The ManicaPost
Simbarashe Musara
Post Correspondent
Business leaders and entrepreneurs should take keen interest in football.
The sport is results-oriented.
Performance is not judged on efforts done but rather on the end result.
In football you can play fancy football, wear the latest and trending jerseys, have all the ball position in the game and be vocal but at the end of the day, the result on the scoreboard is what matters the most.
If the result is not in your favour at the end of the game, people will judge you with that.
The idea of results can be seen again in business, specifically when it comes to results based management.
This is a strategy that focuses on the performance and achievements of results. In simple terms, the input that is being made should translate into positive results.
In business, you develop these goals and a set of targets that you would want to achieve.
This applies to both big and small businesses.
In order to achieve these goals, you have to put in place an overall strategy that will result in the desired results.
Results are the outcome of an action, so the main focus should be on the outcome.
When you have put up your goals and a strategy in place, it’s the same as a football match that has started.
The opponent you will be playing against is the same as the competition around you in business.
The obvious thing is you may not know their strategy but your own strategy has to be good enough to fend off competition.
The competition will also come with their own strategy to try and outwit the business.
Once the game has started, the strategy has to be seen being implemented and if the opponent is outplaying you, it simply means your strategies are not good enough, the strategies are not being implemented properly, the personnel are not competent enough to implement strategy or the people who came up with the strategy did not communicate well with the other players.
If the scoreboard is against you, it is not the end of the game as there is always time to recover.
In football there is half time and in business there are reviews which can be done on a quarterly or annual basis.
You can always review the areas that need improvement.
If the scoreboard is against you at any point in time, half time is a period to reflect on what has been wrong in your strategy.
A SWOT Analysis is needed in this case to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
This analysis will help in coming up with tangible business decisions and trying to identify areas were the strategy needs improvement.
You can also totally abandon the strategy it if it’s not producing desired results because at the end of the day, if the business does not meet its targets, that will be a failure.
In football, teams can turn around a 2-0 loss at halftime and come back to win the game at the end of the ninety minutes.
This is possible if you go back to the drawing board and strategise to outwit the opponent.
If your business is losing, there might be need for new personnel, there might be need for new management, and there might be need for a new strategy.
In football, the coach can change players, formations and the strategy if he or she sees that the game is not going their way.
So business leaders, in their quest to achieve their goals, should be constantly looking at the scoreboard to check whether they are winning or losing.
They should invest much in coming up with a strategy that works.
A business might have a talented workforce, the best pay structures and good leaders but at the end of the day, it’s the score that counts so the focus must not be on efforts but rather on the results.
