The business world has long looked to the sporting arena to understand the mechanics of victory. From the rigorous discipline of the Olympic Games to the tactical chess matches of the NFL, the synergy between elite coaching and corporate leadership is more than a metaphor; it is a fundamental operational framework.

Success in both fields is rarely an accident. Instead, it is the result of highly-transferable psychological principles that turn a group of talented individuals into a cohesive unit.

It was this intersection that drove the recent High Performance Series webinar, where Employment Hero sat down with Greg Feek, assistant coach for the Blues rugby team, to talk leadership. With a 15-year coaching career spanning the All Blacks, Ireland and Japan, Feek offers a practitioner’s view that validates the sporting “canon” of leadership literature.

His insights mirror the philosophy found in James Kerr’s Legacy, which famously dissected the All Blacks’ culture to show that “better people make better All Blacks.” For Feek, high performance is not a complex strategy, but a commitment to the human beings behind the statistics.

“You first lay the foundations of what you stand for as a team… your players get buy-in.”

Foundations Built on People Not Posters

The core of Feek’s philosophy is deceptively simple: “know them before you can coach them.” In a corporate landscape often obsessed with data-driven KPIs, Feek argues that high performance is an individual endeavour before it is a collective one. He recalls an experience coaching an under-20s player who appeared unmotivated and unhappy. It was only after a 20-minute conversation that Feek identified the player’s personal “why,” a breakthrough that transformed the athlete’s performance on the field.

This human-centric approach is the antidote to the static mission statements that gather dust in boardrooms. Feek is critical of leadership that relies on “stuff on the wall” that fails to translate to daily behaviour. “I think it’s where you first lay the foundations of what you stand for as a team and the attributes required for that, and then your players get buy-in,” Feek says. At the Blues, this means celebrating people who live those values each week rather than merely reciting them.

This echoes the “Zen Master” of the NBA, Phil Jackson, who noted in Eleven Rings that “the most effective way to forge a winning team is to call on the players’ need to connect with something larger than themselves.” By meeting people where they are, leaders can lead them where they need to go.

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The Architecture of Tactical Clarity

If culture is the foundation, communication is the architecture. Feek introduces a “slow-mo” technique for leadership in high-pressure environments. When a business cycle becomes frantic, the natural instinct for a leader is to talk faster and move quicker, but this creates a “rushed environment” where staff become on edge. “I would pretend you’re in slow-mo, even talk slower and just make sure that you’re the one controlling the time,” Feek advises.

This tactical clarity extends to how information is cascaded through an organisation. Feek describes a structure used in elite rugby where leaders of small subgroups ensure every player is on the same page. This prevents the “comms breakdown” that he identifies as the primary issue in almost any underperforming organisation.

This level of detail aligns with the legendary NFL coach Bill Walsh. In The Score Takes Care of Itself, Walsh argues that if the “Standard of Performance” is high enough, if every person knows exactly how to execute their micro-tasks, the final result becomes an inevitable byproduct. Feek applies this through “hot reviews” and eight-minute touchpoints, preferring constant, small adjustments over long, daunting performance reviews. These touchpoints help manage employee anxiety because, as Feek notes, “they know what the problem is” rather than guessing in a vacuum.

“Don’t forget your bullseye. Enjoy what you do, love it.”

Sustaining Performance Through the Performance Dip

Maintaining elite output over a long career or a fiscal year requires a counterintuitive approach to effort. Feek expresses concern for environments that feel the need to have “work hard” plastered on the walls. “For me it’s about working smarter,” he says. “A lot of people actually overdo it.” In his view, the elite stand out because they are as disciplined about their recovery as they are about their work. He advocates for “Greg time,” scheduled windows of restoration that allow a leader to perform at their peak.

Feek also warns leaders about “working on the fringes,” or the inevitable performance dip that occurs when implementing change. Whether it is a golfer changing their swing or a small business adopting new software, there is a period where things look worse before they look better. The leader’s role is to remain the “thermostat” and not panic during the transition.

Ultimately, Feek believes the “essence” of high performance comes from a genuine love for the craft. He shares a story of a period in his career where he felt lost, until he looked at a dartboard in his garage and rediscovered his “bullseye.” This shift in his own enjoyment flowed onto his players, proving that a leader’s mindset is infectious. As the webinar concluded, Fe offered a final piece of advice that serves as a vital reminder for any business leader:

“Don’t forget your bullseye. Enjoy what you do, love it.”