In February 2003 the Swiss yacht Alinghi skippered by Russell Coutts and financed by Swiss pharmaceutical billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli convincingly beat the New Zealand defender of the America’s Cup 5 – 0 to win the Auld Mug and take it to Europe for the first time in 152 years. Team New Zealand had won the cup in San Diego in 1995 and was thought to have had no trouble defending it for a second time with superior technology, design and local knowledge. The Swiss victory was all the more remarkable in being a first time challenger, starting from scratch with a multi national crew representing fifteen nationalities. What was the Alinghi secret of success and what are the lessons for school management?

The similarities and parallels are patently obvious. Alinghi started the campaign with a very clear vision; they knew what their core purpose was and they didn’t get diverted from it. Their vision was to win the Louis Vuitton Cup (winner of the challenger series) and then move on to the finals against Team New Zealand for the America’s Cup.

They had strong leadership. The afterguard of the boat consisted of Russell Coutts (twice winner of the America’s Cup and Olympic gold medallist), Jochen Schumann (four times Olympic Games medallist) and Ernesto Bertarelli, the navigator and syndicate backer to the tune of NZ $120 million. With the strong vision to win the cup, Bertarelli assembled the best leadership he could both on the water and on the shore.

He also assembled the best team he could with sailors, designers, and shore crew from 15 different countries. Through the vision and leadership and with good support, plant and structures he was able to meld this group of individuals into a formidable winning team, harnessing everybody’s individual strengths into the common good.

Through a strong programme of self review and self reflection every aspect of team organization and boat testing was checked and analysed with close attention to detail. If the small things were right, the big things would be right.

The quality of the planning and the preparation over the three year period was of highest order. Nothing was assumed or left to chance. The Alinghi Syndicate showed a real commitment to excellence and set high standards and expectations. Through the extensive testing and self review programme they embarked on a programme of continuous improvement to the yacht design and sail programme.

Although a well funded campaign, it wasn’t lavish but the standards of the Italian Prada Syndicate or Larry Ellison’s Oracle campaign. The Alinghi campaign was extremely efficient and reeked of professionalism about every aspect of their challenge. At all times they presented with honesty about what they were doing and with positivity about their boat, their progress and their chances.

Alinghi won 22 races out of 25 races in the challenger series and 5 – 0 in the final, completing all races without mishap or gear breakage (Team New Zealand failed to finish two races out of five due to gear breakage).

Without labouring the point too much, what Alinghi demonstrated was all the attributes that we may collectively describe as good management practices, all of which are directly applicable to schools and school management. Both the anectdotal and research evidence of successful schools is that they have strong leadership, a clearly articulated vision and a commitment to excellence, to continuous improvement and to high standards and expectations. Successful schools will have strong staff, good support and structures in place, and a strong self review programme and encouragement of self reflection as part of a systematic planning and preparation emphasis.

Successful schools will be characterized by a strong sense of professionalism, honesty, excitement and positivity. The leadership will be dynamic, risk taking and charismatic. Good staff, support systems and physical plant and resources will be actively sought out and fought for. The continuous improvement cycle will see new sail development tried, keel sizes swapped, alterations made to the bow shape and sometimes staff changes made in critical areas.

The Alinghi success stirred uncharacteristic bitterness and resentment in New Zealand but the talkback mentality was overcome by a consensus that Team New Zealand was beaten by a better boat, with better crew, better preparation and better resourcing. The challenge now for Team New Zealand is to acknowledge the successful aspects of the Alinghi campaign and set out to emulate them, to self reflect on the strengths and failings of the last campaign and to set new goals for the future.

Similarly, schools shouldn’t be bitter or resentful of successful schools but set out to identify what makes them successful, and adopt the Alinghi model of school management. While we won’t all win our America’s Cup, we can all strive to at least be in the contest and compete with our own model of school excellence, with strong crew, good systems and positive outcomes.