4 Ways Organizations Fail to Collaborate Like World Cup Teams

I have the annoying habit of making everything an object lesson. So, while watching the World Cup, I couldn't help but consider what businesses and organizations can learn about strategy, leadership, and collaboration from these elite football teams.

I need to make it clear that I know remarkably little about football, or any sport for that matter. In my house, my wife is the sports fan. She watches games, and I sit with her asking seemingly inane questions about trivial aspects of the games. (I once spent the entirety of an American NFL game researching the differences in helmets.)

Don't get me wrong. I played soccer (as we call it in America) as a kid. I wasn't any good, but I learned the basic premise of the game. But I have no business offering sports commentary. But I do understand strategy and collaboration, and that appears to be what the game is all about.

So, as I have been watching the games, I have been looking at the teams' radical focus on collaboration and teamwork. You can't play at that level without a total alignment of the players. Many organizations struggle because they fail to see the value of this level of collaboration. 

4 Ways Organizations Fail to Collaborate Like World Cup Teams

The leader has a great game plan but didn't tell everyone.

I have worked with leaders who have a great vision and clear mission for the organization. Unfortunately, those things live in the leader's head. Maybe the leader shares these insights with a small group of senior leaders but fails to encourage them to offer this clarity to the rest of the organization.

That must be frustrating. A football coach would feel helpless as the team failed to carry out the strategy that had been painstakingly thought out. The players would continually be frustrated by poor performance and by the coach's disappointment in their failure to carry out the game plan.

For World Cup teams, every player on the field, and even on the bench, knows the plays and strategy. It has been communicated clearly by the coach, and the players can communicate it to each other.

“Just ask people in the organization this question: What does our organization do? If there is no common answer, not everyone is playing the same game.”

EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN GAME PLAN.

Great leaders put a great deal of trust in their team. They hire smart people and give them a lot of freedom to get their work done. However, it is possible to take this too far. People within the organization may be working toward the same goal, but there is no synchronization or alignment with their work.

This would be ugly in football. You can see it in less successful teams where one "star" player ignores the plan and goes it alone. One player is ready to pass to another open player to make the goal, but that player is not in position because, in his game plan, the ball was going to go to someone else.

World Cup winners are all on the same page. Their commitment to the game plan even allows them flexibility when situations change.

Everyone has their own ball.

Organizations with no system of collaboration or clear workflow may look like a bunch of people playing their own game. Everyone might be working toward the goals of the company, but they are not even paying attention to the work of others toward that goal. 

Well, it doesn't take much imagination to consider what that would look like on the field. World Cup winners collaborate working one ball down the field – focused on that one ball and working with one another toward a shared goal.

Not everyone is playing football.

Consider yourself lucky if you have never worked in any organization like this. As you look around, everyone is busy. However, it quickly becomes evident that all of that activity fails to be related to one overarching purpose. This is simple to diagnose. Just ask people in the organization this question: What does our organization do? If there is no common answer, not everyone is playing the same game.

If you ask any member of a World Cup football team, they would likely share the same answer. The only variations speak volumes to their chances of winning. "We play football," would be an obvious answer. "We win world football championships," would be the answer of true champions.

Your organization is not a football team. You have your own complexities in working together. However, watching a little football together might help you think about how to work together better.

If you take nothing else from this post, take some time to see if everyone at least knows what game you are playing.