The art of scoring from the non-striker's end

Now that I have got your attention, let me divert it towards someone at our workplace who has never ever come to the limelight. Yes! I would like to introduce you to our colleague — the non-striker. We have all come across these people. They are consistent players in our teams, always on time with assignments, the shadow behind every success story etc. 

They are adept at their work and make it look really uncomplicated; they gladly take up responsibilities that might not appeal to others, and yet, for good or bad reasons, they are never in the limelight.

Getting to the pitch

Just to clarify, “non-strikers” is not a term to be equated with poor performers.  Rather, non-strikers are those whose potential is yet to be tapped. Their moment of excellence has not arrived yet, but there is no indication to suggest it will not.  However, their lack of ‘fire’ might sometimes lead the organisation and even the individual to start believing that they have hit the plateau already.  But, that’s the myth that needs to be broken.
Look around from your desks and you will find people who seem highly committed but lack the proactive approach that you would expect.  These people have the acumen, but not the sharpness to give them an edge. They are appreciative and supportive, but perhaps not as demanding as they ought to be in this cut throat corporate world. Their hard work often goes unnoticed, as it’s not marketed adequately among their peers or superiors.

Rotating the non-striker

Organisations often tend to focus on the chosen few at the top. And by corollary, all the critical tasks tend to accumulate on the shoulders of a select few. Anyone who has studied structural engineering will be familiar with the concept of single point-of-failure. Therefore, managers should make efforts to steer clear of acute dependencies on a single individual. Any cricket lover can tell you how important it is to rotate the strike, and this is the reason why identifying your non-strikers is so important.

My diktat is simple – never allow your strikers to settle down for long. From an organisational point of view, this would mean that people with strong, proven track records need to be identified and lifted out of their comfort zone, and challenged at higher levels.

The non-striker then needs to be rotated into a position of importance – to the core of the business, where results are visible. Agreed that there are risks and challenges with every change, but there are bigger hidden risks with more damaging consequences when we resist change. I believe a good manager opens up new opportunities for non-strikers, rather than creating a linear scale of performers and laggards within his team.

A strategist

Of course, this doesn’t mean that every employee needs to be vociferous and visible. There is no harm staying a non-striker, in fact it could be what your organisation really needs at that moment. In sports, even those “on the bench” contribute significantly to the team. Obviously, the non-strikers are much more active within the game and therefore, expectations from them are none the less significant. 

The non-striker is in the best position to get a 360 degree view of what is happening.  Such a person can focus on more long term development while the burden of immediate responsibility is not cowing him down. Instead of petty competition, a non-striker can guide the person in the hot seat to build partnerships that work to organisation’s advantage.  Being at the non striker’s end is definitely not about inactivity, it is about preparing to step up for the cause when the moment is right or when duty calls as is the case.

Pace your innings

Bringing in the cricket analogy again, the coaching camps teach you the technique to hit good cricketing shots. But, what you might need to discover in yourself is how to learn and contribute to your team when you are not ‘playing’ in the real sense.  What one delivers with the big shots or quick singles is called “performance”, and what one develops at the non-striking end is called “potential”. Now get back and enjoy your game!

(The writer is Managing Director of SAP Labs India)