Sportsmanship and business
Tags :Rant
How do they relate? After this weekend
of dealing with parents, coaches and players in an annual soccer tournament
that I referee in, they relate more then one could imagine. They
match up with what you know as a company or enterprise. Everyone
has a role and a job to do. Here is what I began to realize when
it was all said and done.
Players
The players are like the employees in the company. The ones doing
all the work, get yelled at by certain coaches and parents and getting
rewarded for their hard work with congratulations and cheers when they
do well. There is even yells of bonuses (cash or lunch or whatever
for scoring goals). Seeing their frustration is just like watching
workers at a large site that are tired of hearing the whining from all
around, but perform better when they are urged on in a positive manner.
They grumble when the competing firm gets a big sale (scores), and
hold little cheers and pats on the back when they get one. Some of
them don't even like each other in the same company, but know that playing
as a team when on the field is the key to success. Then there is
putting on your game face to go against someone with another firm who you
might go have lunch with later, but while you are out there it is all business.
Coaches
The coaches are just like managers. They get a nice office that is shaded
on the hot days (some of these clubs bring their own portable tents for
the benches). Their main job is to train and guide the workers (players)
while out in the workplace; reprimand when necessary; reward when necessary
and fend off the investors (parents). They deal with the referee,
who suddenly becomes and external audit team. Every call is under
scrutiny and every move the competitor makes is done illegally. They
deal with the parents, listening to every complaint, idea, question on
how and why.
Parents
So now we turn to the investors, the parents. They sit on the outside
yelling at the referee (auditors); yelling at the girls (workers); cheering
some calls the referee makes; cheering some plays the girls make; making
comments to the managers; but never actually stepping foot on the manufacturing
floor. The parents say the audit teams never know what they are doing,
yet the auditors are the ones trained and certified. I sometimes think
the investors is just a shuttle service in reality, moving workers from
point A to point B and never really knowing the type of work that has to
be done. But being caught up in the moment, the shuttle driver opens their
mouth a tad too far.
Referees
This is the most feared and sometimes hated group, the audit team. They
are there to watch the workers perform, overall rate the skills of these
managers in how they trained the workers and then make judgements against
that. The audit team has to sometimes deal directly with the investors
when they make too much of a problem too (more on that in a moment).
The auditor had to make an investor leave this weekend. There are
times when you should let your feelings be known, most definitely. Like
cheering on the workers, offering those bonuses for performance. Then
other times it is appropriate to keep your mouth shut. Like when
the external audit team makes a decision that you know will be final. Just
sit back and take it like an investor should. You aren't doing the
work, you aren't motivating the workers or managers, you just have to suck
up the loss like a big boy and hope your investment makes you some fortune
a little later in the day.
P.S. By the way, there is nothing worse than an auditor making
an investor have to leave watching the workers do their job on the field
by flashing a red card, keep that in the back of your mind. Mainly
when the red card is just like a financial penalty, costing your team a
point in the standings. Oh yeah, and when you are tied with your
competitors moving into the semi finals, losing a point pretty much makes
your workers lose everything they fought over 210 total minutes for across
3 work days (games). So know when to not make certain types of comments
to auditors, even when warned.
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On Tuesday, September 20th, 2005 by Chris Miller
