Yesterday, Team GB exceeded their Beijing Olympics medal haul and by the end of the London Games, will have reached their highest total in the modern Olympic era. Not only that but on a per capita basis, Team GB would head the medal table.
There are many reasons for this success, not least the years of hard training and sacrifice by the athletes, the coaches, medics, nutritionists, psychologists, engineers, and all the other backroom men and women that make Team GB.
Yet there is another group of people that athletes from around the world have paid tribute to for contributing to their success – the spectators.
The designers of the Olympic Stadium engineered it to amplify the crowd. They recognised how the roar of the crowd would help build the atmosphere, urging the athletes on. And it worked. The spectators are definitely Team GB’s 12th man. The athletes themselves, spurred on by the crowd go faster, higher, further and cite the crowd as a key contributor to their performance.
So, who are the 12th men and women for your organisation?
Who are the people that help build the atmosphere, that are passionate about what you are trying to achieve?
Who offers their unconditional support, shares your highs and lows, attaches no blame, asks only that you do your best?
The track cycling team have exemplified the science and business of winning. Their planning organisation, innovation and execution are a testament to teamwork. But even they can’t engineer the support they received over this last week. Those levels of support have to be earned. The crowd has to see the passion and determination, as well as the skill and ability.
Who is your sporting hero? What is it that gives them that level of recognition in your eyes? What are the qualities that take them beyond technical ability?
How can you take those qualities into the workplace?
What do you need to do to harness the power of the 12th man?
