Pedalling to success

Tony Quinn at BBD Perfect Storm explains what businesses can learn from cultural heroes in British Cycling 

We write in what feels like a welcomed moment of calm in an otherwise breathtaking summer of sport. As we moved from the Euros to Paris it feels like we’ve hardly had time to come up for air. And before you can bat an eye, we’ll be deep into the Paralympics, the new Premier League season, with the rugby Autumn Internationals hot on their tail.

However it would be remiss of us if we didn’t take this short lull to review some of the secrets that lie beneath these successes.

The go-to-gag for many of our national sporting rivals is that we, the British, are naturally proficient in sports where we are predominantly sat on our butts. It’s true of course that we do have an enviable and long-standing track record in rowing and equestrian; but cycling, well, cycling is not one that anyone can claim came naturally to us.

Prior to the appointment in 2003 of Dave Brailsford as Performance Director of British Cycling, Britain hadn’t won a gold medal since 1908 and had never won a Tour de France. Just five years later, in 2008 the British team took home 60% of the sports gold medals. In London 2012, they ended the games having set 9 Olympic Records and 7 World Records. At Rio 2016, Team GB continued this mighty transformation winning 2/3rds of golds available. Perhaps more remarkably is that having never won the Tour de France before, British riders won six of the eight between 2012 and 2018.

Over twenty years on from Brailsford’s appointment, we can see a golden era emerging, a new crop of talent ready to write the next chapter in Britain’s glorious cycling history, with Team GB winning eleven medals in Paris, more than any other nation. Little wonder that Stephan Park, the current Performance Director of British Cycling believes ‘our performance is one we can be as proud - if not prouder - than anything we’ve done before’

It’s clear that the transformation of British cycling in such a relatively short time scale demands that we take a look under the saddle and see what businesses can learn from this transformation.

At the core of this strategy was the introduction of a culture that underpinned the sport, as well as those who championed it. It’s a culture of unity, passion, innovation and collaboration. 

In support of these values, a staff survey is conducted annually, allowing staff to give opinions on the culture and environment within the organisation, while exit interviews are carried out with all departing staff, with findings recorded in order to enable the organisation to identify any cultural trends. They also stage annual all-staff and all-rider conferences, called ‘Team Talk’, to ensure all members are aligned to their values and goals. It’s clear just how important internal culture is for British Cycling, the importance of defining, fostering it and staying true to it.

However, what isn’t documented, but is clearly a key component of their success, is those who champion this culture.

From Sir Chris Hoy to Ed Clancy to more recently Jason Kenny, they provide the lightning rods of success, the baton being passed across time from one to the other, to create a continuum, a living, breathing omnipresence of this unique and potent culture and their cultural values, ignited and burning bright for all to see and take strength and guidance from.

Because whilst it’s strategy that provides the direction, it’s the internal culture that delivers it. 

Culture transcends talent, it both attracts and retains it, whilst elevating it to its maximum level of performance. How many times do we hear elite athletes talk of ‘joining the program.’ Creating a team that is more than the sum of its parts is culture. And a successful culture is the secret of a successful business whether in sport or in life.

It’s been quoted many, many times how culture eats strategy for breakfast. I think we could go much further and suggest it feasts on it - probably with its bare hands!

But most of all, it always comes from the inside out, from those within who carry its torch day after day, time after time, for all to see - the influencers, the most influential - cultural champions, business champions, the organisational elites and high potentials.

It comes from identifying who they are, their spheres of influence and putting it to use through Cultural Network Analysis and through the development of the engagement strategies this analysis informs.

Then it comes from empowering them, your cultural champions, trusting them with the responsibility to keep this culture burning bright as Sir Chris, Ed and Jason have done for British Cycling.

And we suspect that’s the key point that we’re trying to land here, the key point few talk about in their case studies, that whilst we all acknowledge the importance of influencers in the real world we sometimes forget about the importance of the influencers within our own businesses. Because without them, without them on board, then it’s just another Town Hall or Business Off Site, to sit through and endure, a car without an engine.

Or perhaps a bike without pedals.

Tony Quinn is Chief Strategy Officer at BBD Perfect Storm, the brand and cultural transformation company

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and claudio.arnese