I’m not much of a test match cricket fan. In fact, watching paint dry or grass grow would pip it to the post as my wasting time activity of preference. But I am all for team sports and men wearing white, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the fortunes of the ICC World XI recently
By Melinda Finch
I’m not much of a test match cricket fan. In fact, watching paint dry or grass grow would pip it to the post as my wasting time activity of preference. But I am all for team sports and men wearing white, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the fortunes of the ICC World XI recently.
The Rest of The World was whipped into submission by an Australian test side, still smarting from losing the Ashes, and limped out of the ailing Super Series looking lacklustre and inept. Yet here were eleven of the world’s most gifted athletes, capable of bowling balls as fast as rockets and hitting them back just as quick, and standing around for hours looking cool in white knitted vests. And they just couldn’t get it together.
Of course someone has to win, but the ICC World XI lost so convincingly it raises questions about the issue of talent, who has it and how you use it. The Super Series concept presents interesting similarities for HR. Bring your best, most talented people together, train them well and you should succeed, shouldn’t you?
So while companies in the ASX/S&P Top 100 group consistently rate talent management, attraction and development as among the top issues facing them today, talent alone is no guarantee of success, profitability or sustainability on the sporting field, in the marketplace or on the stock exchange.
In fact, as The Sydney Morning Herald suggested recently, “the whole disastrous World XI experiment merely emphasises a point that had been obvious to anyone who has observed the most significant sporting triumphs of recent times – the importance of team chemistry”.
In a sense, HR is about creating chemistry, that elusive, mysterious element inherent in just about any human relationship whether it be personal or professional. It’s difficult to control it but easy to recognise. So HR needs to look out for those tenacious people who may not necessarily be the star performers but who have the ability to create synergy between people, programs and products.
As former US President Calvin Coolidge said: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.” If talent strategies are to succeed, HR, unlike the ICC World XI, needs to put up a very good fight for the underdog.
