Would Your Team Win Olympic Gold in Paris?

On July 26th, the Summer Olympics will hold its opening ceremony in Paris. If you’re wondering what stadium was selected to host this event, you’re asking the wrong question because it’s not being held in a stadium at all. The City of Lights will serve as the venue. The vision is to host the largest opening ceremony in Olympic Games history.

It will be open to all. 

Holding a ceremony open to a large audience, with no admission fee for most of its spectators, is a first. Fans won’t need tickets to access the upper platforms, but those wishing to access the lower platforms, from the Austerlitz Bridge to the Iéna Bridge, will need to buy tickets. “Eighty giant screens and strategically placed speakers will allow everyone to enjoy the magical atmosphere of this show reverberating throughout the French capital.”

Here’s another first: a ceremony designed for and by athletes. “Athletes will be the heart and soul of the ceremony. By opening with the parade of athletes, Paris 2024 is breaking with tradition. Athletes will be featured on stage during the introduction to and throughout the ceremony as part of Paris 2024’s constant aim to hold Games created for and by athletes.”

“The river parade will follow the course of the Seine, from east to west over 6 kilometers. The parade will depart from the Austerlitz Bridge beside the Jardin des Plantes and make its way around the two islands at the center of the city (the Île Saint Louis and the Île de la Cité) before passing under several bridges and gateways. Athletes on board the parade boats will get glimpses of some of the official Games venues, including Parc Urbain La Concorde, the Esplanade des Invalides, the Grand Palais, and lastly, the Iéna Bridge where the parade will come to a stop before the ceremony’s finale at the Trocadéro.”

This extravaganza is the result of the concerted efforts of Paris 2024, the City of Paris, the French government, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the French Nation Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), as the Opening Ceremony is being remade anew. How’s that for collaboration?

Thinking Outside the Box (Stadium) 

It’s impressive, to say the least, how the people leading the Games in Paris wanted to get it started in a manner that speaks to the city’s overall creativity and fashion sensibilities (see the flame/fashion logo below) and attempts to match the level of excellence each of the athletes will bring to their respective sport.

For me, this begs the question: If your marketing, finance, HR, sales, legal team, etc. went to Paris to compete among the best teams in the world in their respective disciplines, assuming they were sanctioned as Olympic events, would they win Gold? The answer is probably no. Assuming that’s the case, what would it take to build the best team in the world in time for the LA Olympic Games in 2028? Given the rate and scope of change that will take place over the next 4-8 years and beyond, thinking of 2028 as a goal for building and developing your organizational team to be at its very best may be what it takes to position them to thrive and survive in a future we can barely imagine. The good news is there is a model to follow here.

TEAM|sky 

Before 2003, British Cycling enjoyed an unremarkable record in competitive cycling. In 76 years, the Brits won one gold medal and had zero Tour de France victories. Determined to perform better, Sir Dave Brailsford was hired as the Team’s Performance Director. Recognizing that the gulf between the team’s current state and Olympic Gold was rather significant, he helped the team identify where they could make minor improvements and set targets rather than focus on the dream. The “marginal gains” approach he implemented helped riders shed self-limiting beliefs, and by aggregating small improvements over time, the team won 7 of 10 gold medals in 2008 (Beijing) and 7 of 10 gold medals in 2012 (London). To date, TEAM|sky has also captured six Tour de France victories.

What This Means for You 

Compared to where British Cycling stood in 2003, your team may already be ahead of the game. This was my assumption when I recently met with a group of about 25 leaders who meet regularly to help each other get better at their craft of coaching CEOs. Given the challenges their CEOs will face in the near future, it was apparent to everyone in the room that they need to be at their very best to deliver what will be required of them going forward.

Using Peernovation’s 5 Factor Framework (Right People, Psychological Safety, Productivity, Accountability, Leadership), we spent the day together identifying where they can make and aggregate marginal gains. On the one hand, it was about what they needed to do to win Olympic Gold in 2028 in LA; on the other hand, it involved the genuine challenges facing their CEO clients and ensuring they had the chops to help them thrive through an uncertain future.

Summary 

Question everything. Maybe the opening ceremonies for the Olympics don’t have to occur in a traditional stadium as always. Maybe if your team were inspired to believe they could win Olympic Gold by making minor improvements over the next four years, they could improve their performance beyond their wildest dreams. And maybe, just maybe, they connected with what’s at stake for their future and countless others, that they would commit to one another to bring their best self to the team from this day forward. It could be worth a try.

Written by Leo Bottary.

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