Overcoming insurmountable odds and much to everyone’s delight, Leicester City recently won English Premiere League. Wales and Iceland beat Belgium and England to reach semi-final and quarter-final respectively in the recently concluded European Championship. If we analyse these success stories closely, two things will be emerge—wonderful team-work and the fact that the managers fielded right players in the right positions. All of these teams beat much bigger and wealthier teams on their way to glory. This was possible primarily because the players knew their jobs—either in goalkeeping, defense, midfield or striking positions—and they worked really hard in their respective roles. But perhaps most importantly, each one of them enjoyed the respective challenges pertaining to their specific roles. Success, then, was all but inevitable.

These very principles are applicable in the business world as well. In any entity, jobs can be segregated into front office and back office functions or technical and marketing/sales functions. While back offices and/or technical jobs require research capabilities, analytical skills, number crunching and so on, marketing/sales functions require sound personality, good presentation and interpersonal skills.

Introverted people are more suitable for office work, whereas extroverted ones do well in marketing roles. We have seen many examples where people have failed miserably when they are placed in a department against their strength profile. For example, an officer, who has wonderful inter-personal capabilities, was working in an operation department, where one needs to follow structured processes and stay confined to table work. He could not deliver good results in this area. But, once he was transferred to sales function within the same organisation, his performance became instantly better. The second job matched his strength profile because he was extrovert, had wonderful inter-personal skills, always liked meeting people, marketing the products and hence could increase sales for the organisation. He enjoyed working in the marketing department as the job requirements matched his individual preference, whereas he was not doing well earlier as the job requirements were against his natural likings. At the previous job he was constantly pushing himself to delivering results, often-times against his will.

Another example, an individual who was absolutely hard working but lacked any substantial experience, was assigned to handle a small retail business. Although, business was not large, she had to oversee all the four critical areas of business, namely supply, production, demand and collection functions. Her role also required wonderful HR and leadership skills. There were people to provide her with strategic inputs, however, there was no guide or supervisor to oversee her functions on a day-to-day basis. Although this

individual was highly committed, she failed because she was not the right person to lead a venture at that point in time in her career. She was subsequently transferred to the finance department, where she was provided with continuous supervision, after which her efficiency increased many fold.

What I am trying to get at here is that one should always do what they love to do. This is not just applicable for entrepreneurs who begin their own ventures in a sector that they like, but it is also crucial when they are hiring a team to support and implement their ideas. If someone is not enjoying the work, she/he should quit that job and switch to a work in line with her/his preference. These days training and development initiatives are also focused on individual’s strengths rather than her/his weaknesses.

As we move towards age of specialisation, it is no longer necessary to become a jack of all trades. Today, employees at an organisation are required to perform highly specific tasks. In this backdrop employers would be well advised to focus on the strengths and the core competencies of their employees. Employees themselves should also stay aware of what their strengths are. When they begin to play to their strengths, their work no longer becomes a dredge. They instead begin to perform a lot better because they are actually passionate about the job they are doing because it is aligned with their interest and core competencies. Work then becomes not just exponentially productive, but also a whole lot more fun again.

When an organisation finds that crucial balance, there are no mountains that can’t be conquered. Just ask Leicester City. 

Jha is the founder and executive chairman of KFA Business School