Learning from the Olympics: The secret sauce for achieving business goals

As with most major events and moments, it’s so easy to get so caught up in the spectacle that we forget to consider the people behind the scenes making it happen. And while that’s part of the magic of something like the Olympic Games, there’s a lot to be learned from the leadership and work practices that go into making a global event like this happen. I know, because 24 years ago I was part of the team delivering the best Games ever — Sydney 2000.

When you list out the considerations and logistics of making the games happen, it sounds like an impossible task. 206 countries. 10,500 athletes. 500,000 spectators. A myriad of sporting officials, regulations and expectations. Construction timelines and geopolitical unrest. Economic pressures, logistical puzzles, and Covid (which still impacted many athletes this year).

So, what’s the secret sauce to making an event like this happen, and how can we bring that same energy, focus and purpose to our own projects, teams and companies? 

Purposeful and autonomous

Something that has stayed with me in the decades since being part of the Sydney 2000 delivery team is the importance of purpose and giving people a level of autonomy. Micromanagement just wasn’t an option with so much to achieve — we were given a level of trust so that we could get on with our work, but also enough structure, guidance and support to ensure we were on track to deliver according to the precise Olympics requirements and protocols. 

While the Games had prescriptive elements in terms of the events we needed to deliver, the officials we needed to consult with and the venues we needed to create, there was no set game plan for how to make it happen. We had to create something from nothing. 

Yes, it was intimidating, but having a strong purpose and a belief in the importance of what we were doing was our Northstar. 

In your own business, think about the purpose behind your work — are your people clear on it? How might you ensure it becomes something they’re guided by every day? And how might you give people more autonomy and trust so they feel empowered to get big jobs done?

An audacious goal 

While every company has its business-as-usual requirements and tasks, most organisations are also ripe with potential for solving new problems and creating new solutions. And there is no shortage of problems that need solving in the world right now. 

Setting course for an audacious and ambitious goal is energising for the entire team, and definitely the key to Olympic event success. Within your own company, could you look at a big goal or ambitious project, and energise your people with the possibility of its potential? If you can’t commit to the whole team, could a sub-group be given time and space to work on the next big thing for your business? 

From personal experience and the work I’ve done with clients in the decades since, there is nothing quite as energising as knowing you’re part of something important and bigger than yourself. 

A clear timeline 

You’ve probably heard of Parkinson’s Law — the theory that tasks will expand or contract to fill the time allocated to them. So bringing energy and focus to a big project without having clear milestones, timeframes and checkpoints is a recipe for drawn-out efforts and inefficiency. 

A deadline is highly motivating, and with an endpoint in mind, you can work backwards from the finish date and set clear milestones and targets, helping your people understand what’s expected of them and how you’re all going to get there. 

Make it a priority and give people permission to explore ideas and contribute. There were definitely times in our Sydney planning days when the enormity of what we were trying to achieve felt overwhelming, but knowing we had a bold purpose and leadership support meant we stayed the course. Running test events in the lead-up meant we could incrementally fine-tune our processes, and gave us the confidence we needed to stage the games when the eyes of the world were watching.

Bringing it down to size

Of course, I’m not suggesting you should attempt to create a global event on a large scale. These principles work just as well on any project or team effort. One of the scenarios where I’ve seen this kind of focus and intensity achieve big things recently is as part of the Exponential Organizations (ExO) Sprint based on the work of globally renowned futurist, Salim Ismail. 

At a sprint for Siemens Energy I helped run recently, we brought together 41 people from 10 countries across the Asia Pacific region to tackle big problems to solve for global energy transition, including manufacturing excellence, decarbonising the maritime industry and supercharging emerging clean energy technologies.

Every participant in the beginning felt daunted at what they were hoping to achieve, but by the end, every team had created an amazing initiative, a number of which were then chosen for further exploration and investment by the company’s leadership team. 

Why not try creating some kind of ‘sprint’ focus on a problem that needs solving in your own company? You might be surprised at what a strong purpose, ambitious goal, focused efforts and clear timeline can help you achieve. 

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