Prime Minister John Key summed up the mood of the nation nicely
when he said he felt a mixture of jubilation and relief as the
All Blacks managed to hold on for a 1 point win over France in
the final of the Rugby World Cup at Eden Park to claim the Webb
Ellis Trophy for only the second time in its 24 year history.
While we didn't see the best of the All Blacks in the final, they
managed to hold off a passionate French side in order to secure
a long awaited victory. There is no doubt their mind-set, while
absent and inappropriate in terms of attack, enabled them to
maintain sufficient composure to keep a fired up French side
from stealing a win late in the second half.
Despite widespread derision amongst the French team, captain
Thierry Dusautoi led his team in characteristic fashion
throughout the entire match and in doing so, secured his
nomination for World Player of the Year. Likewise, and
deservedly so, the AB's won Team of the year for the 5th time
and Graham Henry was named World Coach of the Year - also for
the 5th time.
Capitalising on the AB's success
Promoters of world sporting events say the reason countries
should pitch for the privilege of hosting an international
sporting event is because of the unique opportunities they bring
to show case their nation and capabilities to a global audience
and at the same time to harness the feel good factor that
generally accompanies such events.
While research carried out by the Sport Industry Research Centre
(SIRC) at Sheffield Hallam University (Sheffield, UK) shows the
potential for hosting countries to gain measurable economic
benefits, very few nations ever manage to capitalise on the
occasion as anticipated. Why this is the case has been debated
many times but in my opinion the reason benefits tend to fall
short of expectation is twofold; firstly because the capital
investment required to build the necessary infrastructure to
host such an event often proves unusable to ratepayers after it
has finished and secondly, because the organisers (and more
importantly the governing party) fail to unite the nation around
a sense of purpose (future vision) meaning they fail to enable
their citizens to deepen their engagement and thus their
commitment and productivity to their respective causes.
As an interested observer, it is lovely to see New Zealanders
sharing the jubilation with our man of the moment Richie McCaw.
To see him holding the cup aloft as they made their way up Queen
Street (and again in Christchurch and Wellington) gave us hope
and reason to believe we as the inhabitants of our small and
isolated islands could do something similar, despite all that we
have endured. As Brad Thorn said, they did this not just for
themselves, but for the nation (albeit it is only because of the
support of the nation that they have the opportunity to pursue
what they love to do) meaning it may be worth thinking about
what we may like to do on the back of their achievement.
Incidentally, researchers at the SIRC say the benefits of hosting
an event such as the Rugby World Cup are notable in terms of
both international recognition i.e. trading nations are more
likely to engage more enthusiastically with a country that has
proven itself on the international stage than one that hasn't -
presumably because they assume the capabilities and attributes
that enabled a team to succeed on the world stage are common
throughout that nation - and secondly because the so called
'feel good factor' that typically follows is likely to cause
people to feel better about themselves because of their
connection with their country (or winning team) and thus
encourage them to improve the quality of their productivity and
contribution.
To help you leverage the occasion I have compiled a number of
questions you and/or your team may like to ask yourselves;
What do you believe the AB's did differently this time around
that enabled them to win the World Cup? What characteristics
and/or attributes stood out to you that you believe proved vital
in them securing the win? What would happen (do you believe),
if you and your team developed such characteristics or
attributes and/or applied such an approach? Do you believe
you would perform better (and thus gain a different outcome) if
your team applied themselves with a similar commitment and/or
conviction as shown by the All Blacks? What do you believe
you could achieve if you did? Would you gain benefits that
would change your future as an organisation if you did? Is
there any reason why you can't (as a company) leverage this idea
in order to commence a new era in terms of performance?
The fact is, while 'our' men did the job on the field as we hoped
they would, they need us to do the job at work if we as a nation
are to capitalise on the benefits of hosting (and indeed winning
) this event and in turn, leverage the feel good factor they
created in order to build a more competent, engaged and
successful workforce. In other words, if we as individuals rally
our people, we as a nation will experience tangible benefits;
but only if we use the occasion to initiate a deeper
conversation with our staff in order to give them a greater
sense of purpose and thus a more compelling vision they can be a
part of. If on the other hand we fail to capture the mood, the
mood will eventually pass meaning we as a nation will watch the
occasion fade without ever realising what we've missed.
Regrettably, many seem to think the positive sentiment will rub
off on their business and therefore leave its mark. Yes I agree
a more positive conversation is likely to take place amongst our
team, and yes that will be welcomed, however I am far from
convinced this conversation will enable us to take a real step
forward unless it is consciously and deliberately driven by our
leaders. If you believe your people are a key to your company's
success, you need to both inspire and enable them to advance.
Therefore, can you use the AB's success as a catalyst to help
you achieve this?
It seems therefore appropriate for me to ask you what you are
going to do to ensure the RWC proves useful to your business.
For example, are you going to be one of the few organisations
who manage to capitalise on the AB's success or will you be one
of the masses who enjoyed the experience while it was here but
see it as nothing more than a tournament we hosted that did
little or nothing for you?
If too many of us fall into the second camp, we can almost
guarantee the long term benefits will go unrealised. Furthermore
, statisticians will tally the numbers in terms of dollars spent
verses dollars lost and come to the conclusion it was great at
the time, given all we've been through, but other than a
temporary 'relief', it did nothing to kick start a new era in
terms of growth or improvement meaning it will do nothing to
stimulate anything of greater significance.
Irrespective of where you sit, even if you would chose to say it
differently, I would like to say 'thank you' to the New Zealand
Rugby Union for your foresight in bidding for the rights to host
this tournament. Thank you to Martin Sneedon and his crew
(including the many volunteers) for organising a tremendous event
that enabled us to not only showcase our nation like never
before, but to enable us to stand together as both hosts and
supporters and indeed as a nation of different peoples. Thank
you Graham Henry and your coaching and management staff for not
only equipping 'our' team with the goods to lift the trophy, but
for enabling them to do so with dignity and honour and finally
to Richie McCaw and the team for showing us what is possible if
we put our minds to something we believe in (as you did) in
order to achieve something special. You have done us proud. You
won what has become the most important tournament to us as a
nation and in return, you have given us an opportunity to stand
up and be counted – to make a difference. Whether we do or not,
we know it will ultimately be our choice.
SIP Client Portal
You may have noticed when you visit our website there is now a
'Client Login' option. We have spent almost a year creating our
Client Only Portal which will be a repository for all of our
(SIP) work and information.
Once a client has completed a programme, be that an 'in-house'
programme or a 'group' programme, they will be entitled to
access the portal where they will find in-depth information on
the programme they have completed as well as other infomation on
our performance improvement frameworks and advanced performance
improvement programmes.
As the portal evolves we envisage it becoming an important tool
for our clients, and one that is available to them 24/7.
Next Month...........
Our next newsletter will focus on the mental performance of the
All Blacks in the final against France - to ensure we are in a
position to learn from the experience and thus do an even better
job in the future.
Other News
Next month we will release our 2012 'Group' enrolment programme.
If you would like to receive a group programme calendar, please
let us know by contacting Jo on 09 522 9409 or you can email her
j.dickson@steel-ip.com
Summary
If you would like to know how we can help you initiate a step
change in the performance of your business, call us, we will
show you how. 09 522 9409, email us at j.dickson@steel-ip.com
or visit our website www.steel-ip.com.
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