This is
the second piece in the series titled “Business Lessons to Cross the Boundary”.
While the first piece of literature aimed to introduce lessons from sports
management to individual practicing and aspiring managers, in this piece we
look at some of the tenets of team building, team ethic and team climate
engineering. We also inspect some traditional wisdom of cricket in the context
of business. Given that the ICC T20 World Cup has just begun, we could not have
asked for a better timing to compare cricket with business.
Team Performance and Team Building is a Cyclical Process
In
physics we talk of momentum that carries a body forward on its own even without
the application of an external force. The bicycle that nudges ahead a few
inches on its own after one has paddled really fast bears testimony to the
importance of getting the momentum going for a team and a corporation. As every
winter gives way to spring, each crest in a business cycle gives way to a
trough and each boom to a recession. Holding the team together becomes a
challenge amidst downturns. How many times have we seen cricket legends calling
it a day in the aftermath of a poor showing by their team? How many times have
we seen top talent exit a corporation during meltdowns? Cricket can be a hard
taskmaster and a harsh teacher.
Winning
is a perfect metric of team performance and a team that is great continues to
rebuild and reinvent itself during good times. A great corporation continues to
circulate talent from the grass root levels during good times. Victories
attract talent, institutionalize talent and produce further victories. This is
true for both teams in sport and corporations in business. On the flip side,
once a team ends winning streak it inevitably cracks. Splinter groups fragment away
and top talent flows out like liquid gold. Continuing the winning streak
requires the team to paddle really fast under the water like a duck. It may
look like momentum from the ringside, but the duck knows that it paddling
really hard to swim against the tide. The cycle of winning means everything.
Once lost it may be hard to regain.
A Team is a Portfolio
of Talent, Products and SBUs
It is
common practice in the sub continent to hang on to daddy’s brands in both
business and sport. In economics we talk of corporate dinosaurs. These are
firms that fail to evolve with time and are afraid to tinker with the
combination of the yesteryears. Did not team India stick around with the
legends of the yesteryears for more than a while? Do not corporations commit the
error of sticking to daddy’s brands calling them legendary? The answer is
simple. A corporation is a portfolio of talent, products and strategic business
units. Australia took a harsh but never the less correct step by pulling the
curtains on the career of a great captain and cricketer like Steve Waugh. It
must have been painful but was needed to keep the tem alive.
The Hand That Cracks the Whip Must Also Pat Other’s Backs
In a
study done by leading business research company the average tenure of a CEO in
the United States of America was found to be in the range of two to three
years. The finding was based on the study of Fortune 500 companies in the
aftermath of the global meltdown. The mantra of perform or perish is easier
said than done. Both in cricket and business, it boils down to managing people.
People, when they perform make the team perform and move up. But what happens
when they do not perform?
In such
crunch situations it is the leader who has to take up the job of doing the
balancing act. The balancing act has to be done not just to retrench and
motivate but to demonstrate values that the team or the organization believes
in. This is where things can be challenging. When we look back today at the
years gone by and how the Indian captain has evolved from the brash and
youthful “Mahi” to the mature and calm “MSD”, one realizes that the true worth
of a captain lies in earning the respect of the team by defending the
performers and being decisive on the non-performers. Another thing, if the captain
wins the applause for a good showing on the field he must with all due humility
take the lion’s share of responsibility for failures as well. Walking into the
Selection Committee’s office after a series defeat and walking into a board
meeting after a poor financial report mandate that the leader steps forward to
defend his men not to put the blame on their shoulders. Probably this is what
equates leaders like M.S.Dhoni, Ricky Ponting, Nitin Paranjpe and Narayana
Murthy. The importance of a leader earning respect from his team can never be
understated.