LTE Notes- Lagaan

Shows how easy is to play in front of the entire village in order to attract people to join his
team

Temple drummer, Bagha- batting- plays the drum- showcases skills in batting

Leader- Bhuvan- constantly reinforces the team goal (2:07:00), stops them from beating up
Lakha (protects his team members even if they make a mistake and hears his reason)

Training, making their own bats, coming up with creatives ways to train the entire team
(whole village also bands together to help them), - 2:10:00

Division of Work
1) Intro to the movie and importance of having effective teams – 1 person
2) Leadership Effectiveness Model – Context, Composition, Process – 3 people
3) Learnings from the movie and application to real-life teams – 2 people

1. CONTEXT
Adequate Resources

Biggest resource- Elizabeth- provides them with knowledge about an unknown game , also
brings them a cricket ball to play with (1:47:00)

Leadership and Structure (1:42:00), also for Abilities of Members

Leader- Bhuvan
Bagha- batting (temple drummer)
Goli- bowling (skilled with the slingshot)
Bhura- fielder (runs after his hens)
Uncle Isar – fielder, medic
Arjan- fielder
Guran- enthusiastic
Ismail- always played ‘gilli-danda’ with Bhuvan
Lakha- runs fast, is strong due to cutting wood so he will be a good batsman
Deva Singh- Bowler, has also played the game before when he was previously in the British
Army, hates the British so wants
Kachra- bowling

Climate of Trust
Everyone has faith in Bhuvan and each other, once they start joining the tea, (refer to scene)
Conversely, there is a break in this climate of trust in the British team, competitiveness, etc.
(2:02:00) – this is not what trust looks like
Performance Evaluation and Reward System

2. COMPOSITION

Abilities of Members
Personality
Allocating Roles
Diversity of Members – from the same village
Cultural Differences
Size of Teams
Member Preferences

3. PROCESS

Common Purpose
Specific goals
Team efficacy
Team identity
Team cohesion
Mental models
Conflict levels
Social Loafing
Tasks

INTRO - Roopal

So, what really makes teams effective? Let’s jump into this discussion by analyzing the
cricket team made in the film ‘Lagaan’, in order to understand the three key components that
influence team effectiveness- Context, Composition and Process.

CONTEXT – Jaya
Adequate resources
Leader and structure
Climate of trust
Performance evaluation and rewards structure

‘Context’ refers to four factors that can significantly improve team performance and team
effectiveness. These factors include having adequate resources, effective leadership and team
structure, climate of trust and, a performance evaluation and rewards system that reflects
team contributions. (18 seconds)
The greatest resource that the team had, was the people of Champaner itself, who came
together to play in the match, provide motivation, strength and support, and even helped in
preparing the gear and uniform for the epic cricket match. (13 seconds) Jaya 1
Another significant resource that helped the team was the knowledge provided by Elizabeth,
Captain Russell’s sister, without whom Bhuvan and his team would not have had proper
knowledge about this foreign game of cricket. (12 seconds)- record again Jaya 2
The team would not have come together in the first place and subsequently won, had it not
been for the able leadership provided by Bhuvan. Bhuvan can be described as a courageous
and inspirational leader who articulates a vision to the villagers and makes everyone come
together and realize their special abilities, that contribute towards achieving the common
goal. The structure of team was one that consisted of people with different abilities and skills,
stemming from their every day habits. For example, Bhura proved to be a successful fielder
because it was a daily routine for him to run after his chickens. ( seconds)
A climate of trust was established in the movie when Bhuvan shows everyone how easy the
game is, since they have been playing something similar called ‘gilli-danda’ right from their
childhood. It develops trust within some members of the village who end up joining his
cricket team and more villagers soon follow their example. Trust keeps building in the team
throughout the movie. (20 seconds) Jaya 4
Another important example of trust among the members is when Lakha decides to join the
team. While most of the players question his motives behind joining the team so late, they
trust that Bhuvan is taking the correct decision by allowing him into the team. (12 seconds)-
Jaya 5
Finally, the greatest reward that the team aspires to, is to win the match against the British
team, in order to get the village exempted from paying ‘lagaan’ for three consecutive years.
This reward is a great motivating factor that pushes them to give their best effort during
training and the final match. (17 seconds)
COMPOSITION - Nikhil
1) The team composition component consists of variables that describe how a team should be
staffed. It refers to the overall mix of characteristics among people in a team. It includes the
following variables- abilities of members, personality, allocation of roles, diversity of
members, cultural differences, size of team and member preferences.

2) Abilities of members and allocation of roles is clearly reflected during the meeting Bhuvan
holds before the Indian team begins their innings. Bhuvan clearly states the abilities of the
players, with six of them being strong batsmen, on whose shoulders the responsibility of
scoring maximum number of runs rests. Thus, he is able to recognize the players’ abilities
and allocate responsibility accordingly.

3) We observed that the cricket team from Champaner was diverse but not culturally
different. The team consisted of Hindus, a Muslim, a Sikh and even a person from a lower
caste, who were all united by a unique objective. However, in this particular situation, we see
that this cultural diversity does not directly impact team performance. In terms of cultural
differences, there are not many, since they all belong to the same village and follow the usual
norms.

4) In terms of personalities of the team members, there are two traits that are reflected to a
great degree. The first trait is conscientiousness. We observe this when we see the effort
being put into learning the game and training for it. The next trait which is observed is
openness to experience. Even though none of the villagers had ever encountered such a
situation before, they banded together to learn cricket in just three months and resolved to
defeat the British. They eventually did succeed in defeating them, because they formed the
perfect playing 11!

PROCESS – Kaivalya, Abhishek

The final category linked to team effectiveness is Process, which includes the following
variables- Common Purpose, Specific Goals, Team Efficacy, Team Identity, Team
Cohesion, Mental models, Conflict Levels and Social Loafing. These process variables
showcase how effectively a team can create an output which is greater than the sum of the
inputs. And what a great output the cricket team was able to create- they not just won the
cricket match but got their village exempted from paying ‘lagaan’ for three consecutive years.
Let’s further explore how they did this. (30 seconds)
The team had one common, shared purpose, that was greater than just achieving individual
victories. (ADD SCENE 1). In this scene, Bhuvan reminds everyone that the match they have
to play is not just ‘fun and games’ but is a fight that they have to win to gain freedom from
taxes and peace and happiness for the village. Having this collective goal allows them to even
overcome their ages-old social norms to accept a player from a lower caste into their team.
(add scene_1) (25 seconds)
The movie also shows us scenes depicting the specific goals that Bhuvan and his team mates
had in order to achieve their objective. We see that Bhuvan first gathers his team mates,
assigns them roles according to their strengths, learns the rules of the game from Elizabeth,
ensures daily training and practice and lastly, offers constant motivation to everyone
throughout this process. (add mishmash of different scenes) (20 seconds)
The next clip beautifully depicts three key concepts- Team Efficacy, Team Identity and Team
Cohesion. (ADD SCENE 2). Here, we see that each and every member recognizes the
abilities and positives of every player in the team. This lends to greater efficacy and the
formation of a team identity- a team that is diverse yet has banded together to achieve one
single goal, for the benefit of the entire village. Their cohesion is derived not just from this
common goal that they have to achieve but from previous associations as villagers of
Champaner. (35 seconds)

Aanchal

We have learnt that in order to maintain shared mental models, it is important to share
conversation about what is happening when the team is in action. A good example of this
would be the constant communication maintained by the village batsmen on the pitch. By
communicating to each other exactly what to and how to do it in this high-pressure situation,
a shared mental picture of the road to victory was developed. (23 seconds)

Lastly, the main team conflict that we observe is between Lakha and Bhuvan, when it is
discovered that Lakha deliberately underperformed during the first day of the match and had
been in cahoots with Captain Russell. It is said that effective teams distinguish themselves
from ineffective ones because they solve their conflicts by explicitly discussing their issues.
We can clearly see this when Lakha openly expresses his envy and disdain for Bhuvan but
resolves to change his ways by asking Bhuvan for a second chance. (30 seconds)

We now come to the end of our discussion on the Team Effectiveness Model. Now, let’s
examine some key learnings that our group has had after watching the movie, by talking
about three aspects- Leadership, Team and Effectiveness.

Firstly, we saw how a leader communicates their vision, brings together members according
to their varied abilities, allocates roles and responsibilities, sets specific goals, ensures team
efficacy and cohesion, helps in resolving conflicts and finally, leads the team to achieve a
common purpose. A leader who is conscientious, open to new experiences and agreeable can
thus bring together his or her team to achieve the shared goal, in manner that benefits
everyone.

The next aspect we will touch upon is team. A team is essentially a group whose individual
efforts result in performance that is greater than the sum of the individual inputs. The team in
‘Lagaan’ can be described as a cross-functional team, due to the different roles played by
each member. The team had diversity but not cultural differences. They came together to
achieve a singular objective and developed a unique team identity- a team that is dedicated
and committed to bettering the lives of everyone in Champaner.

The last and most important aspect we observed is effectiveness. The team effectively
achieved their unique goal and was rewarded for it by being exempted from paying an
exorbitant amount of tax for three years. We observed that this effectiveness arose from the
following key variables- an able leader and proper team structure, diverse abilities of team
members, a shared team identity, sound team cohesion and team efficacy, shared mental
models, a healthy amount of conflict and proper team goals to achieve the shared objective.
Thus, these learnings can help us to come up with specific steps to improve our own team
performance.