Good leaders don't pass the buck

Virat Kohli was no longer able to stand the heat, so it's good that he got out of the kitchen

Virat Kohli has on many occasions attributed the success of the Indian team to “fearless and aggressive” cricket. So, it was ironic that he blamed India’s loss to New Zealand in the T20 World Cup to “we were not brave enough with either bat or ball,” which is probably the last thing a leader should ever say about his team. That statement alone shows why very few would regret his departure as the T20 captain of the Indian cricket team.

In fact, his well-wishers should advise him to give up the captaincy of the Test and One-Day International (ODI) teams as well, as leadership is something Kohli seems increasingly unable to cope with. Listen to what he said after losing the first ODI to Australia in November 2020. He in fact questioned his team’s “body language” and said everyone was not showing the “intent”.

Just seven months later after India lost the World Test Championship final against New Zealand, Kohli once again expressed his displeasure at some players for not showing enough “intent” to score runs and hinted at bringing in “right people who have the right mindset to perform”. It’s a different matter that the skipper didn’t or wasn’t allowed to walk his talk, as virtually the same team went to England for a full-fledged series.

The short point is it’s very difficult to lift the mood of players inside the dressing room if the captain’s thought process is so defensive. One wonders why Kohli’s expensive image managers didn’t advise him against accusing his team members of being mentally weak and fearful. For, it’s precisely the leader’s job to reduce fear among his colleagues. If he is unable to do that, he loses the moral right to remain a leader. If the entire team became gutless, enveloped by a sense of failure when it really mattered, the responsibility for that should go to the leader.

The same thing applies to the workplace. A team leader’s behaviour is the single biggest factor influencing what it is like to work in a team. Good leadership has the power to energise, engage and motivate staff to go the extra mile for their organisation. Such leaders recognise that an inspired team not only produces great work, but regularly strives beyond that extra mile to ensure success. In fact, a leader is nothing without her team.

Poor leadership will have the opposite effect, creating a demotivating atmosphere. Research tells us that leaders’ emotions are contagious. If a leader is tense or terse, her team members begin to mirror that. They read meaning into what she says or doesn’t say, whom she is paying attention to and whether she seems optimistic or pessimistic. Under such a leader, teams become afraid to move forward, and miss many great opportunities.

So, what should leaders do when the going becomes tough? Instead of blaming team members, they should have difficult and uncomfortable conversations – not under public glare, but privately. Ed Catmull, cofounder of Pixar Animation Studios wrote in Creativity, Inc on the value of candour in management: “Candour isn’t cruel. It does not destroy. On the contrary, any successful feedback system is built on empathy, on the idea that we are all in this together…”

It doesn’t matter whether one person in the team is at fault or if everyone bears some of the responsibility, it’s the leader’s job to help the entire group move on. People are looking to the leader and it’s her chance to show them who she really is when the chips are down. So, she should take at least part of the responsibility loudly and visibly, make a plan to fix the problem, execute the plan, and move on. Leaders should understand that everyone can make mistakes, including themselves – and there is no shame in admitting that. In fact, the best leaders learn from the mistakes. When they are the first to admit a mistake and take steps to correct them fast, they are earning the trust of the people they lead.

For example, instead of just blaming the mindset of team members, Kohli could have also spoken about the mistakes in bowling change and the confusion about the opening combination (promoting Ishan Kishan over Rohit Sharma, for example) that he created as the captain of the team. Sure, there may have been repercussions if he admitted his mistakes, but the loss of respect and leadership ability wouldn’t have been among them.

Kohli has probably read US President Harry S Truman’s famous message – “If you can’t stand the heat, you’d better get out of the kitchen”, meaning once you take the leadership job you had better be prepared to deal with all the issues and challenges that arise, and not just the easy ones. Giving up T20 captaincy is probably the first step he has taken in getting out of the kitchen. India needs Kohli, the fabulous player, but not Kohli, the captain.