Are you optimising your team’s horse power?
What has struck me this week about the Cheltenham festival is how generous interviewees have been about recognising the whole team’s contribution to success. It is easy for viewers to forget about the input from a wide range of specialists such as vets, farriers, and nutritionists, nevermind the more obvious everyday team members from the trainer’s yard. All of the interviews I’ve heard with jockeys, trainers and owners have been quick to acknowledge the importance of the wider team.
The role of the team leader
A trainer’s role is a complex one – coach, mentor, team leader, spokesperson, manager and the list goes on. A bit like a business owner, they need to know the most important 20% of a very wide range of subjects from sports psychology to equine dentistry.
Keys to a winning team
The comparisons between coaching in sport and coaching in business is, for me, a fascinating subject. Every sports team and top athlete has at least one coach, yet business is much more complex than sport and business coaching is much less well embedded (although growing fast). When we work with business owners to build a great team we start with profiling each of the team members to understand their working preferences, learning styles, and communication styles and then use a range of tools to build up each of the following elements:
- Strong leadership
- Common goals
- Rules of the game
- Action Plan
- Support risk taking
- 100% commitment
So on this Cheltenham Gold Cup day, may they all come home safely, and may the best team win..
Get in touch if you’d like to work together to build your team.
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