Can high-performance ever be inevitable?

If there’s one thing that all successful organisations have in common, it’s a desire for high-performance.

High-performing organisations thrive through change and uncertainty as they take on new challenges with purpose. A high-performing culture can lead to increased productivity and profitability for organisations as well as improved employee satisfaction.

But what differentiates high-performing organisations from others and can high-performance ever be inevitable? These questions will be explored throughout my high-performance blog series, with this first piece focussing on inspiration from sport.

EY Lane4 has a heritage of taking inspiration from sport to further our understanding of the drivers of a high-performance environment. In this blog, we hear from some of EY Lane4’s former and current athletes as they share the key ingredients to achieving high-performance in their sporting career.

Hollie Pearne-Webb - GB & England Women's Hockey Captain

“Maintaining a clear vision and concrete goals is crucial to high-performance. Clearly defined objectives enable athletes to stay on track, but connecting to purpose and vision sustains motivation during inevitable periods of reluctance. The key is to pinpoint that inner drive and refine it into tangible steps to set up the right environment for success. Athletes need to be pushed out of their comfort zones, both by themselves and teammates as such challenges lead to growth. However, when operating within a high-pressure environment, it is equally crucial to balance these challenges with the right amount of support. Also key to achieving high-performance is accepting that you won’t always succeed. A common obstacle among athletes, is acknowledging that failures are a part of the process. Debriefs during these times are an essential element of learning from success and failures. Building self-awareness, through understanding yourself and how you react, assists in pre-planning and creating mitigation strategies to maintain focus in high-pressure situations. As a leader, I have found embodying the values and behaviours I expect from my team as well as recognising the value of input from others is vital in fostering a high-performance environment.”

Mark Hunter – Former British Olympic Rower

“Creating an environment conductive to success, personal growth and a competitive edge is pivotal to high-performance. Being in a space that encourages questions and seeks to understand unique needs fosters development and exceptional performance. However, staying at the top requires continual innovation to stay ahead of the curve. Crafting a clear vision is imperative, serving as a motivational catalyst and encouraging accountability. This vision is divided into dream and realistic goals, with the latter propelling you towards your ultimate ambition. Effective teamwork is also critical to high performance hinging on clarity regarding roles, responsibilities and individuals’ strengths and limitations. It requires open communication and constructive feedback anchored in fact to boost team performance. This is especially critical when learning from setbacks, mistakes and challenges. Debriefing in the right way is crucial to growth. Fostering an atmosphere of continuous learning constructs the right environment for high-performance.”

Ryan Jones – Former Professional Rugby Player

“I believe high-performance is simply achieved by “being the best at everything that requires no talent”. Talent only comes into play when all else is equal. Therefore, being exceptional in your field draws not only on talent but also those day-to-day micro-behaviours that define your environment all of which are within your control such as your diligence to your craft, coachability and good relationships with your peers. Without meeting these criteria, potential will remain untapped or underutilized. Creating a high-performance environment further requires individuals to understand the impact they have on each other through their behaviour and processes. For instance, establishing an effective team dynamic often involves finding commonality with your teammates and cultivating a shared purpose and common goal and agreeing HOW you are going to achieve it. For athletes to perform at their highest level, they not only need to strive towards being the best version of themselves but also remain resilient regardless of performance or outcome. Crucially within this process, prioritising personal wellbeing and developing a “box of resilience tools” enables individuals to sustain performance under the upmost pressure. This resilience fuels their motivation and commitment to keep showing up whilst fostering un-wavering self-belief. High-performing athletes are fiercely focused individuals and creating great behaviours and habits is critical to being relentless in the pursuit of being better.”

Anyika Onuora - Olympic Track & Field Medallist

“Throughout my sporting career, demonstrating characteristics of leadership has been paramount to high-performance. For instance, when competing in relay teams and preparing for championships, it was critical for someone to lead the team, guiding on timings and aligning roles. However, leadership must also be sustained throughout the year, cultivating an effective team dynamic wherein each member is clear on their contribution to the collective goal. Away days serve as pivotal moments for the team to bond and connect. As athletes we are inherently ego-driven and fiercely ambitious and when those personality types are put into one team, building relationships to ensure seamless teamwork are essential to success. Leadership traits remain valuable when competing as an individual athlete. Taking ownership of your career is critical; you can have the best team of support but the responsibility to drive performance ultimately rests with you. Collaboration is also key to building high-performance. Discussing and strategizing with the coach and support teams allows for meaningful co-collaboration and buy-in from the athletes. This autonomy and involvement stimulate athletes to consider how to optimize their performance.”

Sian Huxtable – Former GB Bobsleigh athlete

“Bobsleigh is a high-risk sport and to navigate this, trust is incredibly important. Therefore, it isn't just about trusting each other's performance capabilities but also entrusting your physical safety to another person. Having an environment with strong psychological safety, allowing members to voice concerns and challenge decisions when needed is critical. This approach enhances performance, creating room for strategic risks to be taken to advance in the sport, whilst also prioritizing safety and wellbeing for sustainable performance. Mastering the art of controlling what’s within your grasp is essential. Empowering you to do everything possible to position yourself for optimal performance. Alongside thinking strategically of how you can achieve your goal. This may include needing to be adaptable in your approach without losing sight of your vision. Resilience is also significant given the potential setbacks in sport and consistency is key during these times. Athletes must have the patience and discipline to keep working towards their goals, even when motivation wanes. Additionally, firmly believing you can achieve your goal is critical. This belief bolsters the discipline required to attain them, encouraging you to forge ahead even during times of adversity.”

David Balcombe – Former Professional Cricketer

“Cricket is an individual skills-based game played in a team context. The key to performance is identifying how these skills align and compliment the broader capabilities across the team. In the corporate world the parallels to sport (and cricket) are very apparent. Identifying skills and capabilities of individuals in the environment and then aligning them with others is essential to progress and thrive as a team. The key lies in role clarity, being aware of individual strengths, their impact, and how they contribute. High emotional intelligence and awareness of the team interdependencies are crucial as well as identifying leaders, irrespective of position. Natural leaders who possess an inherent magnetism should be recognised and nurtured as they embody the essence of high-performance. Environments I have personally thrived in and saw performance increase significantly included good clarity of communication and a clear purpose. Understanding self and others’ capabilities and identities allows for self-expression without fear or judgement. Additionally, involvement in community initiatives connect us to our purpose. Lastly, goal setting is fundamental to high-performance. In sport, success is easily measured, however flexibility within these goals is critical. A successful, robust performance environment embraces adaptability, unpredictability, and change.”

Nick Fenton-Wells - Former Professional Rugby Player

“The only competitive advantage we have is the ability to learn faster than the opposition. This can only be done where an environment of trust, vulnerability and accountability are created. Where leaders and fair, yet empathetic in their approach. We all form parts of a team, and it is our responsibility to take full accountability for our role within that team. We can take full accountability when there is no fear of making a mistake, but it is our responsibility to learn from those mistakes through feedback. If we create a strong feedback loop, we learn far quicker than opposition who don’t implement similar processes. This positively reinforces our actions and habituality we become more consistent in making good decisions and choices. When you put people right at the centre of these processes and consider them as the whole person and not just someone performing an action you begin to garner that trust. When teams are fully trusting of others and their abilities, we remove the “safe” option of getting something done and submitting a deliverable. And when that level of trust is met, people don’t fear asking for help and putting their hand up when they may not know the best route forward. That’s when teams become high-performing, and the outputs are of the highest quality.”

Thank you for reading this blog, feel free to share your own experiences of the key ingredients to creating a high-performance environment in the comments and stay tuned for the next blog in the series!