How Can Dhoni's Leadership in Cricket Inspire Corporate Training Strategies?

Dear All,

Those interested in cricket must have followed the three-month tour of the Indian team to Australia, especially the last ODI series down under.

M. S. Dhoni obviously stood out displaying a few excellent leadership competencies... and I was wondering (as in a school in Paris where a math teacher took a video clip of one of the masterpiece free-kicks of Beckham to teach his students some otherwise boring math lesson) I was wondering if the training fraternity in this group could put our heads together to see what parallel we could draw to the corporate world from the competencies displayed by the captain to lead the team to win the series.

This would benefit us in having a good piece of interesting stuff - especially for the trainers in the subcontinent - to capture the hearts and minds of learners (cricket being the spice) and drive in some superb theories of leadership...; I am also seeing some Situational Leadership ... in the way he guided Ishant, etc.

To highlight a few to begin with, perhaps the captain was good at calculated risk-taking, strategic thinking (leaving behind the experienced Dravid & Saurav), plenty of Positive Strokes (well, that's TA) and many more... should we share some thoughts?

Might turn out interesting, I thought. - a training module in the making!!

Courtesy,,,

Shahir

Dear Shahir,

Hi, This is Mahesh. Good food for thought. Definitely, the captaincy of Dhoni has been a mature and good exhibition of situational leadership. One needs to also understand and remember that he himself is in the mature hands of Anil Kumble, and clues for this instinct and instances of situational leadership have come from leads of experienced hands. At this point, it would be the right way to say that the situational leadership of Sehwag and Kumble at Perth in handling Ishant leading to the dismissal of Ponting was a dossier to Dhoni to develop himself and take risks.

Here are some examples of situational leadership:

1) Forming basics - build from scratch Demand for youngsters in the team, setting the norms for performance for everyone based on KASH. Getting everyone to perform and reap the rewards of performance.

2) Have only one experienced player above 30 years, rest below 25. As a result, it gave rise once of mentorship in the team wherein everybody looked to Sachin as a mentor (words of advice from Sachin to Yuvraj Singh for getting his touch in the last three matches).

3) Sachin himself was given a smooth caution regarding his poor performance in the first half of the series from the team's perspective (how important for the team) - Reinvent yourself to answer detractors.

4) Strategist - unruffle competition with something which is unknown, handing over the new ball to Praveen Kumar.

5) Be cool in a situation when even death is near, giving Irfan Pathan the ball in the second finals when just 13 runs were needed.

6) Getting the respect of opponents that one is a tough taskmaster even when one is laughing and not pressing the panic button.

7) Team members taking upon themselves as the need to perform after analyzing the situation (Stimulus-Response), leading to confidence within themselves and also projecting themselves why they need to be valued.

There is a famous saying: raise your hands to the situation (volunteer) to take the baton on yourself for the team. In other words, a change in mindset and attitude leading to cohesion.

Passing shot:

The situational leadership of Dhoni reminded one of Kapil Dev's heroics of 175 in the World Cup and the 1985 World Series, the second one gelling well with the first in terms of the match versus New Zealand in the semi-finals needing 205 to win; our team was in tatters at 101 for 3 in 32 overs. Then the emergence of Kapil in the middle, 42.1 overs, 205 for 3. It was a murderous assault along with Vengsarkar at the other end.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Just sit, analyze, plan, and act.

Brother Shahir,

I am just adding a few more food for thoughts which could be an addition for the training fraternity.

Hope this is a good value addition to all.

Regards,

Balaji Mahesh

In my view, apart from being calm and composed, Dhoni is unconventional, does not hesitate to take risks on instinct, and also does not complicate things too much. The new bowler, Praveen Kumar, said in some interview that Dhoni told him "Ball Dalega? Bindaas phek." Reminds you of Munnabhai MBBS "Zyada Tension nahin leneka." He has also been lucky that all his moves have paid off so far. If he had failed, everybody would be baying for his blood instead of analyzing leadership.

I recently read a book "Break free" by Professor Debashis Chatterjee of IIM (Lucknow) which has a chapter called "A leader can be made if he is born as one." The whole chapter explains how skill and knowledge can supplement latent talent. We sometimes complicate leadership with too much analysis.

I had been reading several posts about our cricket team winning in Australia. The focus is on the leadership of Dhoni.

I am not undermining the leadership of Dhoni. But we must look at broader areas, as our Prime Minister subtly highlighted by praising Cricket administration.

Just think of the support the Captains had been getting from the Administrators. Many did not get the support Kumble and Dhoni are receiving from the Administrators. Sharad Powar stood firm and supported Dhoni, stood firm on Harbhajan's issue, and has been managing it well, rewarding them well.

Mr. Dalmiya was responsible for making the Board very rich. Thanks to Dalmiya. But Sharad Powar is definitely focusing on delivery by players, delegating and supporting very well.

Who really took the risk? Dhoni taking certain risks is taken by many captains, but they failed. His instincts are better. That way he is a good captain.

But the real leadership that corporates need to look at is the leadership Sharad Powar is providing. Is it not the right thing that we need to discuss?

Siva

NB

Please don't take it that I am undermining the performance of Dhoni.

Mr. Sivasankaran has raised a very valid point. I was under the impression that perhaps people took up cricket administration even if honorary because of the money and visibility cricket provides. If he is really such a great administrator, he should shift to hockey or take that up as well. Gill has made a mess of things, and hockey does not have the kind of funds cricket has. That really calls for inspiring and efficient leadership, and I am not saying this sarcastically.

Thank you, Hiren. I strongly believe that hockey needs the leadership that cricket has been receiving in the last two decades. Where did the money come from? Even cricket did not have that much money in the '70s, and hockey in India was the most popular game. The administrators did not have that vision. We had excellent players. We had excellent followers but... The Hockey Federation in India did not have the leadership. If Mr. Powar can receive this message and devote some time, we will have two national games in India: one cricket and the other original national game, hockey.

Siva