By Rudi Webster
During the last decade or so, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) repeatedly dismissed the findings of the Lucky, Patterson, Wilkin and CARICOM reports, and contemptuously rejected their recommendations to restructure the Board, reform its systems and processes, and improve the quality of its leadership.
If self-interest or self-preservation is not the real cause of the Board’s defiant attitude and behaviour, one can only assume that its members do not yet understand the significance of organizational structure and structural reform, or the importance of the fundamental principles of development, improvement planning, and successful performance. The German philosopher Johann Goethe could well have been thinking about members of the WICB when he said that people only listen to, or act upon, that which they understand.
As soon as a new board takes over, it should create an innovative and powerful vision for West Indies cricket that takes into account the legitimate interests of all of its stakeholders, particularly the interests of its players who must indeed be co-owners of that vision.
The board must then articulate a philosophy that highlights its values and priorities, and formulate a simple but intelligent strategy to achieve that vision. It must lead by example and show by word and deed what it really stands for. It must also create a contract of expectations with the players so that the players will know exactly what the Board expects of them and the Board will know exactly what the players expect of the Board.
The new board must commit to mastering the basic principles of organizational performance, to reforming its resources, structures and systems, and to seeking objective and accurate feedback to measure and monitor progress and to detect any wrong doings and mischievous behaviour that might occur.
It is imperative that the new board changes the toxic climate that currently exists in West Indies cricket. It must build cooperative and harmonious relationships with its players and coaches, and with other people inside the organization over whom it has formal power, authority and control (vertical relationships).
Additionally, it must build cooperative, respectful and meaningful relationships with the press, governments of the region, sponsors, and people outside the organization over whom it has no formal power, control or authority (lateral relationships). Good management of these lateral and interdependent relationships could very well be a key to the Board’s effectiveness.
Most importantly, the new board must narrow the rhetoric/reality gap that currently exists by getting rid of the bad habit of focusing on inputs rather than on outputs or results.
The board must also motivate its people, focus intently on implementation and build a strong network of people committed to executing, measuring and monitoring its agenda for change.
The leaders and members of the current WICB would automatically perform better if they redesigned the Board’s structures and systems and aligned them to serve and support, rather than to control and dictate.
Organizational design shapes people’s behaviour. Surprisingly, the WICB has underestimated the impact that structure has on performance. Structure either limits or liberates performance potential. When placed in the same system people, however different, tend to produce the same results.
If members of the existing WICB think that their performance is sub-standard they should take a very close look at the system and the structure in which they are operating.
If the leaders of the WICB behave like dictators they are working in a structure that supports dictatorship. If Board members are not player focused they are working in a structure that is not designed to serve the players. If they are not flexible and creative they are working in a rigid and autocratic structure. If members continually resist change they are not working in a learning environment that values growth and development. And if the leaders are not team players they are working in a structure that is designed for individual performance and individual rewards.
Form and structure should always follow purpose and function. If the Board’s structure is not designed to reflect its vision, values, purpose, priorities, goals and strategies, its performance will suffer. To facilitate the right design, organizations should answer the following questions fully and honestly: who are we, what do we want to become, where are we going and what do we want to achieve, what do we believe in and stand for, and why do we exist? These questions are not as easy as they seem. Organizational architects should spend some time looking at them carefully and searching for the right answers.
No one structure is ideal. In today’s competitive and rapidly changing world, organizational structure must be fluid and must continually adapt to meet the demands and challenges that it faces. This is why members of the WICB must wake up from their self- induced hypnotic sleep, and realize that the Board’s current antiquated and rigid structure will not allow it to grow or flourish in today’s ever-changing sports environment. It must adapt or perish.
That is the message that the Lucky, Patterson, Wilkin and CARICOM reports were sending to the WICB, but alas it has fallen on deaf ears.
The observations and recommendations above apply equally to the region’s cricket boards that are also desperately in need of change and structural reform.
