An act of leadership a day keeps workplace blues away

25 June 1983 will always be remembered, not just by Indian cricket fans, as the day that transformed the nation.

India had always been regarded as a bit of an underdog side, though the team produced several cricketing greats in the preceding decades. Against all odds, the team made it to the World Cup final. And they were slated to lose.

Why not? They were up against the battering ram of the four most dreaded pacers of the time: Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, and Malcolm Marshall. The memories of the late 1970s were fresh in the Indian team’s psyche, when five Indian batsmen were injured during the match and were not in a position to play. Moreover, the “Windies” also boasted a formidable batting line-up that included Clive Lloyd and Vivian Richards, two of the greatest batsmen of all time.

West Indies had won the two previous World Cups and seemed all set to scoop the 1983 Cup as well. India on the other hand, had won only one match—against newbies East Africa—in the two previous World Cups.

India crumbled, for a mere 183 runs, not even being able to play out the entire 60 overs, folding up in under 55 overs. Before West Indies came to bat, the Indian skipper, Kapil Dev—also known as the Haryana Hurricane—spoke to the team. Morale was in the dumps, and he admitted they were probably going to lose but only requested them not to go down without a fight and to make the opponents fight for every run. “Let’s give resistance,” he said.

According to Krishnamachari Srikkanth, the team had no hopes, and it was just Kapil Dev's pep talk that restored belief in the team.

The rest was cricket history. The Windies were bowled out for 140 in just 52 overs. One of the highlights of all time was Vivian Richards’ dismissal by Madan Lal, thanks to a spectacular catch taken running backwards by Kapil Dev. Ironically, the bowling speed of Madan Lal had earlier been the subject of Richards’ ridicule, who called him “the world’s fastest off-spinner.”

India, playing in their first final, defeated the mighty West Indies to claim their first World Cup title.

Kris Srikkanth summed it up when he said, "It was the turning point for Indian cricket and for Indians in general… as an Indian, we felt proud."[1]

And it all came down to a few inspiring words from a leader.

What does leadership entail?

In many great organizations, the leader or leadership team regularly engage with their people. They are reachable and their doors are always open to feedback from their teams. In many others, leaders tend to be unreachable and seem to play “hard to get.”

Of course, they are busy doing important stuff, but isn’t being in touch with your team equally important? Consider these statistics.[2]

Simon Sinek famously said that leadership is like being in love, going to the gym, or brushing your teeth. You have to do it consistently to get results. You can watch his amazing speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpyIuZIupEs

Looping back to Kapil Dev’s speech to his team on the day of the match: would it have made any difference if he had not been engaged with the team? But Kapil was engaged and led by example. So, when he spoke, the team believed him. It didn’t just win India the match, it transformed the nation and made a whole country believe they could win.

That’s the power of words made by a leader—who is engaged with his or her team.

Leaders are not born in a day. Leadership is a process, like love, building strength, or brushing your teeth. It must be practiced consistently to be effective. However, the results of engaged leadership can be tremendous. As we saw in the 1983 World Cup example, it has the power to transform a nation. Engage with your teams as often as possible—it’s worth it.

How leaders engage with teams at Zuci

At Zuci, we have a very flat hierarchy that makes senior leaders available to the team anytime. Employees can write, email, chat, or message our leaders, or talk to them in the corridors or cafeteria about any concerns or queries and expect answers.

We also have a whole bunch of team engagement activities that see the active support of the leadership team to make each event a success. Some of the group activities we organize regularly include:

·????? An annual Hackfest to build talent and explore new technologies

·????? Spotlight, Cynosure, and Red Carpet to recognize and reward outstanding team players

·????? YAWA—You Ask, We Answer—to answer questions and queries

·????? BEVY to support and nurture female leaders through a network of coaches and mentors

·????? Happy Minds to promote health and wellness

·????? ID to promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in our organization

·????? Tech Meets Talk to discuss the latest and greatest tech innovations

We also support several Clubs and Communities for sports, books, music, ideas, events, travel, social service, finding help, and fun at work. We even have our own version of TEDx called ZEDx!

These are just a few of the things you can pursue in your own organizations to build a rapport between employees and leadership. What activities do you have in your workplace?

?Photo by John Oswald on Unsplash

References:

1.????????? From an article in India Today

2.????????? According to Apollo Technical