Kazuyoshi Hisano is the president and CEO of Conoway, Inc.
Professional athletes and executive leaders have more in common than you might think. I work with both groups in my coaching practice and have observed significant similarities. Both care deeply about achieving individual and team excellence. Both aim for continuous improvement in their own capabilities. And both create action plans around specific performance goals.
It’s clear to me that the methods top athletes and sports teams use to win can also help executives and organizations gain a competitive edge. A winning organization strives to balance short-term and long-term gains.
Leaders of winning organizations start with the end in mind: defining their goal and developing a plan to achieve it. They know that without a concrete action plan, they’re unlikely to reach their desired outcome. They also know that their original plan will probably change over time. Factors outside their control, including economic fluctuations, regulatory requirements or technological advancements, can shift business priorities. Focus and flexibility are equally important.
Building Habits For Success
To improve your performance as an individual, you must cultivate intentional habits or routines that move you closer to your objectives. On an organizational level, these actions become repeatable processes. Your target may evolve, and that’s okay. What matters most is that you are consistently thinking about where you are going and adjusting your plan accordingly.
You’re also not working toward your goals in a vacuum. Whether you’re focusing on individual or organizational goals, you need support from people around you. I always advise my clients to share their plans with others and ask for help whenever possible. This approach is different from the traditional PDCA (plan, do, check, act) model.
For an individual plan, look for advisors, mentors and cheerleaders. Explain what you’re trying to do, and clarify your ideas to be more persuasive to others. For an organizational plan, get buy-in from all stakeholders. Make sure every participant understands your overarching goal and their particular role in reaching it.
Three Ways To Boost Business Performance
Through my coaching conversations with elite athletes, I’ve learned that successful teams and organizations implement the following three strategies:
1. Identify key performance levers.
It’s not always obvious which elements directly influence your organization’s performance. Analyze the data in distinct business functions, such as sales, marketing, IT, operations, finance, supply chain and customer service. Which factors move the needle most in each area?
2. Measure your team’s performance.
Once you have determined which factors are critical to your business performance, you need to track your progress in these domains. Measure KPIs, and compare them to past performance. How have they changed from last month, last quarter or last year? How does your company measure up to industry benchmarks?
3. Assess results and face weaknesses.
Strengths-based assessments have become the norm in many organizations. This can be a powerful framework for individuals and teams to reinforce what they already do well. But it shouldn’t be at the expense of making necessary changes. Don’t shy away from acknowledging your weaknesses as well as your strengths. Which areas of your business need attention or improvement? Where do you have opportunities for growth?
From Baseball To Business
In the six years I’ve worked with a Major League Baseball player, I’ve seen how quickly the game is changing. Teams now openly collect and share player data—not just with each other but also with the public. Every coach, player and fan can see pitching, batting, fielding and baserunning stats across the league.
This transparency is a mixed blessing. It’s challenging for players to have their vulnerabilities broadcast to their opponents. But the information goes both ways. They can also see where they outshine their competitors and use this data to bolster their strengths and improve their shortcomings.
Top athletes measure all the data—not just the overall results but also the breakdown of each skill. Teams record videos to evaluate how each player catches and throws the ball, angles a swing or sprints between bases. New AI tools make it easier than ever for coaches and players to put these three strategies into practice. They can identify which specific factors affect their performance, measure changes over time and assess the results through the lens of their strengths and weaknesses.
You can use the same approach to improve your business’s performance. One of my clients is a major retail company in Japan, and these three steps are integrated into their day-to-day processes. Leaders use their point-of-sale system to measure which levers affect customers’ buying habits from week to week or month to month. They compare results based on the season or the time of the month, and they are constantly working to make improvements.
Career athletes understand that winning one game isn’t enough. The real triumph is in methodically developing their skills so they can win over and over. Success—whether in baseball or in business—is built on a foundation of small, everyday actions that lead to bigger changes.
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