Episode 150 – Consequence Gets Compliance – The Yo-Yo Test

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I was talking to Joy Bhattacharjya yesterday about today's story, and it triggered one from his own memory bank.
This was around 2008, when Joy was the Team Director of the Kolkata Knight Riders. A recurring problem had emerged: some of the senior cricketers weren't making it to the team bus on time, the one that took players from the hotel to the ground for practice. Someone suggested a monetary fine. But that was never going to work with seniors earning in crores during the IPL. So coach John Buchanan devised a system that had an immediate impact.

If a senior player was late, the rest of the team, on reaching the ground, would have to run 5 laps or do 20 push-ups. The defaulter couldn't join in the punishment. He had to stand and watch. Oh, and he also had to be the one to choose, laps or push-ups.

You can imagine what happened next. Once you've made your entire team suffer for your tardiness, you don't do it again. No one was late for the bus after that.

This story is about creativity, yes, but it's really about something deeper: without consequence, you can't get compliance.

Today's story explores this same lesson and continues our theme of Indian Cricket.


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