Assimilating New Entrants into a Team

The word ‘team’ is more easily understood when a sport is associated with it; when time tested sports values are discussed and generation gap issues dissolve. I love the game of basketball, a great team game, from which can be taken out leaves of lessons in the art of team building, which essentially means assimilating new entrants into a team.

Sense of Ownership and Belonging

Basketball, like any other sports, demands a high degree of ownership and belonging; this emotional attachment to the team is often a crucial factor in winning games.

Team Spirit

Basketball demands a high degree of team spirit. There are individual stars of course, but they too are respected only because they blend their individual brilliance with the overall team plan. All new entrants must be embraced into our fold with this great value of collective identity, yet providing them with ample opportunity to sharpen their individual skills which will put their career in the trajectory of growth.

Target Setting

A measurable target to work towards makes life challenging and therefore interesting. The goal in basketball i.e. the basket, is set at a height of 10 feet, which is difficult to reach but possible to be even surpassed with right effort. Similarly, we must keep giving our youngsters stretched but reachable goals in their work area, in small measures and then hand hold them to surpass the goals so that it becomes their habit to accept challenges and targets.

Timely completion of Job

International basketball is a 40 minutes game; any basket made after that regulation time will not be counted as a score. In the same manner new entrants must also be encouraged to do their assigned jobs in time.

Quick Changing of Roles

Basketball has no separate defense and offence players; the role of each player swiftly changes to defense or offense immediately on the change of ball possession; so the game demands each player to be sound in both offense and defense. Likewise, new entrants must be prepared and equipped to don any role as demanded by the customers.

To be Healthy and Fit

Basketball demands high degree of fitness. A healthy and fit physique is a prerequisite for not only our happy living but also for going about our job successfully. New entrants must therefore be encouraged to take care of their mental and physical health by regularly resorting to outdoor activities.

Ready to Go Places

Basketball is the second most popular game in the world, next only to football, which means one must be ready to play in his/her home court as well as in any far off place. New entrants are to be sensitized to appreciate this fact and they must be willing to go places to work in multi cultural environments at any point of time, if the situation so demands it.

Risk Taking

‘A game that produces two thrills a minute’ is what basketball is known as, because an attempt on the goal is to be made within 24 seconds of possessing the ball by a team. Each attempt is a calculated risk that produces a basket or otherwise. In a work environment, new entrants must be taught to take quick and calculated decisions in such a way the goal of the customer is achieved within the expected timelines.

Job Knowledge

Basketball is a complex game with more than fifty rules governing the game. In fact many more, if you include the myriad interpretations for each rule. In the world of banking, laws and practices are very many in number and new entrants must be taught about it. They must not only be knowledgeable but also be open to renew their learning as everyday panoramic changes take place.

The Spirit of Never Say Die

A game of basketball is won many times in the dying seconds of the game. There are occasions when teams were trailing by huge margins mid way through but they have turned the tables and won through their persisting efforts. This quality must be imbibed into the psyche of new entrants who join at a time when the competition is at its peak.

Risk Management

In basketball, you have the low risk low return two point shots under the basket as well as the higher risk higher return three point shots from beyond the arc. A judicious mix of both is needed for a successful team. So too in life, one must learn to balance all options for maximum impact.

Care and Concern

A successful basketball coach always is a symbol of perfection in showing care and concern towards his trainees. In western countries, where youth are very assertive in nature, they still obey the command of their basketball coaches, on and off the field, even if they turn a deaf ear to the pleadings of their parents and teachers.

A basketball coach earns this allegiance of his wards, not only through care and concern, but by mixing it with the inculcation of the above mentioned values. In other words, if care and concern are the bricks with which the assimilation into the team is ensured, the above values are the concrete and polished painting which result in a strong building of a team.

The imbibing of the above values will surely ensure assimilation of new entrants into any team. But the question is “Who should do it?”

To answer this question let us take a quote from the Gita which says “the generality of men follow the leader”. Each and every one of us is a leader in our own limited sphere. We must conduct ourselves in such a way with abundant display of the above qualities so that new entrants are fancied to imbibe them and smoothly assimilate into the team.