This week I had the unique (and unexpected) opportunity to spend the day with 4 Olympic athletes at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. If you follow me on instagram, you’ve gotten a glimpse of the experience, but you probably didn’t know why I was there.
This trip was part of a leadership program that I’m involved with at work. Have you ever realized how many parallels there are between sports & management? For some reason, I never realized how connected they are, but this week really opened my eyes. As we had fun learning to fence from the country’s best athletes, we were reinforcing some powerful leadership lessons.
Practice Your Skills
You wouldn’t go into a competition without practicing hard before the big day. The same applies to leadership. Take time to prepare for meaningful conversations, practice effective feedback, identify your weaknesses and spend extra time on those. That way you’ll be prepared when it’s time to put those skills into practice.
Know Your Athletes
As a coach, I know it’s important to understand my athletes. What are their goals, their strengths and weaknesses, their background & experience, how they are motivated, etc. It’s the same as a leader – how well do you know your team. You can’t treat all your team members the same, you need to understand what works best for them.
One of the athletes talked about their relationship with their coach, one who didn’t really have the time to get to know them personally. They didn’t have the same level of trust and comfort with that coach, as they had in the past. That person is also coming off two overuse injuries in a row. Not the combination you want as a coach or a leader. It’s important to build that relationship with your team and then adapt your style to fit the needs of that person for the best results.
Have Fun
We’ve all got results to achieve & objectives to meet, but there’s time for a little fun in the mix. Work hard, but also understand the role that recovery plays. If you’re training hard all the time, you’ll end up overtrained and injured. As a coach and leader, you want to plan in a balance to prevent that from happening. Maybe plan a little fun into the schedule (like a friendly Fitbit competition that I’m planning for my team)? Make sure your team takes breaks, including vacations, so they can be more effective when it’s time to work.
Don’t Forget Rewards (not always money)
At the end of the day, recognition for a job well done goes a long way. Like getting a medal from an Olympic athlete, rewards shouldn’t always be money. Positive feedback as work progresses or public recognition for accomplishments are two that come to mind.
But be careful – what is encouraging for one person can be embarrassing for another, so know your team!
There are so many other parallels here, my head was spinning with ideas and possibilities by the end of the day. It was such an inspiring day on so many levels and I feel very lucky to have been a part of this experience.
To cap it all off, we had a mini-torch relay to light the cauldron at the top of the Olympic Training Center. Check me out – I was so excited!
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PS – I know there were some issues with comments on the blog yesterday, but I hope you saw my review of the JEFIT Strength Training app. Since so many of us couldn’t find a good app to track strength workouts, I was so excited to find one and share it with you. =)
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Questions for you:
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What other leadership lessons can you think of from sports?
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What athlete inspires you most?