The corporate world has a lot to learn from sports, especially from cricket. Corporate can watch what happens in sports and can make a link which will help them to improve their performance. There isn’t a one complete solution that fits into every organization, but they should customize based on their requirements.

Team work does it all

The basic lesson any company can learn from sports is that of team work. Each member should play for each other and for the team. In the corporate, each component in the value chain should make things easy for the other department.

A company should work as a team to achieve success and should not work as individuals. For example a sales team in a city works out a plan and was successful in driving up the sales, then that team should share that with other teams in other cities so that the collective sales goes up.

Team building is an activity which requires huge effort and time. To build a good team the leader should understand the team member’s capabilities. Once this is done he can attribute roles to each of the team member so that the contribution each member of the team is optimized. As a team, they should work to overcome their weakness and focus on their strength to improve the output.

A strong management system

An ideal example of a strong management system would be the Australian cricket team which shows a lot of consistency and commitment when it plays. Since they have a very good management system, their basic standard is high. So companies should focus on developing a strong management system that will ensure a minimum standard of performance. This will help them to rise easily even if they fall.

A strong management system sets standards for their performance which will be based on consistency of performance. So each player will work to achieve the standard set by the leader. This will ensure that performance below the set standard never occurs and even if it occurs, the team will be back to standard performance within no time.

Calm and composed leaders instill confidence

A good example for leadership that can be followed in the corporate is the captaincy of Dhoni. Dhoni as a captain and a player has earned a great deal of respect from his team members. Even as a relatively new player, Dhoni was successful in managing a team with senior players such as Sachin, Dravid and Laxman. Dhoni is always found to be calm and composed on the field. So when other team members see a calm and composed captain on the field, they feel assured and motivated. In times of trouble, it is the captain whom all others focus on. So if he looks disturbed and troubled, this reflects in the other players as well. As a captain Dhoni injects a great deal of confidence in the minds of the team members.

This is how a CEO should be, calm and composed, instilling confidence in the minds of the employees. Again as in the case of Dhoni, a CEO’s inner circle should comprise of those who will challenge him so that he will be reminded when he is going wrong. This is applicable for any company irrespective of the size and nature. The company should have a clear picture of who you are and what you are into. A good example for this is Imran Khan. While he was in the Pakistan cricket team, he had picked Wasim and Waqar, and that too during a time when his qualities as bowler were declining. This decision was made so that there will be perfect replacements for him once he leaves the team.

Strong system in HUL

The HUL Company is like the Australian team, in the sense that they have a very strong system in place. The system ensures that they rise if there is a slump and comes back stronger. Moreover HUL is also very fast in reacting to change which helps them to win over competition.

Build Trust around the team

Trust is another important lesson that corporate can learn from sports. As the team members in a team respects and trusts the Captain of the team, all the employees in a company should trust the CEO of the company and help him by performing the task entrusted by him.

Understanding the team and players

All good players don’t make a good captain. A good captain is one who understands his players and his team very well. He should know the strengths and weakness of each and every member and should be able to assess them based on their capabilities. Similarly a good CEO should also understand his employees and his company. He should be aware of the capabilities of each and every employee.

Reducing resistance to change

In any game decisions are made in real time and change in plans are inherent in any sport. So the captain takes decision based on the current status of the game which cannot be fore casted. The team members follow the directives of the captain with out resistance. This positive attitude towards change should be adopted by corporate where all the employees follow the directives without resistance.

Lessons sports can learn from a corporate

There are a few lessons that sports can learn from the Corporate. A company like HUL gives prime importance to quality than bottom line and that has made them to company that we know now. The quality of their products attracted customers and thus the bottom line naturally increased. So sports teams should be careful while selecting talents so that the value of the team is enhanced. Proper training should be given to newly selected members so that the performance of the team is improved.

In sports or in Corporate, it is not relevant where the participants in the process come from, but what is relevant is the fact that every one should be committed to their common goal. In this direction, sports can be a role model for companies to follow. Hard work, determination, positive attitude, systematic home work leads a team to success. These winning lessons can be adopted by the corporate to ward off competition.