I love following sport, and I support a team in many sports. I have always found this to be better than a zero sum game. When my team wins I am lifted high, in a good mood for days. When they lose, I convince myself it is only a game and the dip is much smaller. As a long term supporter of West Ham United, I am used to small dips!
This net gain effect works for towns or even nations as well. I witnessed much of the World Cup in the Netherlands, and got caught up in a national mood of excitement and joy as the tournament progressed. Yet this Monday, after the defeat in the final, Holland collectively shrugged its shoulders, tidied up the streets and moved on with no residual gloom. A true tonic for a nation.
The tournament just finished had its normal share of great games and great drama interspersed with rubbish, cynicism and frustration. And we can take some lessons into our everyday lives as individuals and managers.
Success requires a combination of talent, motivation and tactics. You need a team of good footballers, at a peak of teamwork and desire, and marshalled by smart tactics. The Spanish had all three. Under tactics, I cite their performance against the Germans. Unlike England or Argentina, they realised the strength of Germany was the counter attack with pace, and played with some caution to counteract it. Smart. The Dutch had great motivation and tactics, yet in the end not quite enough talent. Argentina failed hopelessly with tactics. England, France and Italy somehow missed critical motivation. Brazil’s strange demise came from 45 minutes of madness against the Dutch which stemmed from a gap in both motivation and tactics. Uruguay had great tactics (and a lucky draw). Even teams of modest means could get further than their talent would indicate, notably New Zealand. Remember, even North Korea held Brazil at bay for a while through tactics and motivation.
Looking into motivation, what is amazing is how a 10% shortfall somehow leads to a 50% performance gap. Peak performance is a fragile thing, easily disturbed. Torres and van Persie were not quite fit and weakened greatly as a result. Hats off to the Spanish coach for dropping Torres. No doubt the camp problems for the English and French started as minor things, but somehow they undermined the whole performance as confidence and spirit drained away. Confidence is so critical.
As for tactics, it is often the more subversive methods that work best. It may not seem pure football to favour a counter attack approach or even an overtly aggressive one, yet such tactics often beat their sexier alternatives. Red Star Belgrade once won the European Cup Final by playing for penalties from the opening kick off. You have to play by the rules you face and deploying the talent you have. The best coaches deploy most of their effort on countering the opponent. One sensed Argentina barely considered the opponent in devising tactics, and paid the price. In Europe, Mourinho is an undisputed master at this dark art.
All of these observations have clear parallels in business. Motivation is woefully underplayed in work. How many days in your working life are you performing at 100%? And do you and your company realise that 90% motivation equates to 50% performance? As a manger, how much effort do you spend on building the confidence of your team? I believe it would pay back more than anything else you do. Under tactics, the winning companies generally exploit the murkier parts of their environment, whether that stems from indifferent customers or favourable regulation or hidden segments. When you read in Harvard of some wonderful innovation or practice in a company, be suspicious. Often the success comes from something altogether more mundane. And, above all, understand and play your competitor. Most businesses are run by the equivalent of Maradona rather than Mourinho, and weaker for it.
Turning now to the running of the tournament and the game itself, I believe there are other broad lessons.
Letting one department exert too much influence is always a mistake. How could FIFA let Adidas sponsorship become so central that they allowed, once again, their greatest showcase to be played with something like a beach ball? In business, the balanced scorecard was a great innovation, enabling purpose and goals to be clarified and each contributor to be given appropriate weight.
What about rule changes? The best sports have moved with the times, recognising trends that matter and fads that don’t, respecting history yet showing courage, wisely using experimentation. For my money, US Football shows the way. Although it is not everyone’s cup of tea, they have used technology wisely. I love the refereeing of that sport. There are many specialist umpires, and discipline is rigorous. Are you listening football? Apart from using technology, why not have several referees? And the lack of discipline by players and coaches is a scandal that detracts from the spectacle. My solution to that would be to introduce a third (more minor) tier of card and a sin bin, to punish dissent ruthlessly and to allow retroactive punishment. Why should the Spanish player who dived shamelessly (against Portugal? ) be allowed to play again in the tournament? After some time for players and coaches to adjust, such rules would help a lot.
Football is behind the times in technology, rules and discipline. Chaotic governance is a blocker, especially with so much power in the hands of the press and media and powerbrokers with vested interests. Even tennis has Hawkeye now, for goodness sake! Even in football, things can be achieved. Jimmy Hill changed the back pass rule for the better almost single handed, via credible campaigning. But there are limits - Rugby Union may be an example of a sport that has changed too often, sometimes with unintended consequences.
Again there are lessons for companies (or even individuals). Be ready to evolve a vision and internal rules, especially those responding to genuine long term trends. But also respect your legacy and brand and move with due caution and using experimentation to try to avoid those unintended consequences. And make sure you have a governance structure that can make decisions and doesn’t unduly favour some interests.
More fundamental than all its lessons, let us just celebrate the joy of sport. Those who belittle it just don’t know what they are missing. The World Cup was excellent, and in September we have the Ryder Cup. That is more show business than anything, but so compelling to watch. And what greater demonstration of the requirement for motivation and tactics as well as talent?
1 comment:
Good post Graham - You certainly have watched the World Cup in its minutest details.
But there might be limits to replicating football principles into business simply because while the world cup is a one time affair and very focussed with very clear goals business is more routine and often less obvious than kicking the ball in the post. In football while you have the advantage of watching your competitor play in business competitor moves are more blocked from view and the art would be to first unveil that. No?
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