Newsletter: Establishing a Culture of Winning - Performance Coaching Inc. (PCI)

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A Message From Peter

As I write this, the weather is warming up, but my focus has been on ice -- ice hockey, that is. A few weeks ago I was in Harbin, China, with the Canadian women's hockey team for the Women's World Championship, and recently spoke in Quebec City to about 300 coaches at the IIHF Men's World Championship Coaches Conference hosted by Hockey Canada.

The theme of the newsletter this time is 'Establishing a Culture of Winning.' My podcast focuses on my presentation to the men's coaches (along with a little inside info from Harbin). The topic? Focus. My thesis is that by focusing on developing their people, coaches/leaders can shift their environment toward a culture of winning -- and maintain it in the long term.

The theme of development runs through the first story in this issue as well. The article is based on a presentation given by Chris Rudge at a recent client dinner hosted by Performance Coaching. Chris is the CEO and Secretary General of the Canadian Olympic Committee and a former president of Quebecor World. He talked about the challenges the COC faced in preparing athletes for Beijing as well as the drive for excellence brought on by hosting the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. The article is a synopsis of Chris's talk, and it contains a number of valuable insights for the corporate world. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Tying everything together is the 'Ask The Expert' column, in which our head of training, Peggy Baumgartner, and our coaching trainers, Garry Watanabe and Jill Proud, discuss the lessons managers can take from Chris's talk and apply in their own corporate environment.

Have a wonderful summer, and if you get a chance to get off the lounge chair and want to drop me a line about the podcast, or anything else in the newsletter, feel free to e-mail me at peter@performancecoaching.ca.

Sincerely,

Peter

Peter's Podcast

Peter gives a short review on his travels with the Canadian women's team at the women's world hockey championships in Harbin, China, in April and talks about his presentation to the coaches at the men's world hockey championships seminar in Quebec City, May 4.

To listen to the Podcast in .mp3 format, simply click the 'Listen Now' link below. If you wish to save the Podcast to listen to later (or even transfer to your iPod), 'right-click' the link and choose 'Save Target As...' to save it to your computer.

Listen Now!

Chris Rudge - Establishing a Culture of Winning

Every spring Performance Coaching invites a small group of clients to Canoe, Peter Oliver's 54th-floor culinary paradise, for a night of exceptional food, fine wine, and an engaging talk from a unique speaker. This year, Chris Rudge, CEO and Secretary General of the Canadian Olympic Committee, and former president of Quebecor World, delivered an update on the state of the Olympic movement in Canada and lessons from his five-year campaign to establish a culture of winning.

Vancouver 2010: Impetus for Change

On July 3, 2003, Vancouver officially became the host city for the 2010 Winter Olympics by a slim three-vote margin over Pyeongchang. After a failed Toronto bid for the 2008 Summer Games, it was a welcome victory for a country that considers itself a winter sports powerhouse but that perennially underperforms come Olympic time.

Chris had just been named the CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) -- the body in charge of the Olympic movement in Canada -- and was all too well aware of this fact.

"We've hosted two Olympic Games -- 1976 in Montreal and 1988 in Calgary -- and in neither of those Games did we win a gold medal. No other country in the world has ever done this, but we're so good at it we've done it twice," he deadpanned. "When we won the Vancouver Games, a lot of people connected to the Olympics recognized that if our team didn't do well, the Games themselves would not be perceived to be a success. It wasn't enough that we were good hosts."

With Chris at the helm, and the Vancouver Olympics on the horizon, the conditions were right for sweeping change. But where to start?

Own the Podium

After a disappointing 2004 Games in Athens, Chris and the COC began to investigate how they could "do something special and unique" to create a winning culture.

They pulled together a wide variety of athletic stakeholders -- including Sport Canada, the Calgary Olympic Development Association, the Vancouver Organizing Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee -- and pooled resources to fund a study into the reality of elite sport in Canada.

Chris explained that the study had two main goals: (1) To "figure out where we were at with winter sport" and (2) To discover "what do you think we are capable of doing?"

The answer to the first question was sobering. Canada's 'conversion rate' -- defined as the percentage of athletes with top-five rankings in World Cup standings who win an Olympic medal -- was incredibly weak. Canadian athletes were converting at a rate of 25-30% compared with a peer-group average of 60% and Germany at 90%. Obviously, there was significant room for improvement.

As to the question around capabilities, the findings were equally surprising, but to the positive. "At they end of the day they came back to us and said: 'if you give us $110 million over five years, Canada can be number one'" explained Chris.

Armed with the findings, the COC approached the Canadian government for the funding needed. As a former executive, Chris knew it was important to approach the discussions in a businesslike manner. "We weren't going to the government and saying 'We're passionate about this, please give us money.' There are a million people doing that. We said 'here's the business plan, here's where we are now, here's the vision for success, here are the levels of accountability, here's how the money will be used, and this is going to be the return on that investment to Canadians if you give us that money.'"

They got the funding -- and the Own the Podium program was officially launched with a very clear goal: finish first overall in Vancouver 2010.

Measure What's Important

When the COC announced the goal of Own the Podium, many Canadians were shocked at the focus on results in a traditionally "well-you-did-your-best" country. Said Chris, "We're no longer afraid to set very clear goals and objectives. You know, none of these young Olympians go to bed and dream of finishing 14th and hearing the German national anthem." He sees measurement as a key part of creating a culture of winning. "It's a natural part of progress, particularly when you get to the high end of things."

Much has been made out of the fact that a focus on medals and results will mean additional pressure on Canadian athletes, but Chris does not see this as an issue. "When you're at the top, at the forefront, you got there because you are ABLE to handle the pressure. If you couldn't, you wouldn't be there," he said.

Deal with the Details

While the goal of Own the Podium is sweeping, the tactics required to accomplish that goal are surprisingly minute. "The days of 'he's a good kid, tries really hard, give him a coach and a few dollars and he's going to do well' are over. We are now measuring success in hundredths of a second and millimetres." As a case in point, he pointed to a recent Super G result for Canadian skier Kelly Vanderbeek: she finished fourth -- 1/100th of a second behind the top three skiers, who all tied.

The tiny performance increments that separate medalists from the rest mean that every angle has to be considered. Of specific focus for the Own the Podium program was sport psychology. According to Chris, "Getting the athlete's mind prepared for that game day is a huge, huge issue. It's one thing to be able to do the movement, the sport -- it's another entirely to be able to compete."

Other important variables being tweaked include flying top chefs to the Games to ensure consistency in food, and a new focus on taking care of athletes' parents so athletes can focus solely on what they need to do to win. "We have all of these services there to try and remove all the distractions from the Games."

Torino: The First Test

With the goal set, and the strategy in motion, the 2006 Games in Torino were the first test of the validity of the Own the Podium program. Would the increased funding and renewed focus translate into results? Even though the program had only been in place for a short time, there was a lot at stake.

"Before the Games we said 'we think we can be number three in Torino, and it will take 24-25 medals.' Lo and behold, we came home with 24 medals and placed third." Furthermore, Canadian athletes finished in fourth place in 14 different events. "We were a fourth to be reckoned with!" joked Chris.

With the Own the Podium program beginning to bear fruit, and Beijing on the horizon, Chris Rudge and the COC next turned their attention to the summer sports.

Beijing

Beijing will be the first Olympics since the COC launched the 'Road to Excellence' program, a summer equivalent to Own the Podium. Chris was quick to caution that the impact on Beijing will be minimal: "There may be some small impact on Beijing, but it's really London 2012 where we think we'll see the payoff." The goal is to finish 16th in Beijing (Canada was 21st in Athens), and 12th in London 2012.

"The Chinese are going to clean up in Beijing -- they are going to do very well," predicted Chris. "It's in their nature to understate, but they will take a lot of medals out of the pot." Chris believes that achieving our goal of 16th will mean roughly 16-18 medals, an ambitious 33-50% improvement over Athens that "will require everyone to hit on all cylinders and a few dark horses to come through."

He does not see the environment in China as an issue. "This is a media-created event," he explained, "it will be no worse than Athens." He does have concerns, however, in other areas.

"The problems that we will have are not problems you will ever see -- it will be us dealing with the intransigence of Chinese leadership at all levels. We have a lot of people saying "you should tell the Chinese to do this' or 'you should tell your athletes to do that,' but I can tell you that we will not change Chinese leadership by pointing your finger and saying 'do this.' We need to work with them and then say 'we've been great partners in making these changes -- let's keep the changes going and make these things better.'"

Looking Ahead to Vancouver

Chris believes we are well on track for hitting our goal of finishing first in Vancouver. More than that, however, he senses a sea change in Canada's attitude toward winning. "Of all the things that have gone on in Canada in the last five years, the thing that I enjoy most, that I'm most impressed with, is that we have evolved a culture of winning -- and being proud of the fact that wanting to win is not necessarily a bad thing."

Ask The Expert

What lessons can managers take from the Canadian Olympic Committee's approach to planning for the success of Canadian athletes?

Peggy Baumgartner - PCI Director of Training

What struck me as I listened to Chris speak is that the COC is a terrific case study in how to develop a winning culture within an organization -- the organization here being sport in Canada. The COC noticed that the game had changed, the level of competition had become more fierce, and that just 'working harder' wasn't an effective strategy. To compete effectively, they had to make some fundamental changes -- changes that are as applicable in the corporate world as they are in sport. Specifically:

Start by focusing on your strengths. Canada's strength is winter sport -- so that is where the COC has put their initial focus. By creating momentum here they are gaining the energy required to tackle the tougher challenges (the Summer Games). In business we need to do this at both an organizational and a personal level. We need to know what strengths we bring to the table/team and determine if we are leveraging them fully. This will give us the energy to work on the challenges ahead.
Eliminate performance distractions. As an inquisitive coaching organization, the COC started by asking questions in order to determine where the athletes were at, what they believed they could achieve, and what was blocking them from getting there. One of the major performance blocks they uncovered was that athletes were overloaded with distractions at the Games, specifically food and family. As a result, the COC made a major investment in creatively minimizing the likelihood of distractions. Are we doing that in business? While the twin distractions of health and family are no less prevalent in the corporate sector, many companies ignore their impact on productivity. Smart companies will start to get very creative at putting plans in place to alleviate these distractions -- not just because it is a 'good' thing to do, but because they understand the direct link to performance and their employees' ability to handle increased pressure.
Increase your concept of team. Sport has always had teams -- but in the past each team has been an entity unto itself. The COC has focused on tearing down walls between various sports organizations, uniting them with a common goal -- to 'Own the Podium' -- and shared resources like never before. Leading companies are pursuing a similar strategy: silos are disappearing and knowledge, people and dollars are increasingly being shared. Even more importantly, 'the competition' is clearly defined -- and it isn't in the same building!

Garry Watanabe - PCI Senior Associate

In essence the process that the COC used to raise the overall performance level of the Canadian Olympic team could be a lesson to any business that is mired in comfortable mediocrity and would like to become among the best at what they do.

First, in true Jim Collins fashion, they began by 'confronting the brutal reality' rather than relying on pie-in-the-sky optimism. They commissioned the Priestner Report, which investigated Canada's weak performance record at the Olympic Games, particularly as a host country, and pointed out the brutal truth regarding our 'conversion ratio' and the reasons behind it. Then, based on real information, they chose a worthy goal that focused on our strengths (winter sports), which was possible but a true stretch goal, and was a goal that would excite and challenge us for eight to 10 years: winning the 2010 Olympic Games.

Next, they built commitment in the people who needed to achieve the goal. The starting point was to create a winning/confident mindset in a group of people (athletes and coaches) who had been raised in a culture of modesty. The solution: 'Own the Podium.'

Third, they acquired the financial resources necessary to put the appropriate support mechanisms in place. After obtaining support from the most crucial investor (the Canadian Government) by presenting a detailed business plan they were able to more effectively go after additional supporters. People like to back a winner.

Fourth, they set measureable goals. Many athletes and coaches protested that focusing on the medal count evaluated athletes on something they could not control, and that the focus for each individual would always remain the same -- to do his or her very best regardless of whether Canada won 12 or 24 medals. And yet, an interesting thing happened: athletes started paying closer attention to how other athletes were doing, creating a greater sense of team. And, after the Canadian team achieved its medal target in Torino, the administration gained credibility and the Canadian team gained confidence that the target set for Vancouver could be achieved.

Finally, they recognized that in an arena where margins of victory are on the order of 1/100th of a second, it was imperative to create an environment where the athletes were free to focus on performance rather than being distracted by other matters. This meant consciously scouting out and understanding what those distractions might be, eliminating as many as possible, and having strategies to deal with the rest. In the corporate world, if your performers are spending time and energy adjusting to a lack of clarity, a moody boss or significant red tape, how will they ever execute when it counts?

Jill Proud - PCI Associate

For me, one of the most timely and prescient lessons from Chris' talk was around the valuable by-products of the 'culture of winning' pursued by the COC. In challenging athletes, coaches, and sports organizations at all levels to orient around winning, the COC has discovered that Canada is attracting more exceptional leadership talent. For example, Alex Baumann has returned to Canada as the head of the Summer Olympics program -- the Road to Excellence -- after enormous success in helping to make Australia the number-one nation in the world in swimming.

In the business environment, as we all know, the competition for talent at all levels is only going to get more intense in the coming years. Like the COC, organizations that have/develop a culture of winning will be better equipped to attract the leadership talent that is the lifeblood of any successful business.

Also, as Chris pointed out, what leaders like Alex Baumann understand is that it's one thing to deal with learning the sport but quite another to learn how to compete. For businesses to evolve a culture of winning that will attract talent, leaders must focus beyond results and pay close attention to helping people perform effectively under pressure. The support systems that the COC has put in place for athletes so that they can maintain 100% focus on competing is equally important for corporations. As leaders in the business world are challenged to retain and attract talent, these support systems will be increasingly important differentiators for high potential people evaluating their employment options.