GB's cycling team shows us how
The recent medal haul in the 2016 Rio Olympics by the Great Britain cycling team prompted competitors to question how they achieved this - particularly as the GB team had delivered downbeat performances at other cycling events earlier in the year.
Iain Dyer, GB Cycling Head Coach, responded by saying the riders had peaked at the right time and cited his team's focus on assessing every detail of performance as pivotal to success:
"We've got a really great team of people doing a fantastic job and who will go to the ends of the earth looking for that final marginal gain. It's all about marginal gains, isn't it? That's what we have become famous for. The low-hanging fruit disappeared years ago. There was a lot of talk of people catching up because they just saw the gains that we had started to make was stuff they could copy and emulate. Now the devil is in the detail. The marginal gains have never been more marginal and aggregating that together has never been more important."
Iain's response summed up perfectly the approach needed to be a winner in any field. This requires continuous determination to focus on the overall goal, the need to closely monitor your own performance and that of your competitors, and to identify appropriate techniques and technology that can be integrated into your approach. Clearly, many parallels here with the business world.
When there is a fine-line between winning and losing, the need to assess every part of your performance is even more crucial. This will help determine where you can improve and enable these marginal gains to help make the difference - and to repeat this process over and over again.
Congratulations to the GB cycling team for their success in Rio - on and off the racing track. You are an inspiration to us all!
Iain Dyer, GB Cycling Head Coach, responded by saying the riders had peaked at the right time and cited his team's focus on assessing every detail of performance as pivotal to success:
"We've got a really great team of people doing a fantastic job and who will go to the ends of the earth looking for that final marginal gain. It's all about marginal gains, isn't it? That's what we have become famous for. The low-hanging fruit disappeared years ago. There was a lot of talk of people catching up because they just saw the gains that we had started to make was stuff they could copy and emulate. Now the devil is in the detail. The marginal gains have never been more marginal and aggregating that together has never been more important."
Iain's response summed up perfectly the approach needed to be a winner in any field. This requires continuous determination to focus on the overall goal, the need to closely monitor your own performance and that of your competitors, and to identify appropriate techniques and technology that can be integrated into your approach. Clearly, many parallels here with the business world.
When there is a fine-line between winning and losing, the need to assess every part of your performance is even more crucial. This will help determine where you can improve and enable these marginal gains to help make the difference - and to repeat this process over and over again.
Congratulations to the GB cycling team for their success in Rio - on and off the racing track. You are an inspiration to us all!