Olympics highlight ingredients for corporate team success

Monday 8 August 2016

Olympics highlight ingredients for corporate team success

A positive team culture is the key ingredient for both sporting and business team success!

That is according to corporate culture and team training expert Dwain Richardson, with this to be showcased by the feats of teams at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio.

“With the Olympics and Paralympics upon us, there is no better time to apply lessons from sport to business as they are right there in front of our eyes,” said Richardson, the Managing Director of Corporate Challenge Events in Australia and New Zealand.

“Whilst the Games are not all about winning, they are about success.”

Richardson said how success looks is very much based on the individual or individual team and what goals they have set for themselves to achieve.

“A 100 metre sprinter may not set themselves a goal of beating Usain Bolt but they may set out to record a personal best time on the biggest stage of all. What a career highlight!

“Like a local pizza shop may not be able to match the large franchises in town but it does want to achieve a large market share within a suburb.”

Richardson has worked for more than 15 years in corporate team building and developing positive corporate cultures, as well as playing, coaching and administrating in baseball for over 35 years.

“I can absolutely say in both sport and business, success is built from a positive team culture,” he said.

“I believe there are three predominant synergies between a successful team culture in sport and a successful team culture in business.”

Richardson identified these synergies as:

1. A clear and accepted vision

2. Having fun but with respect to others

3. Respect for leadership

“Everyone has to be on the same page and working towards the same goal. A vision needs to be simple, clear, understood and embraced.

“Although I never reached the playing heights as a Major League baseballer, I had the pleasure of playing with some who did. They have reinforced to me how important fun has been in their team’s success, however it needs to be qualified as having fun with respect for your team.

“Successful teams also have respected leaders, be that captains, coaches, managers or leadership groups. Respect for leaders brings discipline, commitment and direction towards the overall vision.”

Richardson said he will be an interested observer in the performance of the Australian swimming team at the Rio Olympics after the scrutiny it faced four years ago following below-par performances and behavioural issues.

“In a nutshell, the team did not perform up to levels expected at the London Games, with a post-Games review highlighting a poor team culture as the major contributing factor.

“Wind the clock forward three years after these cultural issues were identified and addressed, Australia finished third in total medals at the World Swimming Championships - many of the same swimmers but a more unified and professional team culture.”

Corporate Challenge Events is Australia’s and New Zealand’s leading and largest team building, corporate training and corporate events company.

For more information on Corporate Challenge Events visit www.corporatechallenge.com.au orwww.corpchallenge.co.nz

ENDS

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