Sports and alliances

Every Sunday morning the newsletter of Sunil Bali enters my inbox. A newsletter about trust, leadership and relationships. In yesterday’s article “Duel in the Crown” Sunil describes sports coach Glen Mills and the results his athletes achieved. Glen did not reach the results by motivation, but rather by following the #1 rule of Sports Psychology: process over outcome. “If you’re totally focussed on the actions required to deliver a great performance, then the results will take care of themselves.”

Process over outcome in alliances
When you think about that in the light of alliances the same rule applies. We know that companies who do not follow their alliance lifecycle process, or worse don’t have one, are less successful with alliances than the companies who do. The steps in the process are there for a reason. Also in alliances it is important to focus on the actions that will lead us to the result rather than to focus on the results.

Alliances and sports
That brings the second analogy between sports and alliances within a week. Last Friday I wrote about the analogy between boxing and alliances, where in both cases it is good to work with a sparring partner to practice before actually facing your opponent or partner. Other sports will have their own analogy with our work in alliances. Team sports for instance will show the importance of collaborating as a team to reach the success you are looking for in your alliance. (I am not into soccer so I won’t comment on the causality between the team play and the results of the Dutch soccer team recently).

What analogies between (your) sport and alliances do you see?

2 Responses to “Sports and alliances”

  1. Peter Simoons

    Paul sent me a response in email connecting alliances and American Football:

    In American Football – each team has an offensive unit, a defensive unit and a special teams unit. They perform at different times in the same game with the common purpose of winning. Their work is very different from each other and their performance can have a positive or negative effect to the other as well. If the offense does not play well and gives away the ball too frequently or easily – the defense may appear to be playing poorly because they gave up too many points. Similarly if the special teams unit does not play well it may result in poor field position that may cause the offensive or defensive units to suffer. Poor defensive play may limit the options available to the offense or special teams.

    And yet – they must trust each other – allow each other to perform the expected role and continue to play their assigned role while making whatever adjustments they can to maximize their individual results without adding to the challenges faced by the other teams. This may result in losing a game – but there will be another day and another game – and the alliance is made up of human beings who need to work together in spite of past failures and in anticipation of future successes.

    They have a priority of being the best at the end of the season based on overall results
    They build relationship with each other that enables communication when there are challenges
    Each unit has a leader that maintains unity despite the failings of one or another
    They share objectives game by game
    There are cautions in place to protect vulnerabilities
    They commit to practice and communicate to avoid errors
    They adapt to changing circumstances
    They continue playing the game even when it appears that all may be lost

    The sports world gives us many vibrant examples of alliances – good and bad!

    26 June 2012 at 09:29
  2. Peter Simoons

    Paul sent me a response in email connecting alliances and American Football:

    In American Football – each team has an offensive unit, a defensive unit and a special teams unit. They perform at different times in the same game with the common purpose of winning. Their work is very different from each other and their performance can have a positive or negative effect to the other as well. If the offense does not play well and gives away the ball too frequently or easily – the defense may appear to be playing poorly because they gave up too many points. Similarly if the special teams unit does not play well it may result in poor field position that may cause the offensive or defensive units to suffer. Poor defensive play may limit the options available to the offense or special teams.

    And yet – they must trust each other – allow each other to perform the expected role and continue to play their assigned role while making whatever adjustments they can to maximize their individual results without adding to the challenges faced by the other teams. This may result in losing a game – but there will be another day and another game – and the alliance is made up of human beings who need to work together in spite of past failures and in anticipation of future successes.

    They have a priority of being the best at the end of the season based on overall results
    They build relationship with each other that enables communication when there are challenges
    Each unit has a leader that maintains unity despite the failings of one or another
    They share objectives game by game
    There are cautions in place to protect vulnerabilities
    They commit to practice and communicate to avoid errors
    They adapt to changing circumstances
    They continue playing the game even when it appears that all may be lost

    The sports world gives us many vibrant examples of alliances – good and bad!

    26 June 2012 at 08:22

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