Two months ago, I wrote a blog about the passion us Brazilians have for football and what the World Cup means to us. I mentioned our internal logistics for hosting the tournament and how schools and businesses would close so that everyone could revel in the excitement of our games. I think you probably know what’s coming next…
Just imagine our disappointment when our World Cup dreams came to an abrupt halt when, in the semi-final match, Germany scored (an admittedly impressive) 5 goals in the opening 30 minutes and another 2 in the second half. Overnight, the World Cup went from the hot topic of conversation to something of a taboo!
Overcoming the grief
As the weeks have passed, I’ve realized that there are actually some important learnings that we can take away from our heavy defeat.
Brazil has a well-known saying that explains what, as I understand it, was the main issue in our semi-final:
“Argentina has Messi; Brazil, Neymar Jr; Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo; and Germany has a team”. And behaving as a true team is what allowed Germany to score 7 goals during a 90 minutes match.
And this isn’t something unique to football – it’s an issue that resonates with many workplaces across the world. All too often I’ve heard managers complain that they have ‘5 star’ employees that simply can´t work together as a team and as a result, are seriously jeopardizing the performance of the entire unit.
While recently reading one of our new reports, the new rules of engagement, it struck me that the Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari was likely struggling to adapt to the growing ‘individualism’ megatrend that is affecting both societies and the global business environment alike. In short, individualism means that in today’s society, people are more preoccupied with their own personal wants, needs and career goals – they want more independence, flexibility and control over their work. All sounds pretty reasonable, right? Well the problem is this: How can managers create a team environment which encourages members to draw on their unique skills and talents, to shine as individuals, without losing the team spirit and collaborative culture that is so critical for success?
So, what advice would I offer the new Brazilian manager Dunga – and all managers for that matter – as he tackles (excuse the pun) the challenge of adapting to individualism and engaging his players as one team?
Leverage individual attributes and play to individualistic attitudes:
Give ownership: Give players the tools to manage their own development. This sends a positive message that he trust the team to take responsibility for their progression.
Diversify training: Examine players’ individual development needs and consider how to tailor training sessions accordingly. Let the players know where they should expect skill development and match awareness to happen then clarify their roles and responsibilities during a game.
Promote individual recognition: Peer recognition can be a powerful motivator. Create platforms for players to praise each other’s good work/ performance.
Enable knowledge-sharing: Create processes that allow the team to draw on each other’s individual skills, attributes and big game experiences. Establish a ‘forum’ after training, where players can find out about and tap into each other’s abilities.
While at the same time, encourage collaboration and a sense of ‘team’:
Set boundaries: Managing diverse team members with individualistic attitudes will call for ‘bounded autonomy’. This means giving players the freedom to do what’s needed to achieve their objectives – but within defined boundaries and a clear overall direction. It’s important to ensure that players don’t put their personal objectives above those of the team. Performance management and reward still need to encourage the right skills and behaviors to help achieve the team’s objectives.
Take the time to understand players as individuals: What are their career goals, what motivates them, how do they like to be managed and coached? Only through a deeper understanding of their team as individual people will managers and coaches know how to resolve conflicts, such as disagreements over who has responsibility for and authority over what.
Communicate, communicate, communicate: Repeating and reinforcing goals for the team will help build trust, and motivate players/employees to work towards them, however uncomfortable it might feel.
And then…
Monitor progress: Encourage continuous feedback to track sentiment and engagement on an ongoing basis. Introduce a platform for players to flag any issues they encounter, or barriers in the way of them doing their job. Allow team-mates to comment in response. This generates a real-time feed of important engagement information.
Have you experienced a similar issue in your organization? What actions have you put in place to adapt to individualistic attitudes while at the same time maintaining a collaborative and goal focused team? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment box below.
