Creating the High Performance Business Athlete

I‘ve been an athlete since I was a young boy and have continued the discipline of training and competing through my years. What I noticed is that sports athletes and very successful business pros have a lot in common. We could talk about this for hours, but I am going to focus on 2 key aspects today. What are the characteristics of a High Performance Business Athlete and what it takes to create a High Performance Organization & Environment?

High Performance Business Athlete Characteristics

• Before the Game
  • Clarity of the vision and the goal
  • Commitment to prepare for the game – 2-a-days / practice and sacrifice
  • Gain competitive intelligence about the competition – how are they preparing to win?
  • Develop a game plan
  • Develop and enhance key skills that support the game plan – MMA – strikers vs. Grapplers
  • Know what resources and tools you have at your disposal to put into the game to help score points - Coach
  • Get your metal game prepared and get psyched up to win – Shawn White – see the win and winning motion
• During the Game
  • Stick to the game plan and execute it
  • Adjust and adapt and overcome!
  • Total focus and commitment to the outcome
  • When you think you can‘t continue and you‘re ready to quite – dig deep and keep going!
  • If you lose a battle, remember you haven‘t lost the war – keep going!
• After the Game
  • Learn to learn from what you learned
  • Relive the game and mentally adjust for the next one
  • Evaluate your successes and failures - Battles and Wars
  • If you lose – recognize the value of your lose and use the sting to push you farther the next practice and next game
  • If you win – find ways to continue the energy and emotion, identify why you won, exploit and focus on maintaining your strengths and build on your weaknesses

High Performance Cultures – must have the right environment to grow and sustain HPBA

• Alignment
  • Vital Business Result – launch a new product, grow top line, provide superlative customer support, create sustainable customer loyalty
  • Business Process – what‘s process will support and drive resources to the targeted end result
  • Performance Systems & Tools – what type of systems can help support and automate the process
  • Competency & Skills - What will your team need to know how to do?
  • Behaviors - What "winning" behaviors MUST your team exhibit?
• Autonomy within a structure and process that allows for some flexibility for style
• Enterprise agility – the ability of senior leaders to call
• Front-line team agility
• Lead with creativity and openness to new out-of-the-box thinking
• Enablement vs. Management
  • Just in time engagement with SMEs, enablers and leaders
  • Clearly define your repeatable, measureable and scalable process
  • Comprehensive systems and tools to help accelerate results
  • Comprehensive performance based training, coaching and execution practice

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Walter Rogers is the President and CEO of Baker Communications. Baker Communications is a sales training and development company specializing in helping client companies increase their sales and management effectiveness. He can be reached at 713-627-7700.
 

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