Bennett King: Celebration or Disaster

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following are excerpts from a speech by Dr. Rudi Webster at a "Thinking Sport" seminar held recently in Trinidad & Tobago:

In a year's time we will be hosting the 2007 Cricket World Cup. It will be an enormous challenge and I hope that our team does well. It certainly has the talent to do so. But there will have to be a complete transformation in many aspects of the team's preparation and performance for that to happen. Someone must find a way to help the players release untapped potential.

If you grow a plant in a bottle, the plant will take on the shape of the bottle, but if you break the bottle, the plant will be free to take up its natural form and shape and realize its potential. So will somebody please break the bottle in which our players are trapped?

WORLD CUP 2007

There is great speculation about what will happen to cricket in the region after the world cup. The thinking is that the new structures, systems, programs, infrastructure, and human resources will motivate young people and attract them to the sport. This is possible, but experience from the last two World Cups does not support that thinking.

How well we perform in the World Cup will influence what happens to our cricket in 2008 and beyond. South Africa was knocked out early in the last World Cup and after that defeat, the young people did not come forward in large numbers to play the game. In fact South African cricket has declined since then and is now trying desperately to make a comeback. The same thing happened in England after their last World Cup.

But, even when a country wins a World Cup, it doesn?t guarantee the scenarios that some of us are expecting. England won the last Rugby World Cup a few years ago by beating Australia in a thriller of a game. A sense of pride and achievement spread throughout England and praise was showered on the coach and his methods and development programs. The popularity of rugby skyrocketed. But, soon after, the team started to lose a few games and the public lost interest in them. English Rugby today is nowhere near what it was during the World Cup.

So what will happen to our cricket after the World Cup? I don?t know. What we can do is look at many different possibilities and scenarios and start preparing ourselves now to deal with each one of them the best way we can.

COACHING AND OUR CRICKET CULTURE:

We ignore our history, values and traditions at our own peril. We should always try to improve our culture with refinements from inside and outside the region. In fact, we should welcome refinements from outside because they can enrich our culture and improve performance.

But, we should not allow anyone, particularly if he does not have a track record in cricket or does not understand our cricket history and culture to ignore that culture only to replace it with a transplanted culture from elsewhere. To allow this would not only result in poor performances but it would also destroy the very heart and soul of our cricket. Just look around and see what is happening.

I cannot understand why the people in charge of our cricket are making the game so academic and complicated. That is a mistake that unsuccessful coaches often make.

Overloading players with information is probably the worst thing you can do to them. It will not only confuse them, but it will also interfere with their concentration, put them under unnecessary pressure, and disrupt their performance. Simplifying the game, particularly the fundamentals of the game, used to be an important part of our cricket culture. What has happened to that?

In my book Winning Ways, this is what Allan Jeans, a very successful Australian Rules football coach said about information overload and complicated instructions:

My worst performances as a coach occur when I give too many instructions, when I interfere too often and when I try to play the game for the players. The best thing you can do is to remind them about what is required, give them support and direction when they need them, and allow them to do their own jobs. You can?t play the game for them. Coaches who think that they can stay on the sidelines, and control and play the game for the players are only fooling themselves. The simpler and more basic the instructions and plans, the better the players will play. Giving too many complex instructions is a sure way to destroy performance.

Do you remember this story? ?A centipede was happy and quiet until a toad in fun asked, ?Pray, which leg comes after which?? This set his mind in such a pitch, he lay distracted in the ditch thinking how to run.?

Has West Indies cricket reached a similar point in its history? Must it now replace old limiting beliefs and habits with new ones to survive and flourish in today?s world?? This might not be as easy as it sounds because it is much more difficult for people to get rid of old beliefs and habits than it is for them to accept new ones.

West Indies cricket is in desperate need of economic revival but does it also need psychological cleansing?

THE SIGMOID CURVE

Every individual goes through an endless cycle of birth, growth, optimum performance, stagnation, decline, decay and eventually death. Organizations go through a similar cycle.

When the organization is performing well, its people are usually content with the status quo and are reluctant to change what they consider to be a winning formula.

However if an organization rests on its laurels and does not respond to change or strive to improve itself, it will inevitably fall behind. Decline will then set in and decay and death might follow.

But decline and decay are not inevitable. By changing its beliefs and perceptions the organization can undergo a psychological revival or rebirth and build a second growth curve. The best time to do so is when the organization is still doing well. But instead, most organizations wait until decline and decay set in. Revival is then a very difficult task.

What phase of this cycle is West Indies cricket currently in? Is it in decline or has it already gone into a state of decay?

In the halcyon days of West Indies cricket the decision-makers assumed that good fortune would prevail so they did not plan ahead or invest in programs and institutions that would carry on the good work.

West Indies cricket was on the decline in the late nineties, but its fortunes could have been turned around. Just look at what the team did against Australia, the world champions, after returning from humiliating defeats in South Africa. Against all odds, West Indies drew both the test and one-day series. And if the match referee did not punish us in Guyana following an invasion of the field by the crowd, we would have won the one-day series.

After that time, a second growth curve could have been started. But a combination of unfortunate events and a series of very bad appointments to key leadership positions prevented that new growth from taking place. Instead, the decline speeded up and intensified.

In two of those positions, management of the team and cricket development, the leaders turned out to be outstanding failures and they did serious damage to the team and organization. As the saying goes, they were like square pegs in round holes. And there are others, I am sure you know.

In future, the Board should be extremely careful about the way it chooses its leaders because of the severe damage poor leadership has inflicted on the performance and well being of the organization.

The Board ought now to place the selection of its leaders in the hands of competent professionals. Moreover, it should do thorough and detailed checks on the background and track records of the candidates.

It should also carry out psychological and motivational profiles on them to show up the strengths and weaknesses in their psyche and to identify any predisposition towards undesirable behaviour.

Research has shown that motivational profiles are probably the best predictors of future managerial performance in business. It has also shown that there is a weak correlation between academic excellence and good managerial performance.

To protect itself from being stuck with coaches who do not perform on the job, the Board should take a leaf out of the playbooks of European soccer clubs and put a performance clause in the coaches? contracts.

The Board should now do an honest self-appraisal and carry out a structural and psychological overhaul. It should then insist that regional boards do the same thing since most of the weaknesses in West Indies cricket can be found at the doorsteps of the regional boards.

THE FAILURE SPIRAL

West Indies cricket is in a vicious failure spiral and its players are low in confidence and are trapped in a negative mindset. They fail, so they believe and expect to fail and they fail, so they expect to fail and they fail again?.

After being in a very strong position to win the first Test in Auckland against New Zealand just a few weeks ago West Indies lost in an unbelievable manner. At the end of the game the team was devastated. Several theories have been put forward to explain that poor performance.

Think of the present self-image of the West Indies players. They must see themselves as losers. So when they get into a position to win that reality does not compute with their self-image, and their subconscious might say, ?What are you doing? That?s not like you. Get back to what you are. Start behaving like a loser.? They will then find all sorts of creative and unexplainable ways to lose. When you ask them, ?Why did you do such stupid things?? They will answer and say, ?We don?t know. It doesn?t make any sense.? It doesn?t make any sense to them but to their subconscious it makes perfectly good sense.

What I have just described is not as uncommon as you think. During the last thirty years, I have seen it in many sportspeople and I have been able to help most of them to get over it with exciting results.

DEVELOPMENT MODELS

A broad talent base is important in the development of any sport. You must attract young people to the sport, keep them interested, and motivate them to strive for excellence.

Today, the West Indies talent base in cricket is not as broad as it was years ago, because many young people are attracted to other sports. We must now ask ourselves, ?What can we do to attract more youngsters to cricket? If we get them, how can we keep them? If we can?t attract them in great numbers how can we develop what we have more efficiently??

A model we could look at for guidance is the athletics development program in Jamaica, one of the best of its kind in the world. I am sure that people running West Indies cricket can learn a lot from that program. They would rediscover some fundamental truths that they seem to have forgotten:

• Good test players come from strong regional teams and competition;

• Strong regional competition comes from strong club competition;

• Strong club competition comes from strong feeder competition;

• Primary and secondary schools are the nurseries for developing the minds, bodies and skills of children;

• To motivate young players, keep them interested and strive for the highest standards, you must put meaningful reward systems in place at every level of competition;

• Having the right structures, systems, programs, and teaching personnel facilitate development and performance.

Here is another powerful truth. A poorly functioning WICB and local boards equals poor cricket development and poor performance at all levels.

The workings of the WICB and local boards are interconnected and interdependent. They both need to get their act together if they wish to improve cricket in the region. That means taking full responsibility for their actions, improving their individual performance and designing, implementing and policing better development and performance enhancing programs for the players. It also means communicating better, getting rid of petty jealousies and insularities, avoiding infighting and destructive conflict, cooperating more harmoniously, and coordinating their efforts more effectively.

Let?s go back to the Jamaican athletes. Once Jamaican athletes reach a certain stage of development they usually go to colleges in the USA to improve and perfect their talent. Up until a few years ago our cricketers did the same thing at English cricket counties. Hardly any West Indies players take part in county cricket now.

One of our great challenges is to find alternative arrangements to give junior and senior players greater exposure and experience. Among other things, it might mean having more ?A? team tours, more under-nineteen tours, and more players going to England to play league cricket, and county cricket, if the doors are open to us again.

VISION AND GOOD LEADERSHIP

In today?s competitive and rapidly changing world there is an ever-growing need for good leadership. And yet, it is absent in too many of today?s organizations. Just look at the West Indies Cricket Board and the territorial boards and you will see what I mean. No matter what plans these boards create for cricket, the game will not make significant progress unless they put good and inspiring leadership at every level in their organizations.

To provide that type of leadership, the boards must do two things. They must:

• Create an agenda for change.

• Build a strong network of people and resources to implement their agenda.

In designing an agenda for change, the WICB and regional boards must create a clear vision for the future of West Indies cricket; a vision that takes into account the legitimate interests of every stakeholder in the organization ? players, players? association, coaches, public, fans, media, administrators, sponsors, governments, etc.

The next thing the boards must do is build a strong implementation network of supportive and cooperative relationships with key people, inside and outside their organization, who have the power to implement their strategy. Those relationships must be strong enough to get cooperation and compliance and build teamwork.

Past and present organizations like WICB and regional boards rely heavily on the power of their position to get things done. But times and attitudes have changed. Relying solely on the power of their position will only take them part of the way to their objectives. To reach their goals, they must motivate their people to bridge that power gap by getting their support, cooperation, trust and respect.

That is why most successful organizations build implementation networks that include a highly motivated core group of people who are committed to making their vision a reality.

THE WICB/WIPA DISPUTE

Just two days ago I was extremely depressed by the sad and alarming news that the WICB and the Players? Association had not settled their disputes and were again in the battle mode. It would be depressing to see a second team representing West Indies again. With the World Cup just around the corner, what message and image are we sending to the rest of the world?

Several unsuccessful attempts have been made and many intermediaries have been used to resolve these longstanding quarrels. The courts have handed down judgements on some of these matters and the Lucky Commission has had its say. I feel that the time has come to use a new paradigm to resolve this problem. If we use the current paradigm and stay in the same thinking box, the outcome will almost certainly be a win/loss situation, with West Indies cricket being the big loser.

All stakeholders need to abandon their adversarial thinking and approach and engage in design thinking to find a win/win solution.

I propose that a third party approach be used to resolve this crisis. The goal of the third party is to convert a two dimensional fight into a three dimensional exploratory exercise leading to the design of a win/win outcome.

The real purpose of the third party is to create the concept of ?triangular thinking? where the third party is an integral part of the process, not an addition or an aid. What the third party is after is not compromise or consensus. Nor is it after negotiation in the usual sense of the word. It is not after arbitration, nor bargaining. It is not about showing who is wrong. It is simply about changing beliefs and perspective and designing an optimal solution. Remember, it is beliefs that determine the limits of your achievements.

Once the parties get rid of their limiting beliefs and create a powerful vision of the future they want for themselves and for West Indies cricket they will then find the way and the methods to create that future.

I humbly submit that the CARICOM Subcommittee on Cricket, or some other independent body, be given that role. When I was a medical student, I was told by some of my teachers that form and structure should always follow purpose and function. Once the function and purpose of the third party is clarified and articulated, it would be easy for the Subcommittee or independent body to structure itself properly and select the right experts and personnel to play that role. Those experts don?t have to be politicians. But we cannot exclude the politicians. Remember that they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the 2007 World Cup.

COACHING AND RESULTS

In today?s harsh world, the true measure of a coach?s performance is not found in the process he employs but in the results he gets - the win/loss record of the team. In professional sport, particularly in the USA and Europe, coaches with a poor win/loss record do not keep their jobs for very long.

When I was a young boy, I heard the great Everton Weekes say that cricket is both a science and an art. He also said that batting is like dancing and was about good footwork, coordination, timing and rhythm.

Recently, there has been a strong movement towards science, (biomechanics, physiology, etc), in the teaching and analysis of the game. Cricket as an art form is forgotten as more and more coaches turn to this scientific approach. Many of these coaches are academics who have never played the game at a high level. And they are so cocky, condescending, and confident that their method is the best and the only way to teach the game that they often display a high level of inflexibility and intolerance, as well as an unhealthy air of arrogance and false confidence.

Regrettably, false confidence is a form of psychological fraud. Piaget once said that the measure of true wisdom is the capacity to see things from many different perspectives. There is also an old Jewish saying that whenever you are certain that you have the right answer, explanation or method you should immediately look for a second and a third.

In other disciplines there is a growing disenchantment with scientism, the tendency to reduce all reality and experience to mathematical descriptions of physical and chemical facts.

In the West, it has been widely accepted that science is the way to determine truth and that rational intelligence and logical thought are the most valuable abilities to have. If this were true in sport, the best sportsmen would be academics, scientists and mathematicians.

Looking at Lara?s batting through the same scientific lens, it would be broken down into its constituent parts. But we would never get a true picture of the whole movement and would certainly not get a sense of the power, rhythm, beauty and majesty of his stroke play. In fact, when some of these great batsmen are asked to describe and analyze how they bat, they have great difficulty doing so with words, because they play mainly with feel and sight.

The logical and reasoning mind has very little to do with the execution of the fast and intricate movements that are required in sport and the maintenance of balance during those movements. Those activities are controlled unconsciously by lower centers in the brain. So when we try to teach sport just by instruction, logic and highly structured methods we target an area of the brain that has little to do with movement and balance. In fact, the only voluntary part of a movement is the decision to make the movement. Once that happens, movement is the automatic and unconscious (Moving mind).

As infants, we learn so easily to sit, crawl, stand, walk and run not by following instructions of experts but by paying attention to ourselves as we move. As adults we are so caught up with language that we forget this natural way of learning and become seduced by the clever verbal descriptions of the experts. Think how difficult it would be for an infant to learn to walk if his parents stood over him pointing out mistakes and giving instructions.

Words are the building blocks of thought and analysis in the logical part of the mind. But in the Moving Mind, the language and building blocks are pictures, feelings, distances and angles. So if we want to teach movement we must communicate with the part of the mind that controls movement and we must speak to it in its own language.

In view of this, I believe we should look very closely at the way we coach and teach movement skills. We should appreciate and capitalize on the benefits of the scientific approach, but at the same time we should recognize its limitations.

Cricket is still an art. Unstructured and experiential learning, using the language of feel, pictures, angles and distances are still very valuable today. Those methods were largely responsible for past West Indies? success. Let?s not discard them.

Former players who took our cricket to its pinnacle feel that the ?West Indian Way? of playing the game is an important part of our cricket culture. That natural, positive, energetic, courageous and aggressive style of play is primarily a mental state that reflects a special mindset, attitude and philosophy.

Let?s not put those natural abilities in a bottle to stifle their growth and potential. Do you remember the plant in the bottle that I described earlier? If our players have already been put in the bottle, let us break the bottle and set them free.

THE STANFORD QUESTION

There are now two scenarios I would like you to ponder. It seems as though West Indies Board is going to be heavily indebted to Mr. Stanford. What happens if the Board is unable to repay its loans? Will Mr. Stanford then own West Indies cricket? If that happens what would become of West Indies cricket? Would it be run more efficiently?

There is a multimillion-dollar coaching staff looking after our current team. Not one West Indian is included in that august body. This is a bit strange because I understand that none of those coaches has ever played first class cricket. What will happen to our cricket when they leave? What will this multimillion-dollar investment leave behind? Will we go back to square one? When they leave will it be a disaster or will it be a celebration?