29th Nov, 2009
Recently, I commented on the whole issue with WI cricket and Leadership in the article “Square pegs and round holes: Putting the right people in the right place.”
What does business does a management consultant have commenting on cricket? Well, as a student and practitioner of Global Best Practice and Change Management, I would like to believe I’m well qualified to comment on the central issue as key issue: Leadership.
In this follow-up, lets focus on a new Leadership approach. Lead first by the numbers, then choose based on quality and potential. There are several lessons here for employees, managers and business owners.
Just like people bashed Brian Lara and called for his head, they are also bashing Gayle and calling for Ganga. It irks me to read and hear of some misguided albeit well intentioned comments by several people on the web and in the newspaper.
Let’s look at some numbers first. If we look at all-time win/loss statistics, we can compare some international captains who have been under fire in the past and also captains from West Indies legend:
Other Data Source: Cricinfo.com
N.B. The WI Captaincy list excludes captains who had the reins for less than ten test matches
The stats will show that Gayle’s performance as captain is preceded by a decline that started after the departure of Richie Richardson.
Secondly, let’s look at the regional batting performances, for the ’08-’09 season. Bolded names are current WI test players on the Australian tour:
Judge for yourself by the stats, Ganga, based on First Class cricket for this season at the very least should have been on the side in front of Travis Dowlin, and therefore as Ian Chappell said in the linked radio interview (Cricinfo.com Interview with Sir Ian Chappell), be seriously considered as the right captain for the this time. Age is not a factor as Dowlin is two years older than Ganga, however Dowlin’s performance when selected to the Test team during the recent WIPA-WIBC dispute, was ostensibly used to justify his place on the current Australia tour.
Gayle is not a bad captain in my honest opinion, its just that his Leadership style is not matching the needs of the team right now. That having been said, it is important that the other issues also be sorted out such as the players dispute with the board (permanently) and a proper management structure otherwise Ganga, or anyone else for that matter, will have their efforts diluted.
What does this say about Leadership? When judging a current leader or evaluating a potential one, performance is important, but so are the qualitative qualities in order to be a leader. Ganga may not be the best batsman, but he may indeed be they better candidate for captain at this time. As we have seen from examples such as Michael Jordan, Diego Maradona, Sachin Tendulkar and even Brian Lara, you may have tremendous talent and even spectacular achievements in your sport, but that does not mean that you have the qualities to lead.
Leadership style can be very specific based on a organizations needs. So when you are hiring, promoting or moving people around, you must consider the numbers, but then evaluate the final decision based on who is the right person for the current job based on qualitative criteria. For example:
- Behaviour off the job as it relates to the example that needs to be set
- Ability to command respect and enforce discipline
- Ability to show initiative
- Ability to motivate individuals and delegate responsibility
- Response under pressure
- Competence in dealing with top management
In conclusion, no external party knows all the details of an organizations challenges as well as its leaders. Leaders are faced with extraordinary pressure to deliver results by stakeholders and as a result certain decisions have to be taken that may be unpopular. However, any decision and the evaluation of that decision must be taken with a numbers led foundation, followed up by a qualitative evaluation. This reduces criticism and ensures that the results desired have the necessary foundation to be achieved.
Otherwise, as they say, you know the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.
Ingenuity
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You may also find these other stories to be of interest:
Cricket
The Ponting record speaks for itself
Ganga or Gayle – Who will lead the Windies?
Lara urges support for Gayle captaincy
Leadership
Leading by the numbers – Based in the Dermatology Industry but contains excellent points.
Leadership by the Numbers? It’s One Part of Todd Thomson’s Management Strategy at Citigroup
Ingenuity