This week, I was asked to make a presentation on "Winning the away game: how to prosper in international business".
Having never prospered in international business myself, I was a bit daunted by this task.
The line-up of fellow speakers made my knees knock: Dr Kerry Spackman, neuroscientist and author of The Winner's Bible; Prof George Foster, specialist in high growth global companies; and Murray Mexted, former All Black and managing director of the International Rugby Academy.
Add to that a chairman who happened to be international branding guru Kevin Roberts.
All the ingredients for a high-pressure situation were there.
Complex topic to address? Check. Fellow speakers and chairman world leaders in their areas? Check. Large, critical audience from business, academic and sporting networks? Check. Seven minutes to get my point across succinctly and creatively? Check. Last speaker of the evening? Check.
I felt like an All Black reserve pulled into the squad a few days prior to the final, taking the field with seven minutes to go and given the duty of kicking the winning goal.
As someone who has achieved sporting excellence, don't I thrive on intense situations like this?Give me a pair of rugby boots, a field and 80 minutes to perform over a business suit, lectern and seven-minute presentation any day.
In times like this I tend to reach for my security blankets - a research article and my personal experiences. An article by Nancy Katz published 10 years ago but still relevant today gave me something to hang my presentation on.
The article suggested lessons regarding team motivation and structure in a sports environment could be applied to workplace teams.
These lessons included: integrating co-operation and competition; orchestrating some early wins; breaking out of losing streaks; carving out time for practice; calling halftime in the workplace; keeping team membership relatively stable, and reviewing the game.
Could these lessons be applied to New Zealand businesses aiming to create more effective teams to compete globally?I referred to the All Blacks as evidence of their applicability.
Each player competes for a place in the starting XV, but they co-operate on the field. The winning legacy of the All Blacks started early and that winning ethos remains a part of their culture today.
Unfortunately they've also created a legacy of losing at the World Cup tournament.
Research shows losing teams tend to attribute failure to something that is unlikely to change (New Zealanders are chokers) and something that is beyond the team's capacity to influence (the referee).
This leads to demoralisation and helplessness. To bring a losing streak to a grinding halt it is essential a team attribute failure to things that are changeable and controllable.
To the uninformed eye, it looks like the All Blacks have done this. They have shrugged off the "chokers" tag with a defiant performance against the Wallabies and fate is firmly back in their control.
A big part of a slick team performance also requires a relatively stable membership.
Team members need to learn from each other and their collective experiences, skills and attributes to form a coherent whole.
Injuries have threatened to shake the All Black unit, but the likes of Aaron Cruden, Stephen Donald and Hosea Gear are not new to the All Black environment, so the change of guard has been relatively seamless.
Businesses can also learn how to structure their workplace teams from sport.
Managers need to create times to "practice", where learning and innovation are encouraged through experimentation and failure; to assess progress and determine whether targets will be met at the "halftime" point in a project; and to "review" performance and outcomes on a regular basis at the end point.
I haven't had time to review my performance at the "winning away games" function, but doing this presentation has surprisingly created a sense of calm within as the All Blacks approach the World Cup final.
They are an effective workplace team with the right mix of motives and structures around them, and their destiny as world-beaters is only one game away.
If workplace teams (at home and away) can incorporate some of these lessons, they'd be world-class, world-changing and world-beaters, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment