A recent
article on the BBC Business pages examined the question of whether
sporty women make better entrepreneurs. Indeed, there is growing
recognition of the parallels between sport and business for both men and
women. In two recent blog posts, we have explored whether the Marginal
Gains approach used by the Team GB Cycling Team can be applied to business
and also looked at how exceptional coaching produces exceptional performance,
using Andy Murray as our case in point.
Research certainly supports the
idea that taking part in a sport at a competitive level increases an
individual's chance of success in business, but why is this and is it ever too
late to get started?
1. Creates a 'want to win' attitude.
It is this relentless determination and discipline
that drives sports people on, even when faced with the most challenging of
obstacles. To be a winner, you have to train; to put the hours in, you
have to be prepared to make sacrifices to achieve your goals and you have to
know how to get back up after failure. In business, these characteristics
are what keep people focused on their goals, give them the motivation to
continue following setbacks and teach them that success is something that must
be worked for.
Performance Psychologist Professor Graham Jones says:
“Success in sports and business alike relies on the ability to continually move performance to higher levels. What you achieve this year will never be good enough next years. Goals and standards move onward and upward, creating an unrelenting demand to find new means and methods to ensure the delivery of performance curves that can seem tantalizingly, or even impossibly, out of reach.”
2. Teaches you to watch the competition. In any sport, a large part of the training and
preparation focuses on what other successful teams and athletes are
doing. Some of this is about understanding how to adapt your style in
order to beat a particular competitor, but for the most part it's about asking why
they are so successful? What are they doing that you're not
doing? Successful entrepreneurs recognize that there is much to be learnt
from others; they keep a watchful eye on their competitors; incorporating,
developing and improving on the ideas of others. For those who have taken
part in competitive sports, this comes naturally. Whilst your organization
may be coming up with brilliant new ideas, if your competitors are coming up
with more brilliant ideas, then yours are worthless.
3. Builds confidence. Competitive sportspeople tend to be confident because
they are used to knowing what they want and going after it. Conversely,
if you look at people who have had negative experiences of playing sport, (eg;
always being the last one picked for a team or continually placing last in
races), they often suffer with low self-esteem. This heightened
confidence may also present itself physically; a firmer handshake or stronger
voice, for example. Confidence is critical to success in business: it
gives you courage of conviction, allows you to more effectively deal with
confrontation, enables you to stand up in front of large audiences and present,
to not be intimidated by more senior or outspoken colleagues, to lead a team,
to take risks and try new ideas.
4. Improves your physical being. Exercise releases the feel-good chemicals, endorphins,
which reduce the perception of pain and trigger positive feelings in the
body.
It also improves sleep patterns, reduces depression and anxiety and
acts as a distraction from the stresses associated with high-pressure
jobs. Not only that, but healthier people are better equipped to deal
with the physical demands of their jobs, such as longer hours or
frequent traveling.
Additionally (and despite the politically correct
environment we live in today) there is some evidence to suggest that overweight people are less likely to be hired or promoted
than slim, or 'healthy-looking' people, the inference being that someone unable
to manage their weight will be unable to manage a team or division.
Whilst a CV citing participation in competitive sports shows a prospective
employer that you're a go-getter, an achiever.
5. Makes you a 'team player'. Sport requires effective teamwork in order to
achieve success. Even those traditionally regarded as solo sports, such
as running and cycling, involve an element of teamwork, as individuals usually
compete as part of a wider team, who work together to secure the best
collective outcome. Since businesses rely on the strength of their people
to work together to achieve the collective goals, previous experience of this
'team mindset' gives sports people an advantage.
The skills learnt from competitive sports
transfer so easily to business because they are so embedded within the
individual's belief systems, ethics and habits. The majority of people
who take part in competitive sports do so from a young age, when our
characters, habits and beliefs are still being formed. Reinforced by
years of taking part in sport, these characteristics shape the individual and
their outlook on life. Are we too late then, as adults, to start
benefiting from the advantages competitive sportsmanship brings? Well,
yes and no. There is certainly no question as to the enormous health
benefits that exercise brings, but when it comes to those skills and qualities
inherent to sports people, we can only do what they do; watch, learn and keep
raising our bar!
I
think that the claims made for the benefits of sport in business are greatly
exaggerated. Competitive sport does have some parallels in business as
mentioned above - mainly in teamwork and execution. However, in many
important respects business is fundamentally different from sport and requires
different skills. Here are just a couple of examples:
1.
Creativity and Innovation. A key requirement in business is to find new
and better ways to meet customer needs - sometimes by finding an entirely new
business model. The opportunities for innovation in sport are very
limited. Can you name one major innovation introduced by a sports person
since the Fosbury Flop 45 years ago?
2.
Resource Allocation. You cannot play for more than 90 minutes and you
cannot field more than 11 players in a soccer team no matter how much you want
to win the game. In business you can put 1 person or 1000 on your new
product team. You can deploy resources in all manner of ways to achieve
your goals.
3.
Customer Focus. Sport is all about beating the competition but if you are
working in care for the elderly or a hospital you are not concerned about
beating the competition. You are concerned about collaborating with your
colleagues to get the best outcomes for the client. In business you are
focused on the customer - not the competition.
Sport
is fine for entertainment, exercise and recreation. It has some limited
lessons for business but let's keep them in perspective.
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