After the Olympics is before the Olympics
We’re enjoying an amazing European sports summer. The Spanish national team dazzled everyone and became the first to win the European Football Championship for the fourth time. During the Paris Olympics, we’ve seen heroic performances from athletes from every country and in every discipline.
After the Olympics is before the Olympics. What lessons can your organization draw from these Olympians? What are the steps missing to ascend the peak of your own organization’s Olympus?
Teams that carry each other
The cornerstone of any remarkable achievement is relentless training. Without the foundation of technique, structured training plans, and the discipline to follow through, success remains elusive. An article about Femke Bol by the NOS states: the top time (…) is the result of a carefully devised plan. Bol is rarely, if ever, caught off guard, says her coach Laurent Meuwly. “Femke has a Plan A, but also a Plan B and C for when something unexpected happens.”
Yet, there’s a deeper layer: being uplifted by one’s coaches and team. Sports commentators stumbled over their words in all languages as they reported on Femke Bol, who in the 4 x 400 meters mixed relay, initially moved into third place in the last 100 meters, then shifted to a race for the silver, and, to everyone’s surprise, even reached the seemingly unattainable gold first place.
Post-race, an overwhelmed Bol shared her experience. After the last turn, she saw her teammate Lieke Klaver in the distance, who beckoned her. This gave her extra motivation to give her all and launch an astonishing final sprint towards Lieke and the finish line, surpassing all expectations—including perhaps, her own.
Mutual support among athletes transcends individual capabilities. Dutch men’s hockey coach, Paul van Ass, observed his team’s willingness to go through fire for each other—a sentiment echoed by rowers praising their unyielding team spirit. What can we learn here?
The Physiology of Performance
Performance is not just about action, it’s also about neuroscience. Motivation and effort are fueled by dopamine—a neurotransmitter that’s released during pleasurable and rewarding experiences like winning a race, or even eating chocolate.
Two special circumstances are that the brain releases dopamine not only as a reward but also in anticipation of a reward; moreover, dopamine stimulates the body to exert effort. In this way, dopamine is both motivating and stimulating. This neurochemical dance underlies the physiology of performance and individual athletic success.
Team spirit adds another layer. Here, the so-called “love” or “bonding” hormone oxytocin plays a role. In romantic events, as well as in social group processes, oxytocin prompts the brain to produce dopamine. A team in sync, where members truly connect and support each other, can boost performance in ways that seem almost magical. It’s why a Femke Bol doesn’t just race for the finish line. She races towards her teammate Lieke, her support system.
Both Femke and Lieke performed significantly less in their individual events, possibly due to the absence of their “buddy.” We believe these events warrant further investigation.
How Do We Translate This to Your Practice?
This blog is not just about sports. It’s a metaphor for your business. It reiterates earlier blogs where we describe how people from the Mobilé 4 flow & innovation team bring expertise on project organizations and innovation in a way that motivates people to perform.
The foundation for success is laid by the products and services your organization excels in. Mobilé 4 flow & innovation adds expertise that makes time and budget overruns in project portfolios a thing of the past. With the same time and the same people and less stress, more projects can now be completed.
We don’t just transfer our expertise, we help maintain dopamine levels in your organization. People learn what success will bring them. Initial successes will motivate them to repeat and improve upon them.
Consultants sometimes produce slide decks of more than 100 pages. That is too much and yet not enough…
We transfer expertise in manageable units. This offers people concrete building blocks for their own plan. It helps them formulate their own goals and gives them the opportunity to improve practices within their own style and potential.
We don’t just transfer expertise, we engage in a partnership with your people, motivating them to enhance the expertise we offer by adapting it to their situation and personalities. We beckon and motivate them to bring out the best in themselves and want to see them shine.
Physiologically, we ensure that both dopamine and oxytocin levels rise. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing athletes win. Even more so when that comes after losses and moments of doubt.
Your business, like an Olympic team, requires more than just hard work. It needs a culture of support, a physiology of success, and a strategy that encompasses both. Let us help you harness these principles, and perhaps, you’ll find your business crossing new finish lines you once thought were out of reach.
If you would like to discuss this further with someone from the Mobilé 4 flow team, I warmly invite you to make an appointment with us, or reply to this email to send me a message.
Founder & Managing Director of Mobilé 4 flow & innovation.
5th September 2024
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