For those of you unfamiliar with "Bazball" - it is the nickname for the new style of Cricket being played by the English test cricket team. "Baz" refers to Brendan McCullum the coach of the England team who joined in May 2022 at the same time England changed their captain to Ben Stokes. Since this time the pair have brought about drastic change and revived Englands fortunes, overseeing 21 matches; winning 14, losing 6 and drawing 1 (yes you can play cricket for 5 full days and still not get a result!). In the 21 games prior to the change England won just 6 matches, lost 9 and drew 6 and had been on a terrible run of results. This remarkable turn-around has been achieved mostly through a shift in basic philosophy and has triggered quite a debate in the cricket world. The learnings for business leaders and potential applications in day to day management are immense:
"Everyone says, 'What is Bazball?' It's our mentality, our way of playing. The fact that you can never look out on the field and think we are behind in the game, even if we are. That's a huge testament to the players." (Ben Stokes)
LEARNINGS FROM BAZBALL FOR BUSINESS
1 - Vision, Values and Spreading Belief Among the Team
"One of my desires as captain, away from the cricket and results, was how can we capture the imagination of the English followers again?" (Ben Stokes)
Bazball is a no-holds barred approach to Cricket with the team scoring quicker than any other team in world cricket and having a deep belief in what they are doing. The philosophy is to celebrate positives while not dwelling on the negatives or being too pre-occupied with what might go wrong. Of course the goal is to win matches but their stated purpose is deeper - to bring entertainment back to fans and revive the fortunes of test cricket, to make it relevant for young audiences and avoided being overwhelmed by competitor formats such as T20. You can see in every performance this purpose is something that excites the players and they have belief in the more positive way of playing. This has resulted in some remarkable individual and team performances over the past two years. I cannot think of a transformation in sport so radical and so quick - and it is all down to two incredible leaders.
I am sure your business has a stated mission, some underlying strategies and a few core values that underpin these. No doubt it has been developed into a nice visual and once a year your senior leader will present this to the organisation and the internal comms team might go as far as putting posters around the office and posts all over the intranet. I think the key question for this is the resonance among colleagues within the organisation - is this a mission / vision they relate to and will tell their friends and family about, are they motivated / excited by it and see how it links to their work each day? If the answer to any of those questions is no then you need to have a rethink.
The connection to the vision and the mission is the ultimate motivator for people. It is the hidden hand that guides your employees in their decision making each day and makes them give that extra 20% - 50% for you. In the world of remote working, Gen Z who work for purpose more than money and a general collapse in societal support systems the leader has a much more important role in selling the dream. They have to not just sell it but truly believe in it, be unwavering in reinforcing it through thick or thin and be relentless at reminding people of the collective purpose.
2 - Trust in People's Strengths, Believe in Your Team and Tell Them That
3 - Be a Role Model for Innovation and Agility
4 - Be Fearless and Take Smart Risks
5 - The Importance of Authentic Leadership and a Positive Environment
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