India lost to a Better Team on 09 July 2019 in the Semi Finals of World Cup!

A nation was halted in its steps yesterday as slowly the sinking feeling that India will not be able to cross the line as the run rate which seemed so easy to reach suddenly was out of reach on this given day of 09 July and with it sank the hopes and dreams of a billion cricket crazy fans across the world.

Reams of papers will be written for next four years till next world cup comes on why and why not questions, , there will be animated debates just like Sachin, Saurav did on many channels post this unexpected loss to New Zealand. Virat summed it up" Those 45 minutes changed everything? Did we prepare for the last world cup strategy wise or the future world cup?

Lets see the situation from my famous PONC model of business excellence and what could we learn from this loss? I will focus on three macro issues only as i am sure most of readers are well aware of what happened.

Strategy vs Tactics. As Business Excellence and Mind Kinetics Trainer I often during my various workshops with senior leadership experience this simple issue with many leaders in many organisations.

The higher you go up the ladder in sales, service, customer issues or product specialist or HR or IT Solutions specialists-You first and foremost as National Directors Sales/VP Sales/VP Products etc are expected to first help your CEO/MD evolve strategy options for a five to six year time span rather than just focus on monthly review meeting so that the vision of the company can be translated.This major PONC on barriers to strategic thinking is a very common theme I come across.

This match had all the strategy experiences before we came to this stage for a ONE DAY match but not for the contingency when the match due to rainy weather could go into two days and the strategy evolved for just a single day match had to be adapted and situational awareness created so that for the second day's strategy to win the game, key milestones of everyone's role had to be reviewed. This was a big PONC mentally and physically.

Take for example role of Dhoni and Kartik or Pandya. All the possible combinations were wargamed like good cricketing teams for a simple one day session but not for two day session with ball doing tricks in the air and India down with scoreboard reading 5-3 .Was it strategy formulation of who should now be sent at number 4/5 that led India not to be able to survive those testing crucial overs or was the management simply playing tactics of that particular day?

I felt there was a clear lack of strategy just because these situations were really not War-gamed and the decision of team management to promote Pandya instead of Dhoni with all his experience and skills of handling pressure and tense situation run chases was overlooked for altar of tactics to somehow survive Henry's overs.

New Zealand bowlers wer bowling beautifully and fielding of world class standard just added to the edge of seat excitement with the catch of Neesham and run out of Dhoni by Martin Guptill.

This highlights the corporate and team leadership issues of how to make crucial decisions in such situations when the risk analysis has not been thought through as a business strategy rather than merely having monthly targets or quarterly targets meeting reviews even though your role encompasses you to think LARGE AND BIGGER. This could be the bane of most Service and Solutions led organisations.

Kane Williamson showed clear cricketing strategy designed to be patient with sharper placements and bowling options . Henc, India lost to a better team and strategist on that given day.

Situational Awareness . That no one can match the thinking brains and situational awareness of Mahendra Singh Dhoni : is well established .But who would have thought that Jadeja will show such rare understanding and exemplary situational awareness of how crucial it was for him to be aggressive but still keep his wicket safe till that inevitable rush of blood to spoon a simple catch. What is the lesson these crucial moments showed for team leadership?

Even though the Leaders like Dhoni will be around to keep an eagle's eye and supercomputer mind to keep the run rate calculus in mind ; it is the minute to minute situational awareness that can be more crucial than your overall skills.In the moment of truth , Dhoni was run out! Every Indian fan's heart sank and any hopes to beat New Zealand went up in thin air of Old Trafford ground.

Did Dhoni- the master class in situational awareness for all these years and role model for millions err in that divine situational awareness moment in stealing that extra run disregarding his 40 year old body mechanisms ? Yes or No, may be! But that literally ended the hopes.Could Dhoni have handled it better ? This will be debated endlessly just as one loses to a close competitor due to one's own negotiation and conflict management skills failing in the crucial minutes of final closure.

This is a very critical lesson for corporate sales processes specially the month end culture. The Entire month's strategy of booking/billing and closure has a generally well reviewed space and rhythm but what happens in those last three days of the month?

Does any corporate leader actually follow all those strategies or tactics or shows situational awareness ?

The Book-bill- deliver cycle carries huge PONC due to the fact that in those moments of simply booking the order you are overlooking a number of parameters that you so carefully trained your teams on, cautioned them against thes every situations but in those three days of month end, the run rate situational awareness vs BACK TO BACK booking orders is something Business leaders will spend days of next month analysing why and how they earned so much BR/AR and over committed orders simply because this crucial moments or last two days of the month forces unforeseen errors in the very process that were designed to withstand these risks.

Self Belief Apart from many other leadership lessons this critical lesson of self belief and mindset attuned for a positive outcome somehow on given day led to doubts and forced decision dilemma and wrong choices on who should go at number 4 or 5. Once the top three Rahul, Rohit and Virat were out even before the scoreboard had double digit figures were crossed on scoreboard, there was disbelief, sense of visible anxiety and nervousness leading to self doubts in those who had yet to bat.

One Could clearly see a distraught Ravi Shastri, Arun and Sanjay Banagar infecting the rest of team with this sense of lack of self belief momentarily disregarded when Jadeja was on a rampage. Why it is important to keep our self belief as a team and individual going on in these crucial moments is the difference between defeat and victory; Which is what happened when a calm and collected New Zealand team without panicking or missing any catches simply increased the PONC to over 10 runs an over . The Lack of belief magnified this run rate so easily managed during those exciting IPL matches,

No Business leader can himself or herself stop believing in team abilities in those crunch moments . This is the biggest lesson for everyone.