I watched a lot of soccer variety during the holidays. I enjoyed watching great moves, clever interceptions, speed in attack; ultimately, goals being scored. I also found myself reminded powerfully of at least 10 principles that similarly play out in our lives and in business.
Here goes:
1. The power of team work. How well each player does their part is critical in the success of the venture. Taking away the ball from an opponent is easier done by two team-mates. When cornered by opponents, one way out is to pass the ball to a team mate….
The application of this principle in business is straight-forward. Each person has a job to do, and needs to co-operate with others to get things done. I have a team of women who work very well together attending to a greenhouse. There are beds to be done, which they dig up together. Then one carves out planting lines. Another follows her applying fertiliser. A third one mixes up the fertiliser with the soil while a fourth drops the seeds and the fifth team member completes the planting. Together they move fast, getting a lot more done than would be accomplished by one person.
2. Accuracy in passing is extremely important. It keeps the ball on one team’s side, moving it towards the opponents’ goal. I understand that their is a specific technique for achieving accurate short passing. One uses the inside of one’s foot to drive the ball to exactly where one intends it to go.
Moral: precision is key in the execution of important tasks. In the accounting profession DRIFT (Do it right the first time) is taught as a theory for just-in-time (JIT) inventory management: to ensure a company only receives goods as they are needed, without needing to carry excessive inventory. The Japanese also practice DRIFT in total quality management (TQM).
3. The ball does not always move forward. Even though the overall goal is to move the ball through the field toward and into the opponents’ net every once in a while, a player finds that the best passing action is to move the ball sideways, or backwards, sometimes as far back as to the goal-keeper for “resetting” the forward charge.
In business, and in life, your goal may be to continuously move your “ball” forward: in knowledge acquisition; in the realisation of sales; in size; in market share. But, frequently, you will find that you need time to review; evaluate; reset.
4. Interceptions are very dangerous; and also create opportunity. An interception in soccer happens when a player from the opposing side snatches the ball midway through a pass, or directly from an opponent. Because an interception suddenly reverses the entire thrust/direction in the game, the upset can give such a huge advantage to the intercepting side that the action can quickly result into a goal.
Thus, your goal is to constantly seek out opportunities and to guard your business (or life) against potential losses that can be occasioned by interceptors. Awareness of risks and opportunities.
5. The idle goal keeper… Best indicator that your team is in control. During after-match interviews, I heard frequently statements like “Team X dominated the game”. It means that the dominating team kept the ball away from its own goal and constantly near the opponents’ net. The dominated goalkeeper suffers terrible anxiety, warding off threats. The dominated side is constantly holding breath; opening their mouths wide; quietening throbbing heart-beats. There is, now, even a way of quantifying a team’s ability to keep the game away from its own goal and the play close to opponents’ goal. It is called the invasion index, calculable scientifically.
My mother calls it “kress” (stress) — the constant delivery of pressure near her “goal” in the form of demands. It is the game you want to keep on the opponents’ side, not coming your way. It is practiced in war, and in politics. In business you keep your “goal-keeper” idle by being aggressive in sales; in the spinning off of new, market-exciting products; in eating up your competitors’ market share.
6. Each team (or game) is characterised by a playing style.“We suffered their playing style too much,” goes an after-game perception of a defeat. One of the huge sources of excitement for spectators during The World Cup is the first hand demonstration of how different styles of play from different teams and regions clash against one another: The British’s famous quick attack setups, with direct long balls over the defence, often bypassing the midfielders; the defensive avalanche of the Italians, cautious play and very selective forward thrusts for the score.
So choose your style, and perfect it. Because I am a weak supervisor, I personally try, as much as possible, to recruit, independent performers. I also require that each of my workers prepare their own work plans and submit a weekly score-sheet of accomplished tasks.
7. Treatment is necessary when someone goes down. The game stops. Doctors, trainers and coaches and paramedics rush in to take care of the injured player. A decision is taken quickly whether to take out the player for treatment away from the field or whether he will continue with the game.
In life, and in business, trouble will set in from time to time. Don’t ignore, excuse or brush over the “falls”. Treat them – in the field if possible; or replace the player temporarily or permanently. Fast.
8. Reserve players appear on the team’s roster during matches, but may not end up playing. FIFA regulations allow up to three substitutes in any official competition, while as many as six substitutes are allowed in international friendlies. Without the reserve army, a team may often find itself playing short-handed, when first team players go down.
In business, reserves are critical. Apple and Microsoft, according to The Telegraph, sit on cash reserves that are greater than the cash held by the UK. The importance of reserves in our smaller league is are not of lesser significance. We will need to stay in business during the low months, such as when the country virtually shuts down during holidays, or, in our developing world, during times of political uncertainty. Or when we have to pay off people to scale down on staffing. We need redundancies in our server operations and data storage. We need staff to call on when maternity duties come calling or when others fall ill. Insurance. Yes, we do need reserves. They are critical to smooth continuation in business and in life.
9. The cheers. Wild howls when a team scores. Boos against the opponents when foul is witnessed, or imagined. Positive urging when an opportunity to score, or run with the game comes up…. That is why, in general, teams do better in home games, or leave the field in huge shame when defeated at home. We need… nay we crave cheers. Americans know it so well that they enlist ‘professional’ cheer leaders!
When I first started using scientific personality profiling tools in recruitment, I was surprised at how many times the tool returned the recommendation “This individual especially needs to be praised” on candidates; and how effective the positive endorsement works on these individuals. But in general, nearly everyone responds to encouragement; to being cheered on; to a “thank you”; “I understand”; “Don’t worry – try it again” type urgings on.
10. There is a time for marking time. Ten minutes to end of game. Team A, which is ahead in goals re-organises itself around defence, no longer interested in scores as much as to keep the opponents at bay. Or the defender needs allow the attackers time to position themselves more strategically. Thus, the team simply marks time by passing the ball back and forth, not forward but mostly sideways — until the line-up for a forward drive is strategically in place.
Is there time for marking time in life? Indeed. Not in the sense of wasting it, but rather in the change of tempo to give time for your staff to rest after a big campaign; to re-organise; to rejuvenate; to re-cast the moves for the next forward thrust.
Haron Wachira 