I have always believed that sports and a typical corporate structure are very much similar in a way both of them function. 

Being a sport aficionado and someone who has lot of affection and respect for sports personalities and sports in general, I can say, a good sports person can surely be an effective Corporate Manager. This is not limited to any specific sports form but applicable for all types of sports.

So, What’s the premise? Why this analogy now? and What’s the relevance in current situation?

Let’s get to some real life sports cases to decode this further.

On May 2nd, 2009, Lion Messi, arguably the greatest player to put on a football T Shirt, has been called by his then Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola a night before a very crucial game against Real Madrid. The match was on the next day and he introduced a new position for the best player of the side. The new position ‘False 9‘ completely altered the way Messi plays his game and eventually became a turning point for Messi himself and team as a whole. Messi scored 73 goals in one season and Pep Guardiola is still considered to be one of the greatest manager of all time.

On 27th March, 1994, India was playing an ODI against New Zealand at Auckland. Senior Batsman Navjot Singh Sidhu, a regular opener, was injured and India needed someone to open the inning. Sachin Tendulkar saw an opportunity and asked his captain Mohammed Azharuddin whether he can get a chance. Azar thought about it and agreed. Sachin scored 82 in 49 balls and India finished the match in 24th Over. Sachin went on to become the world’s greatest batsman with 49 ODI centuries including the first person to reach an individual landmark of 200 runs and all these records were made when he was opening the innings for India.

There will be many such examples in Sport.

The question is, “if these athletes have not been tested for the challenge they were up against, would they gotten to know about their own potential?“Isn’t it a very important question. How do we get to know our own limits/potential?

If we think hard, we will understand that the potential will only be realized if there is a situation or we create one to test ourselves.

If there is no scenario wherein we can go beyond and try which we have not tried earlier, we will never get to know what we are capable of.

Smart Leaders will look for an opportunity wherein he can test how his people respond to adversities. He will keep doing this continuously so that everyone gets ready when team will be faced with actual challenge.

Sports can do that as there will always be some matches or moments in matches with less significance.

But with a typical corporate scenario wherein only currency to measure output is the topline and bottomline made every quarter, can we really afford to EXPERIMENT & TEST what our team members are capable of?

Alternatively, by not doing this, aren’t we allowing to let go an opportunity of knowing our best people for the job at hand and thereby also not utilizing their strengths in the best possible manner?

After all, successful outcome for organisation is always a function of decisiveness exhibited by leaders at crucial moments.

Thus a choice or a trade off between above stated two alternatives becomes exigent. And I believe, there will never be an apt time than the current one to opt for a valiant choice.

Imagine a situation for an organisation where every job across functions is been done by the most consummate person for that job. Just envisage the outcome.

Current situation of COVID -19, inclusive of the lockdown & even aftereffects is providing a fantastic, rather once in a lifetime opportunity for organisations to TEST this aspect of their teams/functions/processes. As a team or as a group, if we can utilize this deftly, the impact will be seen when normalcy returns. Just a change of perspective and there could be a self-discovery. Deep inside our heart we might be thinking about this option every day but probably was not in a position to use it as the stakes are high and lot riding on us. But the situation is different now. Nobody knows what’s going to happen and thus nobody can predict what will be the optimal way to tackle this. In short, we have very little or nothing to lose.

So, it’s the time to make those structural/hierarchical changes. It’s the time to ask people to do those much required product changes. It’s the time to ask teams to reach out to clients with completely different approach. It’s the time to make alterations in processes and systems which we have been following blindly from years and sometimes without questioning.

It’s the time to take that risk, to don that new hat and see if we have a capability to turn things around us.
Let’s do this without thinking of the results because remember, we have very little to lose.

Let’s Start !