Iceland traveled to France to compete in the European Football Championships. Iceland is the smallest nation ever to reach a major soccer tournament. On Sunday, they competed against the host nation in the quarterfinals. Everyone was shocked and surprised to see Iceland this far into the tournament. Everyone but Iceland! Their achievement was no fluke. Virtually all of the team made it to the finals of the Under 21 European Championship a few years ago.
Why? How did this nation of only 338,000 people achieve this amazing feat? It was the Plan. The Iceland Football Association and its leadership developed a plan for success in the 90s, but the plan really took shape after the Millennium and was showcased during their historic run at the tournament in France.
Iceland Football leadership developed a vision and then a plan to have a great football system focused on three primary areas.
- Coaching. Iceland invested heavily in a system to train coaches to secure the top licenses to teach and coach soccer at all age levels in the country. Today there are over 600 coaches in Iceland who have these top licenses.
- Facilities. You need facilities to practice and play year round. Today Iceland has brilliant facilities. The Iceland FA started to buy up land next to schools and build indoor football facilities up and down the country. The facilities are heated and open to all age groups. Each facility supports a Club that produces 3 levels of competition for all age groups. Each of these facilities are staffed by qualified and licensed coaches who continue to develop their knowledge and skill set.
- Youth development. Football in Iceland starts at an early age. It is common to see children come after school to the facilities and play soccer and have fun. Then the older kids from the same school come. They are the chosen generation of 6 to 11 year olds who receive more focused and disciplined coaching. They are the feeder system. At six in the evening the first team shows up for more intense practice and development. The system creates a lot of interaction with the entire community and the local football club. The first team competes nationally with other clubs and the best players are chosen to represent Iceland in competitions. Today there are over 200 Iceland players who play around the world for other clubs.
Iceland Football Association developed a vision and then a comprehensive plan to achieve the vision. Then they executed and stuck to it. I am sure they have made some modifications to their original plan, but the foundation was and is in place. Their efforts helped their national team make it to the Quarterfinals of Europe’s premier bi-annual football competition.
As a leader what can you learn from Team Iceland?
First, you need a vision for success for your business that your team will rally around and commit to. What is your vision for success? How committed is your team to help achieve it?
Second, you need a plan to execute your vision and you need to work the plan. I often see on my leaders’ bookshelves their strategic plans in three ring binders. I often ask how often do they refer to their plan and how are they measuring their success. The best leaders refer to it often and have a specific dashboard to measure success.
Lastly, as a leader you need to be passionate and relentless on the execution of the plan. Make adjustments as time evolves, but stick to the basic premise of your plan as long as your measurements continue to demonstrate success.
Building and sustaining success takes time. It also takes commitment to execute and stick to the basic premise of the plan. Iceland had a vision and plan! They executed and stuck to it and look what they have achieved!
I love it when there is a plan, a relentless focus on execution of the plan and sustaining results over time. What is your plan? How committed are you and your team to the plan? How are you executing on it?