What do Martina Navratilova, Narain Karthikeyan, Viren Wilfred Rasquinha, Venkatesh Prasad and Anil Kumblehave in common? All these sporting stalwarts have turned coaches for India Inc executives and employees. Companies across sectors are getting them to help employees beat stress, push performance, handle anxiety or even learn the difficult art of clinching a deal.
When technology company SAP Labs India decided to make its managers learn the art of turnaround, they turned to Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Team director Joy Bhattacharjya will conduct sessions with 40 managers of the tech giant on how to shortlist the right talent for their groups to facilitate turnaround.
The method of training will be similar to how the players are selected in IPL. In an Indian Premier League auction, every team is given a certain number of players and it bids for the rest by gauging a player's record. A similar mock auction will be conducted at the firm's Bangalore office since no manager has the luxury of starting a team from the scratch and has to work around members he already has along with only a few additions.
Bhattacharjya will help them spot talent that makes a squad win. "We chose Kolkata Knight Riders because after a dreary performance in the first three IPL seasons, the team qualified till play-offs in the fourth and won the championship in the fifth season," said Bhuvaneswar Naik, HR vice-president at SAP Labs India. "The process of building a team can get jaded, both in sports as well as management. The managers need to see winning qualities in members and bring in team members, according to the team's requirement," Bhattacharjya added.
There are enough eager takers for lessons from these sporting legends on topics like ways of managing a team, competitiveness, team spirit and handling stress. "Achievers associated with IPL and Olympics will strike a greater chord than a regular coach or consultant," says Atanu Ghosh who teaches strategy and leadership at IIT-Bombay's Shailesh J Mehta School of Management.
At a session with IBM India's clients and employees in October, 18-times Grand Slam winner Martina Navratilova said,"What it takes to be successful in tennis and business is not very different. The mark of a champion is how good you are at your worst." Navratilova session was on how to cope up with change and she explained it through examples of how she had to start playing with metal rackets during French Open after using wooden ones for years. IBM's software group holds these townhalls where around 1,500 employees and clients participate.
Formula One racer Narain Karthikeyan is holding a similar session this week. These talks are motivational and are applicable to corporate life. Says Anil Menon, director, marketing for general business and geo expansion for IBM software group, "Sports is just like the national flag that immediately gets young India connected."
Sports seem to have a more universal connect in the Indian branch than its global counterparts. In other IBM offices, authors as coaches are more popular for conducting learning sessions, but back home sports stalwarts are a better bet, said Menon.
When technology company SAP Labs India decided to make its managers learn the art of turnaround, they turned to Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Team director Joy Bhattacharjya will conduct sessions with 40 managers of the tech giant on how to shortlist the right talent for their groups to facilitate turnaround.
The method of training will be similar to how the players are selected in IPL. In an Indian Premier League auction, every team is given a certain number of players and it bids for the rest by gauging a player's record. A similar mock auction will be conducted at the firm's Bangalore office since no manager has the luxury of starting a team from the scratch and has to work around members he already has along with only a few additions.
Bhattacharjya will help them spot talent that makes a squad win. "We chose Kolkata Knight Riders because after a dreary performance in the first three IPL seasons, the team qualified till play-offs in the fourth and won the championship in the fifth season," said Bhuvaneswar Naik, HR vice-president at SAP Labs India. "The process of building a team can get jaded, both in sports as well as management. The managers need to see winning qualities in members and bring in team members, according to the team's requirement," Bhattacharjya added.
There are enough eager takers for lessons from these sporting legends on topics like ways of managing a team, competitiveness, team spirit and handling stress. "Achievers associated with IPL and Olympics will strike a greater chord than a regular coach or consultant," says Atanu Ghosh who teaches strategy and leadership at IIT-Bombay's Shailesh J Mehta School of Management.
Formula One racer Narain Karthikeyan is holding a similar session this week. These talks are motivational and are applicable to corporate life. Says Anil Menon, director, marketing for general business and geo expansion for IBM software group, "Sports is just like the national flag that immediately gets young India connected."
Sports seem to have a more universal connect in the Indian branch than its global counterparts. In other IBM offices, authors as coaches are more popular for conducting learning sessions, but back home sports stalwarts are a better bet, said Menon.
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