More firms should study how elite Australian sporting teams build winning cultures, develop self-belief and resilience in their athletes, and empower them to perform above expectation.
Consider the Western Bulldogs and Cronulla Sharks, last weekend's grand final winners. The magnitude of their achievement cannot be overstated. They delivered wins for the ages, wins that were the result of remarkable organisation turnarounds.
![One of the great performances: Luke Beveridge.](/web/20161009081533im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/t/8/m/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grv85r.png/1475639730630.jpg)
The Western Bulldogs, in crisis two years ago with no coach or captain, won their first flag since 1954. Cronulla overcame a drug-supplement crisis in 2013, management and board changes, and player/coach suspensions to win its maiden premiership. Remarkable.
For perspective, imagine working for a large company that is on its knees with scandals, management changes and immense brand damage. An organisation that has an uncertain future, yet within a few years becomes market leader. This is the stuff of management textbooks.
![Sweet victory: Paul Gallen is mobbed by Sharks fans after the game.](/web/20161009081533im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/t/e/e/a/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grv85r.png/1475639730630.jpg)
As an aside, those interested in what business can learn from sport should read Rosabeth Moss Kanter's Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End. The Harvard academic studied some of the world's great sporting teams to understand how winning culture is formed and lost.
I'm a sucker for sporting anecdotes. Like the one about the great All Blacks rugby team sweeping their sheds at the end of the game – a symbol of humility, discipline and the team taking care of itself. Could you imagine your company's superstars cleaning the office?
The Western Bulldogs and Cronulla, of course, have to back it up with a long periods of sustained success. They are no Hawthorn or Melbourne Storm – yet. But both have engineered tremendous turnarounds and deserve every ounce of praise they get.
Here's what business can learn from the Western Bulldogs and Cronulla. Add your views on any other insights they offer business by replying to this blog.
![Lachie Hunter, Tom Liberatore and Jake Stringer of the Bulldogs.](/web/20161009081533im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/t/b/p/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grv85r.png/1475716122840.jpg)
1. Community connection
No teams had a stronger bond with their fan base during the finals than the Western Bulldogs and Cronulla. The goodwill was palpable and both teams wisely fed off the support and energy from their stakeholders rather than try to downplay or avoid it.
They performed for their community and their community performed for its team.
It's a bit like customers believing in the organisation and its purpose, and willing it to succeed. Or companies and their clients co-creating an experience and sharing in it.
However, too many corporates get further away from their stakeholders as they grow, lack passion and don't share in the customer journey. They lose sight of their community. They are mostly playing for executive bonuses, often badly.
2. Spreading the talent/pay
Unlike their fancied rivals, the Western Bulldogs and Cronulla did not rely on one or two superstars to carry others. They had good players across the team. Their salary payments were probably more evenly spread than many other top teams.
Compare them to large corporates where the CEO earns many times more than the average employee and executive team members earn seven-figure salaries.
Relying on a few "stars" and paying them extreme salaries is so often a precursor to poor organisational culture. Staff resent earning a fraction of their peers when they work harder and sometimes perform at higher levels.
A better spread of talent/pay creates a winning culture and maintains it for longer.
3. Age diversity
Cronulla, in particular, perfectly blended experienced players with younger ones. The club recruited a few veterans, stuck with older players when other clubs might have cut them, and kept the fresh talent coming through. That mix was the single biggest factor in their victory.
Compare that to corporates that axe older workers because they cost more. Or who disregard experience and always favour younger, cheap workers who are supposedly more flexible and motivated. These organisations end up with a handful of high-priced, older stars (the executive team and general managers), lots of young staff and not much in between.
Inevitably, younger talent finds it hard to develop when there are fewer experienced staff to learn from. Cronulla's young players lifted because they were surrounded by veterans and the older players seemed to feed off the energy of the emerging talent.
4. A mission to believe in
Staff in great organisations are motivated by more than money. They believe in the purpose. Staff trust their employer and provide extra discretionary effort as a result.
Companies use the mission to ensure everyone in the organisation rows in the same direction. They have that "big hairy audacious goal", as management thinker Jim Collins put it, that motivates staff to strive for the seemingly impossible.
The Western Bulldogs and Cronulla had an obvious goal: winning a competition after a multi-decade drought. But getting staff to believe in big goals and embrace them is another matter. Both clubs helped their athletes believe they were as good as any in their competition and had just as much right to win as any other team. It was stunning leadership.
Does your employer have a clear mission and purpose? Do you believe in it? Does the mission make you want to worker harder and longer? Does it bond staff?
5. Humility
The Western Bulldogs' humility was one of this year's great sporting highlights. From coach Luke Beveridge giving his premiership medal to injured captain Bob Murphy, to the many after-match comments from players: this was a genuinely humble, respectful team.
How good was it hearing younger players acknowledge the club's board and its back-office staff for the team's success – the emerging talent bought into the club's values and it showed.
Sadly, it's rare to see leadership of this quality in corporate Australia. Success is too often about individuals and leaders who are quick to claim the glory or pass blame during a crisis. How many CEOs step back from the limelight during the organisation's greatest triumph?
One senses that Beveridge and Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan have as deep a bond with their players as any of their peers. Perhaps they used organisation adversity to build and maintain that player bond.
Or they are rare leaders who understand that nobody is bigger than the team.
What else can Corporate Australia learn from the Western Bulldogs and Cronulla?
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