Business Meets Sport - 4 Keys to Success
Published: 25/04/2016
Competitive sport, like business and other pressure environments, casts a magnifying glass on aspects of our character that helps us to understand, reflect and implement effective positive change. It is a time of concentrated experience that is more intense than our average day to day. Competitive sport and high level performance in particular is often referenced as a source of insight for business. We at Outdoorsie have benefited from the application of lessons learnt from sport to the workplace. Lee Povey is a cycling champion and elite coach operating in Northern California. Here he shares four keys to success that he teaches his athletes.
OWNERSHIP:
Take responsibility for your own performance. Success is doing everything in your control to achieve your goal and the only person in charge of your actions is YOU. While external factors can affect an outcome, if you do everything in your power to succeed, you have done just that – succeeded. I've won races when I've ridden badly and been more annoyed after races I've lost but ridden well. Focus on the process and executing as well as you can and you will get the result your talent and dedication deserve.
KNOW YOURSELF:
Self-awareness is as much a key in the workplace as it is for athletes. In sports, your body is constantly giving you feedback on your fatigue levels and current fitness. Your training program may tell you to complete a certain number of efforts/reps, use that as a guide and listen to your body. If the quality of those efforts drop, stop the session and save that energy for the next training session. It can be easy to always over train slightly by ignoring your body's warning signs. Athletes are performing better when they get older because they know themselves better and have the wisdom to be more patient and listen to their bodies.
PROCESS - AVOID BURNOUT:
The office environment is aligned to sports in how its the quality not quantity of our work that counts. In cycling, its the person who trains the smartest wins. You can only train as hard as you have recovered. This is especially true for sprint and power events. Often one of the first things I do with experienced riders who are new to being coached by me is reduce the volume of their training program. Most people are very motivated to train hard and do well. They have been told growing up that success is all about hard work and sacrifice so they make sure they do more training than the other guy but then wonder why they stop improving. To really push on past those first initial gains you must train at an intensity that forces your body to adapt and respond by becoming more powerful/stronger. For most, reducing the volume and upping the intensity has a big pay off. Rest and recover with the same focus to put into your workouts.
WORKING TOGETHER:
Team culture and the enjoyment of working together is a crucial element as equally important in the professional setting as it is in sport. Creating groups to train with makes things more fun and the competition provides a great source of motivation. There's no surprise that the best track cycling teams are based together and train together. They compete together for the same spots and want to beat each other, pushing each other further. Constant competition among friends raises everyone's game.