This summer, workplace chats are abuzz with the latest updates from Paris. Athletes of all backgrounds are proving what perseverance, resilience and talent look like at the highest level. 

The truth is these athletic feats can often feel unrelatable to our own lives. Very few of our careers include competing on a global stage. However, we can learn from athletes when we consider how talent shows up in our own teams—and how we can foster that talent for high-performance. 

Coach the Coach

A good coach can lead an athletic team to victory. They understand the greater goals of the team and the strategies they need to reach those goals. 

Similarly, engaged, successful workplace teams start with a talented leader.  

Both effective coaches and workplace leaders take time to understand their own strengths before building an engagement strategy for their team. Leveraging a leader’s strengths (their natural talents) is often a better strategy than trying to improve weaknesses. A talent assessment can help identify these strengths and provide the context needed for effective engagement. 

Good coaches also continue to develop their strengths alongside their teams. They learn from experience what is and isn’t working, and they adjust and adapt to improve results. For example, a good soccer coach wouldn’t continue to encourage the same plays that weren’t successful in the last match. They would engage their expertise and natural talent to design the best path forward. 

That’s what good team leaders do too. They identify their natural talents and nurture them for personal and organizational growth. Executive Coaching is an essential asset in this work. Consultants partner with leaders to create goals with their talent top themes as the foundation. Our research shows that when organizations invest in developing their leaders, they invest in developing others. 

Everyone is a Team Player

Coaches don’t just lead a team; they are part of the team. Consider if a coach didn’t know their athletes at a personal level. The whole team would fail. The coach wouldn’t have the insights to leverage and grow individual strengths. 

Instead, high-performing athletes are given opportunities to connect one-on-one with their coach and receive personalized guidance on where they can develop their skills. A goalie will not have the same development plan as a midfielder. That is how it should be! All team members grow their talents in a way that is most meaningful to their positions. When this happens, the whole team grows stronger. 

Workplace leaders can also connect with their team members on a personal level to understand not just their talents, but their goals for their career future. With their team, good leaders look at the individual strengths and talents of each team member to understand how they all work together. By understanding what each person does well, leaders can support strategic development and an overall more engaged team. 

A great place to start is with a Talent Card®. A Talent Card highlights an individual’s strongest talents for a given role and provides a pathway to help them understand their potential and assist in leveraging these strengths. From there, leaders can step back to see the larger picture of a Talent Grid, which highlights where the team excels and where gaps may exist. This helps address ways to build competencies with the existing team and identifies the right fit for any new people who may join the team. 

Shared Team Values

A team’s culture naturally develops—whether cultivated with intention or not. A good coach aligns their team around shared values to nurture the right culture. Our research shows that a good leader can apply the values we see in athletic teams to their own workplaces. 

Build a Culture of Trust and Respect

An effective coach trusts their athletes to work their hardest and demonstrates respect on and off the field. Workplace teams also desire this respect; they want to be valued for their talents and feel a sense of purpose. A transparent, trusting leader can help cultivate this culture of respect. When people feel respect from their leaders, they are more engaged and driven to higher performance. 

Encourage Growth

Word champion athletes are always striving for excellence. A committed, supportive coach encourages their athletes to be the best they can be. Talent development is an ongoing growth journey. Leaders can encourage growth by holding routine, meaningful discussions between themselves and individual team members. Through these discussions, leaders and reports work together to create a career development plan that will lead to sustained improvement. 

Find Moments of Joy

People want to be part of a team that enjoys and complements each other. A simple way to do this is to openly celebrate successes, both large and small. Through these shared moments of joy, teams will become more engaged and more satisfied in their work. (Note: Unlike athletic teams, workplace teams don’t need gold medals or to dump a cooler of sports drink over their leader after a successful project. A sincere kudos will go just as far.) 

Diverse Talents for the Win

A team with a culture of shared values can harness the power of individual talents to foster teamwork and collaboration. With talent themes, leaders can look at multiple facets of their team’s drivers, values, work style and even thought process. 

It’s best to have a team with diverse talent themes. As discussed above, the Talent Card and Talent Grid are great tools to assess these talents and see how team strengths complement one another. 

Think of a high-performing team like a relay race. Each of the four members has their own drivers and strength. It’s through this mix of unique talents that the team succeeds in the race. Where may we see these parallels between these runners’ complementary talents and teams within our organizations? 

Lead-off Runner

The first runner establishes a strong position early in the race. This may include initial jostling with other runners for their position. They have the drive and talent needed to set a solid foundation for the rest of their team.  

Second Leg Runner

With the baton in hand, the second leg runner uses their speed and endurance to maintain momentum from the lead-off. They are skilled in handling transitions and navigating potential congestion that has developed on the track.     

Third Leg Runner

At this point in the race, the third leg runner is coming into the most crowded part of the track, with many runners converging. This runner can maintain a steady pace and handle increasing obstacles to set the final runner up for a strong finish. 

Anchor Runner

The anchor runner is the one crossing the finish line. They bring the race home through their fast speed and ability to handle high pressure situations. If the other three team members have fallen behind, they can make up the ground for a solid finish. 

Be a Teamwork Champion

To think and act like a winning athlete, workplace leaders don’t need to run a four-minute mile or lift over 300 lbs. They just need to be a present, engaged member of their own team. 

Download our Stronger Teams white paper for insights and tools you can use today to build your high performing, engaged team. No ticket to Paris required.