Came across this interesting news item, though I must admit the first reaction was, ‘a mild shock’.

Two reasons,

  • ‘They were axed for failing to obey team management orders’. That is not even like ‘corporate’, though quite possible with few bosses, but more like armed services.“…for failing to make a presentation on how to improve their personal as well as the team’s performance”, on three areas – ‘technical, mental & team’
  • Shane Watson is one of the best players and is capable of arresting the slide of his team over the last few weeks in India. (down 0-2 in test series)

My first thought was, “a presentation” !! Imagine asking Sehwag, Bajji or Sachin Tendulkar to make a presentation on these lines. Whenever I made power point presentations at work, I used to think how lucky these players, musicians, artists were, they don’t need to make PPT’s !!
( Greg Chappel, who was Indian coach during Saurav Ganguly’s time, looks saintly!)

Jokes apart, I find the whole things typical corporate ‘knee-jerk reaction’ to a crisis. How many times we would have seen/done that in our job-situations. Of course, at times, outside work too. True leadership is when we handle such crisis situations and come out with minimum damage. The focus should be on process and Australians are the best-equipped when it comes to their systems & processes.

Most importantly, a life coach ( executive or transformational coah) would have handled this very differently. Also he would trust his process.  Though the professional coaching practice borrows best practices and theories from diverse disciplines such as sports, psychology to spirituality, we would not borrow something like this, for sure!

For the details, check out:
India vs Australia: Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, others axed from team – Indian Express

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