Kiddy and Partners

When it comes to improving performance of a businesses top team, dragging them up a mountain and across a river, or sitting them in front of a highly motivational sports coach may produce some very short-term benefits but it certainly won't deliver long-term business improvement.

From the late 80s to mid 90s I worked in the Sport Psychology Department at the US Olympic Training Centre and as a Sports Psychologist with professional sports teams and athletes across the US. Since then however I've worked with senior teams in some of the world's largest and most successful businesses so I hope I can offer some impartiality on this issue.

If one takes a step back and thinks about the differences between senior business teams and sports teams my opening remark should be obvious.

A typical top-level sports person is young, physically gifted and extremely committed to both their own results and the success of their team. They will often share identical objectives with their team mates and be focussed on a specific goal, whether this is an individual match or a longer-term competition. Their progress is highly visible and both the individual and the team usually receive immediate feedback ontheir performance.

For the coach or manager there are daily opportunities to discuss performance and explore actions to improve it. Lastly, the motivational strategies implemented by coaches read like a formula for how to find oneself in front of an industrial tribunal. If you're looking for a micro-managing bully you could do a lot worse than start with many successful sports coaches!

By comparison the leader of a senior business team is faced with very different challenges. These may lie in the divergent personal perspectives and goals of their team members, most of whom willbe older than the typical elite sportsperson. Succeeding in business also requires highly developed analytical skills and the ability to cope with many ambiguous, unpredictable tasks simultaneously.

In sport, the parameters are fewer and more predictable. Although, just like in business, sports teams can employ better skilled team members they can't suddenly decide to double the number of players on the field in a way your business competitor could suddenly decide to spend its entire annual advertising and promotions budget in one month. Even defining winning and losing is more complex in business - is it about net profit, net margin, market share, ROCE, share price, shareholder value...?

There may be value in the use of sports coaches for motivational purposes. But for the serious business of securing long term performance improvement from a senior team training should be focused on three core things:

• alignment of commercial goals and priorities and developing understanding within teams of these
• clarity of team purpose and necessary procedures
• addressing team dynamics (but only if they're interfering with the agreement or achievement of business priorities)

And you don't even have to get your feet wet.