. Lessons to learn I am so proud to be part of this unique Saracens family, but we never believe we are close to the finished product and are constantly looking at how we can improve.  I wonder how many reading this article are similarly proud of the company for which they work. Does your employer encourage you to be your best self, not just at work, but in life?   I urge employers just to give the Saracens way a go. Given a bit of time, the benefits may very well surprise you. They certainly did me. Nick Leslau, chairman and chief executive of Prestbury Investment Holdings and chairman of Prestbury Investments