IPL 2018: CSK’s five lessons for the corporate world

After making a comeback from their two-year suspension, Chennai Super Kings reinforced their supremacy by winning their third IPL title by beating Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the final at the Wankhede stadium.

Before the start of the tournament, very few gave MS Dhoni and co. a chance to go all the way in the tournament but the Men in Yellow defied all odds and went on to win the tournament in an emphatic manner.

Right from the retentions till the final, Chennai Super Kings offered many learnings to people from different walks of life. Let us take a look at five lessons they taught the corporate world.

---

Flexibility

They first mocked the Chennai Super Kings for being a geriatric side. Then, as CSK began to notch up wins in rapid succession, they better appreciated the virtues of experience.

By the time the team had lifted its third IPL title, the aforementioned naysayers - read fans and pundits - were convinced that loading the side with players over the age of 30 was the new winning formula. But, MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming, captain and coach of the side respectively, continued to remain pragmatic about what they wanted.

While Dhoni reiterated it was more about the fitness of the players than their age itself, Fleming said theirs was the right team “for this year.” That he qualified the statement with a time-stamp is indicative of an approach that’s not set in stone and is instead in sync with the situation.

There was another illustration of their ability to resolve crises on the fly when they were forced to shift their home games from Chennai to Pune following protests over the Cauvery water-sharing issue in Tamil Nadu.

Having picked a spin-heavy squad for the slow surfaces at Chepauk, CSK had to adapt to quicker surfaces in Pune despite not having the right kind of personnel for the conditions. Dhoni, however, found ways to either paper over the cracks or find the fast bowlers that would step up to the plate every now and then.

Knowing limitations

The best companies stay on top of their game by recognising their weak spots. Chennai Super Kings are no different. Almost every post-match address of Dhoni’s featured a standard disclaimer on how their fielding wasn’t a strong point.

He was pragmatic about not stretching the likes of Dwayne Bravo and Shane Watson - both in their mid-30s - as their value as all-rounders was something the team couldn’t afford to lose. So, once the fielding bar was set low for the seniors, there was no grimace or murmur from Dhoni about what they brought to the table.

This was, in fact, quite a departure for someone that hates giving away easy singles or twos. However, the onus on covering up for the relatively slow fielders was on the better fielders in the side like Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja. Likewise, Dhoni was clear about the inadequacies of his death-bowling unit, and knew it would continue to remain work-in-progress till the end of the tournament.

Shunning limelight

Some of the greatest legacy organisations in the world swear by substance over style. CSK, too, has been all about minimalism and efficiency. While they can be guilty of being labelled conservative, they certainly can’t be accused of showy, over the top celebrations.

With the owners, Fleming and Dhoni on the same page in this respect, the benchmark was set for the rest of the team. Not for them the glittering ticker-tape parades that are commonplace with many other sides.

Likewise, there aren’t any earth-shattering meltdowns - not that the team has given too many reasons for those - when the results they want elude them. It perhaps helps that the owners aren’t often seen at venues, so be it delight or despair it is tempered with a certain amount of detachment.

Even their ad campaigns have taken off from the simplest of phrases - whistle podu being a prime example of how they thrive on the simple and the organic.

Happy environment

The best places to work are those that provide a harmonious environment to all its stakeholders. Almost everyone that’s been a part of Chennai Super Kings vouches for this quality.

Much of the harmony is also down to the stability of the core group. Even as other teams fiddled with their squads in the early years of the IPL, CSK invested in a core group of players and sought to nurture it over the years.

The support staff, too, comprises people that have played for the franchise in the past - like Fleming, bowling coach L Balaji and assistant coach Mike Hussey - and even the physiotherapist (Tommy Simsek) and analyst (Lakshminarayanan) are old-timers.

Fleming has often said that a big part of his job is to keep the squad of 20-25 players in a good frame of mind. It’s evident that he has achieved that end by ensuring that the players feel secure about their roles in the side.

It is then no surprise that someone like a Lungi Ngidi, who lost his father midway during the IPL, found in the CSK changeroom a caring bunch of people that helped him come to grips with the tragedy.

Process over result

There are invariably a few sniggers when Dhoni utters the word “process”. It’s a word he has used in every situation and for good reason too. Fleming and Dhoni believe that the right process - an undying legacy of the Dravid-Chappell era - is central to achieving the right results.

This explains why Dhoni doesn’t mind a bowler going for boundaries so long as he is bowling what he has set out to do. A common sight during the IPL was Dhoni applauding Shardul Thakur even as he was being hit for boundaries.

The larger goal each year is to make the Playoffs and to then take things from there. But, to do that consistently - CSK have reached the Playoffs every year they have played the IPL - they need to ensure the nuts and bolts are in order. It is in managing this minutia and not worrying about the bottom line that the strength of the franchise lies in.