What
a wonderful lesson the outcome of the Wimbledon men’s singles final gave us on
Sunday. Not only was Murray graceful in defeat (the sign of a true professional),
but how gracious Federer was too. The champion did not crow and had such
empathy for Murray’s disappointment. In business, too often when two good
candidates go for the top job internally, the organisation ends up losing the
one who is not selected and sometimes even more staff. This is either because
the successful one fails to recognise that their lack of humility alienates
those who would have preferred the other candidate or because the losing
candidate becomes negative and sets out to undermine the other.
Senior
Managers need to handle these situations with sensitivity, as the workforce
will know what is going on and have their own allegiances. When announcing the
result to each one, stress the importance of the team being united and ensure
public announcements do not in any way detract from the abilities of the other.
Give honest and constructive feedback so they both can improve their areas of
weakness, this way hopefully you can keep both members of the team
With
the Olympics only weeks away it is a good time to reflect how good sporting
behaviour can teach business a lot.
