Beyond the emotional victories and heart-warming medal ceremonies we've witnessed at the Tokyo Olympics, there are lessons to be learned from the way our elite teams prepare for sustainable success.
In a three-part series, we talks to some of our most successful coaches to gain an insight into the secrets behind high-performing teams.
Today we spotlight Swimming Australia.
Moments after Kaylee McKeown won her Olympic backstroke gold medal at the Tokyo Games, a frantic call went up to her team in the grandstand: 'Who’s got a size eight shoe?'.
Within minutes Bronte Campbell’s shoes were off and on the feet of our newest swimming champion as she stood atop the podium, it was a move which underpins the values of the Australian swim team, who live by the legacy statement “We make each other better.”
It’s also the mind-set that has individual athletes combining to create a high-performing team.
National head coach Rohan Taylor sights behaviours, and their connections to the team values, as the secret to sustained high performance.
The Dolphins achieved a record medal haul in Tokyo claiming an historic 20 medals: nine gold, three silver and eight bronze.
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“That's the behaviour we're looking for, it’s simple, but it illustrates the unity of our team” Taylor says of swimming’s gold ceremony medal shoe swap.
“Our team values are courage, unity, and excellence, but they couldn’t just be words, we needed to be able to see it and live it.
“The biggest thing we worked on as a team, our athletes, coaches and staff, was to ensure those values match behaviours that would have a positive influence on the team.”
So how can business leaders devise meaningful values that teams are able to truly embrace to ensure they get the best out each member?
Quite simply, says Taylor, it’s about empowering those within the team to take ownership.
By working with athlete leaders, including Mitch Larkin and Cate and Bronte Campbell, he helped the swimmers to understand the vision and collectively devise a set of values to support this.
“We built the conversation; we built the language and then we put it into practice,” Taylor said, who ensured people were recognised for positively living the team values.
“We ran our event camps, our team leaders talked to the athletes, they took ownership of it. It was their words; our legacy statement.
“One of the behaviours the athletes wanted was: ‘I’ve got your back’.
“No matter what the performance outcome was, it's the acknowledgement of I got your back and we saw it at the Games, the pat on the back after a good or not so good performance, it was those little subtle things that made our team.”
With workers separated due to stay-at-home orders and collaboration limited to Zoom calls, how can individuals make a meaningful contribution to a business team?
For Australian swimming, clarity around coaching and support roles was integral to driving a strategy to ensure every member was accountable for the way they contributed as individuals to the wider team.
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“Leadership sets the vision,” Taylor says.
“Once the roles are clear and leadership needs to delegate to make sure that vision lives.
“Leadership empowers people, it doesn't micromanage them.”
So too unity.
Weekly check-ins, discussions, encouragement, and transparency was implemented to ensure every member of the swim team was making true on their commitment.
Taylor says one of the surprising learnings during the Tokyo campaign was the importance of social engagement, especially for the Victorian athletes and coaches during their long and arduous lockdown.
Weekly meetings emerged as essential for energy and connection among the coaches, with team meetings extending beyond their finish times for idle chat, and then morphing into a Friday Poker Night – which still runs today. Athletes engaged in fortnightly virtual fitness sessions.
“The part social connection that plays in building a high performing team is critical,” Taylor says.
“You need to stay connected with your people if you're in a leadership position.
“Ask those simple questions: Hey, how are you going at school? How's the family? Those are things that show you are being genuinely interested.
“Your team needs to believe in what you do. You can reap so much through being available, being present, approachable, vulnerable; you’ve got to show it, and they’ve got to see it.”
So as our best ever swim team, looks back at their golden week of high performance from quarantine at Howard Springs, their focus will be on how to sustain that for the future.
There is no question in Taylor’s mind, the behaviours and values will always be the foundation of this high-performing team.
Catriona Dixon