After FIFA: Lessons to Keep our Economy Moving Forward?

Co-Authored by Auriga Martin & Michelle Allbon

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The 2023 FIFA Football World Cup created something too seldom seen in New Zealand. The nation was gripped by the excitement of watching a women’s athletic event - a sport traditionally overshadowed by entrenched male-dominated and promoted sporting spectacles.? Not only this but also an uncanny unanimity of support and belief despite the result on the scoreboard.? Game after game held viewers in such suspense that one almost felt as though they were on the pitch, putting in their all, at the final whistle the win or less didn’t even matter.? This phenomenon felt like a tide of momentum, a movement or support and belief that does shift mountains and mindsets.

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We embraced a plethora of trivia about never before seen athletes and emerging football programmes as the FIFA sporting month delivered a record return on investment by generating 4X more sporting event revenue than the previous month. Ticket sales were double original projections while city centre foot traffic quadrupled and hospitality buzzed just from proximity to the spectacle. Globally, twice as many people saw the 2023 FIFA World Cup than the 2019 tournament - delivering more than 2 billion viewers to Australasia alone. The event could, given the number of “firsts” it notched up, be reasonably called unprecedented.

Given this impressive milestone in our country’s return to the world’s post-COVID stage, many of us in the business community are now asking: should this turn of events be considered an outlier or, could it signal a better mindset? It seems to us that, both locally and globally, we are witnessing a growing cynicism and burnout in the professional world, particularly when presented with opportunities to challenge the status quo and pursue new avenues for progress.??

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It is time, we believe, for business owners and leaders to embrace some of the lessons the FIFA phenomenon delivered. For example, don’t automatically criticise those who try big and fail, default instead to rallying around them – as with these sports teams – and embrace the proposition that leaning into high stakes ambition will more likely deliver widespread economic success. The FIFA Cup outcome suggested, at least in large part, that the apparent gamble of investing in society’s ‘underdogs’ can indeed be the winning strategy.??

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Of all the comparisons that can be drawn between the FIFA Cup success and a game plan for better future business performance and outcomes, gender equity provides the most vivid example.? First and foremost it was a mostly woman-led event in which women athletes, coaches and referees took centre stage instead of yielding to their default male counterparts, and it was an outstanding international success.??

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Notwithstanding women excelling as political, judicial and every other social sector leaders, gender equity looks more like tokenized distraction in New Zealand.? Our lack of functioning gender balance is starkly illustrated by the reality that 89% of NZ venture capital startup funding will go to men in 2023 and 75% of New Zealand’s private board directors are men.?

In an event follow-up survey, questions such as “what do you think of women as referees” still somehow made the cut; we are evidently still facing a problematically large unconscious bias in sports, business and, at times, everyday culture.? Society is grappling with the idea that female performance can exist without being the “underdog”.? Women who lead in their profession are still differentially stereotyped despite the fact their participation in the workforce is now at a record high, with more women than ever before in the workplace.??

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The FIFA phenomenon provided an invaluable reflective moment together with an accompanying sense of pride and feeling of awe at what incredible togetherness we felt for the first time in many years. The trick now is to keep and convert the positivity of togetherness and goodness generated by the successful reality of the components of the games. We believe we should start practicing a few things with each other until they become normal responses in all work interactions. Could this investment of continuing the mindset of FIFA togetherness also be considered as a fundamental economic and business performance exercise that may just contribute to New Zealand’s economic recovery???

If you think this sounds like a good social experiment, we suggest you can help spread awareness by adopting a few fundamental principles.

Be kind and listen?

There is nothing wrong with this way of behaving. There is a reason these words were used for years while the world was locked down. Being kind opens people up, encourages them to share of themselves and helps to get the best out of interactions.?

When you listen, especially when you are the one in a position of power, it creates the space to open up possibilities and welcome a fresh perspective. This very act of?curiosity is where billion dollar ideas come from. Don’t call people “crazy” for bringing wild ideas that don’t fit the mold.?

Websites that can help:

Udemy Course - The Art of Listening

Simon Sinek on listening

Mind Tools Course on Listening?

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Avoid blame disguised as discernment?

It is much easier to blame and criticise others when you feel under stress and pressure. Take accountability for how you react and for how you treat others. Not only is there more real power in this approach, but also it retrains your brain to think about growth and proactive solutions. Blaming others for being imperfect only perpetuates stagnation and ignorance.?

Websites that can help:

(Harvard Business Review Articles)

Coaching over Criticism

Ending Toxic Blame Culture

Runn.io blog on ending blame culture?

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Make commerciality and technology inclusive?

Break down the “black box” mystique, create simple shared technical language, make it easy to trial and error.? Make sure everyone has the same tools to succeed - level the playing field and invest in others' learning. There is a growing digital divide in New Zealand and we need to proactively work to close it. Teach people from all walks of life about entrepreneurship, commerciality and business risk.?

Provide access, give learning resources and training to those who are uncomfortable with technology. Invest in people learning on the job. Welcome an attitude of leadership not having all the answers, but instead the collective team rising to the occasion; embrace the reality that everyone is learning about something and people can play to their strengths and when they fail to perform in the spotlight, their team, or even the opposing team is still there to accept them.

Websites that can help:?

AcademyEx modern education programmes

Creative HQ Entrepreneurial accelerators and incubators

LinkedIn Learning - Self Guided Learning

Free Technology Training for Teachers

Google Inc’s teacher technology training courses:?

Google EDU

Using Technology Better for Educators

Senior Net

Free Online Classes for Seniors

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Use data to respond to rigid linear or absolute views?

Big problems stem from subjective bias, an imbalance in power, and often “bad behavior” that disadvantages others goes unaddressed. Leaving the imbalance and the disenfranchised quieter few without a safe place to raise issues often leads to poor mental health in the workplace. It is business critical to quantify the impacts of inappropriate behavior on mental health and normalise the discussion of it in every day interactions. Curb bad behavior the moment it occurs, just like you’d give consequences to a misbehaving child, misbehaving bad actors at work also need to be given swift consequences before the pattern becomes too established and ingrained to where others begin to emulate it. Evidence and data are the best way to frame this objectively?and take it from being a subjective finger pointing exercise.?

Websites that can help:?

Setting up data capture

Visualising data

Data Collection How To

Human Rights Data

Bully Free NZ

Coping with Narcissism at Work

Narcissism in Management?

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Create a supportive mental health culture?

Acknowledge that we are in a mental health crisis, prioritise the creation of counseling resources, tap into international / global pools if domestic ones can’t provide enough?coverage and provide mental health resources to employees. Do not let people suffer alone. If you have suspicion of mental health instability, reach out, extend yourself, show love.?

Websites that can help:?

Mindset shifting

Mental Wellness NZ

Free Mental Health Resources

BetterUp - Company Culture Building Service

BetterHelp - Affordable Therapy Services Online

Calm - the number one app for mental wellness and sleep?

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Invest in agility at work?

Bring in expert individuals that teach your teams how, embed them in your organization for a time, teach people to embrace feedback and looking back at what worked and what didn’t work. Embrace performance from individuals contributing to the whole instead of working in silos. Once the teams have been taught how to work in an agile way they can take their own ownership. Don’t just wing it. Invest in your teams, teach them the skills to work in a modern and empowered way. Do not be afraid to show areas of unknowing or vulnerability. Focus on the gaps, the risks, and spend your time there in an open and collaboratively engaging way. Give your team the problems to solve in the best way they think they can, but do not threaten them or use power against them. They will stumble and they need time to learn.?

We are in an unprecedented time of expert technology workers being made redundant, make use of these brilliant minds and embrace the unknown areas in your organisation. Reach out, ask for help, shine light on the scariest areas and rebuild them together with others. There is no time to lose.?

Fractional Consultants can assist at a fraction of the cost of outsourcing to an agency and they can embed in your team, your group and teach you the modern workplace skills required to be nimble in the face of the constantly changing world we’re living in.?

These websites can assist with organisational change:?

Fractional Directory - education platform and directory

Nomad8 - Organizational agility coaching

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Author Bios

Michelle Allbon has spent her career in the Technology Industry supporting high-growth companies like Cisco, Oracle and Salesforce by creating products that help digitally transform?our world. Michelle is passionate about empowering teams, building predictable revenue models for long-term growth, and leading by example. Michelle recently launched the fractional?consulting advisor platform Fractional Directory.?

Auriga Martin is a high growth start up entrepreneur and traditional sector intrapreneur who believes in supporting a new design for business where putting people and planet first comes with higher profits. Auriga is in the process of launching New Zealand’s first AI native venture studio as well as finishing her Masters in Organisational Change and Resilience at AcademyEx. Auriga grew up with successful learning company lynda.com (now LinkedIn Learning). She recently spent 3+ years leading the team at Tempo wealth saving and investing app that launched in early August and, before that, was instrumental in deploying the Substation Robot for Transpower.??Auriga currently advises startup founders?in market and growth strategy.??????

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