I came across this 1928 article (anonymous) called ‘10 Ways to Kill a Team’. I smiled as a I read it and thought you’d enjoy:
Don’t go to team meetings. Complain about the inconvenience of scheduling – place – time.
If you do go, go late and offer a creative excuse. Do create distractions when arriving.
If the weather doesn’t suit you, don’t even think of going. It’s not convenient anyway.
If you attend, find subtle fault with the work of the team leader and team members.
Never accept leadership as it is easier to criticise than to do things and take the heat.
Get sore if you are not appointed to special teams, but if you are, don’t participate.
If asked by the team leader for your opinion, don’t give it – complain after the meeting.
Do the minimum, when others jump in to help, complain that a clique runs the team.
Don’t pay your dues or coffee / birthday / anniversary fund collections, or pay very late.
Don’t recruit new members, “Let George do it”. Complain about quality and production.
Do you know anyone who does these things?!
If any of these resonate then I would strongly urge you to look at your team and how to engage them in your business. One great way to do this is to get your team members to take a Talent Dynamics profile test. You can take the test here.
Businesses are always looking for ways to make their management and staff more productive and their companies more profitable. Many companies have turned to training and development only to be disappointed. Others have created rigorous strategic plans that don’t come close to delivering the needed outcomes. According to authors Michael C. Mankins and Richard Steele in their August 2005 Harvard Business Review article titled “Turning Strategy into Great Performance”, the average team achieves only 63% of the objectives of their strategic plans.
Why is there a gap? What gets in the way?
The key issues are how well the team communicates, aligns around top initiatives, creates short term and long-term plans, and holds themselves accountable to deliver the results.
The amazing thing is that you know this and yet like most others may lack the know-how or discipline to make sure these issues are addressed each and every day. Like others you may refer to these skills as the “soft issues” because you don’t see how they are measurable or quantifiable and therefore don’t believe they are as important to performance as more typical indicators of success. Yet their research shows clearly that these skills and disciplines are the biggest levers that enable high performance teams close the performance gap.
Michael C. Mankins and Richard Steele summarize the results of their findings by listing the five top issues contributing to
this performance gap:
Companies rarely track performance against the top annual priorities
Multi-year results rarely meet projections.
A lot is lost in translation due to poor communication and follow-through
Performance bottlenecks are invisible to top management
The strategy-to-performance gap fosters a culture of under-performance
What exactly do these mean and what can you do to close the gap in your business?
How to Build a High Performance Team
Start by accepting that your people are your business. More than your strategy, your marketing plan, your IT system or an entire finance department full of spreadsheets, management information and predictions, people are the key to your success. To transform your business, transform your people.
Getting your people to work together in a powerful way, taking personal responsibility for their own performance, as well as that of the overall business, will generate measurable improvement every time. The secret lies in making sure that everyone in your business – including you – has the right attitude and is taking the right actions to produce results, time after time.
Here are the key disciplines to make this happen in your business.
1) Include everyone in an annual planning session
While you may know best what’s needed in your business or team, don’t make the plan on your own or with just a few key people. It may be necessary to think about the key strategic objectives, but as soon as possible include everyone in your top team in the creation of the real plan that’s going to drive the business for the next year.
Including people makes all the difference to their performance. They have a chance to let you know how things look from their perspective, giving them the experience of being valued and giving you the benefit of their experience and insight. We’ve learned time and again the truth of the adage that people will not destroy that which they have helped to create.
Allow a full day for this session. Let everyone know that you value their input and want them to be part of planning the next year. While you may be right that you know best, there is little evidence that plans made in isolation lead to high level performance.
Case Study
Although great at design and customer service, a high-end software company was unable to get prospects in the pipeline for their $50,000 product. Company morale was low and the owner was on the verge of giving up. He was tired of dealing with the sales problems and discouraged about his feelings of incompetence in creating a system that would work for his company.
He agreed to bring his entire team together to review the situation and create a plan they felt they could achieve. By the end of the day everyone was aligned on a breakthrough. Within months sales numbers were more than double from a year before. This company that was lucky to be making one and sometimes two sales every couple of months, was soon achieving as many as two and three sales each month! This company that was lucky to be making one and sometimes two sales every couple of months, was soon achieving as many as two and three sales each month!
2) Review what happened in the past and learn from it
Start with a thorough review of the past year – what did we achieve together and where did we fail? Give all people on the team time to make their own list before gathering responses.
Make sure that you first focus on achievements – just the good news. One of the factors that makes working together so difficult is our habit of focusing on issues and problems to the exclusion of achievements and successes. In such an environment people feel undervalued and unmotivated and a feeling of Why bother? shapes the culture.
Next take time to review failures, asking the team to make a full list of disappointments. Let them know that this exercise has nothing to do with pointing fingers and everything to do with creating a realistic picture of the current status of the team and the business.
Finally ask each team member to consider what can be learned from what happened. Discuss the potential lessons and align on the top three guidelines that would make the most difference to your success. Keep these alive throughout the year by regular review and public display with news of the difference the lessons are making to performance.
Case Study
An executive search partnership, a subsidiary of one of the largest search companies in theworld, was a strong company of 25 young people with a great track record. Then things took a turn for the worst. They were having their worst year ever and the phone had stopped ringing.
When they took time to review their situation, they realized they were nearly frozen into inaction with some team members engaged in arguments and sarcasm to mask their true thoughts and feelings.
Once they took the time to take stock, talk openly and identify key lessons, the culture gradually shifted to a more positive framework. By the end of the year their most cynical member announced that they ‘had achieved miracles’. They not only matched their best performance ever, but exceeded it. Above all the team dynamic became positive, cooperative and focused on delivering results.
3) Examine limiting attitudes and assumptions and shift them
You may have noticed that sometimes it seems as if you’re doing everything right and yet you still don’t have the results to show for it. Too often the source of this frustration is found in the underlying attitudes that shape the culture of your business. For example, imagine your chances of success if the key people in your business have beliefs such as: “We used to be great, but now it’s impossible to keep up with the competition!?”. “It’s OK not to deliver as long as there’s a reasonable explanation.”
Your most rewarding task is to discover the beliefs and assumptions that limit you. One approach is to ask your team to describe the culture they’d like to have in the business and then the one that exists now. In most instances there is not a match. To uncover limiting attitudes and paradigms, discuss the underlying beliefs that might be shaping the current culture. How do we explain our failure to have the culture we want? The most rewarding task is to discover the beliefs and assumptions that limit you. One approach is to ask your team to describe the culture they’d like to have in the business and then the one that exists now. In most instances there is not a match. To uncover limiting attitudes and paradigms, discuss the underlying beliefs that might be shaping the current culture. How do
we explain our failure to have the culture we want?
The next step is to write a statement that describes the new attitude or paradigm that generates the culture you want to generate together, for example, We keep our promises with one another – no matter what!
Case Study
A sales team responsible for marketing and selling a top global beer in a South American country had 90% of their market share. Although it was obvious to the home office that the only possibility was decline in this emerging country, the culture in the team ranged from ‘we’re invincible’ to ‘no problem, man!’ The new General Manager saw the threat from new competition as well as the lack of discipline throughout the business.
But the biggest job was to tackle the limiting cultural beliefs that drove the entire business. Although difficult to imagine that We are invincible could be a limiting paradigm in any sales team, that’s what it was. Once they realized how inadequate their approach had been, they became a team committed to doing the impossible. By the end of the year, they had surpassed their key target and achieved their highest result for 14 years. The team was working together in an enthusiastic way they could not have imagined 12 months before. They were winning!
4) Align on the top ten priorities at every level of the business
Ask all managers on the team to identify the one or two top priorities for their area/s of responsibility. Have each manager present the goals to entire team and explain the choices. Once all the goals have been presented, together select the top ten goals for the year.
Although all goals will be pursued, your team will benefit from a focus on the ten that most ensure overall success.
Accountability is key to your success so make sure that each goal has one team member who has the overall responsibility for its achievement. Make sure each manages sets and achieves monthly goals to progress their annual goal/s – in other words, make sure everyone knows who’s on the hook for what!
If the members of your team have their own teams, make sure that they each schedule a planning day for their teams to replicate the process. The first step in each of these days is a presentation of the overall business plan as created by the top team, followed by a day of review and planning in which each team develops their own plan in alignment with the top team plan but focusing on the key issues and goals they must achieve to contribute to the overall plan.
Case Study
A major bank was threatening to outsource most of the services of its IT division of 3,000 people. Recent performance had fallen to 64% of their annual objectives and managers and staff knew that severe downsizing was coming. Although the new General Manager was taking the situation seriously, most of the key people were blaming the parent company for their lack of “understanding and appreciation”.
He gathered the managers at the top of each part of his business and clearly communicated the challenges in their first planning meeting. After an exhaustive review, the team began the process of taking responsibility for the situation. They examined all possibilities and aligned on the ten results that they knew had the best chance of reversing the decision of the bank. Each of the top team then made sure his or her team replicated the review, learning and planning process and key priorities were agreed throughout the division.
By the end of the year performance had risen from 64% to over 100% delivery of each key target. Although some downsizing was necessary, it was a small challenge compared to the pride of working in the performance culture they had created.
5) Establish monthly review sessions to monitor progress and learn from what happens
Review all team plans to ensure that they are aligned in pursuit of your plan for the year. If these plans are achieved, will our strategy for the year achieve the outcomes we hope?
The most important discipline is to ensure – no matter what – that each team has a monthly review session to assess progress against their annual plan. At the top of the agenda is a review of the monthly goals set on the way to the achievement of each annual goal. For
example, an annual goal might be Achieve an overall Customer Satisfaction rating of 80% or more with a goal in the second month of Establish a Customer Satisfaction benchmark based on our latest survey and identify areas where improvement is needed. This public review forms a basis for team discipline about delivering key goals, above all.
To ensure that you and your team know what’s happening in the business in time to make course corrections, include a review of performance on monthly plans for every second-level team.
Although progress on your top ten priorities is your first priority, include a review of your guidelines and the difference they are making at each month’s meeting. In addition, talk about your new paradigm or mindset and the evidence that you’re on track to bringing this new reality alive.
Case Study
When the new General Managed arrived at his factory, he found an explosive situation. He had been told that if the factory didn’t turn around in one year, it would be closed. The decision of the parent company was understandable as the business was losing $1 million per month and had a worker absentee rate of 25%.
When he first tried to get the managers and factory workers to align on a plan, there was revolt – the workers stopped the engines and shut down the factory! The lack of trust was palpable. However, the top team stayed with their plan and communicated their commitment to theentire workforce. The personal results of the top team were posted on the factory walls, month after month, and gradually the tension eased.
Within two months the absentee rate had dropped to 5% and within three months it fell to 3% where it stayed. The workers could see that management meant business, trust was restored and the turnaround was achieved. Not only did the business break even, but they achieved the General Manager’s personal target of $1 million in annual profit.
Conclusion
These five strategies are designed to resolve the five issues identified in the Harvard Business Review article:
Top priorities are identified and tracked on a regular basis
Achieving these priorities, year after year, contributes measurably to multi-year growth,
Communication and follow through is guaranteed,
Top management has a simple system for tracking performance and making course corrections, and
Individual and team focus on the delivery of the vital few automatically generates a performance culture.
If your business is suffering from one or more of the issues identified in this article then please call us as there are solutions to these problems.
Today I am sharing what one of my amazing clients Carly Hope, the Sales Angel wrote about her experience with Horse Assisted Leadership Transformation on Sunday at one of my Success Unbridled Retreats.
“At the start of this year a horse and business whisperer signed up for a coaching call with me. At the time, I didn’t know how or why she and her horses would be part of my life but I knew for certain that they would be. Yesterday I took my VIP group to spend the day with Julia Felton and her wonderful herd of horses and it was truly life changing.
On arrival in the depth of the Sussex countryside, my sat nav said “you have arrived at your destination”and in that very second a large and impressive hawk swooped down and hovered above my car. I later googled “symbolism of the hawk”and the list read
Attention
Vision
Power
Energy
Leadership
Intensity
This is no coincidence as we experienced these things in abundance over this special weekend.
On Saturday evening I set out to meet the herd for the first time. As I walked into their field, I tried to regulate my breath and energy to match the magical stillness in the air and it took a while. When you get on the level with these amazing animals the results are powerful (beyond any spa day) there was an awareness available that I have never before experienced…one that isn’t freely available in this busy life we lead.
I can’t help but find amusement in humans, busying ourselves with ipads and shopping, spending our time immersed in social media…..and yet I have never felt better than sitting still in a field with these clever animals watching the herd chew grass.
I realised in that moment that we have so much to learn from these beautiful horses.
The next day we greeted my VIP clients and my friend Allison Marlowe and the fun started. We spent the day immersed in deep learning, never about the horses and always about ourselves. The horses gently nudge us into alignment, so that our actions meet our heart and our thoughts. They teach us to be in the moment, to enjoy the simple things and as one of my clients beautifully observed to just let go and have a big poo.
As I drove home on the evening the M25 was filled with Olympic traffic but the sun was setting in the distance and I didn’t see the traffic. I didn’t feel like I was in the same body that had made the journey the previous morning.
I almost hesitated to write this note, it is hard to put into words how emotionally beautiful it was to be with the horses, how healing their field is, and how I have learned more about my next steps in life then I could from a traditional classroom.
I know in my role as a sales trainer that whole body learning is essential – that the masculine principles of “how” to do things don’t always work in isolation. That to be truly successful we must address the feeling behind our actions. I believe the horses give us the opportunity to get close to our truth and move forward. The divine feminine is the gift of gentle yet powerful leadership, I am committed to seeking mentors who embody the principles and inspire me..
I just didn’t know she would be a pony!”
One of the most profound things that this amazing about this group of successful women entrepreneurs discovered during the day was the power of teamwork. Accustomed often to working alone the team exercises they undertook with the horses really drew the group together and everyone began to realise the power of collaboration. We even uncovered the Talent Dynamics profile of each person and based with this knowledge everyone could figure out how best they could add value to the team during the exercises with horses. It was amazing to watch.
I will be running days with the horses in September around the theme of what horses can teach us about authentic sales, along with Carly Hope do if this speaks to you let me know and we will send you more details.
We’ve learned that great teams beat great players, leaders and competitors every time. We found that the most sabotaging influence to team cohesion and performance is ego and “headwind hogging.” Now let me identify the two most important ingredients for building high-performing teams.
TRUST
As Patrick Lencioni wrote in his excellent book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, the No. 1 dysfunction is an absence of trust. Interestingly, you don’t even need to like each other, but you do have to trust each other to form the cohesion and solidarity needed for high performance.
So what do you do to build more trust?
I’m a believer in always giving what you want first. If you want trust from your team, give trust first. Things that foster trust are transparency, honesty, vulnerability and complete integrity.
Brainstorm five ways you can demonstrate trust to your team.
Thought starters:
Open the Kimono: Open up your books. Share the good, the bad and the ugly of your financial statements. Become far more transparent with how information is shared and communicated.
Marionette No More: Drop the puppet strings. Give others more responsibility and decision-making power without micromanagement and approvals. Train, but then trust them. Let them lead.
Expose Your Chest: As my friend Waldo Waldman teaches about leadership, “expose your chest to daggers,” meaning, show your vulnerability first. Be more open and honest in the disclosure of your own fears, failures and shortcomings.
Remember, people relate and connect more with your struggles than your successes. What do you fear? When do you feel scared? When have you tried and failed? When does your confidence waver? Share that with your team and you will witness the veil of false posture lifted from your team.
Perform Pancreaticoduodenectomies: This is the surgery you need if you have pancreatic cancer—one of the most deadly of all cancers. Cancer in your team is gossip, negative talk, the “meeting after the meeting” and separate alliances or factions within the team. First, never do such things yourself. Second, stop others whenever they do them. Cancer cannot be tolerated; it has to be killed and surgically cut out before it becomes too widespread. Left too long it will destroy the whole body (team).
Be Worthy: To be trusted you first must be trustworthy. Demonstrate you are by doing what you say you will do and being where you say you will be precisely when you say you will be there. Deliver on your promises and be the example you want everyone else to follow. Simple, easy and pretty straightforward, right? Why do so many screw this one up, then? Baffles me.
Decide your five and start doing them this week.
APPRECIATION
“Perhaps no human need is more neglected in the workplace than to feel valued,” as written in The Way We Are Working Isn’t Working by Tony Schwartz.Feeling significant is as basic as food. This begins at birth and never goes away. The need for significance at work is a manifestation of our inborn hunger for meaning in our lives.
Here’s the trick, though: Just like in marriage, people have different “love languages,” and have different ways of feeling valued and appreciated. If you just do it as you would want it done, there’s a great chance you will be wrong and miss the mark completely. The answer is to ASK them (same goes for your spouse).
Do This: Pick five people on your team. Sit down with each of them and explain how much you appreciate them, but are unsure how to express that fully, correctly or in the manner which matters most to them. Ask them when in the past they have felt the most appreciated and what they would like to see from you.
Decide your five and start doing that this week.
There you have it—the formula for building fantastically successful teams. Do just 20 percent of what we talked about here and you will greatly improve the performance of your team. Diligently work on all of it and you and your team will be unstoppable in your industry. Go for unstoppable!
When a duck falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone. Left out of formation for too long it will eventually tire out and drop out completely.
We see this happen on sports teams when one player tries to showboat and carry the game. Eventually the headwind of trying to fly alone will wear him down and the opposition will prevail.
Some great examples of this were witnessed by the cycling team during the recent Olympic Games. The men’s British Pursuit team worked in harmony together so that they could retain their gold in the Velodrome. If each member had tried by themselves to win then certainly we would not have got gold. Another great example, although this time not as successful was the mens road cycling. It was widely thought that Mark Cavendish would win and so his team mates, including Bradley Wiggins stepped up to support him try and achieve gold. Although not successful the team worked just like the ducks to support each other to glory.
The Miami Heat Basketball team demonstrated a prime example of this sabotaging force when they faced The Dallas Mavericks for the 2011 NBA Championship. Many argued that never had more individual talent been assembled (and paid for) on a single team in the history of the NBA as was on the 2011 Miami Heat. They had the “three kings,” or whatever they called themselves (that had to be a clue).
Meanwhile the Dallas Mavericks, while they obviously had good players, didn’t have nearly the individual superstar/celebrity talent the Heat had. The championship should have been a blowout. And it was. Teamwork blew out talent 4 games to 2.
While the Miami Heat had more ‘eagles,’ let’s say, the Dallas Mavericks played as a unified flock, or team, and beat the Heat decisively. That is the power of teamwork and that is the detriment individual egos can be, sabotaging the greatness of a team.
The important team lesson here: No one member of your team can or should be taking the headwind all the time. Just like a duck, he or she has to have the humility and the ego strength to rotate to the back of the formation so another duck can take the lead position to keep the flock moving at top speed.
Think about it. How often, as leaders, do we not recognize how many other leaders we have behind us? Others who want to also be leaders and share in our burdens? Leaders that, if given the opportunity, may be able to take your group to a higher level not yet obtained?
Sometimes, true leadership is to know when to step aside to let someone else lead for awhile. Then, stand by that new leader and offer support and encouragement.
And therein lies another lesson from the duck. When in formation, the ducks quack from behind to encourage those up front.
How often do we encourage those who are leading us? We need to make sure that our “quacking” from behind is encouraging—not something less helpful or damaging.
How about this one: Did you know that when a duck gets sick or wounded, two ducks will drop out of formation and follow it down to help protect it? They stay with the wounded duck until it is either able to fly again or dies. Then, they launch out to join another formation or work together to catch up with the flock. Beautiful isn’t it?
Are we standing by the people around us when they are in need? Or do we turn a blind eye and say, “Oh that sucks for you, duck”? Being part of a team is being there in the good times and the bad.
Takeaway action items:
Are you hogging the leadership ball? Think of several people and several ways you can have others take the lead. Then be sure you are there to quack encouragement all along the way.
Are you taking care of the entire flock? Is there someone you need to be there for, helping them heal some personal hurts?
Want to find out more about potential sabotaging forces for your team. Then check out Talent Dynamics for Teams to see how we can help you.
Nature Gives Us Clues If you were going to pick a model from nature for how to create and operate as a great team, which animal would you pick?
How about lions, tigers, hippos or bears?
Those species are known to eat their young, or the new guy or gal on the team, in our analogy. That doesn’t make for good team building!
How about wolves or hyenas?
These animals are known to constantly have ego fights for dominance—definitely not good for trust and the morale of a team.
How about salmon?
Certainly their long struggle to swim upstream in dedication to duplicate (procreate) the team has to be a good role model, right? Yeah, well, the only problem is, once they have finally done the quiver (seriously, that’s what they do—they align themselves next to each other and “quiver” while they each do their part of the act), they die. That can’t be good if every time new people are brought into your team the leaders die. So salmon are out.
I know what you are thinking… eagles, right?
Eagles are good role models for soaring to individual heights, but they are poor team players. They are known to be territorial, pretty hostile toward one another and constantly stealing prey from one another. Get this… momma eagle usually lays two eggs and most often the bigger of the two siblings (which is usually the female, as they come out bigger) kills the other sibling while mom looking on (harsh, right?). No, you don’t want the new recruits killing each other or the leaders stealing sales and clients from each other. Eagles, team players? Not so much.
No, the animal species you want to learn from and emulate in working together as a team are…ducks.
Ducks, because they work together to accomplish feats that seem unimaginable and impossible for most any other animal.
Ducks fly distances of hundreds or even thousands of miles, a distance almost no other animal can travel and it’s possible only because they do it as a team.
As you know, ducks fly together in formation. As each duck flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird following and that is perpetuated throughout their V formation. Each duck takes its turn leading the flock in flight. When the lead duck gets tired, it fades from the front and is enveloped back into the fold of the flock and naturally another bird takes the lead. By working together, the whole flock adds 71% more flying range than if each bird flew alone.
Like ducks, people naturally gravitate toward organizations that will shelter and protect them and make their life easier than if they were left to fend for themselves. I have found that people want to belong; they want to be a part of a team. It gives them a sense of purpose, where they can be a part of something bigger than themselves.
I also find that most people perform to their greater potential when on a team than when on their own. They rise to meet the expectations of the team; if left alone to their own motivations, they wouldn’t push themselves nearly as hard.
I find that lots of people do more for the recognition of others than for their own satisfaction. Thus, team environments are a powerful force for drawing out the best within our individual potentials for achievement.
Amazing feats are created when the collective whole becomes greater than the sum of the individual parts. That occurs when teamwork is working well.
So in business, people who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier when they travel on the thrust of one another.
As leaders, it is our job to cast the vision and enroll others to share in that vision. As teams, we need to help one another and to offer encouragement and support as the success of the individual creates uplift for the rest of the flock… or team.
Over the next few posts I will reveal the single most sabotaging factor of why teams even made up of great people will fail, and the two most important ingredients for building great teams who perform way beyond their individual capabilities.
Do you perform better when supported and challenged by teammates? Why?
Want to better understand the dynamics of your team, then take a Talent Dynamics profile test and find out?
If you want to build a successful team for your business, you need to avoid the five causes of team dysfunction. Patrick Lencioni, a leadership expert and organizational consultant, shares the five team dysfunctions and what you should do about each.
Absence of trust. “Team members need to be able to admit their weaknesses and mistakes, to acknowledge the strengths of others, and to apologize when they do something wrong.”
Fear of conflict. “Great teams argue. Not in a mean-spirited or personal way, but they disagree when important decisions are made.” Avoiding conflict only leads to mediocrity.
Lack of commitment. “When team members openly share opinions on a decision, they don’t wonder whether anyone is holding back. When the leader has to step in and make a decision, team members will accept that decision because they know their ideas were heard and considered.”
Avoidance of accountability. “The best kind of accountability on a team is peer-to-peer. Peer pressure is more efficient and effective than going to the leader, anonymously complaining and having them stop what they are doing to intervene. Members of great teams confront each other when they see something that isn’t serving the team.”
Inattention to results. “Team members have to be focused on the collective good of the team. Too often, they focus their attention on their department, their budget, their career aspirations, their egos. Great teams put the tangible results of the team ahead of their individual needs.”
What does the Olympics have to do with you and your life? Few people relate psychologist Carl Jung with the Olympic symbol, yet he is the original designer – and the five rings symbolise the five strengths to live an Olympian Life.
When the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, was looking for a symbol for the games, he turned to his friend Carl Jung. Jung knew the circle was the symbol of potential and life in ancient cultures, and introduced the idea of the five interlocking circles as a reflection of five energies – the same five found in Chinese philosophy (Jung was the first to publish the I Ching in the West, and at the 2008 Beijing Olympics the Chinese returned to the initial concept with their five mascots representing water, wood, fire, earth and metal).
This year the symbol is 100 years old, and in 1912 when Coubertin introduced it he also introduced what he saw as the keystone Olympic event, the Modern Pentathalon. This had five disciplines that to him summed up the five key attributes every ‘Olympian’ individual should have. How do you square up in these five areas in your life and business?
1. SWIMMING (Element = Water / Spirit / Blue): This discipline is about rhythm. Rhythm keeps us breathing, above water, and moving forward at pace. What is the level of rhythm you have set in your life and business, and where is there stress and disharmony where rhythm has been lost and where you’re out of synch?
2. SHOW JUMPING (Element = Wood / Spring / Green): This discipline is about power. Not the power of the rider, but your ability to harness the power of the horse. How well are you harnessing the power of your business, your market, your industry? A clue: If you’re the one doing all the work, you’re not the rider. You’re the horse.
3. FENCING (Element = Fire / Summer / Red): This discipline is about flair. Your success is dependant on having an opponent to spar with and how well you dance with them. Who are you fencing with in a way that you both are upping your game? Who should you be fencing with? And are you doing it with honour?
4. CROSS COUNTRY RUN (Element = Earth / Autumn / Yellow): This discipline is about perseverance. Cross country is about running through the elements and adjusting with the terrain, slowing when you need to and speeding up where you can. Where should you be slowing down and speeding up to win your race?
5. SHOOTING (Element = Metal / Winter / Black): This discipline is about precision. As distinctly different to the other four as they are to each other, this is not about physical exertion, but the ability to quiet the mind, let the body disappear, and hit the target. How well are you hitting your targets by doing the opposite of working hard?
Today, winning an Olympic medal isn’t on many people’s to-do list. Mainly because – without the right skills and sacrifice an Olympic medal is simply out of reach. De Coubertin’s vision was not this. It was to make sport accessible to everyone, and to use the Olympics as a way to demonstrate how sport can highlight the skillsets we need to excel at an ‘Olympian’ level in life.
So to make the most of this year’s Olympics – Be inspired by the athletes competing in the London Olympics, but also bring these five disciplines into your own performance in life, and claim your own gold.
Want to learn more about the Secret Energy of Business and how to apply it, then contact me for a free, no obligation consultation.
