3 appraisal tips to take away from IPL player salary hikes, elevation

Players and employees are both promoted to leadership positions based on past performance and projections for how their respective skills will translate to victories for their teams. However, HR managers and organizations need to support new leaders in this transition. (Image credit: Ravi Roshan via Pexels)

The Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions are closely followed events for a reason. They are among the most public displays of how skills are valued by organizations, and how much owners are willing to pay for someone who fills a particular need or gap in the team. A case in point is all-rounder Mitchell Starc whose services were bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping Rs 24.75 crore. This is steep raise over his salary of Rs 5 crore upon debut in IPL 2014 with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (now Royal Challengers Bengaluru). Obviously, the world's richest cricket league pays its players phenomenally well for their phenomenal talent. And most offices don't hold auction, even for key talent. But the basics of how salaries are decided, how companies need to support new managers and how companies identify that one star player to invest in - out of a pool of exceptional talent, most of them with proven track record - are things that can translate to any field, anywhere. We spoke to HR managers on how they interpret some of the biggest talent decisions in this IPL, and their takeaways from the 17th Tata IPL for this year's appraisals:

3 key lessons for appraisal season

Let's begin with the case of Hardik Pandya. Pandya's salary was fixed at Rs 15 crore ahead of the 17th Tata IPL - same as the last two years when he was skipper of the Gujarat Titans. While he did not get a raise when he moved to Mumbai, Pandya did ask to be made captain of the Mumbai Indians.

When Pandya, 30, took over the captaincy of the Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2024, he was replacing long-time captain Rohit Sharma. Sharma had led the team to five IPL wins between 2013 and 2023, and continued to be popular. As it turns out, the first half of IPL 2024 has been tough for Pandya. Since he took the big job, MI have lost four out of the six matches they have played in the IPL 2024 so far. Fans have been criticising the captaincy switch and the performance of the team. Amid all this, human resources (HR) leaders have drawn a few key lessons as they approach the performance appraisal season of 2024.

1. Importance of context

Pandya was part of the Mumbai Indians team that won four IPL titles in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. When he moved to the Gujarat Titans in 2022, he captained the IPL team to the title in their very first IPL season.

Here, HR leaders highlight that every talent has a context in which it tries to deliver. When a professional moves to a different team, the context changes and it takes time to understand.

For Sharma, there are many lessons to be learnt from this episode.

“Past success is just one of the indicators of your success in the new role and the new team. A lot more goes into making an individual successful and both the individual and organization should work towards it... To be fair to Hardik, he was given a bigger team and a team full of stars and it is not easy to handle too many stars in your team. That is where organization support is critical,” he added.

Perception matters

One big lesson HR leader Amit Sharma has learnt in his career is that it is not just performance but also perception that is critical for a good appraisal: What you say or what people think about you is almost as important as what you deliver, if not more.

A case in point is KKR captain Shreyas Iyer. The Board for Control of Cricket in India excluded Iyer from the annual retainer for 2024/25 ahead of the IPL season, for missing important India fixtures this year up to March. Mumbai-born Iyer silenced critics, leading his team to second place on the IPL 2024 Points Table as of April 17. Iyer also appeared on The Great Indian Kapil Show Episode 2 along with Rohit Sharma, which will have helped public perception around him as well.

Another key example is the elevation of three players to IPL captain this year and the very different reception they have each received. Ruturaj Gaikwad took over as Chennai Super Kings captain after MS Dhoni stepped down. He has mostly received love from fans, and guidance from team seniors. Then there is Shubman Gill who took over as Gujarat Titans captain after Hardik Pandya moved to the Mumbai franchise. The 24-year-old India batter has led the team to three victories in six matches - the public sentiment around him is too mostly positive. Hardik Pandya asked for the Mumbai Indians captaincy and got it while Rohit Sharma is still active and popular. The captaincy switch hasn't gone down too well with cricket fans.

“Be careful what you aspire for as most people would aspire to be promoted quickly but the higher you go, the more scrutiny comes with the position. There is a cost of ambition and fast growth and Hardik might just be paying for it. It is critical to ask yourself whether you are ready for the next step and so is your organisation,” said Sharma, an HR leader in a multinational consulting firm.

The one thing where Sharma will likely relate to Pandya is that there is a cost of growth at a young age that many professionals end up paying. At one stage, Sharma said he was also extremely aspirational and grew to be in a senior position at a young age only to realise that neither he nor the organisation was prepared.

“Which is when I took a pay cut and moved to consulting at a much junior level and was the best decision I made in my career,” he added.

Psychological strength 

Companies may take a lesson from Hardik Pandya's situation regarding the value of giving freshly appointed leaders adequate resources, psychological grooming and organisational support, particularly when they move into top leadership roles entailing greater, according to Col Gaurav Dimri (retd), Director HR of Sharda Group.

“To assist newly appointed leaders in overcoming the obstacles to optimal performance, emphasis should be on team building for greater acceptance more so when other senior colleagues stand replaced, providing regular feedback and analysis, leadership development and mentoring,” he said.

Despite recent defeats, Col Dimri said it is also imperative to impose reasonable expectations and let such leaders grow in their new roles by shielding them from unwarranted criticism or backlash and having backup plans in case the team performs below par.

“This will provide opportunities for leaders to maintain organisational stability and re-focus on achieving success despite initial failures,” he added.

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