Sport v Business

The RBS Six Nations is well under way now and already we have seen just what is required to achieve success.  You must have the right selection, the right tactics, the right leadership as well as having luck on your side as well.

I was lucky enough to play in the Six Nations for many years and see first-hand why it is the best annual rugby competition in the world.  It is so much more than just the rugby; it is the trip every two years to Edinburgh, London, Cardiff, Dublin, Paris or Rome where groups meet in the same pub and rekindle old friendships; it is the atmosphere in the stadia with 10,000 away supporters creating such a vibrant backdrop to the rugby on the field.  There is nothing like the RBS Six Nations.

I have made the transition from sport into business and have seen how so much of what I learned in the sporting environment can be applied in business.  There are some of the more obvious traits such as drive, being competitive, resilient, results driven that you would expect to see but one of the most important ones is not as well-known and it is Teamship.

Teamship is much more than teamwork, it is more than having camaraderie it is when you have a real connection with a group of people that will spur you on to greater things.  All the teams that are currently doing well in the Six Nations have Teamship.  Rugby is the ultimate team sport in the world because you can only do your job when others have done theirs and, hence, someone else can only do their job when you have done yours.  This means you get a real sense of responsibility, reliability and dependability for each other when you are part of a rugby team which leads to an incredibly strong bond being created and one that can allow the team to achieve more than you would think or expect.  A winger might score a great try in the corner but they were only able to do it because of the work of the other 14 teammates in the build-up.

In business, Teamship is equally important as the vast majority of people rely on others to do their job which will allow them to do theirs.  In rugby, it is easy to identify who the people are who will help you because they are your teammates.  In business, though, it might be harder to identify who your ‘team’ is as it might be a colleague, a supplier, a client which makes it even more important to ensure that you are doing your job to the best that you can as it will be helping someone else which will, in turn, mean that they will help you.  Teamship will inspire you and your business to great things.

Andy Nicol

Chief Executive Officer

ABSTRACT