While watching a soccer match a couple of days back, a friend criticized the coach for not including the ace performer of the last season in the team. While his passion is understandable, I could not help but remind him of the number of sitters the player had missed trying to score himself and not passing it to the team member who was in a better position to score.

That brought to mind the topic of social capital.

Social capital refers to the holistic environment that enables collective action in any collective group, even a business organization. It encompasses the culture, relationships, and processes that shape the social interactions of the organization. There is increasing evidence to prove that social capital is critical for businesses to prosper and grow sustainably. That is because, if nurtured well, social capital enhances the capability of the company as a whole where the team members cross-subsidize each other’s shortcomings and work together towards a common goal in cohesion.

Social capital is the factor that determines why teams with similar skill profiles have different productivity, one more than the other. It is the job of the leaders and top management to nurture an environment where camaraderie is rewarded more than individual performance.

The job is easier said than achieved as there is no easy way or standard process definition to implement for enhancing social capital. From personal experience, I can say that all this has to be made a part of the overall culture of the organization, rather than having team-building events or motivational speakers coming in at random times with their pep talks. I am not saying that these do not work. But the task does not end with organizing these events.

Gone are the days when organizations would give individual targets to achieve, in isolation, and rewards the top achievers. You will always miss out on the mentor who might not have made his/her targets but supported several team members to achieve theirs. It is a blunder to promote individual go-getters to managerial positions unless we see skills of mentorship in them.

The culture of the organization should ensure that all members of the team work together to address their common needs through increased transparency and joint accountability, thus ensuring greater inclusion and cohesion. The role of any leader is to establish an environment that promotes such positive behaviour in the team, even in times of conflict resolution and competition. If done right the team will soon become self-sustaining and oriented toward the organization's mission.

But all this has to be done subtly, so as not to lose the ace performer of the team. Having said that, it is prudent to lose the top scorer if the person is hampering the cohesiveness and causing dissatisfaction in the entire team.

As with every form of non-financial capital, the question lies in how we can measure them and what are a few tips and tricks for improving the social capital of any organization. That is why I feel there should be another blog on this.