User:Motanimehtahari

Lessons From a Winning Team

Team and Team work are the most commonly used words in today’s corporate world. Corporate’s are spending huge amounts on Team building workshops.

It is true that, tasks performed by a Team, rises beyond the levels of individual capabilities of the team members.

The classic example of team performance is the Australian Cricket Team. They have almost become indefeatable. Corporate’s can learn a few things from this great team:-

-They are passionate about playing for the country, which raises their performance in the field. If every employee is passionate about working for his company the level of performance automatically rises to higher standards. -Only those who perform get a chance to represent the Country, irrespective of their stature. A good example was Steve Waugh was not selected when his performance was not upto the required standards, irrespective of his great stature both as a player and also as a leader. -Before playing against any country, a detailed analysis is carried out on the strength and weakness of the opponents. This can be compared to the strong business intelligence in any corporate to develop specific strategies to counter the rival’s strategies to stay ahead in the competition. -One important feature in the Australian cricket team is, alternate strategies as the game unfolds. For eg. The initial strategy could be aggressive batting by the opening pair, but if they fail, then excellent running between wickets is another strategy, but the goal remains same,i.e get 300 plus runs on the board. Every corporate should have alternate strategies and flexibility to adapt itself to the changing circumstances. -Excellent support to each team member in his performance is another key aspect of the Australian Cricket Team. When the bowlers are sweating it out, there is a great support in terms of fielding. Each one of them gives more than 100%, whether it is for taking a catch or saving a single run. Similar support is the key to success of any Corporate. if the marketing strategies are not supported by finance and manufacturing, it is very difficult to succeed. -Succession planning, the most talked about topic today. There is no need to eloborate this point, just by taking names it becomes clear that succession planning is like a mandatory feature in Australian Cricket Team, Greg Chappell, Allan Border, Steve Waugh and now Ricky Ponting. -Different teams for different forms of game, Test and One-dayers, which can be compared to the need based Cross Functional Teams formed in an organization to execute specific projects. -Last but not the least, “Never Say Die” attitude. They never give up till the last ball is bowled. If every associate of an organisation believes in team performance more than individual performance like the Australian cricket team, it is difficult to fall below the number one position.

As these thoughts were penned, I was pondering if “Great Corporates are Nothing But great Team of Human Resource.