The New-Team Takeover Playbook
Change a team's direction fast by reading players, not rebuilding skills
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 78%
Jones argues that fast turnarounds are almost never about acquiring new skills — nobody learns a new move in a week. They come from communication: reframing roles, building confidence, and giving players security and responsibility. His playbook, drawn from supply-teaching the toughest classes, starts by quickly sorting the group. Difficult players are engaged individually by discovering what they truly value — the ostentatious ones are often the most insecure and want to feel important. Driven players are given roles and ownership that improve their own game. Throughout, the leader must demonstrate both competence (I can improve you) and care (I'm invested in you). Rather than imposing a wholesale new system, Jones identifies what the team already does well, leads with that strength, and then paints a vivid picture of where they could go — all inside a training environment engaging enough that people want to show up.
Origin
Jones traces the method to his early years as a supply teacher in England, handed the most difficult year-nine classes. He learned to rapidly identify who would be hard, who would help, and how to make the content compelling — then applied the same read-and-relate approach on taking over the England side in 2015.
Core principles
- 01You rarely change skills quickly; you change communication, framing and confidence
- 02Difficult players are difficult for a reason — usually because they're valuable
- 03Players need to know two things: that you can improve them and that you care
- 04Build on the team's existing strengths before selling a bigger vision
How to run it
- 1
Sort the room fast
Quickly work out which players you need but who may be difficult, and which driven players are with you from the start. With limited time, this triage comes first.
Pro tip You often have only days before the first real test — get on your horse and read people quickly.
- 2
Decode the difficult ones
Difficult players are usually either high performers or people you need to move on. For the high performers, find what they truly value and what drives them, then build a relationship around it.
Pro tip The most out-there, ostentatious players are often the most insecure — make them feel important and needed.
Watch out Don't treat 'difficult' as a character flaw to suppress; it's usually a signal of a valuable player with unmet needs.
- 3
Give the driven ones ownership
For self-motivated players, hand them roles and responsibility they believe will improve their game, so they take ownership and drive the team forward.
- 4
Prove competence and care
Demonstrate both things every player needs: that you have the knowledge to improve them, and that you genuinely care about them. Driven players especially want proof you can take the team forward.
Watch out Skip either half and you lose them — knowledge without care feels cold; care without knowledge feels hollow.
- 5
Lead with existing strengths, then sell the vision
Identify what the team already does well and build on it first, then paint a clear picture of where they could go. Wrap it all in a training programme engaging enough that players want to be there.
Pro tip With England, Jones leaned on their existing defensive and set-piece strength before extending the ambition.
In the wild
Haskell was a muscular player who'd never really performed for England. Jones, who'd met him socially, understood he wanted to be loved and valued. So on arrival he told Haskell he'd be important to the team, likely the starting seven for the Six Nations, and asked him to do one or two specific things. Haskell immediately felt good and wanted to be part of the team.
→ A previously underperforming, 'difficult' player was engaged fast by meeting his real need to feel important.
Taking over England in 2015 with only five days before a game, Jones didn't try to rebuild the squad's skills. He identified that England had always been a strong defensive and set-piece team, focused first on what they were already good at, and then gave them a picture of where they could go from there.
→ A fast change of direction achieved through framing and confidence rather than new skills.
Common mistakes
Trying to change skills instead of communication
Believing a fast turnaround means teaching new abilities. Players can't acquire new skills in a week; what changes quickly is how their roles are framed and how secure and confident they feel.
Suppressing difficult players
Treating difficult, ostentatious players as problems to control rather than valuable people with unmet needs wastes your best assets and loses the dressing room.
Is it for you?
Best for
Any leader taking over an established team or organisation and needing an early change of direction.
Not ideal for
Long-tenured leaders making incremental adjustments rather than establishing themselves cold.
From the transcript
“you've got to try to find the players who you think you need, but maybe you're gonna be difficult, and find a way to establish…”
“the players want to know two things from the coach. Firstly, that they can improve them, and secondly, that they care about them”
“I just focused on what they were good at previously, and then gave them a picture of where we could go potentially”
From the episode
Lessons In Elite Leadership - Eddie Jones - #411
Eddie Jones