3 lessons leaders can learn from David Brailsford about the pursuit of team success

Episode four in Sky Atlantic’s recent series British Cycling: Road to Glory documented Team Sky’s bid to win the 2012 Tour de France and it proved fascinating as well as topical, coming as it did in the wake of stunning successes at London 2012 on the road as well as the velodrome.

On the surface, the programme explained the steps that were taken to support Bradley Wiggins in winning the Tour; though at a deeper level there were some valuable insights into Team Principal David Brailsford’s ethos that can be applied in pursuit of team success beyond sport and in particular in business. Below are three key lessons leaders can learn and apply in their world…

1. A commitment to learning and self-development. When David Brailsford was interviewed in his office/study, there were plenty of books on the shelves behind him that demonstrate that he is a man who looks outside the world of cycling for inspiration, knowledge and insight. For instance: Good to Great, by Jim Collins, Getting things done by David Allen, Leadership, by Rudolph Guiliani, The Essential Wooden: A Lifetime of Lessons and on Leaders and Leadership by John Wooden and Steve Jamison to name but a few. He is clearly committed to raising his self-awareness and knowledge about what it takes to succeed by learning lessons from others.

Leadership lesson: what are you reading, watching and listening to, to inform you and raise your self-awareness in your role? 

2. An unambiguous, ambitious, compelling vision. According to Richard Moore’s book  ‘Sky’s the limit. Wiggins and Cavendish: the quest to conquer the Tour de France’, David Brailsford’s ambitious vision for a GB cyclist to win the Tour de France for the first time in the Tour’s history began to take shape in July 2007. More than that, Brailsford wanted to win it ‘clean’ and within the realms of ‘performance credibility’ (not on drugs) as Peter Keen, his predecessor at GB Cycling put it.  It’s important to put Brailsford’s vision into context. July 2007 was:

• The pre-banking crisis era: when investment was easier to attract for such a venture
• The doping era: the front page of France Soir (July 25, 2007) announced the death of the Tour, age 104 years old.
• Not the focus for elite GB cycling: lottery funding was focussed exclusively on track not road cycling.

Brailsford’s vision was clearly unambiguous and certainly ambitious. As he said in the Sky Atlantic tv documentary: “if we aim for the stars, we might hit the moon” and such a vision certainly attracted likeminded people.

Leadership lesson: what’s your vision? Is it ambitious? Unambiguous? Compelling?

3. Team interests before personal interests. What became apparent in Sky tv’s documenting of the unfolding story of the Tour was the way that egos were kept under control in pursuit of the team goal. Everyone on the team had a clear role and responsibility and that was to support Bradley Wiggins and maximise his chances of winning the Tour.

The best example was the way that talented cyclist Chris Froome put his own ambitions  on hold to support his team mate in pursuit of the stated and agreed team goal of winning the overall Tour. It may have been a struggle for Kenyan born Froome off camera or away from the media. However, in public and certainly in his actions on the course, his loyalty could not be doubted: “anyone in a team position has to make personal sacrifices for the sake of the team and that’s what’s we’ve been doing so far and it seems to be working for us. So why stop doing that?” he explained in the press conference after stage 11 of the Tour. 

Leadership lesson: are you/your colleagues putting team goals and interests first? If not, what’s stopping you? What will you do about that?

There are so many lessons leaders can learn from the way David Brailsford has achieved success in the velodrome and on the road over a sustained period of time against the odds and against fierce competition. What have you learned? What have you actioned? And if this blog post has inspired you to take action now, what will you do? Post a reply. It will be great to hear from you.

Click here for my earlier blog piece on leadership lessons we can learn from David Brailsford.

 

 

5 lessons leaders can learn from Andy Murray’s Grand Slam success

Andy Murray has finally lifted the monkey from his back – and that of the nation – by winning his first Grand Slam final in New York and becoming the first British tennis male tennis player to win a major since Fred Perry last won in 1936. He is deserving of the plaudits being heaped on him as this hard fought victory after almost five hours came against world number 2 and US defending title holder Novak Djokovic, who defeated Murray in the Australian Open Final in January 2012.  Not only that, it tops a brilliant summer for Murray who also won a gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics.

The weight of expectation on Murray’s shoulders must have been a heavy load to carry after four failed attempts as in Grand Slam finals. Full marks then to him for his achievement! But what’s made the difference for Murray and what can we learn from him about achieving success? Here are five lessons…

1. Success comes from overcoming adversity and demonstrating tenacity.

Murray attended Dunblane Primary School, and was present during the 1996 Dunblane school massacre. Thomas Hamilton killed 17 people before turning one of his four guns on himself. Murray took cover in a classroom. Murray says he was too young to understand what was happening and is reluctant to talk about it in interviews, but in his autobiography Hitting Back he states that he attended a youth group run by Hamilton, and that his mother gave Hamilton lifts in her car.

Murray decided that in order to progress as a promising 15 year old, he would have to move abroad. He studied at the Schiller International School and trained on the clay courts of the Sánchez-Casal Academy. Murray described this time as “a big sacrifice”. While in Spain, he trained with Emilio Sánchez, formerly the world no. 1 doubles player.

More recently, Murray has demonstrated that tenacity – by bouncing back from Grand Slam Final defeat, most recently at Wimbledon against Roger Federer before defeating him four weeks later to take the gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics.

2. Have a clear goal.

In his post match BBC tv interview Murray explained that winning a Grand Slam final has been his goal for the last ten years, predating his first global achievement in 2004 when he won the Junior US Final in New York as a 17 year old. Everything he has done has been with that goal in mind.

3. Surround yourself with the right team/like-minded people.

Nobody can get their on their own. Having the right team members is vital. That means technical competence and  similar values/beliefs being in alignment with your own. Murray has worked with the same team for several years. But in 2010 he made a key change.

4. Make tough decisions.

During 2010, Murray knew he had to make changes to get to the next level and he made the tough decision to split from his coach Miles Maclagen following a working relationship that stretched back to 2007.

5. Find the right coach/mentor.

And that tough decision arguably was the key to his phenemonal success in 2012 – the imaginative choice of Ivan Lendl as his coach at the start of 2012. When Lendl was appointed, Murray explained: “Ivan’s impact on the game is unquestionable and he brings experience and knowledge that few others have, particularly in major tournaments.”

Like Murray, Lendl also lost four consecutive Grand Slam finals before going on to win eight majors in total during the 1980’s. Confiding in somebody who has been there before and drawing on Lendl’s experience has been evident in Murray’s on court demeanour. He has demonstrated the mental toughness necessary to prevail: the self-belief, motivation, focus and composure.

What do you think? What lessons can Andy Murray teach us about the keys to success? Post a reply. It will be great to hear from you.

Leadership lesson from the words of team GB chef de mission, Andy Hunt.

Team GB finished third in the medal table at the London2012 Olympics and enjoyed its most successful Olympiad since 1908 – even allowing for the uplift in medal haul from Beijing that home advantage brings:

• Historically, there’s an average increase in medals of 16% on the previous games for the host nation.
• Team GB increased its total by 38% and its number of gold medals by 53%.

Speaking to the BBC, Great Britain’s chef de mission, Andy Hunt acknowledged Team GB’s success and described the result as “our greatest performance of our greatest team at the greatest Olympics ever”. He then went on to say that “we’ll review what went right and what went wrong”.

That’s when alarm bells started ringing for me. Now on the face of it, Andy Hunt’s statement seems innocuous, but isn’t it loaded? When he talks in absolutes of right and wrong – or good and bad – he must pay attention to the words he uses and guard against engendering a climate of blame and entrenchment. Otherwise those officials, coaches and athletes on the receiving end are more likely to justify and defend their actions. In particular, caution is required in the review of high profile sports such as athletics – 6 medals against a target of 8 – and swimming – 3 medals against an official target of 5-7, compared with 6 at Beijing which were also of a higher denomination.

Isn’t the right/wrong approach less likely to unearth the underlying causes and lessons that can be learned and applied to the next round of Games in Rio in 2016 to ensure we achieve greater success? Especially as the stakes will be raised even higher when funding for 2016 is involved and the performance directors will want to retain their share of that funding?

Just changing the words he uses could achieve a more productive outcome. Mr Hunt can set a more positive tone by using expressions such as ‘what’s working and what can work even better’ instead of ‘what was right/wrong or good/bad?’ This reframing is more likely to:

• create an open and constructive atmosphere
• reduce likelihood of apportioning blame
• encourage innovative thinking with more positive actions resulting

Only time will tell whether Mr. Hunt will continue to set a judgemental tone, with all the associated defensiveness and finger-pointing. Or will he take heed and adopt a more forward looking approach?

In the meantime, when you review performance, how do you frame your discussions?

What do you notice about the behaviour of your colleagues? Is it confrontational with the apportioning of blame or is there innovative thinking that builds on what’s working well?

What’s your experience? What do you think? Post a reply. It will be great to hear from you.

London 2012’s vision is to ‘inspire a generation’. How inspiring are you as a leader?

When the London 2012 delegation travelled to Singapore in 2005 to bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the vision to use the power of the Games to inspire lasting change was laid out. From that emerged the strap line ‘Inspire a generation’.

The 2012 Website clearly lays out its vision and strategy to inspire and only time will tell if reality matches the vision. However, the words ‘inspire’ and ‘inspiration’ are bandied about so much that after a while their meaning can become diluted. So what does inspire actually mean? How inspiring are you? And what can you do inspire your team?

First a definition from google:

Inspire (verb)

• Fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative: ‘his enthusiasm inspired them’.

• Create (a feeling, esp. a positive one) in a person: ‘inspire confidence’.

So what does this mean for you?

• To inspire others is a call to action. It’s more than just intent it’s about creating the traction to act. So as a leader, are you inspiring your team to take action, to do what’s required to be the best they can be? Do your words, deeds and behaviour create momentum in those who follow you to feel motivated to take a course of action/raise their performance?

• Going public and telling others is a way of being held accountable, to honour the commitment. Otherwise it’s all too easy to let ourselves off the hook. Do you hold your team memberss accountable or do you let them off the hook? Do you favour some team members over others or are you even-handed? Do they trust you?

• In your dealings with others, do you inspire or do you discourage and cause disengagement? Do you focus too much on what’s not working as opposed to what is and blame your team members for failure or coming up short? Or do you consistentlye support them – setting them up to succeed rather instead of failing?

Put simply, are you a ‘zapper’ or a ‘sapper’? Do you radiate energy or do you drain it?

Finally, on a scale of 1-10, how inspiring are you? Be honest with yourself. What will you do to crank your score up a couple of notches?

5 tips leaders can apply from the success of David Brailsford, Performance Director of British Cycling.

Late in the evening of Day 12 of the London 2012 Olympics, BBC tv’s Gary Lineker interviewed David Brailsford, Performance Director of British Cycling. Under his guidance he has led the British cycling team to numerous outstanding achievements at three successive Olympic Games – Athens, Beijing and now London 2012.

While Brailsford didn’t talk about his underlying strategy for this enduring success – the ‘aggregation of marginal gains’ (inept questioning by Mr Lineker?) he did touch on his philosophy that the backroom team and coaches are there to support the athletes ‘to be the very best they can be so that they perform when it matters.’

So what does that support and the philosophy of marginal gains look like exactly?

What we do know is that he and his backroom team of more than 20 will examine every single detail right down to the pillows used by cyclists to sleep on and how they wash their hands. His appointment of Dr Steve Peters – described by Brailsford as ‘the best appointment I’ve ever made’ – has helped riders control the fears, anxieties and negative thoughts and that has been key. Our most successful cyclists such as Victoria Pendleton acknowledge his contribution too: ‘I don’t think I would have realised my potential without Steve.’

So whilst much of the philosophy and support is clearly shrouded in secrecy, there has been enough disclosure to help us apply lessons in our world. Here are 5 tips to help you take you/your team’s performance to the next level:

• Have you identified what success/the next level looks like for you/your team?

• How often do you sit with your team and review how you’re performing together – examining what’s working/not working? Too often I hear about leaders focussing on what is being done as opposed to how it’s being done.

• Have you identified with your team what the marginal gains are for the way you perform together?

• How often do you solicit feedback about your performance from your team – what’s working/not working about how you perform?

• Do you see your role as leader to direct or to support your team? What proportion do you use your ears to your mouth – are you asking/listening or focussing too much on telling?

If it’s working for team GB’s cycling team, what could it do for you to identify the marginal gains for you and your team?

What’s your experience? What do you think? Post a reply. It will be great to hear from you.

Gary Lineker’s interview with David Brailsford can be found on the BBC iPlayer. Search in the Sport category for Day 12 of the Olympic Games. It’s in the evening clip – 19:00 to 22:00 at about 2 hours 50 mins in.

Self-belief – the key to Olympic success that we can apply in our world.

Two short almost throwaway conversations initiated by BBC tv presenters on day 11 at the London 2012 Olympics give a revealing insight to what it takes to succeed at the highest level. And it’s nothing to do with talent.

During a lull in the Velodrome prior to Victoria Pendleton’s last race at the London 2012 Olympics, BBC commentator Jake Humphrey asked the engaging and insightful pundit Jamie Staff – GB sprint team gold medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and now USA Cycling’s sprint coach  – what was the one big lesson that he took back to the states having been part of the GB track team set up for so many years.

Initially and very briefly, Staff acknowledged the importance of having the right structure in place (from grass roots right up to elite level). More revealingly, he explained: ‘it’s to get the cyclists to believe’ and to set their sights very high. That in his view, being the best in the US doesn’t cut it. ‘If you want to believe that it’s about being best in America then you’re not for me’.

For Staff it’s about being the best in the world and challenging for medals. His belief is that success is achieved through a combination of talent, structure, support and self-belief.

Later, in the Olympic stadium, following the Men’s High Jump Final, Team GB’s bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz told BBC’s trackside commentator Phil Jones his story…

A year ago he was ‘wasting too much time. I wasn’t really applying myself. I sat down with my coach at the end of last year and he gave me a good telling off… You’re better than this. Go away and if you don’t want it, don’t come back.’

For Robbie Grabarz, talent, the right structure and support weren’t enough. As with the cyclists, self-belief made the difference. It fuelled the discipline and commitment he needed to succeed.

So if it’s about talent, structure, support and self-belief, what can we take away from elite athletes and their coaches and apply to being the best we can be in our world?

1. Have you/your team got the talent?
2. What are you doing to foster and draw it out?
3. Do you have the appropriate structure and support in place?
4. Do you/your team have the self-belief to succeed and consistently perform at the highest level?
5. Who coaches you/your team to success?

What do you think? What’s your experience? Post a reply. It will be great to hear from you.