Why it is important to look after your team

My dad is an amateur chess player. When I was little I remember he had a friend called Evelio with whom he liked to play and they would spend almost the whole day together. In my mind's eye I remember seeing his wife half asleep in our living room waiting for them to finish the game so they could go home.

Find out more about the importance of taking care of your team. We tell you about it through a metaphor.

Juan Forero

Manager of Operations and Certification at Telefónica Venezuela.

31/10/2024

Reading time: 3 min

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The metaphor

From my dad I learned the basics of play and I passed on what I know to my children, because I think it develops strategic thinking, our ability to analyse future scenarios and prepare for what might happen.

Of my three children Isabella is the youngest and the most playful. She likes to play with me and some time ago she started to learn to play chess. Nowadays it is easier, because when you play on your tablet or phone they suggest the moves that each piece can make. Although she didn’t have to learn how to move them, I did have to teach her the value of keeping them.

Very early on Isabella learned that when she moved a piece it was possible that I would eat it. That she had to check where she was playing and who could attack her. Later on she also understood that when she ate me I could also eat her, if I was ‘protecting the token’.

Applied to corporate life

For some time now I have found that this simple teaching applies to corporate life. Those of us who manage staff must ‘look after our chips’. This means accompanying them in their daily work and helping them to examine possible risks. To look after them in those personal situations that affect them and to make sure that they are well. After all, the counters are indispensable to play the game.

I remember a story we were told in a management course years ago. It was about a major project outside the country. One of the resources suddenly changed behaviour and began to appear distracted and unmotivated. The project manager enquired what was happening to him and found out that he had a family problem that he was unable to resolve from there. The manager decided to pay for a week’s return trip for him to deal with what was happening to him. The person managed to solve it and when he came back his focus on the project was multiplied because he was able to concentrate and he was very grateful.

For me this is an example of the power of taking care of our chips. To protect them and understand their value. In chess a simple pawn – the most basic piece – can be transformed into a queen if we manage to get it to the other end of the board and in real life we are often facing the development of the great professionals of the future. It is very satisfying to see people come up through our hands and look back fondly on those early stages of their careers.