He is particularly interested in those qualities that make for good leadership frequently looking for correlations between business and sport. His website is www.dnapeople.co.uk. On 3 March after the Derby game he analysed the leadership qualities of Sean Dyche.

     ‘With a league record of P33 W18 D12 L3, Burnley has sustained a placed in the Championship’s top three since September. It’s a tight-knit squad and Burnley have used the smallest number of players in the division with only 18 starting league games. While the squad is small, manager Sean Dyche believes their togetherness and group mentality will play a massive part in their ability to compete for promotion.

     What Dyche doesn’t state is the significant impact he has had on the squad, with just one player added for a fee to the team that finished last 14^th last season, conceding 1.3 goals per game. This time round, the team has let in just 26 goals in 33 games to date, and just for good measure, last season’s top scorer Charlie Austin left for QPR for £4million four days before the season started. The Turf Moor crowd have given Dyche the accolade ‘Ginger Mourinho’ although he is known not to like this tribute.

     Sean Dyche played a total of 460 football league games. Perhaps his most famous game was an FA Cup semi-final against Middlesbrough, when Middlesbrough won despite Chesterfield scoring a legitimate goal that was over the line, but the referee decreed it hadn’t. It robbed Chesterfield of a Cup Final appearance as they lost the replay 0-3.

     Dyche won promotion with four clubs as a player, maybe this time as a manager. He is developing his own clear style. There have been tracksuit-class tyrants such as former boss Brian Clough, urbane intellectuals like Arsene Wenger, and egocentrics such as Mourhino with a polyglot sophistication and a touch for the theatrical.

     Sean Dyche is methodical inn his trade, articulate and intelligent in his analysis and communication, respectful to the opposition and has an enthusiasm for research with a learner’s mentality; all this being a powerful combination for an effective manager. Having studied his interviews, watched him closely at home and away matches, and assessed his impact at Burnley, here are my thoughts on Dyche’s management principles we can take into business.

     A balanced management team: Ian Woan, Tony Loughlan, Billy mercer and Mark Howard are all different. That situation makes for a good process because if everyone gives the same answers, or you have yes-men, then you never get a better outcome. Dyche uses his management team proactively on matchdays. They are as animated and engaged as he, he works closely on the touchline with his team, constantly observing, pointing out and engaging with them to highlight areas for improvement. Attention to detail and in the moment creates a focus.

     Dyche says: All give a different opinion and we’ve all got different ideas whether it’s training, planning, team preparation, or on players. So we all throw them about as wisely as we can. Then, of course, it’s up to me to make the end decision, but it’s nice to have that support system of a staff that is very honest and very open with their opinions, in order to get the best outcome we can.

     Who cares wins: There is no denying the phenomenal passion that Dyche has for football and for Burnley. It’s a simple truth but one that is often forgotten; the very best leaders care deeply about what they do. Apple founder Steve Jobs said, ‘The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work and the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

     Maximum effort is the minimum requirement: Dyche has transformed the clarets into a well-respected side as a result of a high-performance cocktail of an ultra-dedicated backroom team, meticulous planning, and a team willing to go that extra yard with one of Dyche’s favourite sayings as their backbone maximum effort is the minimum requirement. From that you can see the organisation, commitment, spirit and determination that makes the whole much greater than the sum of its parts.  

     Dyche said: I had a chat with each of them individually and made it clear what I wanted. The demands were laid out openly. It was about mentality, fitness levels, how we were going to play as a team and how each individual was going to contribute. I want to believe it is possible. I always trust my work.

     Connect with individuals: Dyche consciously takes time to connect with every member of his organisation as individuals, from first team players to office staff, to get to know them personally and understand their different drives and ambitions. This enables him to judge the true mood of the group and tailor his communication to each person individually. Dyche has personally mentored and supported a number of players this season who have transformed their performances so that they are having the best season of their career – Sam Vokes, Keith Treacy and Scott Arfield are the obvious picks in an over-achieving team.  

     Dyche has a sense of purpose and determination derived from his passion but with a deep vein of humanity, treating people with genuine interest. I watched a video of him in a training session. He was encouraging Keith Treacy, watching him closely. Treacy stuck at it – Decent Keith decent! Encouraged Dyche followed by a celebratory cry of Champagne! Accolade as Treacy produced an outstanding piece of skill. As Treacy acclaims, Dyche is capable of connecting with you individually and changing your mentality.

     Be the man that makes the difference: another of Dyche’s sayings that resonates. His shaven-headed, physically imposing presence belies a sophisticated approach to the game. I know how to treat injured players. I don’t go in and say, ‘are you fit yet? That’s acid. You don’t want to hear that from a manager. I just say, ‘How are you feeling/ Keep going.’

     ‘Our players don’t walk off the coach with their headphones around their neck. They are smart in and out of the building. I’m a humble lad with good morals from my parents. Work hard. If you have to clean the floor, make it the cleanest floor ever.’

     More than anything, it seems Dyche’s greatest talent is selling his players on the importance of putting the team before the individual as a core responsibility. He’s got the remarkable ability to merge individual talent as a team rather than being dazzled by individual brilliance.

     Strong at home, strong at work: This communicates a man with strong attachment to his family. I have no doubt he is a great father, husband and brother as much as he is a great manager. There is no point being successful everywhere else and failing to be a hero to your own family. A strong family builds a good strong support structure and ensures a stable and focused mind. Dyche often talks about his brothers and his family ethic.

     This underpins Dyche’s broader model of man-management that shuns the old-school approach of haranguing people to bad performance and instead treats his team as an extension of his family. The loyalty and devotion he shows to his players is met in kind. He is a master at instilling belief into those he himself believes in. People talk about transformational leadership. Dyche portrays a confident leader, whether or not he’s actually feeling pressurised, able to make a difference to a situation.

     Open Mindedness: Dyche attributes Burnley’s success to open-mindedness and freeing his side from fear. He has made open-mindedness a mantra encouraging it from his players and employing the term frequently at press conferences. Once they have done the basics, they have the freedom to play. They are encouraged to do that and it enhances what they can offer as individuals. I think these players can achieve whatever they want to. It’s about being open-minded. They know they’re organised. They know they’re fit enough and it allows them that mental clarity to go for the performances.

     If you don’t believe in yourself, you should not expect others to believe in you. You have to trust your own decisions and have faith in your abilities. Often, self-confidence is misconstrued for arrogance, an overbearing, excessive opinion of one’s self. Dyche’s approach is about valuing and respecting your own perspective and being the best you can be.

     Pride: When Dyche took the job, he said, ‘They asked me what the thing was I remembered most about Burnley after playing here. I noticed there were always Burnley shirts around the town. You would drive through the town and there would be shirts everywhere. There is an obvious connection between people and the club. It’s a good old-fashioned trait that the people genuinely support the club. Dyche has used the bond ‘our town, our team, our turf,’ to build a strong connection between the team and the fans, a sense of responsibility that the team has for wearing the shirt and representing the town and the fans. It’s become tribal.

     Perhaps one of the worst impacts of the economic downturn has been the growing tendency tp pass the buck, managers attempting to safeguard or promote their own ambitions, ahead of the wider goals of their team or the company they work for. For Dyche, it’s all ab out the team and there is no question that he inspires fierce devotion in his players. In many ways his large but understated persona ensures that he is a dominant figure. He takes the pressure off his team as he becomes a bigger focus than the players.

     At a time when many managers are loathe going beyond the corporate soundbite, the power of a genuine, passionate and honest figurehead should not be underestimated.

     Winning is a mentality: It’s a great feeling when you look into their faces in the tunnel before kick-off and know how hard they are going to go to win. I was promoted four times with four different clubs and that same level of respect and honesty was there each time. I can feel that with these Burnley players. It’s not about the money. It’s about the glory of winning.

     You should not be OK with average. As Michelangelo says, ‘Our biggest tragedy is that we set low goals and achieve them.

     Learner’s mentality: I tell the players I’ve had my time as a player but now I have a chance of making you better. My job is to guide them. For my pro-licence I went and studied the Oxford University Boat crew and I used snippets from there to inspire my players. I got down to the boathouse at 5.45am and the lads were there. They have these ergo rowing machines set up facing a wall. Written in chalk is ‘Boat race’ with the start time and date. They all face that. I loved that. These rowers want to be part of history. They don’t get money. In the Oxford boathouse there’s this meeting room with massive boards all the way round containing the names of all the people who have been in the boat. They are desperate to get on there. I’ve said to the players. Burnley is a founder member of the Football League, a heritage to respect. You can make your own Burnley history this year. Be relentless; be limitless in your performance.

     Ask me the secret of Dyche’s success so far this season and I will say it’s his honesty, sim0plicityb in his communication and the empathy he has for his players. Last season 79 points won Hull promotion. Today Burnley already has 66 points from 33 games with 13 remaining. April sees the centenary of Burnley’s 1914 FA Cup Final win, our only cup win. What a double celebration we could have!

1.     Our town, our turf, our team, our time – with Dyche’s management getting us there

2.   Maximum effort is the minimum requirement.

3.   Be the man that makes the difference.

4.   Be relentless, be limitless.

(Reproduced by kind permission of Ian Brookes)

  A feature in the Watford programme of April 5 also focused on Sean Dyche.         

     ‘Dare to mention that it’s been a successful season for Burnley and you get short shrift from Sean Dyche, a master of pragmatism and expert chooser of the right words for the right occasion.    A glance at the Championship table right now shows the extent of the Claret’s achievements under the former Watford boss.                

     Nine points clear of third-place Queen’s Park Rangers with seven games to go should be cause for celebration in itself, but, understandably, having got so close, Dyche is hell bent on the focus of finishing the job before the champagne corks start popping inn a certain pocket of East Lancashire.       

     Turf Moor lost its seemingly impregnable status when leaders Leicester City, whom Burnley could have overhauled had they engineered a two-goal victory, won against a Clarets’ squad having to cope with the challenge of losing their two 20-goal strikers to injury as well as their crosser-in-chief Kieran Trippier plus midfield dynamo Dean Marney. It would have been a tough ask for a fully-fit Burnley squad, such is its paper thin nature, to have coped with a rampant Foxes, but Dyche remained ebullient after the game, and with every justification.     

     Speaking for this interview in the week leading up to that match, he explained the philosophies that have helped steer the Lancashire club to the brink of a return to the Premier League.

     ‘It’s the job of a manager to align mindsets and get everyone focused in working towards the same aim, and the same direction,’ he said. ‘There’s certain challenges that face every club and every manager and it’s my approach not to hide those away but to deal with the realities of the situation, so we’ve had a good season with relative success so far, built on good foundations.’

     Belief, self-belief, more specifically, is a trait Dyche highlights as essential. During his year at the Hornet’s helm, he says it was brought home to him in the starkest manner just what a vital component it was in the tough, tough world of football management.

     ‘It’s an invaluable commodity, a strong belief structure,’ explained the 42-year old. ‘Half the previous season’s goals had left the building when I took the job at Watford; there was a tiny group left but a very good group of players. After 13games I knew I was adapting very well because there was an element of people that wanted me out. That made me realise that the biggest reality in football is that a sense of perspective is hard to keep by your side all the time. That’s not just in football, by the way, but in life in general I think. Belief is a constant for me; it’s not a temporary structure. Opinion will come and go, but my self-belief is steadfast. I think people believed in my honesty, and we were able to change or flex that perception of reality in our favour, to soften it from the black and white images that sometimes get painted in people’s minds.’

     Eighteen months Dyche has been at Turf Moor and hasn’t found himself in a similar situation. The Burnley squad pound-for-pound, is arguably laden with more talent than the Watford over-achievers of 2011/12 but it has had to be fashioned across six months of 2012/13 through the summer to the lean and hungry group that have taken the field so effectively through 2013/14.

     So what of running with a smaller group?

     ‘There’s the yin and the yang of it. Would I as a manager like a deeper squad? Of course, because there are challenges out of your control like predators looking to take away players, injuries, suspensions and loss of form. But, I’ve found that a smaller group all pointing in the right direction has something very powerful about it. It is possible to successfully align mindsets whatever the size of the group but clearly it’s tougher the more people you have to manage.’

     Dyche is clear on his expectations from his players.

     ‘I always believe in giving everyone a chance to align with the thinking of the group. If they choose not to, they must exit. We’ve also had people who weren’t necessarily way out of alignment but who we thought we had to change. It’s helped bring freshness to the group, a will, and a demand to work hard to achieve. Skill without will is useless.’

     When he arrived at Turf Moor there were questions from supporters of the club. But whilst the board were busy explaining their appointment, Dyche was busy asking his own questions of the players.

     ‘I gave the lads a question sheet and asked them a few questions. With an emphasis on being respectful with answers and no need to pass up anonymity, I wanted to know what they thought. Why wouldn’t you ask the players? I had no agenda; I was coming in new and they are professional people and will have relevant opinions. What was good? What did they want to change? Questions that could give the kind of answers that as a staff we could work with. Beyond that, it was down to me and the staff to read the situation and pitch in as many different factors as we could to give the answers as much context as possible. As you start to suss out a group, there’s a chance to define the ones you think will be malleable and flexible to a way of thinking, and those that won’t. It’s a process of sorting out, making big decisions. But it’s not rocket science.’

     Having been part of the world of youth coaching, Dyche has seen how the Academy structure involves its charges in the process of feeding back; so questions why you wouldn’t want to carry that on when all these ex-Academy players develop into a senior setting.

     ‘The modern player is aware of making best use of analytics and the process of feeding back from the coaches and from peers. So, set the environment where it feels natural to benefit from that. Feedback is there to remind you as a manager to be flexible with your thinking. You can’t assume they all think like you. Rapport and trust must be built first of all and that’s through respect. There’s no guarantee that all of this comes together to make successful outcomes on the pitch, but I do feel that it pushes the percentages in your favour.’

     A glance at Burnley’s record of just four defeats in 39 league matches suggests that the percentages have indeed been successfully pushed.

     ‘Football has been going on for 140-odd years so it’s not a case of re-inventing the wheel. It’s a case of making the best wheel you can. Sports Science, nutrition, analysis, day-to-day coaching; all these elements have their part to play. When I first went into coaching at Watford with the youngsters, and then again with the first-team group, I made it clear that everything me and my staff do is for you, the players.  It’s a case of saying, “I have had my day,” and knowing that the outcome that suits me is that the players have everything they need - a kind of perfect platform to perform well.  The group I had at Watford was fantastic and the group at Burnley now are just as great. Perhaps I’ve been fortunate.’   

     Perhaps: maybe too, the laying of solid preparatory foundations that allowed a modestly-sized club to hit new heights, thanks to its playing staff.

     ‘The biggest thing I’ve enjoyed seeing so far is a group that prepared to be open-minded and will accept what I think is important and use it wisely. I’ve marvelled at a group who continue to work so hard. People don’t see every last detail that goes on behind the Saturday and Tuesday matches. Players have to grip and run with what’s being offered. And this group has taken ownership of that mentality. You feel as a manager that can influence, but ultimately you can’t control everything. It’s up to the players to deliver that success and, so far, I must stress, this group have excelled. Now, the biggest challenges of the season lie ahead of us.’

     Like Watford, Burnley is a club of its community. The town’s population is little more than 70,000 and around a sixth of that number has made the pilgrimage to Turf Moor each fortnight to wonder at the achievement of the current campaign. It’s right in your face at Burnley; you can sense the passion for the club the supporters have.

     Sean Dyche is the man looking to ensure those smiles fixed across fans’ faces for so long this year, remain in place come early May.

(Reproduced by kind permission of Richard Walker at Watford FC)