Business Game Time

Yesterday, the European Championships in handball ended. As handball is a pretty European sport, the level of that tournament is nearly comparable to World Championships or Olympic tournaments.

I was watching a match on TV when the commentator shouted out: “Wow. Great stop, this can not be done in a fairer way!”.

This oh-so-fair activity resulted in a free throw awarded by the referee. A free throw is the smallest punishment you can get for foul play in handball, it’s actually handing the ball over to the other team and the match continues. No one complains, everybody just moves on.

That makes handball a very physical game but at the same time one with very few really hard fouls. Handball players don’t allow themselves to be disturbed when a player from the other team gets a bit rough.

I recently had a discussion with someone who switched companies shortly before. She stated that when she came into her new company, people had quite an issued with her conversational style. She was straight-forward and very clear as she was used to from her old company, while people in her new company were used to talking to each other in a very defensive and overly polite way. She was still playing handball while her new company was doing ballet dancing.

It took her a few months to get herself adjusted: While she wanted to play on, all others were thinking “foul!”. That was very problematic as in one-on-one conversations there usually is no instance like a referee, so you have to find the right way on you own.

If you would compare and match the company you work in to a certain sport – which one would that be? And are you comfortable with it or would you prefer it to be rougher, softer, sticking more to the rules or just playing on? And think about it before you switch to another workplace: What was your impression in the interview – are they playing handball there while you feel completely unprepared for a hard, physical type of job or vice versa?

If you don’t feel prepared for a certain style, don’t try to play it, as others will do it better. Find the game you like.

Filed under: handball by Johannes Musseleck
on February 1, 2010 at 10:00 am CET
Tagged with: ballet • commentator • conversation • european championships • foul • free throw • handball • hard • interview • physical • soft • style