Well here is my bit of learning’s from Champion Team India. It’s a Rise from a dream to a reality.
We are in the modern age of entertainment where sports itself is an industry and has a bigger story to tell not only to sportsmen but also to the likes of vivid mango people, a politicians, a businessman, corporate, students, etc. After all, star like Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Jordon much more than an average, mid sized company and now adding to the list MS Dhoni. Star like Sachin, Dhoni are itself industries in their own right.
These sports goliaths operate in a ruthless environment where success and failure are defined with the end of day results. You can either win or lose, no amount of creative campaign, notorious politics, bold Bollywood can conceal the truth of that terrible moments – the final whistle. And here are the notes of learning throughout of the ‘Men in Blue’ journey called as Cup that Counts…….
Lesson 1: Have a Dream, Vision, Bigger picture in place
Indian team had a vision, mission or dream to win a world cup not for themselves but for Sachin, for country, for team. And team started preparing towards that more than year back. And if you look at the recent records of India before world cup, they have been gradually raising the bar of performance.
No doubt, Indian team did face some setbacks during the journey, they lost to SA, they became complacent and managed a tie with England, they had no easy game but when time demands they fought back really well to pull it back. And in the process they themselves got believed that they can turn around from any situation, they are battle hardened and team had a bigger vision, they could let these things to and regroup to accomplish bigger task. And peak when it is required.
Lesson 2: Leadership
Any truly successful team, organization or country requires strong and committed leadership. And team can have only one leader. Team India lead by MS Dhoni and he leads by example. He always gives the team a 100% of his effort and his energy. He never loses his temper. He is a great strategist. He has got fantastic ideas on the field. And he canvasses opinions and then he makes his own assessments.
Couple of decisions he took during knock out stage of the world cup were a great example of how convince he was on his thoughts. Even many cricket pundits have been surprised by the moves but he didn’t alter his plan and that’s what inspire team to justify and take responsibility to deliver the things on behalf of leader.
Whenever team faulted on occasion, Dhoni accepted responsibility for the team performance. Dhoni’s confidence and self-belief remained rock solid. He took the criticism in a positive stride and worked hard with his team to meet the challenge and win the world cup.
Lesson 3: Winning is about teamwork
The important thing to build a team is, to build relationships, to build trust. And probably the most significant thing that happened to team India has been the relationship that they have built. And it takes time. Through these relationship they have built trust within the team and once you have trust what happen is people take responsibility. People will believe in each other and support them. Its to provide a structure to people. It’s to tell people that they are moving towards something other than their individual glory.
Dhoni will be seldom heard saying, “I,” he is a big advocate of a joint effort and always mentions it to be a team effort rather than his alone. He often uses, “us,” and he is very blunt and honest. He will praise the players where they deserve it and also point out mistakes. He always exudes the oneness in the team.
Lesson 4: Focus on Core Strength
'Jack of all trades and master of none' - this maxim is very true as far as management is concerned. Focus on core strength is necessary for the immediate health of the brand as a whole.
Although India constantly strived to improve the bowling and fielding quality of team India but it did not lose its focus on the core strength, i.e., batting. A successful run chase in knock out matches is an example of this.
Lesson 5: Flexibility
Ability to adapt and respond to the changing environment and to constructively create opportunities for change through active participation is a must for any business. Indian team realized this fact and adapted it to the changing environment. Be it playing in foreign land or acclimatizing to new improved version of cricket. Men in blue have been successful everywhere. They beat Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka all three different teams with different strengths.
Lesson 6: Strategy Formation
The formulation of a sound strategy facilitates a number of actions and desired results that would be difficult otherwise. A strategic plan, when communicated to all members of an organization, provides employees with a clear vision of what the purposes and objectives of the firm are.
That is what Indian team precisely did. As batting has always been the core strength of Indian cricket team, the new strategy of team was to improve bowling and fielding department on occasion. Result of which is reflected in the performance of Indian team. It was surprised fielding efforts against Australia did the trick for India and surprised bowling efforts did the trick against Pakistan.
Lesson 7: Award Responsibility to the Players
One last thing which Indian team implemented is that players are awarded with responsibility. They are encouraged to think for team and themselves both and take charge of their own destiny. A rise of Yuvraj Singh, Confidence of Raina, Belief of Zaheer are only because of sense of responsibility they felt for every game. The greatest learning from Team India I can think of is that how to get best out of the people.
It might appear that since India won world cup all of a sudden all looks very positive. But again, this is what corporate life is all about, keep wining….
Accepting No Limit Alternative Thinking Driving Positive Changes
Continue…..
