Blog Topic | July 5
In the wake of the scandal gripping world cricket following the blatant ball tampering incident in South Africa it’s worth reflecting on how such an unethical and illegal act can occur. Culturally, things had obviously gone astray within the leadership of the Australian team. How any of them thought for a millisecond that what they were doing was OK is astonishing. The whole fiasco indicates to me that the core values of the group are either poorly defined, poorly disseminated through the group or at worst undefined.
Many businesses are equally ill prepared for such incidents if their leaders’ moral compass is faulty. The devastating damage that is suffered through poor decisions, as evidenced by the Australian Cricket side, can be catastrophic to business. Evidence abounds of poor decisions resulting from lack of observance of core values in organisations. Exhibit the banking sector which is getting a pummeling in the Royal Commission at present. So why is it so hard?
Surely, we all agree that values such as INTEGRITY, HONESTY, LOYALTY, AUTHENTICITY, FAIRNESS and LAW ABIDANCE are non-negotiable? If the Australian Cricket Team had been conversant with those values there is no chance they would have done what they did. It seems to me that they put other values such as “win at all cost”, “no prizes for second place”, “it’s OK as long as you don’t get caught” and “the ends justify the means” above any ethically sound values. It screams lack of leadership. Lack of leadership from the “leadership group”, lack of leadership from the captain, lack of leadership from the coach and lack of leadership from Cricket Australia. There’s an old saying that a fish rots from the head. In this case leadership across the organisation seems to have been in an advanced state of decay.
What appalls me most about the ball tampering was that it was premeditated and planned. The job was given to the most inexperienced guy in the side who should have had the courage to say no but obviously felt that if his leaders thought it was OK then it must be OK. Of course, that’s no excuse. If the group’s values had been compromised then it says something about his own values that he went ahead and performed their bidding. I look back on someone like Adam Gilchrist who would “walk” if he thought he was out regardless of the umpire’s decision. His values were such that he placed integrity and sportsmanship above personal advancement. When did that thinking disappear from the team?
In all facets of life, it’s necessary to establish ground rules, understand what we stand for and how that is manifested in our actions. I encourage all my clients to clearly establish their values, what their core beliefs are, before attempting to develop strategies for their business. Those values become the foundations that everything else is built upon.
Without sound foundations, whatever is built will surely one-day crumble.
Please call us to further explore defining your values.
You can read more on this subject on MindTools