What can Employers learn from The All Blacks?
The 2015 Rugby World Cup is now at the Semi-Final stage and for the first time in history, there is no northern hemisphere side represented at this stage. England first, then France, Wales, Ireland and finally Scotland, have been booted out of the competition earlier than anticipated.
Yes, we expected the Southern Hemisphere to dominate, but I didn’t envisage no northern hemisphere nations to reach the final four.
In this article you will come to know about the employee handbook contribution in the sports like Rugby, whether it is a business or it is a sports you are an employee or employer.
Quarter Finals
Wales and particularly Scotland came close in their quarter finals however France were destroyed by New Zealand and Ireland, the Six Nations Champions for the past 2 seasons lost by 20 points to Argentina, the team that has finished bottom of the Rugby Championship (the Southern Hemisphere equivalent of our Six Nations) every year they have been in it.
There was a clear gulf in the ability of the Southern Hemisphere nations to play at pace, something that we have not been able to do consistently over the years. There breakdown work, balls skills and footwork are just that little bit better than ours.
What conclusions can be drawn?
Well firstly let’s say this. It’s not all doom and gloom. The Northern hemisphere power houses are not that bad. We have some outstanding players across all of the Six Nations teams. We can play with pace, off-load out of the tackle, turn ball over and have players with world class skills. So why has the southern hemisphere always been that step ahead?
Firstly, they have a much clearer vision for their respective ‘Unions’. The primary outcome for the New Zealand Rugby Union is to make the New Zealand All Blacks the best Rugby Union team in the world and to keep them there, season after season.
The South African and Australian Rugby Unions are the same. That means that every decision made is done so with the same overall outcome in mind. They can control how many games their elite players paly for their club sides in the Super 15 Rugby tournament, the can ask the club sides to try players in certain positions and they can control the style in which the teams play.
Control of the Club game
In the Super 15 tournament, the 5 New Zealand sides all play the same style, with ball in hand, off-loading out of the tackle and multiple turnovers. The 5 South African teams play a hard running hard tackling game and the 5 Australian sides play expansive game plans are very clever and hide their weaknesses well.
In the English Premiership for example, Bath play a completely different style to Saracens, Leicester play a different style from Exeter, and Sale Play differently to Wasps. What this means is that the 12 teams that make up the Premiership, the pool that the Rugby Football Union have to pick England’s Elite Player Squad from, could all be playing a completely different style of rugby so that when they meet up in the England camp, they then have to learn a different style again.
Managing Players Health
England players, will on average, play45 games per season, with their southern hemisphere counterparts playing only 30. By minimising their game time and allowing longer when recovering from injuries, they maximise the impact of the players on their national team. England players coming into the 2015 World Cup, haven’t had any time off for over a year…and it showed.
What does this mean for a small business?
So what does this teach us about business, well, firstly, make sure that your business has an outcome, and that every decision you make has that outcome in mind. For example, when hiring staff, make sure that you have a Staff Handbook, to ensure that they are all aware of the ‘outcome’ of the business. This will ensure all staff know what the business is looking to achieve. Exactly, like the New Zealand All Blacks.
