Key business lessons from PSG surprise win in Champions League

The other day, the football club Paris Saint-Germain of France shocked many soccer fans when it ran roughshod over Inter Milan of Italy and won the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League cup.

Going into the match, PSG was underrated, and many were placing bets on Inter Milan, given their sterling records in European leagues.

For a long time, the face of PSG was star players. When their recent star and ace striker Kyllian Mbappe left, many wrote the club as good as dead, only for it to pull a shocker. Here are business lessons we can learn from the PSG win.

Let others shine

There are those employees who are the face of the organisation. They hog all the limelight if the department they head scores a milestone or records impressive growth in the organisation's books.

During award-winning galas, they bag those prizes. What goes unnoticed is that those employees under them are the ones doing the heavy lifting, and their efforts go unrecognised, other than a mere mention.

Even in football, that overlooked and benched player, given five minutes of play in dying time, usually pulls that surprise winning goal and rather than getting plaudits, the coach and technical bench hog the limelight.

This is similar to any organisation where management or that star employee takes recognition for teamwork. But if others are given space to work and grow in their careers, they have the potential to outperform others.

Otherwise, they're there to earn that salary and follow instructions and not exploit their potential to the fullest.

Allow ideas

The bossy type of managers does not like to get feedback from their employees. They're there to give instructions and seeing to it that everything is followed to the letter. Then there are those who look for innovative ways to carry the organisation forward and will incorporate their employees' ideas and suggestions.

In this technological era, it pays to move with the times and not do things the old-fashioned way and expect different results. If that employee has an idea that can revolutionise the organisation's way of operations and have a wide market reach, it should be incorporated.

Take the example of developing a marketing app. Such an idea should be incubated and tested to see if it will work. If it proves worth the effort, the organisation can buy it from the employee or compensate him or her as a developer. Reward or compensation can also be in the form of a share.

Big organisations like Amazon grew to be where its because employees are always innovating new ways and getting rewarded.

Retain that talent at all costs

Have you ever seen how that overlooked and always benched player that only plays limited time or is given full play time during inconsequential matches always shines and their worth appreciates once they leave that club for another?

The same occurs when that employee leaves that organisation for another, where their climb up the career ladder is always meteoric.

Suppose that the employee had a brand that the organisation is known for, and was allowed to operate under its stable. An example is a media personality known for a programme that is a signature brand, pulling more viewership and listenership.

If such employees were to leave the organisation with their signature brand programmes, it is likely that the number of viewership or listenership will dip and increase in the competition's organisation.

It is likely that the employee carried with him loyalty attached to organisation on account of that programme. Same way when football star moves to another team and fortunes of the new team rise.

For example, before Cristiano Ronaldo moved to the Saudi Arabian league from the European league, the fortunes of his Saudi football club went up, with millions following the club on social media.

A club that was hitherto unheard of suddenly became the most talked-about. It became flooded with foreign talents who started signing for the Saudi Arabian league clubs. That talent you may not treat deservedly has the potential to make or break your organisation.