As
the euphoria of the World Cup concludes with glut of golazos, many inspiring
moments, many successes and failures, I wish to share a few learnings I picked
up as a HR professional.
My
purpose is to create an intuitive implication on the Corporate World; though
intentionally I have not made any reference on each point. My views speak for
the derivatives to be understood by the judgment of the individual reader……
Strategy and tactical move
Carry out competitor
analysis, their strengths and weaknesses, assess their strategic intent. These
all play a vital role in designing own strategy and tactical approach to counterbalance the opponent.
Here, I believe, the strategy
is not the intent to eliminate, but to defeat the opponent as the opponent may
come back now or later as both teams are more or less equally capable.
To beat the
competition, one needs to make headway for innovation and creativity and come
up with fresh strategy to improve quality of play and deploy new tactical move
for each of the matches.
Belief in the capability of own team
Zlatko Dalic, the
Croatian coach possessed strong belief in the capabilities of his team and to
quote him, “You have to believe it is possible. May be things have to fall in
place. But you have to have a dream and ambition and follow them” and so was
able to motivate his team to reach the epitome of success.
He trusted his team
wholeheartedly and the result speaks for itself. His passion to train and
belief that the team can do wonders has eventually bore fruit.
Individual Talent integrated into Collective Wisdom
The nature of the game
itself is Teamwork. Dependence on individual talents like Ronaldo for Portugal
and Messi for Argentina do not win the games. The final result is the outcome
of collaborative and joint coordinated endeavour of all the team members rather
than individual competence. Team pride, in this case the pride to represent the
Country supersede individual brilliance.
Single or a few talents
do not win; it’s the team that wins. Those days have faded away where players
were mostly stuck to their positions.The new order is all players move up and
down attacking and defending together. It’s the ‘WE’ concept, the collective
effort that is of cardinal importance to win.
Nurture the team spirit
though finally one individual, fed by other team members, scores the goal. But
it is the team that wins and not an individual.
Youth with experienced wisdom
Mbappe is young and
possesses brilliance, Lloris has had the backing of his own experience coupled
with demonstrated competence in keeping the goal post. Except one odd mistake
which is but natural in the process of delivery of responsibility.
Create a right mix of
young promising talent with competent seniors to inculcate a balance of agility
of youth and knowledge transfer from seniors.
Training, Coaching & Leadership
Didier Deschamps, the
France coach has had a successful football career himself [the winning captain
of World Cup 1998]. This coupled with extensive experience in coaching and
building team made him the right person to lead the team, constantly
supporting, guiding and giving the directions to the playing eleven even from
the touchline.
A person with high
intensity but maintained his cool temperament in critical situations, matured
with measured approach making appropriate changes during the match to fill in
the voids to achieve the desired result.
Imparting training also
forms an important part for the coach/ leader in shaping a team to work
harmoniously with a common goal. Especially when each one plays for different
teams in different countries at varied strategic and tactical environment, it
becomes all the more an arduous task for the coach/ leader to bring them under
one umbrella of a country’s flag for achieving a common goal.
Assessing individual
talent and competence, evaluating each one’s strengths & weaknesses and
harnessing them as a team is a stupendous responsibility the coach/ leader carries
on his shoulder.
Stress and mental stability
Pressure to achieve is
part of the game [job] and leads to stress. The basic thought that one has to
win despite all odds itself creates stress especially when one is required to
perform and deliver expected result in presence of hundreds of spectators. But
one has to stay calm, remain emotionally balanced and stay focussed to achieve
the desired result.
One need not have super
achievers or wonderkids to win the game; but commitment, tactical discipline
coupled with mental fortitude are the key ingredients.
Despite Croatia having
greater possession of the ball most of the match time, France’s mental strength
and tenacity was decisive for their success in the final match.
Overcome losses/ adversity
One has to overcome
losses; a few failures should not deter one from upgrading and performing
better in the next game.
One must learn from the
mistakes, change style of functioning. With strong morale, self-esteem and abilities
to turn around, build on the innate respective strength with an aim to win.
Flexibility
Adjustment to different
situations and circumstances as the game progresses, one has change places to
outwit the competitor. From left wing to mid field or right wing as often exercised
by Ronaldo, Or from defense to front line like Ramos or Pique to support the
front line and to provide additional strength with an ultimate aim to score a
goal and win the match.
Even the coach makes changes
with suitable substitutes mid-stream to strengthen the weak links in the middle
of the game depending on skill gap and available talent to achieve the target.
Let ‘Ego’ go
Keep aside your ego,
the harbinger of failure, the harmony killer and career destroyer. ‘Don’t be like
Kalinic’.
Nikola Kalinic, one of
the two Croatian natural strikers, was on bench against Nigeria. When five
minutes to the end of the game the coach instructed him to dress and replace
another player. Kalinic refused to play in protest being left on the bench till
the end, by giving the reason of back pain. He considered himself as a top
player. The coach had to turn to another player as a substitution. Kalinic
refused to apologise for his behaviour despite request from other staff
members. The coach sacked him and sent him back home. Kalinic went on holidays
and enjoyed life imagining Croatia wouldn’t go much far in the tournament. But
without him the team Croatia created history by reaching the finals and the
remaining players have become national heroes. Kalinic’s career is in difficult
situation.
One has to learn to cut
pride, control anger, deflate ego and finally learn to say sorry. Learn to
accept responsibility as reposed on you at any time and display the sense of engagement
that you are part and parcel of the team and you care about the prestige of
your country you represent.
Finally, the vision, mission, goal and ultimate aim of the game is to ‘Win’ for own
country; by virtue of believing in the possibility with a dream and ambition,
individual and collective skills, hard work, tactical approach, team spirit,
unity, pulling hard in the same direction and coming together as a combined
force in harmony, despite each of the players playing for different teams
during other times.
“Little
Country, Big Dreams” Croatia has come to be known as. Likewise, identify little
known outstanding players, sieve and un lead their potential, recognise their
talent, provide support and guidance, extend leaderlike hand [like Zlatko Dalic
of Croatia] – they have the desire [commitment] in the heart and the power
[performance] in their work – boost them up – they are the true blood winners.
