As we
hit the road running with the enthusiasm of the ICC World T20, we continue to
search for business lessons from the cricket field. At Ishan Institute of
Management & Technology, one of the top PGDM colleges in Delhi NCR the
academic team always searches for unorthodox solutions to business issues. Over
the last twenty two years of existence, there has been a great sense of
realization about how important it is to create a vibrant and dynamic climate
inside the classroom for young and aspiring business graduates. At the heart of
creating a climate conducive to performance in the classroom, work place or the
dressing room is the way organizations deal with people. Inventories can be
managed but people have to be led. People and not brick and mortar make
enterprises.
Constructed Teams are Ideal Teams
There
is a lot of debate that goes into the merit of team selection and the way both
cricket teams and business enterprises go about the business of selecting
people. Many critics tend to go with the conventional wisdom that selection
should be based on performance. The word performance has both the present and
past dimensions. While it is true that no selection should ideally be based on
reputation that has been built on past performances, it is true that past
performances should not be completely ignored as well. Present performance is
substituted for by the word “form” in contemporary cricket parlance. As the
Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar remarks in Sunny Days: ‘Form is temporary Class is
permanent.” A consistent performance trend needs to be identified depending
upon the immediate goals and objectives of the team. Horses for courses are
horses that win races. It may sound simple but carries a lot of weight.
In
1983, when India won the World Cup for the first time, a large chunk of the
players came from 4 cities. In 2011, when India won the World Cup for the
second time, the players came from no less than 9 cities. Constructed teams are
built around differences in skills that individual players bring to the table.
Differences bring the complementary factor into the team. Sachin Tendulkar and
Sourav Ganguly were successful as an opening pair in ODI cricket because of the
differences in their techniques, style, shot selection and temperament, not
because they were similar. The United States football team under their coach
Jurgen Kleinsmann has roped in players from different ethnic origins and
nationalities, given them American citizenship and performed above average in
FIFA World Cups.
Separate the Roles of the Player and the Leader
A
leader is the decision maker and a resource allocator whose job is to match
skills of players with situations in a game and optimize the use for the best
results. A player’s role is defined in terms of what the team expects from him.
An opening batsman is expected to give a flying start to the team in ODI
cricket. A first down batsman is expected to play the role of the sheet anchor,
shield the middle order and set the stage for lower middle order batsmen to
slog in the end. The roles of the captain and the player must be
differentiated.
Imran
Khan had the role of being the strike bowler in the middle stages of his
career. In his last essay in the 1992 World Cup his role was that of a captain
who could win the World Cup. When two roles are given to the same individual,
the yardsticks of performance measurement overlap. This should be avoided at
all costs. Recall how Australia used to come hard at Sourav Ganguly, when he
was the captain. The on field barbs, verbal volleys and in certain cases
expletives that were thrown at him had the objective of creating tremendous
psychological pressure on him, disturb his performance as a player and then
demoralize him as a captain. If the bat of the captain does not do the talking,
he is left with little or no moral authority to demand performance from his
fellow team mates. While it may sound odd, results prove that it makes sense to
continue with a captain even if he fails as a player as long as he is producing
results for the team.
Communication and Not Instruction is the Key to Man
Management
When a
rookie Irfan Pathan was bowling to the Aussies in tests and got whacked by the
strong Australian batsmen, he started questioning his abilities. It could have
been disastrous for a man who had just walked into the team. However Sourav
Ganguly, the then captain used to make it a point to reach out to Irfan Pathan,
have a chat with him, and ask him for the exact kind of field placements he
wanted and reassure that the alignment of strategy and execution would bring
results. And it did!
A young
Inzamam Ul Haq had told his captain his unwillingness to take the field owing
to a continuous run of poor form during the 1992 World cup ahead of the
semi-final. Imran’s reply was that he had not brought Inzaman from Multan to
Auckland just to warm the benches. Imran said that he believed that Inzamam was
the best player of fast bowling in the world. The result was a fabulous match
winning knock in the semi final that pushed New Zealand out of that World Cup.
The leader’s job is to communicate not to instruct.
Trust Deficit is More Dangerous than Fiscal Deficit
At the
highest level of business and sport, the pressure to perform has, is and will
always be there. It should be there. Numbers matter but more than that the
tuning between the leader and his men! In times of recession, slack performance
of the team and downslides, it is obvious that the leader has his neck on the
line. What the leader does then determines whether the leader wants to save the
team or simply his neck. No player enjoys performing under a captain who
squarely puts the blame on his boys behind closed four walls of an office. The
job of the leader is to take the flake on his own and yet come out smiling only
to reassure his boys that the job can be done.