Few teams in the world have so ruthlessly crushed their competition and dominated the international sports arena in the 21st century, as the Australian cricket team and the Spanish Football team. Spain has made a history in the recent times by winning three consecutive international titles, namely Euro 2008, World cup 2010 and Euro 2012, while Australia has continuously dominated all formats of the international cricket scene for an extended period of time, sporadically loosing matches to over extending oppositions.
Spain are the current reigning World and European champions, having won the 2010 World Cup and the Euro 2012 as well as the Euro 2008. They are the first national team to win two consecutive European championships and a World Cup. In July 2008, Spain rose to the top of the FIFA World Rankings for the first time in the team's history, becoming the sixth nation to top this ranking, and the first nation to top the ranking without previously having won the World Cup. Between November 2006 and June 2009 Spain went undefeated for a record-tying 35 consecutive matches before their loss to the United States, a record shared with Brazil, including a record 15-game winning streak and thus earning third place in theConfederations Cup.
A study of their success reveals interesting insights into an approach to building successful organizations:
Some of the lessons that can be learnt by studying these winning machines (at their peak) are:.
A) Sustained hunger for victory despite continuous winning streak, making, 'going or success', an habit rather than a end in itself.
B) Extremely competent leaders leading from the front with their performance. The performance records of Steve Waugh & Ricky Ponting in the case of Australian cricket team and that of Iker Casillas in the case of Spain were at their peak during the victorious runs of their respective teams.
C) Emotionally balanced Leaders who are always accessible to their team members, urging them to give their best, mentoring them when required and stepping in to deliver outstanding results when needed, thus leading by example.
With over 75 clean sheets and over 500 minutes without conceding a goal in an Euro, Iker Casilas has not only excelled in his own performance, but also, has a number of other feathers in his cap for excellence in his and his team's performace. Similary, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting have often been rated as the best players of all time to have played the game of Cricket.
D) No nonsense approach of an emotionally balanced leadership (coach, captain, board), allowing the individual members to excel without upsetting the team's sense of balance with their brilliance.
At times, the pursuit of success is preceded by weeding out non-performers and those who spread toxicity in the system.
E) A never say die attitude, which allows them to fight back even from toughest of situations and allows them to bounce back from unexpected adversities.
F) Unflinching focus on the goal of winning the match by scoring maximum goals and conceding minimum goals to opponents & ruthless efficiency with highest ratio of goals/runs scored for versus goals/runs scored respectively.
G) Extremely competent professionals always fighting for their place with strong reserve teams to back up.
H) Team spirit and partnership approach rather than focus on individual excellence
I) Focus on doing basics right consistently rather than go for sporadic excellence by taking unplanned and unwarranted risks. Spain has patronised and successfully exploited the efficiency of a simple strategy of football namely, 'Tiki-taka', a style of play characterised by short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels and maintaining possession, which is neutral to offensive and defensive techniques. This simple style has frustrated opponents and led them to success after success. Similarly, Australian Cricket's winning machines were characterised by simple, professional and efficient style that adapts to the requirement with a single objective of winning the game.
J) Excellent succession planning and highly competent bench strength with systemic approach to nurture and develop excellence.
K) Innovation and improvisation coupled with executing excellence..
L) A thorough analysis of the competition teams that will help them pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses followed by thorough planning to take advantage of their knowledge.
M) Success follows its own lifecycle which gets extended when teams reinvent themselves continuously. Otherwise it fades away as the teams get aged, complacent or, are unable to keep pace with the changing circumstances &
N) When the goal of the team is to Win, the ego issues take a back seat. This brings out the best of performances from all the team members as they support each other with a single most agenda of emerging victorious.
For maintaining a consistent success record, one has to be relentless in pursuit of excellence, continuously reinventing themselves to push the bars higher and higher, keep an eye on the future firmly and cannot afford to relax as the competition is always trying to catchup and waiting to have a go at the leadership slot ad the margin for error for a leader is extremely limited. Shortcomings in this very aspect have led to the consistent under-performance of greatest cricket teams like West Indies, the football teams like Brazil, Argentina, Italy and hockey teams like India. Recent drop in rankings of the Australian cricketing team's stature shows that success is never enduring and complacency can lead to downfall.
It would indeed be pertinent to note that, the drop in international ranking of Australia coincided with the comprising ethical standards of their captain Ricky Ponting in a game against India, which Australia won after Ricky Ponting claimed a false catch to get an Indian player out. This reveals that, while short term victories are assured when ethics are compromised, the longer term implications of the drop in moral standards could be negative on the overall team environment and the resultant performance.
Dependence on a few brilliant individual players who overshadow the rest and also upset the team rhythm has never taken their teams far.
Organizations could closely follow the reasons for success of the greatest sporting teams and learn from these experiences to create their own success stories.
The following are some of the commonalities of winning teams and Great Organizations:
1) Focus of the entire Organization on the Vision and Goals to be achieved.
2) Team spirit to be inculcated as against individual brilliance, working as a lone force.
3) Focus on achievement of objectives and not on individual relationships as a superior/subordinate etc.
4) Thorough planning by taking into account complete SWOT of self versus competition and play as per the turf, suiting the style with the ground and taking the most out of any situation rather than trying to play own style on any ground.
5) Competent leadership, leading from the front and letting the brilliance of individual players bloom without any hindrance. This happens when the organization selects the best and doesn't go for mediocre resources that will not challenge the leadership.
6) Focus on doing basic things right with ruthless efficiency, rather than go for grand plans without corresponding output.
7) Understand the life-cycle stage of the organization and adopt appropriate strategies at the same time reinvent themselves with appropriate steps to stay relevant and attractive to investors, customers and employees.
8) Great leadership does not hesitate to fire non-performers and those who subscribe to mediocrity & spread toxicity among the employees. No body is indispensable in an organization pursuing success professionally, not even the leader.
9) Trust and belief among the leaders and their team members is a hallmark of successful organizations. The true belief from within the heart of the leaders on their followers & the teams about their invincibility, most often acts like a self-fulling prophecy and leads to stupendous results.
In a successful organization, great leaders ensure that the credit & fruits of success are well shared among the team members, reinforcing great performance and keeping the organization surging, towards its vision.
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