Bio-wise and otherwise

Chak De India leads the way

Hockey coach Kabir Khan was once disgraced for having allegedly mismanaged the men's hockey team.

After a few years of going underground, he resurfaces to attend an interview for coaching the Girls' National Hockey team. In the interview session, he is warned by the 'Hockey Committee',  about the 'thankless' job of coaching girls. "They should be baking bread at home. You know how it is with these girls...hyuk hyuk." they remarked, with an all- knowing wink.

But Khan stood ground. The Committee sighed and shrugged. "Ok, they're your problem now." they said and handed him the job.

The team then marched into the hockey field with 'Attitude'. They came from all corners of India. With eyes only on the World cup. They were queen players in their own zones. So they casually shrugged off their jackets  to indulge in what they thought would be just a lil' bit o' training.

Then they met coach, who was clearly in a mood to have it his way.

At crack of dawn it was time for some rigorous training. Some didn't mind this, and some positively hated it. Some shouted, some cried. But coach Khan persisted and was determined to bring out  the best in each player.

This movie portrays some of the best forms of coaching. The take home lesson was that with strong  interpersonal skills and constant communication you can have a winning team. You need not have the most knowledgeable team, but if you persist in coaching, you can mold your team to compete with the best of breed.

 Chak De India

Great leaders move us. We've known that from time immemorial.  They ignite passion and inspire the best in us. When we try to explain why they are so effective, we speak of strategy, vision and powerful ideas. But according to Daniel Goldman (co-author of Primal Leadership- Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence), the reality is much more primal: Great leadership works through the emotions.

When leaders drive emotions positively, they bring out the team's best. Some of the attributes of emotional intelligence are:

• Impulse control: separating feelings from actions
• Anxiety control: ability to moderate worry and fear
•  Hope and optimism: the belief you have the will and the way to accomplish your goals, despite the set-backs
• Flow: the ability to reach a state of peak performance free of emotional static
• Empathy: ability to read emotional cues, to listen and to hear other perspectives
• Authentic response: the ability to synchronize with and influence the emotional states of other people while staying true to one’s own self.

Why do our emotions relate to our performance? For this we need to take a peek into how our brain is organized. At a gross level, scientists have organized the brain into the primitive brain (self-preservation), the rational brain (the intellectual seat) and the intermediate brain (emotions).

The intermediate brain comprises the limbic system (structures like amygdala and hippocampus are part of this system). Recent studies of the brain reveal the neurological mechanisms for primal leadership and explain why emotional intelligence abilities are so crucial. Scientists refer to the open-loop nature of the limbic system, our emotional centers.  The open loop design of the limbic system means that other people can change our very physiology and so our emotions.

Therefore, a leader's emotions are contagious.

Organizations tend to provide trainings in managerial and organizing skills, while steering clear of the more difficult waters such as influencing the emotional state of our teams. Thus companies tend to teach public speaking more than listening. A lot of such training actually begins from childhood.

Backtrack a bit to the reel scene.

Khan proves that great coaches are also great leaders for they show the way, by becoming role models to their teams. Khan skillfully switches emotions in tune to the needs of the players. In a game like hockey, one cannot be too soft and the situation called for tough training methods. Nevertheless, he is sensitive to the girls' background and was empathetic to their own emotional states. He switches tactics, sometimes opting for an All-hands, sometimes one-on-ones and sometimes chatting up two players at a time. He is all 'tuned into' the players, the game and the tremendous challenge ahead of them.

I'm glad I watched this movie. Come to think of it, Sun Microsytems India has a hockey field right next door. One of these days, I'll certainly go and watch a match.

Reference: Primal Leadership : Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee

Acknowledgement- Pic downloaded from the Rediff.com.

Posted at 09:46PM Sep 01, 2007 by Manju in Sun  |