I have been attending the Aussies, Australian National Surf Lifesaving Championships in Perth. This is a great event with 5000 competitors and a massive number of support crew including coaches, managers, first aid, officials and more.
I happen to be the Team Manager for the South Curl Curl Champion Lifesavers. This is a group of teenagers that have spent hours and hours in the surf, swimming, paddling, beach sprinting as well as doing CPR, first aid assessment and studying for the written test. In the end, we had 9 competitors, with a few reserves. Along with coaches and parents we all made the massive trip from Sydney’s Northern Beaches to the West Coast of Australia. The logistics were big with us getting boards, mannequins, first aid kits, rescue tubes, fins and other gear over with us, not to mention the donation of a Mazda BT50 Pick up Truck for a week from @melville_mazda (thanks for the support!!)
When you spend time at a competition, you realise what a great environment it can be. Watching people put forward their best efforts, after months of training with some winning and others missing out by seconds is an incredible thing to watch. Regardless of who was on the winners stand, it was great to see the great comradery and respect for the other competitors.
This makes me look at the many business teams that I work with. Many of them are trying to create a champion team that can achieve and sustain incredible results! For some teams this is easy, while others struggle.
So what does it take to be a champion team, in sport or in business? The characteristics are similar. It takes commitment, skills development, execution, belief, as well as strong relationships that are willing to support and challenge each other to lift performance to the next level.
3 Keys to A Champion Team
- Commitment. The commitment that is required to be a champion team is massive. Having the belief and unwavering commitment to dedicate collective focus toward a specific goal is critical. Too often I talk with leaders who are not clear on what their goal is or what they want their people to commit to, or they make it basic like profit or sales targets, without showing something that will be in if for the team.
- Develop Skills. Practice, practice, practice is what a champion team does in preparing for the competition. Too often in business teams do not take the time out of the day to day business to develop their skills. When was the last time your team reflected and improved their skills in the way they thought, communicated, interacted or problem solved?
- Willing to Challenge Status Quo. Champion teams will not sit back and rest on what they know. They constantly look at what they can do to improve and reset targets along the way. They also challenge and support one another to ensure that they have each other’s back and stretch to new heights.
Our Champion Lifesavers did extremely well with one National Champion, 2 taking silver and the rest finishing in the top 10 nationally, an awesome result.
If you would like to learn a range of strategies to increase your team performance, please click here for a complimentary 20 minute session.
