Football and HR

During the last NHRD conference I heard this beautiful anecdote by Mr. Natarajan Sundar a man of great experience and great knowledge. He was started off with this question "Name the only activity in which all the people compete are not different" people came close with the answer but the answer was football where it is 11 vs. 11 and the intentions of both teams are same to put the ball in the back of the opposite team's net and winning the game and the job of a coach is to motivate them

He talked about using Welch curve while grading the players as indispensable the essential ones and the ones who could be replaced and it was the most interesting anecdote as it combined the two passions i shared in football and human resources
and one special person i remembered was a footballer called ole gunnar solskajer a person who sacrificed his personal choices for the team and helped the team to do personally an under rated player who is a legend

U rock Ole Gunnar Solskajaer, coz of the fact he was able to take a backseat and excel in the role he is given just like in any corporate world where a manager expects his subordinates do well in the job they are given and it was more special because when he came to Manchester united from Norway he was prolific scorer who averaged a goal per game which was so high and starting every game and then to come off the bench which was not a certainty as it was up to the manager to use a substitute so he could never play during a game if the coach felt if it was necessary but to be focused and do the job on the keen occasion was great work.

And this is even more admirable because if I was in his shoes I would have quit and moved on to another club but to see what sustained persistence can do is breathtaking.


Cheers

Arvind