Whether it's in the boardroom or on the sports field, being a manager is never easy.

Just ask Tom Higgins. The recent winner of the Canadian Football League's coach-of-the-year award says leading a team in football is the same as leading one in business - it all comes down to some simple skills. The head coach of the Calgary Stampeders is the first Calgary coach to win the honour since Wally Buono - now toiling on the sidelines for the B.C. Lions - took home the award in 1993.

Higgins beat out Toronto Argonauts' Michael "Pinball" Clemons and the Edmonton Eskimos' Danny Maciocia for the award, pulling the Stamps from a dismal 4-14 win-loss record in 2004 to 11-7 and second place in the Western Division in 2005.

But Higgins says good coaching skills aren't really about sports - they apply to every aspect of life.

Kyle Clapham photo, courtesy of Calgary Stampeders
Tom Higgins made a dramatic impact on the Calgary Stampeders in his first year as head coach of the CFL club.

"I believe what it takes to be successful in sport, particularly football, is exactly what it takes to succeed in any other facet," he says. "You have to build an organization or find individuals that care and can be trusted, and are committed to excellence ... You find that, then you've got a chance, no matter what business you're going into."

The trick, Higgins says, is dealing with people. "Every person's a little bit different. Try to understand what makes people tick ... what else is it that makes them who they are?" The moment that they start to know you are interested in them, beyond them simply being productive, "then they realize that you care."

That caring can create a genuine team feeling, similar to being part of a family. "You love them," Higgins says of his co-workers and players. "There are no other hidden agendas other than their well being."

Theresa Beenken, vice-president of the National Speaker's Bureau, which co-ordinates speaking engagements for more than 1,000 of Canada's motivational speakers, says there are clear connections between sports and business.

The discipline it takes to get something done, or setting a goal and taking steps to reach it, or having a great team around you are all elements that can relate to what happens in the business world, she adds.

Being surrounded by a great team, whether on the playing field or at work, can be a key factor in an organization's success. "So a lot of those kinds of elements relate to what happens in the business world," Beenken adds.

Jeff Pilon, a six-year veteran with the Stamps, says Higgins creates a naturally motivated workplace.

"Just the way he goes about his everyday life, and the way he acts" pays dividends in the locker room, Pilon says. "There isn't anything negative. If anything is said that's negative, he always follows it up with a positive."

Maciocia, head coach of this year's Grey Cup champion Eskimos and runner-up for coach-of-the-year honours, credits his team's focus for their success.

"During the course of the season, we faced some adversity. But we had certain objectives in place, we had a vision and we kept our course," he says.

Wally Buono

That vision?

"We were going to help build the ship, and we were going to sail it. We weren't going to let anybody on our ship for the most part. And it was extremely important that we supported one another and we looked after each other's back."

Treating the team as family is key - whether in motivation or in handling conflict, he adds.

And while you can't pick your family, you have more influence in choosing the people with whom you work.

"Your success is based on the people that you surround yourself with," Higgins says. "Surround yourself with people that are extremely competent. And then empower them. Let them do their job, and don't micro-manage. Just let everything just flow."

Maciocia says honesty is one of the reasons his players feel they can approach him. "I will always give people the right time of day and not mislead (them). Because at the end of the day I think people know the truth, and when they know that you're misleading them, eventually it'll catch up to you and it can hurt you."

Meanwhile, the Lions' Buono has proven to be consistently successful, no matter which organization he's headed. He attributes his strong record to his ability to attract, retain and find good people, skills he calls "a tremendous key to anybody's success - whether it's sports (or) business."

Buono says it's easy to draw parallels between sports and business, and suggests athletes and coaches would make great business people.

He says athletes are highly motivated, self-sufficient, and understand commitment, hard work, and self-denial - all skills that are valuable assets in the workplace.

In business, he says, "You don't always make the deal.

Danny Maciocia

You don't always get the promotion. You don't always get what you want. But can you keep that attitude of being competitive, being motivated, being productive, and being a team person?" A good leader must also be trustworthy, Higgins says, but earning trust is a gradual process.

"You only build on what you have one day at a time," he notes. "First you've got to say what you would like, mean what you say, and then follow through with it ... and that's done daily. And how you get to build trust is to then have little successes every time."

For Higgins, being part of any organization is much bigger than just a job - it's about life lessons. "I believe everybody's a coach," he says. "I believe that we continue to teach and to create values for anybody that we come across."

He adds he only has one goal in life, the only one "real business goal that there should ever be" - and that is constant improvement.

"Either you get better, or you get worse," he says simply. "Nothing ever remains the same. So each and every day you make a choice - to get better. And so this is my day to get better."

(Nicole Strandlund can be reached at nicole@businessedge.ca)