Lessons Learned from the World Cup Tournament: Brazil VS Germany

The recent firing of Brazil's national team soccer coach punctuated the feelings of an already uneasy nation following two less than stellar performances by the host country in this year's World Cup.

That Brazil, which is normally regarded as one of the top football countries in the world, could have such a complete meltdown at the hands of a tough German squad in the semi-finals was beyond comprehension for some of their fans.

For many in the business world, watching Germany dismantle Brazil was instructional because team sports often parallel management challenges in industry. As a myriad of consultants would be happy to show you for a tidy sum, the same lessons often apply.

In looking at Brazil's overall performance, therefore, there are several takeaways from their experience:

Teamwork: If you watched Brazil play Germany, you will notice that their teamwork broke down after Germany began to score. Communication miscues and an inability to pick up the slack for other team members became noticeable. Of course part of the management challenge in fielding a national team for coaches is that it is more of an all-star atmosphere where many egos combine to form a whole. The lack of an ability to play together year round forces the coaching staff to apply a different set of management principles that typically have a lower success rate. It is somewhat akin to bringing on Christmas staff for a department store. Teambuilding is more of a challenge. When you juxtapose that, however, with how often management typically underlines the importance of teambuilding with their permanent staff in industry, you will find that it is probably true that some of the mistakes that Brazil made during the Germany match would not occur among properly trained full-time employees.

Similarly, the notion that leaders should be able to properly motivate their staff breaks down like the Brazilians did when solid teambuilding is not achieved.

Coaching: In business, it is a real art to be sophisticated about providing the right level of support and guidance in order to channel your team in the right direction. In some cases, you need to be hands on. In other, you need to allow your team to grow. The Brazilians were not necessarily thwarted by poor coaching. Instead, it was a combination of a lack of access due to the game already being in progress and the aforementioned all-star environment that appeared to have brought them down. The key takeaway here, however, is that excelling at management and motivation of teams during a time of crisis requires a broader skillset.

Preparation Work: Because Brazil is one of the world's elite teams, it wasn't skill per say that needed to be burnished before a match. Instead, motivation and preparation for different circumstances are key. The letdown in preparation appears to be in an area that most teams and businesses that are successful tend to overlook- how to overcome adversity. In business, there is a maxim that employees should understand that success does not rely on only the person with the highest ability and that everybody counts. You could add to that notion that if the people you rely upon do not come through, it is important as a team member to continue to be the glue that holds the team together.

Failure: For Brazil, the aftermath of what has been called Brazil's Agincourt, has left the public somewhat somber and the team in disarray. They managed to go on to lose not quite so badly to the Netherlands and then fired their coach in order to start anew. As an effort, their failure did not mean as much as the embarrassment that they experienced as a result of being beat so badly. They now have a clear path to work on any weaknesses and to continue to strive for excellence. In the work world, the challenges can be the same for employees and managers. If the weakness that caused a failure is related to ego or prior successes, it isn't that hard to make structural changes that improve your competitiveness going forward. Many times, overcoming a product or service failure seems easier on the surface because it is just a matter of ensuring that what is provided is adequate for the customers' needs. The challenge in that instance is to ensure that both external perceptions and internal perceptions are tracking as you would wish them to be before declaring the crisis finished. In real terms, both of those challenges are still very much a work in progress for the Brazilian national team.