WHEN Sir Clive Woodward was grumpily handed his Rugby World Cup winner’s medal last December by John Howard, the Australian prime minister, I was already heading for the exit at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney.

Minutes earlier, when Jonny Wilkinson had slotted over his last-gasp drop-goal winner, I had been so overcome that the plastic cup of beer I was gripping momentarily found itself up the air. To my horror it landed on a couple of already-cross Australians, so I decided to smile meekly and leave.

It meant that I never got to see Woodward receive his medal, or lift the cup. So when a letter arrived inviting me to a Woodward business seminar, “Winning, the only reason we are here”, last weekend I did not hesitate. Even if the management content of his talk was amateurish, it would be worth going just to hear England’s former rugby coach tell what really happened after the game.

As it was, Woodward’s behind-the-scenes rugby stories were really rather boring. But the business content was near-compelling. He does not have the most polished of presentational styles, often repeating himself, but the way he thinks about management issues is clear, simple and a proven success.

The first thing that Woodward sees every day when turning on his laptop or mobile phone are reminders of five key rules that he says help to give him and his colleagues a winning mindset.

The first of these is lateral thinking. When starting a project or job, he recommends visualising throwing all long-standing business practices and procedures out of the room, “so that the room becomes empty. And then bring back only those ideas and concepts that are absolutely critical”. It is crucial you find ways to think differently about old problems you have always taken for granted.

Second on the list is vertical thinking. To illustrate this, on a big screen Woodward flashes up a slide with a sentence written out in capital letters. He then asks the audience to count how many letter Fs they can see on the slide.

Without wanting to ruin the element of surprise, Woodward calls this bit of his seminar “6-F thinking”. The point is that very few of us, when first viewing the slide, correctly count all the Fs on display. But over time, we can learn to think vertically “to provide the depth and detail to do things better than others”.

Third is what Woodward calls critical non-essentials. He argues that in a highly competitive environment such as international rugby, where there are at least five equally talented and well resourced teams challenging to be world champions, doing the little things better is crucial.

Having a less-pullable shirt when playing rugby might give you only a tiny margin over your competitors, but if you find enough of these so-called critical non-essentials, they will mount up and help you to defeat your opponents.

Fourth is “success and setbacks”. Here Woodward turns normal practice on its head: he recommends going for a beer with your team when things have gone wrong, rather than when you have had a victory.

After thrashing an opposing team with thrilling rugby, Woodward would insist on an 8am Monday morning meeting to ensure that the lessons of the success were learnt, digested, and therefore more likely to be repeated. But hit with a setback, the last thing you should do is panic. Remember that winning does not happen in a straight line and head for the pub.

Finally, there is enjoyment. For many people, a majority of their time is spent at work, so it is a good idea to try to enjoy it. He suggests that managers ask themselves the following question: how many people and business partners would say they enjoy working with you? The point is that if you create an environment in which people want to come to work, then it will help you win.