I normally avoid sporting metaphors, as I think the “finite game” nature of professional sport has limited carry-over to the “infinite game” complexity of our lives and careers. That said, I saw an interview with Ben Stokes and Eoin Morgan on Sunday that really resonated. As captain, Stokes had to adapt to a situation where the team had effectively lost a vital bowler at a key point against a superb opposition in what I think is the most iconic representation of the game - the Ashes against Australia. Five, five-day games.
What he did was innovative to the point of being almost without precedent in terms of the way he set the field and used his remaining bowlers, and had a huge impact. The point in the interview that really struck home was the quiet way in which Stokes talked about the nature of his captaincy - and in particular, that on the field, it was his call alone. His relationship with the coach was that they discussed and gamed all potential options that might arise, but that on the day, the call and the responsibility were his alone. It was perhaps the best contemporary articulation of “auftragstaktic” - the “work contract” I have seen. (I cannot find an interview recording, but will keep looking - its worth far more than just about any leadership book I have seen)
The aspect that really resonated, though, was how this relates to my recent posts relating to our resilience in the work we do, and our approaches to failure. How many of us, I wonder, get the time to consider in depth what might arise with those we work with and then the authority to implement what we think best without question, knowing we have their trust and confidence?
Business obsession with predetermined measures of performance, from financial returns, to risk exposure, to DEI compliance, means that there are multiple levels of interference, internal and external, on every move we make. We work in the knowledge that retribution is never far away, probably triggered by those we will not meet, and as Gallwey tells us, performance “in the moment” represents our potential, less the interference we experience. Most work structures and relationships are heavy with interference, from nervous shareholders to anxious employees.
The artisan in us knows this, as our best work is done during that dance between challenge and capability often described as “flow”, when we are “at one” with the task. Interference kills flow stone dead.
The artisan in us sets our own field, and takes responsibility with joy. Whether or not what we are doing will work is not present as interference because we are in that dance where we are stretching our capability to meet the challenge in the knowledge that those we work with - often just ourselves - have given us permission to do what we need to in the moment.
The artisan in us needs that space to play and learn. If we don’t get it in the work we do, we need to find somewhere we can.
And a link sent to me on a related post by Steven Shepherd
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/leamilligan_ashes-edgbaston-leadershiplessons-activity-7076869659378995200-IdNW?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop