Katie Chodosh, Content Consultant at TopLine Comms and TopLine Film, asked the following question: “The Boks’ World Cup campaign wasn’t just successful – it was record-breaking and awe-inspiring, both on and off the pitch. So, what can we mere mortals sitting at our desks Monday to Friday learn from coach Rassie Erasmus and the Boks?

Katie said that we can learn the following from the Springboks:

Learn from your mistakes – The Bokke had a rough start to the World Cup, losing 23–13 to New Zealand in their World Cup Pool B opener in Yokohama. But they didn’t let it get them down for too long. We all make mistakes at work. But don’t ignore them – instead, debrief as a team after something’s gone wrong. Analyse it, figure it out and use the lessons learnt.

Put it into perspective – When work is tough, it’s easy to feel like it’s the most important thing in the world. But it shouldn’t feel like life or death, so it’s worth taking time to put it into perspective.

Spread your bets across your team – For the last four games in the tournament, Erasmus split the reserve bench – the so-called ’bomb squad’ – between six forwards and two backs, rather than the conventional five and three. In layman’s terms, the team spread the physical load across more people. This became evident in the scrums, and the amount of energy the team still had at the end of the 80-minute game.

Stay focused on the end-goal – This partly explains the logic behind the bomb squad lineup, but it also shows that Erasmus thinks about the end of the game right from the beginning. It can be easy to get caught up in the smaller tasks you need to do to reach your end goal, but you need to keep your overall objective in sight.

Believe in what you do – Erasmus made his love for the game clear throughout the tournament. He truly believes that rugby has the power to unite a nation – and he’s right. Ultimately, it’s much easier to do your job when you understand what you’re doing and why it makes a difference. It’s essential to have a purpose – if you don’t feel you have a purpose at work, try and figure it out. Speak to your superiors and try to map out the chain effect of what you do in your job. Once you truly believe that what you do is worthwhile, you’ll have much more interest in pursuing it.