Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Football !!

On Teams

Just got off the Brazil - Croatia World Cup match. Of course Brazil won 1-0, anything else might have been a shock. The Match gave me company while preparing Strategy and Review update documents.

And coincidentally i was working on the HR part - Attracting and retaining talent, training and grooming...

Talking of Talent - look at the Brazilian team, a collection of talent if any, each one of them is a star, each one of them a specialist, each one of them plays for a club as a star player.

Gods - each one of them back home in Brazil.

But together they are a team, they pass the ball, they set up chances for the others to score, they back each other up.

And the best part - they all enjoy the game. Goals scored are causes for celebration. But Missed chances are too!

The image that stays with me after the match is not of Kaka scoring and celebrating, but that of Ronaldinho bubbling with joy at having got a shot at the goal, grinning that toothy grin of his ear to ear at having got close to scoring... it matters not if he missed. It is the sheer joy of the game itself that drives him. He is football!

And that is what winning teams comprise of - individual brilliance coming together to play for that objective, and enjoying the game as it plays along. There are ups and downs, there are individual misses and hits - but the team stays together, and celebrates together!

My recommendation to All HR managers and leaders and team leaders out there - take time out and watch these football matches, observe how the winning teams differ from the others, there are lessons to be learnt that no text can teach.

All for now.