Developing Olympic Athletes in your Organization

The Olympics represent the highest level sports athletes from all countries can achieve. The large number of events, the variety of disciplines, the effort required and the complex preparation that athletes have carried out is embodied the opening day of this magnificent event. 

And behind every athlete there is a team in different areas that targets new goals, together, and works towards winning an Olympic medal.

In many of these sport disciplines we will see athletes competing individually; at the same time, we will see competition where only the best teams reach the final. Is your team ready to win an Olympic medal?

Olympic athletes not only have a great determination; they also have great persistence, willpower, define their vision and have decided to develop their skills to the maximum level in order to achieve their true potential. These are just some of the ideas that define a great athlete. And our job within our companies is to create new real 'Corporate Athletes'.

“The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals.

The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us – that's where it's at. 

- Jesse Owens, Olympic Medalist

Successful athletes have some characteristics, including: they train until they cannot train anymore, think positive and understand adversity as they arrive to success. When Olympic winners are asked about their mood, physical preparation and the journey to the top, they define their experience in a different way. Leaders are formed with character, discipline, example and inspiration. These Olympian winners are mostly leaders in their specialties.

Among the qualities that define an Olympic winner I can suggest five traits that characterize them:

1. They are resilient, as they have improved for their failures and mistakes and know that there is something to learn from everything;
2. They Understand teamwork, because they know they have a large number of people with them  all the time;
3. They have a great interest in what they do, and know that everything involves planning, time, dedication and patience;
4.  They have a great passion, since the intensity of competition makes them becoming stronger, with much fortitude and giving 200% of what they can give;
5.  They are happy, because the attitude should be positive and we all know joy is contagious.

The experience of an Olympic athlete leads them to create positive habits, set increasingly demanding goals, define their own levels of productivity, achieve peak performance and develop great competitive abilities. All this is summarized in the qualities of an Olympic athlete:

• They have strong personal motivation;
• They continuously increase the level of their mental energy;
• They focus on achieving peak performance.

In doing so they focus on what they really want to achieve.

As we watch the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio 2016, we will understand that not only the effort and dedication are important for success, whether a medal in the race of 100 meters or in the 200 meters swimming backstroke or in beach volleyball; also a large number of complex strategies – which are the basis of our goals - will also be required. It is the continuous development of skills with great determination that makes a true Olympic athlete and legend; and if we bring this concept to our companies, the same skill and leadership development programs will create our corporate athletes as our companies embarks in a transforming 'continuous learning' process.

Our corporate teams are made up of individual athletes (our co-workers) and they are the ones who become corporate athletes. And these athletes, in each of our organizations, are those who share our vision, set challenging goals, increase productivity, work in teams and in many ways are always looking for ways that allow them to peak performance.

How do we know if our team is ready to win a medal at the Corporate Olympic reality we play every day? Look for these traits in your team members and develop a program to have a winning team: develop the leaders of your organization by creating excellent corporate Olympians; and begin to design and from your winning strategy for 2017!

Luis Vicente Garcia