The seminar, held at the Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames, was hosted by Bill Barry, co-founder of 121partners, Olympic silver medallist and Olympic rowing coach together with his coachee, Alan Campbell who is currently competing in the Beijing Olympics and is a former World Cup winner.
Participants were coached by Alan and Bill to master rowing in an ‘eight’ on the Thames. They then listened to Alan and Bill’s presentation ‘How to coach an Olympic athlete’ which summarises the story of how Alan has gone from being a novice sculler five years ago to being on the brink of the ultimate sporting accolade, an Olympic medal. Fuelled with this inspiration they compared this approach to their experiences in business and developed the following ‘six secrets’ which could be applied to improve performance in the workplace:-
- ‘Putting oars on the walls’ -celebrate success more often and more visibly
- ‘I want to win an Olympic gold medal’ – ensure clarity of the ‘big goal’
- ‘Training when others don’t’ – hold people accountable for their level of commitment
- ‘The many people in the boat’- get coach, line manager and mentor to work as a team
- ‘The perfect cake’ – value a holistic approach for each individual executive
- ‘Virtus’ – inspire belief in the individual and the team
Commenting on the day, Geraldine Harrison, Learning and Career Development Manager at Rolls Royce, said ‘This was a really enjoyable and thought provoking day. The business world has certainly got a lot to learn from the level of commitment, focus and determination shown by Olympic athletes. I know I shall be somewhere near a TV screen on 16 August to see if Alan achieves his dream in the Olympic rowing finals in Beijing.’
