Secret of a Successful Team: What can be learnt from a world class cricket team?

We have heard many times by now that “one player does not make the team, it’s a team that make a team” or something similar. There have certainly been previous comparisons of team management and leadership techniques to professional sports teams. This is my perspective using cricket as the sport and very specifically, drawing parallels between a limited over cricket game and composition of high-functioning teams.  

Limited over cricket game is a format of the game where one team has finite amount of deliveries/ balls to score as many runs as possible with loosing minimum number of wickets (players being out) and then have the opponent score less than them or take all the wickets of an opponent team to win the game. The fielding restrictions in the beginning and end of the game allow the team batting first to take high risks and score as many runs as possible. Middle overs are where opponent fielders are spread out and high-risk shots may result in ball being caught and player of the team being out. Hence, folks play cautiously and the team takes fewer risks and just keeps the score board moving. The key is to not succumb to the pressure, understanding the roles and playing them effectively, to put together a big score on the board for the opponent to chase. As it comes down to bowling, similar approach is observed: some bowlers will be high risk bowlers who could concede a lot of runs and can get a lot of wickets and some low risk bowlers who stifle the runs of the opponent and increase the pressure on them to make mistakes. 

Now some of you may be already thinking; “How does it relate to teams within your organization?”. The key here is to understand that “Five fingers in our hand are not same size” and we need to ensure that we respect and appreciate each of team members’ strengths and areas of interest and allow them to grow and develop in their respective courses . If you think about it – you don’t need all rock stars in your team. You certainly need a few (just like top order batsmen or bowlers), who are your top performers/ high risk takers. However, we cannot keep our sole focus on those resources and neglect the rest of the team; after all, middle order players are the ones who keep the score board ticking. We certainly need those low risk takers who settle down the pressure, produce at top of their capacity, and keep the workstreams moving. 

What does it all mean then? Well, when we are creating our teams, we need to be conscious of the fact that based on our skill requirements, we are not just looking for rock stars or star performers. We should try to keep a balance of resources who are rock stars and those who are our all-rounders. Ability to identify these people and understanding the purpose they associate themselves with and connecting with them on that purpose will take us a long way in building a hugely successful and productive team.