"Everyone else got the glory, but we got the gold!"

I was recently lucky enough to meet Olympian Ben Hunt Davies and hear him explain how his team of 8 men became rowing gold medal winners at the Sydney Olympics by adopting the focus of a simple mantra… “will it make the boat go faster?” Their response was just as simple.  If the answer was yes they did it, if it was no they didn’t. This included attending the opening ceremony …  “will spending 5 hrs marching around waving a flag in a hot stadium, missing scheduled meals when training  for the biggest race of your life make the boat go faster?” The answer was No!…so they didn’t go, (they watched it on TV) Was it the right decision?  Ben will tell you…“everyone else got the glory but we got the gold!”

 Ben has listed his 5 top Olympic winning team building strategies

1.Clarity of Goals Ben and his crew were absolutely clear on their goal, Olympic gold, and they translated this into yearly, monthly and daily goals. How often in the corporate world do we have an ill-defined sense of where we’re going  and how often is this confusion multiplied by different  interpretations amongst managers and staff? When  everyone signs up to a clear, compelling goal we can make sure every ounce of effort is directed in the same direction. Clear goals are like magnets, pulling teams together.

2.Strong Belief  They diarised belief building sessions in the same way they scheduled weights or endurance training. Why? Because they realised beliefs were just as important. There is a huge raft of evidence to show that strong belief breeds positive       behaviours. The crew created a list of reasons why they were becoming a great team and why they would win, this might translate into a list of reasons why the product and service is fantastic, or why the sales target is achievable.

3.Controlling the Controllables They focused purely on the things they could control and let go of factors that they could not.  This meant, for example, not worrying about weather conditions – even though the weather has a huge impact on rowing performance –because it was completely outside their control. We could reap huge dividends if we focussed our  attention in the corporate sector more stringently on controlling the controllables.

4.Bouncebackability A high jumper who fails at their first attempt needs to pull themselves together to nail the   second attempt in a matter of minutes  Sport psychology pays significant attention to how to perform under pressure and bounce back from defeat. When disaster strikes Do we get caught up in analysis paralysis or do we dust ourselves off and take that all important first step forward?

 5.BS Filters Ben and his crew had countless  people telling them their dream was impossible. The crew learnt not to confuse other people’s negative  opinions with facts . If their detractors were annoying they used this as      emotional rocket fuel to spur themselves on. It is a powerful lesson, treat fact as fact and opinion as opinion.  They would never shied away from painful facts, but were careful to challenge unhelpful  opinions. Sport is more than just a    powerful metaphor for business.  Many of the sporting philosophies that underpin Gold can be transferred directly into the   corporate sector.

Ben has teamed up with  corporate performance coach Harriet Beveridge to write the book “Will it make the boat go faster?  Olympic-winning strategies for everyday success”