– An unresolved conflict can further hamper the national team – VG

– I hope and believe that Lagerbäck spends time cleaning up the situation in which they have found themselves. If not, it will keep raining. An unresolved conflict may further hamper the national team, says Frode Heldal, associate professor at NTNU’s Norwegian School of Management.

– If Lars Lagerbäck does not clean up quickly, he is in danger of “losing his dressing room”, as it is called in football parlance.

Therefore, he thinks it is important how Lars Lagerbäck manages to put this dead ball. And that the way Alexander Sørloth was implemented may not have been the best:

– In high performing groups like this one, it is important that disagreements and alternative understandings arise and emerge. Let people say no. The kind of reprimand we see here shows the rest of the team that the smartest thing to do is to shut up. It can have great symbolic meaning, Heldal says.

VG wrote on Saturday about the dispute between RB Leipzig striker Alexander Sørloth and assistant national team coach Per Joar Hansen in connection with the Northern Ireland match. On Wednesday, VG was able to reveal more details about the prelude to the same meeting, which is described as heated and with strong exchanges between Sørloth and the manager of the national team at Thon Hotel Storo in Oslo. Then came Lars Lagerbäck with his version of Thursday.

Allowed to make mistakes

– High energy is basically positive. In this type of group, you have to “smoke and fly” a bit, it’s part of the game. In reality, leadership in these groups may be more about nurturing this energy than taking its life. Heldal thinks that as a reprimand it will contribute, but adds:

– At the same time, Lagerbäck is and must be allowed to make mistakes, and showing his vulnerability and humanity as he does now can strengthen relationships. But they must take the time to deal with this and interpret it into something constructive.

It can get worse

Heldal emphasizes that he only knows about the case through the media, but sees the revelations in VG as a sign that others in the environment of the national team have reacted to what happened during the last match and that is why it came to light.

– We do not know much about what happened, but in any case it cannot continue, because then it can get worse.

Even Bolstad, Managing Director of HR Norway, sees it the same way:

– What happens next becomes important. If the group experiences that they have really fought and that Sørloth is not punished for commenting, this can strengthen trust, unity and the climate of expression. And quite the opposite.

– At the same time, this is a golden opportunity to work with form. If the sentences have a constructive form, they are gold. If you don’t learn and a destructive feedback culture develops, it’s poisonous, says Even Bolstad, who nonetheless believes such conflicts are “fundamentally positive.”

– It shows that it is high under the ceiling. Let people be encouraged to present those views.

Personal criticism

– Many leaders probably recognize themselves in the situation of Lars Lagerbäck. You probably know it in your stomach region when something you’ve put into as much as Lagerbäck has, and it becomes a personal criticism.

– Then came the statement about Sørloth and the boom in the Cyprus party?

– Yes, there was something that escaped him, and Lagerbäck probably more than anyone wanted it not said. But Lagerbäck shows human traits. I think many will recognize themselves in that situation. It is part of the cost of having a feedback culture in an action group, says Bolstad, and refers to what has happened as a possible germ of “hot conflict” where it is no longer a case, but a person and it is to carry the man instead of the ball.

– At the same time, Sørloth shows that he can have leadership qualities that the national team, with Lagerbäck and Perry Hansen, can use, believes Bolstad.

Admit conflict

Magne Lerø, Dagens Perspektiv editor and management expert, believes that Lars Lagerbäck has addressed the conflict in a good way by coming out with his version on Thursday.

– By daring, being open and admitting a conflict, you leave things behind faster, Lerø tells VG.

– This is an example of a wise decision by a leader, who admits and is open about something that is really internal.

Lerø says silence is the usual way to approach these matters.

– There is respect for the way Lagerbäck does this. He admits that “yes, we had a round and we are done.” He felt that he had to go out and confirm the conflict and propose his version. It’s better to admit it than to let the case become unmanageable.

– Lagerbäck has a bit of a grandfather profile in the way he acts. You get respect when you choose how to approach this. I don’t think I have lost anything with that. We know that there are internal tensions and that this got a bit out of control, and when such conflicts occur, everyone says things that they later understand that they should not have said. Even someone like Lagerbäck, who tends to be calm, can say things that are not wise. Then it cleans up and moves on.