Learning from elite athletes

Performance / 20 January 2012

With the countdown to the UK Olympic Games well under way, it’s not just aspiring athletes who are looking to sporting heroes for inspiration. Matt McAllister finds out what business and sport have in common

There has always been a crossover between the world of sport and the world of business, whether it’s managers employing metaphors about being a “team player” and “stepping up to the plate” or the inspirational strategy books written by sporting stars such as Marc Woods and Steve Redgrave.

It’s no surprise, then, to learn that a new programme is offering practical advice on how individuals and businesses can improve their performance using sporting principles.

K2 Performance Systems’ DoubleGold athlete at work programme aims to show businessmen and women how to achieve long-term success by thinking like a sporting champion. The programme features practical insights from an actual sporting champion: double gold winning former runner Dame Kelly Holmes, who is launching the initiative later this month.

Holmes, who now offers guidance on how people can achieve their potential through her mentoring schemes and corporate speeches, is hoping the programme will enable a greater understanding of the shared psychology of sport and business.

The parallels between sport and the world of business are clear. There is intense pressure, tough competition, small margins for error and a high cost of failure.

Dame Kelly Holmes

“The parallels between sport and the world of business are clear,” she says. “There is intense pressure, tough competition, small margins for error and a high cost of failure. Success in any area of performance is about the science of being totally prepared, and my sporting career has enabled me to understand the factors that make up a winning performance.”

Achieving results

The athlete at work programme covers several key subjects that are equally applicable to both sport and business. These include motivation, mental fitness and physical fitness (paying attention to food, fluids and physical activity, the programme suggests, is as important to business as it is to sport). It also covers the “core principles” of the structure of performance, explaining what marks out the elite from the merely good.

Kevin Hatter, CEO at K2 Performance Systems, argues that, like athletes, businesses need to form the right attitude and vision to achieve success.

“Regardless of the sector, all businesses are obsessed with results,” he says. “And so we help them match that with an equal obsession – performance. We ensure they are always mentally, physically and emotionally prepared to deliver the best performance possible. The result is that they always feel in control. Performance is always a choice, regardless of the outcome.”

The imminent arrival of the Olympics offers everyone a chance to learn from the determination of athletes, Hatter argues, and Holmes agrees.

“With the Olympics coming to the UK, I feel passionately that everyone should reflect on how the world of sporting achievement can help them to deliver improved performance in every area of their lives,” she says. “Individuals and businesses can learn how to deliver a consistent, intense and sustainable performance, and continually improve their capacity to succeed.”

While few of us will ever find ourselves competing in world championship athletics, it seems that businesses, managers and team members can all learn from those who do.

For more information visit: http://doublegoldathleteatwork.co.uk