An apocryphal tale
~ a story of doubtful authenticity ~
There was a football tournament, a very important one, something a bit like the World Cup…
The first match
England played Italy. The Italians won comfortably. The English were left humiliated and strong action was demanded. So the coach was fired, he was accountable, someone else was given his job.
The second match
The second group match was against Uruguay. The Uruguayan team won. Again they did it comfortably. This time the management fired the physio, they could hardly fire the coach, that would have implied that they’d screwed up appointing him.
The third match
The third match took place, this time with a new physio as well as the ‘new’ coach.
It was a draw, nil – nil against a team from somewhere called Costa Rica (where on earth is Costa Rica? I think it is a small island — somewhere near Bermuda?).
The English carried out a review. The powers that be took it for granted that the coach and the physio were the right people doing everything right. Clearly, the fault lay with the workers, the footballers. So they put in a pay for performance system, “gold for goals” — the strikers loved it, the goal keeper was not so sure.
Fortunately there wasn’t a fourth match
The players breathed a sigh of relief and drank heavily on the early plane home. What if they had lost against the Germans? They would have been lynched when they got back…
The clever thing to do
Would have been to watch what the other teams did and learn from them.
But then it is hard to watch others when you are too busy watching your own back.
Thanks to Maz Iqbal for the idea (and most of the words) for this post
If you enjoyed this post click here for updates delivered straight to your inbox
Read another opinion
Image by Eustaquio Santimano
James,
I wonder if the English FA and Premier League have the courage and commitment to follow in Germany’s footsteps (http://www.businessinsider.com/germany-youth-system-2014-7) following their disastrous performances in major championships in 1998 and 2000 and develop a youth academy system that has provided the pool of talent that has now allowed them to won the world cup. From 2001-2011 they have invested approx $681 million in this system.
I guess this is a similar challenge that some firms face, are we willing to play the long game and restructure and invest in the future? Or, do we delude ourselves with the idea that the current system is fine and we just need to figure how to get more out of it (sweat the assets, as it were)?
Adrian
Thanks for the link Adrian, fascinating stuff
Can you imagine if every company had that kind of youth academy/up-and-coming talent pool?