Jayne Ludlow: Prioritising people over planning and processes

Technical Directors should make recruiting 'good people' a priority over planning and process says Jayne Ludlow, Manchester City Girls' Academy Technical Director and FIFA Technical Leadership expert.  

"People for me are a priority," explains Ludlow. "Because your processes and your plan can be great but it's not going to translate unless you put the right people on the ground to do the work and bring it to life." 

For Ludlow, the 'right' people are those who want to learn and who want to help other people.  "One of the things that enthuses me in life is learning and I'm desperate to ensure that the environment that we're creating at the club is a learning culture. 

"To do that, the people who enter into that environment have to have that growth mindset, curiosity and enthusiasm to want to learn. That's the main one for me." 

When recruiting staff, Ludlow believes that the fundamental characteristics of an individual are more important than their technical and process knowledge.  

"Obviously, you can add in technical knowledge," says Ludlow. "But that comes below the importance of having good people. We can get people to learn the technical information, we can provide an environment where they can learn all the material they need. But from deep within, what are their drivers as an individual? What are their motivators? We want them to be good learners and want to help others." 

Understanding future generations  

One aspect of learning Ludlow wants her staff to be curious and enthusiastic about is the mindset and attitudes of the current and future generations of players. "I want to understand the generation that i'm working with right now. It's important to acknowledge that life and the world is different for these kids.  

"A big priority of ours is ensuring that we understand those young people so that we facilitate learning but also give them the enthusiasm for the game that any generation would have had through the years." 

Ludlow wants her staff to be aware that the competition for young people's attention is growing and more must be understood about the society in which they operate.  

"The opportunities they have are different than when I was young and the things that interest them are different. So, one of our challenges is how does football compete with certain other things in their life? To be able to do that you've got to know people, trust them and learn about what the motivators and drivers are for those young people. 

"Right now, I don't know all the answers. But again, I have a fantastic opportunity because I'm in a club environment where there are people researching that." 

Creating a bespoke environment for Manchester City Girls' Academy  

Recruiting curious staff with a growth mindset, as well as learning more about the motivations of young people, is all part of the plan to create a bespoke environment for Manchester City Girls' academy, explains Ludlow.  

"We want to be a bespoke environment. We can't just replicate the boys' academy system. There's lots of reasons why we can't do that, for example: the needs of young females in comparison to young males. To help us with this, our aim is to be an environment that is constantly monitoring, evaluating and making the right decisions based on what our context is.  

"It's the same as the work of Technical Directors in different countries. One country cannot replicate the long-term development plan of another. It doesn't work like that, it must be bespoke."  

Ludlow is very grateful of the support and resource on offer at the club but is quick to stress that the female side of the club's operation is in a much less 'mature' state than the men's side of the game.  

"We're a successful club and a successful brand and hopefully that continues. But when you relate it to the female game, the academy is in a much more immature state. But, I think that's a positive thing. There is a huge amount of growth to happen.  

"And for us as a club, as a business, there's a long-term strategy there. It's very much a long-term thought process and wanting to ensure sustainability in the future. But the end goal is to make sure that there's Manchester kids coming through our system and flourishing."