How Not To Follow A Humdrum Strategy

On the night of March 08^th, 2017, the football world saw one the major upsets of the tournament; at the highest level.

The #ChampionsLeague is no small town kid. It’s the crown which every European football club yearns for. It’s a show of strength, desire, and something to kill for.

A giant club from France (Paris St Germain or PSG) battling it out with another giant from Spain (Barcelona or Barca).

Those Petious Six Goals (#PSG) changed the way world looked at #Barcelona; for those who still had any inhibitions about this club.

For those who don’t know, there are two fixtures between the same two teams, in this tournament – one home game and another away game.

During the first meet, PSG knocked a heavy blow on Barca, leading the night 4 goals to nil.

Very few people would have thought that Barca would be able to overcome such a mountain of a task.

Plain and simple, it was impossible.

Well, those of you who don’t know Barca’s might would not know that they don’t give up till it’s the end.

So, all they did was to make impossible to I’m possible!

HOW?

You have to watch it to believe it.

The energy they had, they pace with which they moved, and the rage which was evident from their body language. They could kill, if they had any weapons!

Was it enough to make such a comeback?

Absolutely not!

These are key ingredients which you need, but the ingredients don’t mix or bake on their own.

They need a binding agent, a purpose, and a role which each of them plays.

So, after their defeat in the first leg, Barca made changes to the team. The coach started mixing his strategies and kept his opponents, guessing!

The two things which stood out for me: Reorganising and Rotating.

When to tame the opponents and when to go for the kill – know that and all you have to do is wait for the right time. Wait for the opponents to make a mistake and present you with a weak spot.

You don’t always get a high ground, and you don’t always win from a high ground.

Agility, which comes from challenging and perfecting different scenarios, giving yourself more data to prepare, and a cutting edge!

The next thing, is to know who could make that killing. It’s not always the sniper who has the best spot to kill.

Sometime, he could be there to cause a distraction or make you run for cover, while the man with the knife waits for the opportunity and makes the silent kill.

Never let your work be monotonous, have a thorough SWOT analysis, keep more information, and know what works for you and what not.

When you put yourself in different scenarios, you will know the weak areas. And, if you could stumble upon those then others could, as well.

You have to try!

Take a calculated risk!

Or, go blind!

You’ll learn something out of it, for sure.

But, eat only what you can stomach.

In between, the first match and the return match, Barca played other games and corrected their new ways of working.

When the time came, they were better prepared!

 

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Author speaks: I’m not here to change the world; I intend to make an impact on one soul at a time. If you like my work, please press Like, or better yet put a Comment; perhaps a feedback. However, the best appreciation of my work will be to Share this with your friends and your social circles (FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, G+, and others).

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Mentoring or Coaching, What’s Your Vogue?

“Son… Listen to me. I’m telling you this for you­­r own good. After all, I have more experience than you!” Doesn’t this statement reminds you of your adolescent age, or perhaps early 20s; where your parents or a senior member of the project would have said this to convey something to you, while (in your head) you were fuming with your own theories about how that thing should be done. At the time, you wouldn’t realise that they have been in similar situation or they have seen others, and they only wanted to guide you: mentor you. Any informal exchange of thoughts by a person: who has been in a difficult situation (life experience), or knows more about a specific work (professional experience), or is able to motivate people with his actions in general (role model), to another (less knowledgeable) person is Mentoring.

Mentoring could be well planned of or could arise based on a situation, but the purpose should be clear. Being there with you at every step and telling you what to do is a way of mentoring, putting you in a situation and let you deal with it, leading from the front and showcasing how to deal with a situation, and once the situation has passed then discussing about your learnings and sharing a feedback; all these are techniques which a mentor can use. This process need not necessarily mean transfer of knowledge from an older person to a younger person, it could be other way round as well. For instance, a business manager grooming an associate to become a successful (data) presenter, on the other hand a teenager helping his mother to learn to use a smartphone; both these situations are of mentoring.

Mentoring is a two-way street, it allows to mentee to learn technicalities, ways to deal with situations, and progress in career; while it allows the mentor to grow by imparting his knowledge and experience, and gaining a new perspective (from every mentee). A mentor should be able to offer (morale) support and invest (social) capital in this relation oriented process; as mentoring is a long term, and development driven. Mentoring is often confused with Coaching. Unlike mentoring, coaching can be initiated in an instance, without any plan, but on a specific topic. Coaching is generally short term and is goal oriented, measured by the performance of the mentee. Any form of learning or sharing of ideas, pertaining to a situation or task with an end result in mind, between a person and his immediate boss: falls under coaching.

In most of the organisation, respective teams have team leaders or managers coaching the associates for a specific type of work. Even if the team lead tries to best-pick an associate and grooms him, it’s because he (the lead) has to get a person ready to take his place, so he can move up the hierarchy. Thus, organisations should have a mentoring programme, open to all, to improve the productivity overall. Senior managers and above should make some time to mentor junior members within the organisation, of course in a carefully planned and organised manner. The involvement of human resource department becomes more important, as the size of the organisation increases, for making such program a success. And almost impossible as it may seem, every senior member should indulge in (unconditional) mentoring of others. Earn some goodwill while you are at it. After all, respect can never be demanded, but earned!

“Leaders… should influence others… in such a way that it builds people up, encourages and edifies them so they can duplicate this attitude in others.” ~ Bob Goshen

 

Author speaks: I’m not here to change the world; I intend to make an impact on one soul at a time. If you like my work, please press Like, or better yet put a Comment; perhaps a feedback. However, the best appreciation of my work will be to Share this with your friends and your social circles (FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, G+, and others).

Thanks in advance!