I have long thought that how you do things tends to impact the outcome. So instead of managing for specific outcomes, you should manage the inputs.
And of course, there is a lot of academic research to align with this view – and practical application in top performing companies.
So, this week it was curious to read an interview with cricketer Stuart Broad on the Sky Sports website.
Here you can see the English cricket team is focussed much more on the “how” and the inputs rather than the “what” and the outputs. Yet, the focus on how they play is leading to great results.
A little snippet from the interview below:
“With our culture of taking the result out of the equation, it’s all about the style of play, it takes the pressure off us. Results can bring fear of failure whereas when we are just looking to entertain.”
“It’s been refreshing to play and addictive to play, you just want to turn up every day and bring a smile to people’s faces. It has been amazing to be part of at my age.
“We got to No 1 in the world with a structured way of doing things but this is definitely the freest dressing room I have been a part of and the one least obsessed with results.
“We have now won 10 of 12 Tests with this style of play and done it against some world-class bowling attacks so I am excited to see what happens this summer.”
